Race 1 - Day 4
Crew Diary - Race 1, Day 4
05 September

Back to being a happy boat

The last few days were hard. Really hard. Beating into the wind like that, living at the extreme

angle and the amount of energy the most simple tasks take. Going to the heads (toilet) was a workout in itself. By the time you climbed into your bunk, you were beyond exhausted and barely three hours later you were back up for your next watch. Sail, Sleep, Repeat. The mood on the boat was sombre. We were all tired, stressed, bruised from falling around the boat and dealing with quite a bit of seasickness. I had two lows in the last 24 hours... one where I just stood in front of my top bunk staring at this ‘Everest’ I now had to climb with tired arms and overwhelmed emotions. I hated this bunk. I had a little angry cry. And then threw myself at it and did some kind of spider woman scramble up with one leg on either wall. Turns out it's all about technique. And tying a sail tie around your mid whilst sleeping to ensure you don’t fall out.

Second low was finding a very unpleasant surprise during my toilet cleaning duties. Sandra was

being seasick when she informed me of her discovery. A nasty number two had somehow not made it into the toilet bowl as it should but had likely ‘jumped’ out with the pitching and hurling of the boat. Poor Sandra was clutching her bucket for dear life, so I attempted to resolve mister number two and clean him away. He was my nemesis, and I needed to vanquish him. Armed with anti-bac spray, cloths and bin bags, I faced him courageously. And proceeded to throw up as well, resulting in Sandra and I passing the bucket back and forth for a while before I was able to resolve the situation. We named the turd ‘Charles’ for his traumatic impact on Sandra’s and my psyche that day (not to worry, no one is called Charles on board).

Today we started sailing downwind as we enter the Bay of Biscay and oh sweet Neptune, how life is better when moving around isn’t like rock climbing and the boat is flatter. The mood is on an all time high. We laughed about Charles a lot. This is how you bond as a team. The ‘Mothers’ (Sandra & Danny on today’s cooking duties) are currently dancing in the kitchen and have baked us a cake! Cake!!! The boat has been cleaned, we are sailing fast and are focused. I even put on fresh socks today! Sweet pleasures.

And maybe that is why we are all doing this ... because we want to live slightly differently, slightly more fully. And appreciating the simple pleasures really makes you feel alive. But I hope I never see a Charles again.