Race 4 - Day 14
Crew Diary - Race 4, Day 14
01 December
Life Hacks
Trying to get your bunk level when you’re down below without a horizon felt like a fairly dangerous game of roll on, roll off for me, at least until I started using my earplugs as a spirit level. If you place an earplug on the mattress and it doesn’t roll sideways you’ve nailed it and your bunk is level. Ta da!
Which made me think of some of the other little ‘life hacks’ that make living on board that bit more bearable, not to mention unique! So here’s a fairly eclectic mix of some of the weird and wonderful things that go on in daily life among the CV31 crew that you might not guess at:
Tea, coffee, hot chocolate, it doesn’t matter – unless you make it yourself you are only ever likely to get half a mugful. A single kettle boil just doesn’t stretch far enough for the whole watch …
Personally, I’m now completely happy to brush my teeth in seawater rather than the overhead of filling a cup of freshwater from the galley. Sometimes if I’ve forgotten and don’t want to get back up again I’ll dry-brush them in my bunk. Yuk.
Grossly, I’ve also found my bellybutton is a useful retainer for pills/tablets when I’m popping them in my bunk.
Sleeping naked means you double the expiry date of your underwear. If you’re brave enough! For the girls, using pantie liners means you get a fresh pair of underwear every day.
I think I was aged about seven when my Mum last sewed my name tag into my socks – but a Sharpie and your initials are key when everyone has a lot of similar kits. Likewise, an abundance of carabineers so boots, hats, bags etc. all stay where you left them and don’t end up halfway down the corridor and soaking wet.
Being good at twister really is an advantage when you have to straddle several crew mates at breakfast to make the spare seat and not end up wearing someone else’s porridge with maple syrup.
You’ll get brownie points from those on Mother Duty if you keep your spoon after the main course and reuse it for dessert. For those of us who are less discerning perhaps you get extra points if you reuse your ‘dog bowl’. Mildly curry flavoured fruit cocktail anyone?
Three months in, and I’ve started to use a fork so as to retain an element of ‘class’. It’s the small things I guess.
Switching to red lights shortly after sunset so as not to blind the helm also completely kills any game of Uno that happens to be in progress. Who knew.
Over and out from our weird and wacky world until tomorrow’s update. Hope that provides a wee insight and thanks to all our amazing friends, family and supporters for tuning into CV31!