Race 3 - Day 15
Crew Diary - Race 3 Day 15: Cape Town to Fremantle
15 November

Finally, Day 15 and we found proper Southern Ocean. Mad boiling sea, winds over 30 knots, the boat jumping and swerving in all directions. We are 24 hours into it and still trying to find the optimal sail plan. We tried all three spinnakers and Yankee 1. On top of that, we needed to fix one of the helm wheels and had to helm from the other, the low side. Helming on the low side is somewhat unnatural and takes time getting used to. During our 6-hour morning watch we discovered and organized several interesting helming positions.

Blind person – someone vertically challenged stands low with the head just below the wheel. The person is limited to steering by the compass only. He/she cannot see the bow in front of them. They can still feel the boat heel and speed up as it rounds up into the wind and use all other senses by their vision to helm the boat. Sort of like Ray Charles singing.

Gymnast performing splits – this is a step up from the “Blind person”, literally. The person can put one foot on the helming board and the other on the low edge of the boat. Because the two edges are slightly apart the person appears as if they are doing splits. Depending on the person, this does look painful and I heard people complain of groin muscle pain.

Macho – this style is usually reserved for very well built and muscular individuals. They stand very relaxed with feet firmly planted in front of the helm. They use the strengths of the arms to muscle the helm in the proper direction. We are lucky to have one Macho on our watch, and, sadly it’s not me (not yet).

The Throw Down – this variation of Macho for the weaker built people. The feet are still well planted. The big difference is that the person is using all their body mass to wrestle the helm down. It reminds me of the scenes from action movies when one actor throws the other one to floor in a bar fight.

Cowboy aka Snowboarder – Cowboy on high side and Snowboarder on the low side. Feet slightly to the side aligned like on a snowboard. Knees bend and using body weight to balance the wheel, and himself, to keep the boat going fast in the right direction. Cowboy style includes one hand in the air, sort of like holding a lasso. Add a “yee-haw” and one may think they are watching a rodeo on the ocean.

Anyone can employ combination of the above styles. I started with the Gymnast and ended in a Snowboarder style.