Race 3 - Day 19
Crew Diary - Race 3 Day 19: Cape Town to Fremantle
19 November

Southern Ocean is a miserable place. It’s cold, windy, rainy and desolate. I have been rained on, bathed in ice cold water when the wave flooded the deck, sprayed by the waves coming over the bow when I went there to check on sails trim. Misery.

I have three pairs of waterproof gloves; two pairs of Dubarry boots, dry suit, set of foulies, lots of merino wool socks, base and mid layers, four hats. All of it is wet (there is absolutely nothing that’s fully waterproof when you are ocean racing). Misery.

The worst of all, my second pair of boots was mistakenly worn by another crew member in the first days. He got them wet quickly and they never dried. I hope I can restore them when we get to Freo, but for now I feel miserable.

With all the salt water around (we use the salt water to wash the dishes as we have limited supply of fresh water), every small scratch or a wound gets quickly infected and never heels properly. My dear middle finger on the right hand, probably the most important of the ten, got infected in such a way. My skipper, who acts as the chief medical officer, had to perform a small procedure and the finger is heeling nicely. But still, for a few days it was a misery.

Another miserable event happened last night. Someone ate my and two other crew members’ chocolate rations. We have ~20 souls on board for each leg for three-to-four week ocean passage. We have limited space on board and only take what we need to feed the crew. Hence, we ration key commodities such as chocolate. We had a tough night helming in the dark on huge waves in a big wind last night. Three small squares of chocolate wouldn’t make much difference (hmm, or would it?). What hurt the most was lack of respect someone has shown to his or her crewmates.

So, why would anyone would want to put themselves thru all this pain and misery? For the same reasons, people climb Mt. Everest, jump out of the airplanes or race fast cars. We do it for the thrill, sense of accomplishment, endurance, to follow others who have done it and to set example for those who follow us. I feel better already. I am off to my still dry (inside) sleeping bag to sleep and try to dry some of the base layers and socks (one of the old sailors’ tricks).