Race 7 - Day 22
Crew Diary - Race 7 Day 22: Whitsundays to Sanya
21 February

Cooking Duty

Life is one big roller coaster on Visit Seattle. I have transformed from yesterday's Bow Consultant into a cook. I must admit spending all day in the galley is not my favorite past time on the boat. I love sailing and not being able to do it for 24 hours is somewhat depressing. Especially now that we are catching up to the first six boats. We have Liverpool 2018 in our sights and still hope to catch the others. Not sure how but we found better wind; stronger current and are sailing the boat better than others. This is exciting! Now, back to the galley.

Well, cooking is not so bad on this race 7. Because we have only 13 crew in a rotation we chose to have only one cook per day. This means everyone is cooking no more twice during the race. I had an easy start this morning too. Cereal and toast for breakfast. The only stressful thing was to remember everyone's toast orders. Here are the various toast preparations I had to make: Nutella; PB&J; butter and jam; Butter and Marmite; Peanut butter and Marmite.

We are two days before arrival, so our fresh fruit and veggie supplies are low. I check the inventory of apples and still find over 40 green and red apples. I declared no limit on apple consumption and send a bowl of fruit upstairs on deck for the current watch.

Somehow lunch menu is the same when I cooked the first time about two weeks ago: chorizo cheese wraps with coleslaw. I smiled. The recipe book has my name next to the coleslaw recipe for the secret seasoning I concocted first time around. I look for the ingredients and spices. I am missing few items as we run out of them. I am going to have to improvise to recreate the taste the crew is expecting. Finally, a challenge I can take on. Not exactly the sailing challenge but still a challenge.

I had too much coffee this morning and could not sleep between the cooking assignment. On top of that, the new scheds arrived. We are one mile behind Liverpool 2018 and are passing them for the sixth spot. We are not thinking about others in front. I rummage thru endless odds and ends of various food items we have never consumed. I find luxury items such Coca-Cola (for sea sickness?!) and popcorn. Hmm, movie night? The taste of “land normal” could give everyone an extra boost before we arrive in less than 48 hours. I served cold Coke and buttered popcorn as Noon snack to the current watch. The other watch will get their surprise treat at 4 pm.

Lunch goes without a hitch. Everyone likes the new version of coleslaw. They especially like the extra chorizo sausages and limitless cheese. I wash up and make bread for tomorrow. I decide to also make blueberry muffins for the night watch snack. For dinner I will be making Pad Thai noodles and canned peaches for desert. Very ambitious day in the galley. I hope it all pays off. As the saying goes: “Happy Crew = Happy Boat and Happy Boat = Fast Boat". We are flying at 13 knots when the leaders in front of us are sailing at 5 to 7 knots.