Race 3 - Day 6
Crew Diary - Race 4, Day 6
23 November

Justin Oughton
Justin Oughton
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80’s Decade Cafe!

And … back in the galley! So that’s one week already on the boat as we have a six day rotation and I was in the galley on the first day leaving Cape Town. Today we have our 80’s music mix playing, with some accompanying galley singing which went down very well with the clientele (TBH they didn’t have much choice). I share my Mother Watch with Charles (great name BTW, same as my son). He has been a top galley buddy and helped me get through the first Mother Watch beating upwind from Cape Town, it got very lumpy and I have to admit I was more tired at the end of that watch than any of the endurance events I can remember.

I’ve now rotated through all the duties on board, getting up close with the bilges and heads, and also on deck with some spicy bow action, hard grinding in the pit and fun but full on helming! The mercury has been dropping over the last day or so as we venture into the 40’s so time to break out the extra layers particularly for the night watches. The time does fly by though, and when you’re not performing evolutions there is always something to admire and wonder at, albatross, dolphins, luminescent algae, jasper red and orange sunsets and I’m pretty sure we saw a whale, well at least the water spray from its blowhole, which I think still counts.

Back in the cafe, the prep is underway for lunch and dinner, tuna wraps, soup and deconstructed cottage pie for those who don’t like mash :) with fresh bread and cake to prepare, toffee and banana today! With a six day rota, we will be on the button with our day’s menu and there is a good variety of menus throughout the week, although I’m a little suspicious that we are having French onion soup and buns rather more frequently with our two French watch buddies :). Still, it gives me a chance to entertain the crew with more of my bad dad jokes,” ah so it’s Oasis Soup today … why? ... you get a Roll with It” I can hear my family groaning from here.

Anyway, enough blog banter for now – time to get back to baking the bread and cake and avoiding soggy bottoms, not to be confused with boaty botty, an undesirable condition, I understand, that comes from sitting on wet decks for too long …

Bye for now, perhaps 90’s music next mother watch … I’ll pick out some bangers for the playlist.

Justin.