Race 6 - Pre-race
Crew Diary - Race 6 Start
21 January
Finally Off!
So we finally made it out of Airlie Beach after a 48 hour delay due to problems, three of the fleet had with their watermakers. So whilst this is officially Day 2 we haven’t actually started racing yet, as we are still awaiting currents and wind to align to allow some form of yacht sailing never mind racing.
So here I am on Mother watch again with time to write a blog.
You may recall I was partnered on the last leg with Lawrence who managed the galley with an efficiency the French normally reserve for the organisers of their Air Traffic Controllers strikes!
This leg I am paired with the equally lovely Jasmine, who I felt was trying to manage my expectations as on our first introduction she advised me that cooking and all things gastronomic were not her particular forte! She has also started to refer to me as Nigella in the vain hope of encouraging some form of culinary brilliance out of our limited resources!
However, we are now halfway through the day and things seem to have gone ok. Indeed we have just had the first round of a bake off with the baking of the bread - of which I have no previous experience - and I have to acknowledge that on this occasion Jas won hands down. There’s plenty of time for a comeback though!
Nigella is not the only nickname I seem to have picked up on this trip, as Skip has started to refer to me as ‘The Nigester’ - now that is much more preferable – although I’m sure he didn’t have in mind some comic book hero when he conjured that name up!
Airlie Beach was a lovely stopover with the highlights being the parade through the town on Prizegiving day and a snorkelling trip to the beautiful Whitehaven Bay with five of our Leg 5 joiners, as well as the usual crew get togethers and mingling with the other crew.
We are also required to assist with Clipper Race corporate functions, as well as refresher training days and boat maintenance during the stopover. It was on Boat Maintenance Day 2 that my engineering skills were put fully to the test. We were approaching the end of our jobs list which Skip had dished out at 8 am, when he suddenly reappeared and announced that he required someone to strip out the port rudder ahead of it being replaced. Those who know me would realise I am fully out of my comfort zone with anything remotely mechanical, and indeed the last time I remember holding a spanner was about 20 years ago trying to erect flat pack furniture but yes you guessed it I got the job! Even worse was to follow as once the replacement rudder was in place Skip said to me that as I had taken it to bits I was the one who had to reconnect the rudder assembly!
Anyway, to cut a long story short the task was completed in the manner expected of the comic book hero even though I lost about a stone in weight on that day alone and a pair of shorts which suffered an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction much to the amusement of my fellow crew members!
For those interested in the ongoing story of the unfashionable sunglasses I have to thank Ian Griffiths for bequeathing me his spare pair, so I now have a pair of highly credible racing glasses to compare to all the youngsters on the boat!
I also took the opportunity whilst in Airlie to catch up on the hundreds of messages of support for which I thank you all, even though I haven’t had the time to reply to all personally.
That’s about it from me except to say that Skip Rich continues to provide inspired leadership and all the crew are raring to go so here’s hoping for some decent conditions to get racing again soon.
The Nigester with trendy sunglasses and new shorts!!