Race 10 - Day 6
Crew Diary - Race 10 Day 6
09 April

I had the perfect apple today.

The apple itself was big, cold, and very crunchy crisp. It was also very juicy. A nice apple, but what makes it the perfect apple? It must have been the circumstances. I will try to paint a picture for you.

We had started our watch at 7 in the morning, in the rain with many waves coming over. There was quite some work to be done. Yankee down, staysail up, reef in. Broach after broach of going through the cycle of easing the main sheet and vang after which they are reset when the boat has come down enough. Enormous waves keep crashing over the deck, and we are all very happy with our drysuits. All of this in a healthy breeze of about 30 knots. I had been on the main sheet for about two hours after which I took the helm for an hour. Here I was battling the waves as our downwind course was not quite in the same direction as theirs. A compass course of 90 degrees was set as the one to follow. It was quite hard work to keep the boat moving in the right direction which made me overheat. But it is oh so much fun when you finally hit a wave perfectly and are able to surf it and make great speeds! After about an hour of working on the helm, we had to gybe so the skipper took over the helm and we all worked together as a well-oiled machine to safely gybe the boat in 30 knots of wind, which isn’t easy. Now the air outside cleared up, the sun was coming through the clouds, and we could even see patches of blue skies. It was about 10 in the morning on a random Wednesday in April and our boat was surfing over the waves on our way through the North Pacific.

After all this, I found the time to sit down and eat an apple. Surrounded by a great watch full of lovely people, fun weather, and a sense of accomplishment. A perfect apple.

Eva