Hi hi,
A short one from me. Not enough is said about how boring and monotonous ocean racing is. This probably is because ocean racers are trying not to tempt fate. For example, whilst writing an email to a friend a couple of days ago expressing this sentiment, I was finishing off a sentence ending in boring when a broach happened under kite and I had to rush up on deck to sort out a riding turn and a thoroughly concerned helm relatively new to the art of kite helming in a sea state. But fate be damned!* It is boring! or at least boring punctuated with extremely un-boring bits every so often.
To that end, we've been racing UNICEF and Qingdao in a straight line. For the team, a marker for the success of a six-hour watch is whether we did a mile better than the others and a 1/60th is not a huge margin. I wrote my last blog about how nice it is to not think tactics and now I'm missing the tactics.
To keep ourselves occupied AQP Laura from UNICEF and I dreamt up a dating show similar to Blind Date with Cilla Black to play as we crossed the International Date Line. It was named 'International Date Line!' Much fun has been had in thinking up questions for contestants. What started off as nice boat themed 'get to know you' questions quickly descended into thinly veiled smut and innuendo. I shall not lower the tone but as you can imagine the proper way to deal with foreguys was a hot topic.
Joss, Ineke and the if boats had gutters their minds would be in them Seadogs
*As I type this, I'm nervously touching my lucky piece of wood that I keep in the nav desk. Sailors throughout history have been intensely superstitious (or rather sensibly in tune with the sea gods as they would see it) and I'm no exception.