Race 2 - Day 14
Crew Diary - Race 2 Day 14: Punta del Este to Cape Town
18 October

David Walwin
David Walwin
Team Dare To Lead
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They say an army marches on its stomach, and as the Dare To Lead crew march into the final throws of our Leg 2 battle, this key ingredient in our recipe for success deserves to be highlighted.

In the relentless routine of continuous watches on deck and recreation below deck - which consists largely of sleeping - food is a hugely important part of our effective team performance, both in terms of keeping us fuelled and keeping morale up as we “sleep, eat, sail repeat”.

The Dare To Lead crew boasts some amazingly creative cooks, rustling up some amazing tasty food. As someone who has suffered from bouts of seasickness, an appetising meal is always critical when recovering from this. Highlights that come to mind are Charlie's vegetarian bean hash, Neil's fresh crusty bread rolls with cheese, and anything Pat cooks with a hundred subtle variations of seasoning. The victualling team of Carl and Mick should also be credited with making sure the provisions are sourced and on board to make this possible. An amazing achievement – considering the added challenges on provisioning in Spanish in Uruguay.

Inspiring snacks and treats have also been critical in our campaign. A Leg 1 highlight was the icepops that had been carefully tucked away until being brought out on a sweltering Doldrums day – an absolutely divine experience. Lou's recent batches of homemade flapjack have equalled that for me and been just inspirational. Its hard to convey how absolutely uplifting a well timed treat can be. The Orkney fudge, provided by Lou's mum Olive, was rolled out unexpectedly on a night shift this week … and as Luke put it .. “you could go to war on this stuff!” And so we do – fighting hard for a strong finish in Cape Town.

I will leave the boat in South Africa after being on board pretty much from mid July - with Level 4 training, prep week, delivery to Liverpool and now 2 legs almost complete.

Well done on an amazing leg Dare To Lead, you are an amazing team and it has been a pleasure to sail with you all under Dale's brilliant leadership. You are all awesome. Have an amazing race around the rest of the world, and keep on with the fine dining. As Dale put it, the definition of Dare To Lead fine dining: “How was the food guys?”....... “Yea, it was fine thanks”.