Race 1 - Day 26
Crew Diary - Race 1 Day 26: Liverpool to Punta del Este
15 September
Yesterday's blog is going to be a hard act to follow, but I will give it my best shot!
I am currently sitting wedged into the navigation station facing Andy's bunk with the screen over my right shoulder. It is a bit like blind typing, but given the angle it is the only way I can type! I am trying not to be an annoying crew member who watches Andy until he wakes up, however I do look a bit like a stalker at the moment.
I am currently on radar duty – watching for squalls. For anyone who doesn’t know what they are (I didn't!), they are not to be mistaken with squirrels (as done by a fellow crew member). They are indeed pockets of really bad weather – high winds and heavy rain usually. We have to make sure that we are ready for them as if they take you off-guard then it can be quite bad news!
I wanted to discuss with you today some of the additional elements to what has already been covered in this blog – we have done Mother Watch, the great carrot investigation, the Wooler's Union (of which I am an active member) and the Bedroom Olympics (I think I am still topping the leader board for this, although Lady Foster is fast approaching as she has the forward flop down to a fine art now).
I want to talk today about the Boat Fairy. I'm sure every boat has one.
They decide right at that opportune moment (and it is always the worst moment) to make life just a little bit harder for you. They decide to hide one key part of your personal belongings in one totally random place on the boat.
Now, unlike what some of my crew members may think, I am usually quite organised with my kit. However, the boat fairy is making this very difficult for me at the moment. Picture the scene, I have got (fallen) out of bed at 4am, I have pulled myself bleary eyed into the galley, and have half climbed the companionway steps to get into the wet locker. As the boat lurches, I am forced to hold onto the coat rail that our foulies are on and for a moment am doing a comedy 90 degree singing in the rain pose on the lamp post. I can't find my foulie bottoms anywhere. I have been through every hanger of stuff and know that 4 hours before I left my kit on my peg (yes it is a little bit like school). Baffling. I can only assume after 20 mins of looking, much swearing and now sweating profusely, that the boat fairy has visited again. I finally locate foulie bottoms in the back of the wet locker on the other side of the boat. A mystery.
I have had the same with a jacket, which turned up 3 days later in the sail locker, a glove which appeared amongst some food bags and a hat which turned up in my bag. Yes there's a chance that I moved that one. As if we needed anything else to make life on this boat harder!
In other news, a few of us are starting to be struck down by what is commonly known as 'yachty botty'. Apparently sitting around on a damp deck for hours at a time wreaks havoc on the derriere. We have decided not to bother our resident medic Tessa with this, I don't think she needs us to line up with our sore bottoms, instead we have reinvented the pyjama party and now have a daily Sudocrem party. We really know how to live on this boat.
Hopefully with only seven days to go, we will start going down wind soon and life at an angle will become easier and easier.
We are all really looking forward to getting into Punta – we feel like it is about time we got there now. We have exhausted a lot of conversation areas and have now resorted to topics such as “who would you eat first, who would you eat last”. The prospect of more couscous is also a massive driver to getting there as soon as possible.
Watch this space! Bring on the GREAT.
Love to all our super supporters, Pip. xxx