Race 2 - Day 5
Skipper Report
09 October

The last few days have been a long few. The new crew seriously thrown in at the deep end and the old hands (after the 6,500nm trek from Liverpool to Uruguay) helping them through the tough times. I have been incredibly impressed by the way the crew from Leg 1 have adapted to Leg 2 and are able to teach our new crew old tricks, like using the heads amongst other incredibly difficult tasks to do onboard whilst hurtling down waves at 20 knots or more at a 45 degree angle.

Antonia Hiesgen and Pip O’Sullivan have taken up roles on the bow and in the pit teaching drops and hoists of sails amongst other things and Tessa Hicks has taken to the helm like a duck to water again after Leg 1. It's amazing how much more confidence crew have when they understand the workings and the whys and what fors.

Today has been a day of smiles and an official “save a whale” day onboard GREAT Britain. At 0400am this morning during watch change, our Clipper Race alumni, special guest and cheery faced fisherman John Charles threw himself at the helm as a whale surfaced just metres away from the boat. I think he had had too many beers in Moby Dick’s (the most popular Irish Bar that doesn't sell Guinness in Punta Del Este) to face going back there for repairs. Needless to say, our rudders are still intact and the whale is whaley whaley GREATful.

This whale dodging experience was followed by a wonderful breakfast prepared by Gareth Blanks and Jon Milne consisting of deconstructed egg, bacon, tomatoes and beans with, of course, lashings of ketchup all over mine.

Trying to allocate roles for crew onboard is, as you may imagine, an extremely difficult task but I can safely say all bar one I got right. Simon Speirs, our sail maker, has the patience of a saint which also makes him one of the best light wind helms onboard. This was required today during our time spent somewhere around the centre of the high-pressure system as Simon continued to navigate us to stronger winds. His protégé light wind helm is, as a surprise, none other than Paul Golson who with his knowledge of escaping crocs on a windsurf board as a youngster (not the shoe the real thing) put his skills into action and took over Simon’s role for the afternoon.

Then we have our engineer, Phil 'literal' Gunn, who continues to service every bit of serviceable kit onboard apart from his feet which he assures me he is doing on a daily basis. Removing his boots on deck today said otherwise. He also continues to sleep in his boiler suit assuring me that it will do as a mid-layer for the Southern Ocean. I'm sceptical.

Today our general Mr Fix It, Ray Gibson, who hasn't been as busy of late, which is generally a good sign, emerged with a very recognisable Goodwood Revival weekend bag full of his squirreled tools on deck. Not only has he taken most of the tools from the tool bag and placed them in this very handy bag of his but he has pilfered the bag from yours truly during our stopover in Uruguay, replacing his very old worn out cotton bag. I can't complain!! This man can fix anything so a strong choice for the role.

This brings me to my somewhat, I hate to say it because he's a lovely chap, poor choice in role allocation to Mr John Olsen aka Port Hole Pest as media extraordinaire. I was falsely under the impression that with his PR background he would be perfect for the task. He tells me, over 7,000 miles down the road and nearly 2 months spent together, he is only a man of words and not film production. Unfortunately, I have had to demote him to Assistant Media Producer following an unsuccessful performance improvement plan. Willkommen to our new Head of Media, Antonia.

The day on deck has been peaceful and the sunset absolutely fantastic. There is a worrying calm around the boat and everyone is well rested for the next onslaught of Southern Atlantic weather as we head south to the rhumb line for more wind and a preferred angle into Cape Town.

After the glorious sunset came dinner. We have moved to ration packs onboard to make life easier on the crew in the evenings. This means no washing up, less waste and a delicious variety of meals. Unfortunately the crew are finding it difficult to RTFM before making. The evening before last the galley hands struggled to fill the rice pudding pack to the correct line which resulted in floating bits in a cloudy liquid…. mmmmmm delicious. Last night was going to be different, the crew had been briefed, different fill lines for different packs, stir, leave to stand for 8 minutes then hand out to consume.

Not to mention any names but I was politely handed my chicken fajita pack by Mr Jon Milne. I sat next to Jolsen (John Olsen) as we were first in the queue and proceeded to eat. I spotted Jon decanting the small sachet left in the packs to keep the oxygen free into the rest of the packs on the counter and asked nervously what he was doing. Just adding the extra spice pack, like in a pot noodle he answered. With worried eyes, I immediately grabbed an empty sachet and read out loud 'do not eat'. With both of these pieces of information I went directly to our resident Dr Tessa Hicks to find out how long I had left............... The reply was 'well it can't be good for you'. In the meantime, Jolsen had finished his pack exclaiming 'well it's not going to kill you and if it is I'm sure when people read this blog there will be a South African Warship enroute to take us off the boat for medical treatment.’ We still don't know what was in the oxygen elimination packs and unsure of our fate but for now we are both going strong. Milney on the other hand is highly embarrassed and will probably never add a sachet to a pot noodle again.

Ciao for now

Andy and the GREAT Britain Team