Race 1 - Day 24
Skipper Report
13 September

Lance Shepherd
Lance Shepherd
Team Liverpool 2018
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It has been a fun day on Liverpool 2018. This morning got off to a great start with the strangest mothering experience of the race when our resident Aussie and Uruguayan awoke sporting their best "homage to Lance" moustaches.

While they did look much better supporting the mighty lip tickler, it’s not a touch on my own.

Today we have seen the winds go from 10 - 35 knots and a couple of squalls thrown in for good measure. Upwind sailing has its pros and cons, here are the crew learning's today:

Pro - helming feels like a dream. Con - the boat gets slightly wet. On deck, the waves frequently dunk us and below and as we can’t open any hatches, the galley resembles a Turkish sauna.

The crew started with the standard two sets of clothes, one dry set and one drying set. This has slowly turned into one wet set and one wetter set! They have been ploughing through their underwear/clothing allocations to the point I am nervous come Punta del Este that we may be a very naked boat!!

Pro - we are so covered in salt, seasoning a meal is very quick - just a lick of lips/arm/person next to you and you are good to go! Con - Yachty botty! Sitting in salted wet shorts is not good for the behind! The solution - Udder Cream. The crew bond has never been as strong after a group dispensing session!

Pro - flexibility. We do heads yoga - (the position one must get themselves in to sit on the loo at this angle) Nav station Pilates (feet on the wall, each side of the door, one hand to hang on and one to type), and galley tums and bums (when sitting down, your legs are in a squat position with your feet against the wall, then when people walk past, you need to alternate a leg at a time while not spilling your dinner/coffee). Con - with all the constant trimming, between the two watches, the theme tunes have been developing. “Trim trimmny, trim trimmny, trim trim trooooo” has now evolved into “now I'm the king of the trimmers, the dreamboat VIP” (cough James Macfee!!). Fortunately, I can assure you their actual trimming is much better than their singing!

Hi fellow skipper Andy - I can most definitely offer you a trade, we have loads of chocolate spread, what you got in return??!

On a more sombre note, back in Liverpool I was given a card by Ruth Charles from the Race Office, given to her by a local gentleman called John, whose father (also called John) perished on SS Nariva on the 17th March 1943. He gave us the position of the sinking and said he had been waiting a long time for a vessel leaving Liverpool to pass close or over the sinking position, and as our proposed route was to take us close could we put the card in the sea. So today, as we passed within a few miles, I mustered all the crew on deck and read the circumstances of the ships demise to the crew, dispatched the card and held a minute silence as a mark of respect before commencing our usual daily team meeting.

It would have been good to have more information about John whom brought the card in so we could tell him "job done."

Breakfast is looming...

Remember to Think Pink!

Ta

Lance