Race 1 - Day 21
Crew Diary - RACE 1 DAY 21: LIVERPOOL TO PUNTA DEL ESTE
11 September
CV30 leg 1, day I have no idea Blog - 9th Sept 2017
So, we're back racing and living at 45degrees. Oh how we've missed that angle over the past few weeks. As I type, a pan that was being cleaned goes whizzing over the edge of the counter and misses a prone Nicola Thurlow by inches and I'm wondering how to get into and stay in my bunk. Things are looking up though, we're passing our first land in three weeks. A beautiful Archipelago which I believe is renowned for its surfing beaches and laid-back life style! In the immortal words of Spence (Bienvenue) – nice!
As I started a profile of the “jack watch” in my previous blog, I'm going to continue the narrative and introduce you to the rest of the team. We've already heard about Spence Bienvenue, John Olsen, Medders (Ian Medland), Nicola and our watch guest, Graham Bell – We've got a watch of nine so I don't want to leave anyone out!
Next on the list then is Milney. One of the powerhouses of the team, Jon is the archetypal gentle giants. Always a steadying hand on the watch, it’s no surprise that he's the person most want as their second helm. He's also got a great sense of humour – watch out for the photos of him in his pirate mask. Priceless!
We have the talented Tess (Tessa Hicks) our resident Doctor. Tess has patched up, tweaked and cured quite a few of us already (including me) whilst at the same time sailing in the watch system. She's also fixed three of our spinnakers with a total of about 20+ patches – and had time to watch a chick flick - all of that in three weeks. She still says its less work than being a GP.
Now we come to Ed (Edmond Aldworth). Suffice to say, Ed could have a novel all to himself with his antics. I could describe his fondness for seconds during meal times or even his dreadful taste in music but that would take too many words...Suffice to say Ed is one of those real-life characters who has us in stitches with his quips and observations. He's always in the thick of it – on the bow or at the helm. A man we can all rely on, a real gent and a pleasure to sail with!
We have the “Commodore” (Rtd), Tim Jeffery, who from his state rooms plots our passage and keeps us all in check with our course and speed. When the PA goes off we know Tim will be muttering his immortal words – ahem – course! He does a really hard job but keeps us on track and at speed. Without him pushing constantly we probably wouldn't be in such a strong position. He can also helm pretty well himself.
Finally, but not least, we have Mr Tucker, our team co-ordinator. Mark's activities often go unnoticed during this grand passage but he sorts out all the necessary (or unnecessary) details such as sending race HQ our verification pics, tinkering with the Nav kit or Comm's, beating the water maker into submission or helping Spence make sure the watch get all our jobs done. All this whilst also sailing as part of the watch team. Mark is a huge personality in the team and just helps us tick.
I also want to point out that our corresponding watch “Union” are also superstars but we only rarely see them apart from watch handover time and snatched conversations here and there. They always have a big smile and a cheery good morning/evening etc when we come on – so thanks guys.
Enough for now – We've a race on our hands!
Until next time. Ian M.