Race 2 - Day 6
Crew Diary - Race 2 Day 6: Punta del Este to Cape Town
10 October

Luise Birgelen
Luise Birgelen
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The Roaring Forties Cafe

Top of the morning from the Roaring Forties Cafe! After yesterday's near poisoning of one or two crew members and our dear skipper, we thought it was time that the culinary needs of the crew came under professional hands.

And as we have now crossed below 40 degrees south, the Roaring Forties Cafe opened its doors this morning. Your two friendly baristas, Tessa 'I will make you eat healthy' Hicks, and Luise 'service with a smile unless you ask for something we don't have' Birgelen are ready to serve a variety of hot beverages, to stay or to go! (To go up on deck if the customers are late for watch, that is).

We have been doing our utmost to serve our customers delightful meals; today's special for breakfast was panettone and pineapple. That earned us some good reviews. Not all however, were positive, as we could sadly not deliver on Gareth's request for some poached eggs. We hope the Yelp review won't be too negatively affected, we've had some supply chain issues. Rest assured, Gareth, that customer service is looking into this mess.

Our supplier (aka Victualler Pip) has been popping in, encouraging us to push some of the fruit to keep inventories and food waste low and morale high, so we have changed our advertising strategy to be very orange-heavy. So far, the most preferred type of orange food however still seem to be crisps and biscuits. We're working on it.

Lunchtime was a busy time at the cafe today, especially since our manager (a.k.a. Skipper Andy), thought we should liven up the menu with some frankfurter sausages (any requests from management are taken very seriously at the Cafe). We had taken in lots of orders to be delivered (up on deck, since it was all hands for the main sail repair). We also make the odd home-delivery directly to the bunks, but only in very special circumstances - like Antonia very politely asking for a piece of pineapple while on her sick leave. I think she's feeling better already!

As any good cafe, we offer free WiFi and free medical advice. WiFi and tech support comes in the form of Luise, the medical advice from Barista Hicks, who monitors fluid intake and healthiness of cuts and bruises with great interest.

Our WiFi has had its ups and downs, but mostly, we are slightly confused why our WiFi has a password. The number of people who have stealthily tried to row / motor / swim up to the boat to piggy back on our data connection has been incredibly limited. Perhaps the whale that got too close to PSP Logistics was trying to tweet something, and Paul Golson swears he saw an albatross with an IiPhone in his hands. Good thing we're keeping a tight watch on data security here on GREAT Britain.

The Cafe maintenance team has also been busy today, cleaning bilges (Simon did a top job), attempting to repair the water maker by our resident handyman Ray, who I think at this point repairs things just by magic touch.

That's it from Cafe Roaring Forties for today, we will continue to be here between 7am and 9pm every day, ready to serve hot drinks, have a chat, pass up some sunglasses or butter your toast for you. Come in and say hi!

Tessa & Luise

P.S Mutti, I'm fine!

STATEMENT FROM JOHN OLSEN RE: RECENT SKIPPER REPORT:

I have noted the comments in yesterday's Skipper's Report, specifically those relating to the refocusing of my onboard role, and am disappointed by the wilful misrepresentation of the actual circumstances. I do not intend to enter into a protracted public debate on this matter. However, I have instructed solicitors (RTW Speirs of Bristol) who will be monitoring closely all future commentary on this subject, and who will not hesitate to pursue all appropriate remedies (including, but not limited to, those involving the porthole adjacent to the Skipper's bunk) if required.