Race 1 - Day 30
Crew Diary - Race 1 Day 30: Liverpool to Punta del Este
19 September

Hello from the sole, purely American occupant of Team Nasdaq. We have two dual citizenship (US/England) on board. The rest of the crew is primarily English with 2 Dutch, 1 French, 1 Australian, and 1 Irish. That's as much as I can remember so there may be other nationalities represented. Quite a diverse crew.

As luck would have it, today is All American Day in the Nasdaq Bistro. Lunch was hot dogs and popcorn with ginger cake for dessert plus some white chocolate from our friends on the Miraggio. Very nice.

During our first All American Day in the bistro, I taught the crew about the concept of a 7^th inning stretch and also that American favourite, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," with minor changes due to Australian/New Zealand idioms. There is a video somewhere of the whole crew singing - I hope you have seen it. It will probably show up after we reach Punta del Este.

We are now off the coast of Brazil, a bit north of Rio. The winds have backed and we are on a beam reach in the general direction of Punta del Este. The change in winds (from a close reach to a beam reach) means the sailing is more comfortable. Everybody's spirits are up and we are looking forward to Punta del Este in 3 or 4 days. I would be quite happy to not sail close hauled again.

Talk regularly returns to: "What will you do first in Punta del Este?" Top choices are hotel/shower, beer, huge meal. Uruguay has a style of bar-b-cue known as 'churrascaria'. It sounds like carnivore heaven and I expect I will reverse any weight loss in 1 meal. I'd say more but it has become VERBOTEN to speak of food in detail.

Hope to see you in Punta del Este,

Ken