Race 7 - Day 13
Crew Diary - Race 7 Day 13
22 February
A couple of years ago I wrote a blog about time. The main subject of that blog was ‘time is something you cannot always understand’. Time can go fast or slow. A month can feel like a day and a day can sometimes feel like a month. Even though I wrote that blog during a time when I wasn’t always feeling at my best, right now, being on my favourite Clipper Race yacht, it’s a feeling I’ve found myself in again. But let me tell you, it’s a really positive feeling this time.
At this moment, it feels like time doesn’t even exist and how many hours there are in a day is a big question mark for me and everyone else on board. And don’t even get me started about which day it is. The ‘which day is it today' game hasn’t been won by anyone so far.
A couple of nights ago I went to my bunk after a watch wherein we tried our hardest to find the right sail plan due to some inconsistent wind. We hoisted our staysail five times, packed a kite, and probably touched every rope available on the boat. It felt like this whole watch only lasted a couple of minutes. We found ourselves ranked fifth at the time.
Being woken up, only a couple of hours later and it still being night, with the message that we were in first position again. You can probably all imagine how that must have felt (if not: AMAZING!). But at what time did this happen? Did I really just sleep for a couple of hours?
Today on the other hand, I have the time to write this blog and I’ve just checked my watch, the only remembrance about time: still a couple of hours to go. It’s a slow watch are we are making great speed with our current sail plan. It’s all about trimming now and having fun. And I can guarantee you one thing, my belly muscles are not only training by balancing myself on the boat but also due to laughing a lot. So in the end, even this watch felt like it ended within a second.
Boat time or local time, different time zones with your loved ones on the other side of the world. One thing we all have in common on this boat is that we are all present at the moment, trying our hardest and our best to make the most out of the time we have on this boat and to make it sail as fast as possible. We have shown a lot of perseverance so far and I’m so damn proud of everyone on this boat.
Well, now back to sailing so we can make the most of our time during our stopover in Vietnam (and end in first position ;) )
Have the best time y’all
Natalie