Race 3 - Day 17
Crew Diary - Race 3 Day 17
08 November

Every Little Thing You Do is Magic

I’m cleaning the heads. It’s a stretch, I think, to say while scrubbing a toilet that this is the “Race of your life.”

But it is. All of it.

We have 20 souls on board and only two heads – which need to work, be treated with care, and be cleaned. Otherwise, there’d be a shitstorm. Literally.

Each day, each of us takes on specific tasks – the extra work it takes to make the boat sail safe and fast – cooking, cleaning, sail repair, deck safety checks, bilge pumping, and yes, cleaning the heads – as well as our main job of making the boat sail as fast as we can across the Southern Atlantic Ocean.

Sometimes the work is exhilarating, sometimes exhausting, sometimes just fun; and it’s always for the team. We support each other in all the ways we learned in training and all the ways we are as humans. Big and small, our efforts help lift others. For instance, Dianne just made hot teas and hot chocolates as we woke up for a 2 am shift.

Last week, in not the calmest of seas, we needed to reach the leach line tensioner ten feet above the deck. Our Skipper Mike asked me to hoist Ran above my head by standing on the bouncing foredeck, leaning my back against an active foresail, and forming a step with my hands – like the base of the most awkward cheerleading duo.

At first, I thought the idea insane. Somehow, someone had to race ten feet above the deck; but how was I going to help? Even though we were tethered to the deck, I thought, how were we not going to collapse into the sail and end up overboard? Then I flashed on all the moments that got me here: my four levels of my training; the heroics of my team and all they had done so far; the trust in my skipper and first mate, and all the support I’ve had to get me to this point.

So, in the rain, in the wind, in the bouncing, cold, rolling seas, I leaned back against the staysail, formed my hands into a step, and lifted Ran above my waist. He reached it; he got it; we all got it. together.

Trust and teamwork triumph over obstacles and doubt. We returned to the cockpit to sail just a little bit faster.

As a team with a focused goal, every little thing matters -- individually and all of it as a whole. The Race of Your Life.

Now back to cleaning the heads.

On on! PSP