Race 1 - Pre-race
Crew Diary - Pre Race
01 September
The long awaited moment has arrived ... not quite yet for Race Start, but for our very first crew diary entry!
This is a perfect time to start chronicling the incredible adventure that the Punta del Este team is about to embark upon, as we have just finished our prep week and are getting ready to set sail for London’s St. Katharine Docks, where the Clipper Race will start in less than two weeks, on 1 September.
This past week has brought together over 20 Punta del Este crew members to Gosport to work together - with our Skipper Jeronimo and Mate Ryan - on getting our boat prepared for the race. It’s impossible to list all the tasks that were undertaken by the team, working for seven days from morning until early evening, to ensure that not only is our boat safe (installing e.g. new netting and jackstays on deck and extra handles to grab below deck when moving around at an angle) but also to make life on board just a little bit easier and more comfortable (e.g. getting little fans for each bunk to cool us down on the hotter legs). Major jobs included very thoroughly cleaning and bleaching all the bilges, rigging all our new ropes, doing maintenance on all winches, getting our new sails labelled and branded with our beautiful Punta del Este sun logo, cleaning the engine... not to mention victualling, i.e. buying and organising all the food for Leg 1. Little did I know that we would need e.g. 50 kg of rice to keep the crew fed from London to Punta del Este! Many Clipper Race crew members also participated in specific training sessions, including engineering, sail repair, media, rope work and fundraising.
But rather than list all the jobs that got done, I want to recognize the extremely multi-talented crew we had on board. I personally was amazed by the sheer amount of expertise and knowledge we have within the team, whether it comes to engineering, wood work, planning and organizing, sewing, using navigation instruments, rope work and general problem solving ... as well as playing the guitar, singing sea shanties and grilling meat to perfection!
And all of this accompanied by laughter and banter, often carrying across from the Punta del Este boat to the other Clipper Race boats moored next to us, despite the often rainy and cold British summer (?) weather! This week truly showed the strength and commitment of our team, creating strong bonds and companionship between people who come from very different backgrounds, and are of different ages and nationalities, but all working towards the same goal of being a safe, happy and winning boat!