Race 10 - Day 15
Crew Diary - Boele Collot d’Escury
03 April

After almost two weeks at sea the team gets to know that a low will come through with 35 knots of breeze. At the time we were in a wind hole with little wind, making it hard to imagine what it was going to be like. Besides I have never experienced these conditions in an open sea before, so little did I know of what was coming.

When the weather finally came through, life on board got much harder. Every movement was an effort and during the storm it was easier to walk over the walls than it was to walk over the floor. Luckily for me my "mother watch" was exactly during this storm which did not make preparing the meals any easier.

It is already difficult for me to prepare three meals a day for 15 people on time; however, trying to do it at a 45 degree angle with the whole boat bouncing around makes it even more difficult. Every two minutes a big wave comes along and just before the impact of the bow planting itself in the wave, everything becomes weightless. In this short moment you have to decide what to save from flying around in the galley. Either the prepared ingredients, or the sliced apples for the watch that is on deck, or the hot drinks that just have been made. Not being able to save everything from taking off from the counter, the galley ends up being cleaned several times a day from either mushed apples, coffee and tea or chopped up onion.

However, after a full day of cooking and cleaning there is a long night's sleep ahead. Saying that, you first have to manage to climb in your bunk which is not easy. The gap between the ceiling and the bunk is just wide enough for your body to fit through because the bunk is at an angle, in an attempt to sleep level. There are also some leaking through-deck bolts on the way to try and avoid them because they are not very forgiving when you hit your head on them, as I found out.

Ironically now we are finally in the North Pacific, the wind has dropped and there is not a big sea state, but this gives a good opportunity to get some sleep and dry some kit to be as well prepared as possible for the next set of big winds.

Writing this blog during my watch, I need to get back on deck before my watch starts wondering why I have not been showing my face for a while.

Ciao,

Boele Collot d'Escury