Race 13 - Day 14
Crew Diary - Crew Diary: Race 13 Day 14
12 July
We are around 14 days into the race sailing off the west coast of Ireland. We have been making decent ground and think there are only a few more days to go, so - like a pack of bloodhounds, we think we can sniff out our next stop Oban and thus crossing the Atlantic to the UK!
Life continues to be a blend of the sublime and the ridiculous. Today we had a nice long quiet watch in bright sunlight and lovely swelling seas, sailing around 8 knots, but no wildlife after our 100 pilot whale sighting frenzy the day before. As it was chilly we had Nutella plus hot chocolate drinks halfway through, accompanied by somewhat dubious Chinese sourced “kitkats”. For dinner last night we had steak and mushroom risotto - easily the best meal anyone has had in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean outside the QE2. And in the 3am night watch, in a calm sea, we instigated a new tradition: “noodle Time” - where we sit scoffing pot noodles on deck and companionably swapping stories about sailing, our lives and our lost race goals. So good sailing and plenty of nice food but on the other hand, things have been rough; a few days ago we were beating in big winds and damp, cold nights, bouncing from wave to wave on the verge of exhaustion, swopping from sail to sail on variable winds with a total focus on making as much ground as possible for the team while in stealth mode!
The boat operates really smoothly: everyone has rotating and detailed roles ranging from cleaning out the heads (every watch; the biggest clean tends to be after dinner and the night watches; perhaps let’s not dwell on the details any further) through cooking and safety checks all the way to a daily “Barrista” role (best here not to forget the skipper’s drinks like I did!) And as a resultit’s a really well oiled machine giving us time and space to focus on optimising racing performance… but also, occasionally time to laugh at each other’s silly jokes.
Speaking of racing, things are tight but going well. In a “Top Gun Maverick” style move, our experienced skipper broke off from the lead pack a week ago to try our own thing and so farit’s been paying off pretty well - but there’s plenty of miles to Oban so as well as continuing to avoid any sailing mishaps we also need the wind to play ball. So onwards to Oban, we will keep working hard; hopefully the wildlife will keep coming to visit us like it has done and wind permitting we will see you all in just a few days! Wish us luck and fair winds …