Race 7 - Day 14
Crew Diary - Race 7 Day 14
15 February

My dear friends,

Hello everyone, we have crossed the equator, now latitude 3 degrees north and longitude 149 east, heading northwest 300 degrees using the northeast trade wind to the northern tip of Luzon Island in the Philippines. We plan to go straight west after arriving there in 7-10 days, passing by Sanya, and going to Ha Long Bay in Vietnam.

It is now the tenth day and I have adapted much better than at the beginning. It was a bit difficult at first, it was humid and hot, working night shifts, under the scorching sun, and I didn’t know the other crew members yet. After spending time together in the Coral Sea in eastern Australia and crossing the equator together, everything seemed to have gotten better. The winter in the northern hemisphere has become less hot, and I have adapted to the rotation duty system, and I have gotten to know other crew members better. It feels good now.

Meals on board were purchased by several crew members before the race. The menus and recipes were compiled into booklets, and all crew members take turns cooking in pairs every day. Breakfast is at 7 o'clock, lunch is from 1 to 2 o'clock, and dinner is at 7 o'clock. I’m almost done with the fresh vegetables and fruits, but I still have enough carbohydrates and protein, including rice, pasta, bread, potatoes, sausages, beef, pork, and fish. The nutrition is sufficient and the taste is acceptable. As long as you don’t think about the food on the shore, you’ll be fine. I heard that there were a few Ambassador crew members on Zhuhai who were not used to the food. It may be because the food officer did not include dishes other than European dishes in the first few legs of the race. This leg we added a lot of Asian dishes, so it was actually good. Food scraps can be dumped directly into the sea to feed the fish, which saves garbage space on the boat. There is no wind and when the boat speed is slow, I will be overtaken by my own thrown apple cores, which is very frustrating hahaha. The food on board was actually pretty good, and the conditions were much better than when I hiked for a week in southern Chile.

We sleep in shared bunks. There are 10 people each in Group A and Group B. Half of them work and half of them sleep. My bunk mate is very nice and there is no problem. The duty system is 7-11, 11-15, 15-19, 19-01, 01-07, 4 hours during the day and 6 hours at night. So the rest time is enough, and long sleep once every 2 nights is okay.

A typical day on the boat usually looks like this: we are woken up at 6:30, wash up and have breakfast in the cabin. After the last shift at 7 o'clock, we go on the deck and are on duty from 7 to 11 o'clock, during which we trim the sails, hoist the sails, etc.; 11 Let's get off, rest or just relax &chill, and the other half will get on; we will have lunch in the cabin at 2:30, and go up at 3 o'clock after dinner, and work until 7 o'clock; at 7 o'clock, the other half will come up, and the whole crew will be there at this time, and the skipper will tell us about recent news and plans, etc. We chose to have a full meeting at 7pm because it was too hot during the day. We get off at about 7 o'clock, wash up and go to bed, then go up again at 1 o'clock in the middle of the night, and then work until 7 o'clock in the morning, and the cycle continues.

What is more uncomfortable is that it is raining and windy during the night shift, or the wind is unstable and it is very tiring to constantly change the sail. Now I understand that the idiom "fair winds & following seas" is a very luxurious situation and is indeed something worthy blessing. It would be nice if I could just fix a few sail pieces all the way to the end, but no. Because some sails are used to run downwind and some are used to run into the wind, not only the wind direction, but also their tolerance to wind force are also different. If the wind is too light, use a larger sail, and vice versa. Sometimes there are strong winds, light winds and calm storms during the day, and we have to constantly change the sails to the right ones to ensure the fastest speed and correct direction of the boat, and to protect the sails from being torn.

So "Fair Winds & Following Seas" are very ideal situations.

Being able to shower depends on weather. There is an 800L fresh water tank on the boat, which needs to be filled with a water maker every few days. Fresh water is only for drinking, and the bowls are washed with sea water. The toilets are also flushed by sea water. When it's not raining, I wipe my body with baby wipes every two days, which is fine. The best part is when tropical rain visits, like yesterday. The temperature is 25-30, the rain temperature is a little lower, and the wind is strong. All the crew members wore swimsuits and trunks on the deck. They applied shampoo and soap directly up and down the life jackets and bodies they must wear, then opened their arms and faced the bow of the boat. They were washed clean in one go. It was very refreshing. There was also a water curtain hole formed under the mainsail boom, and we had a bald "monk" Italian doctor showered under it.

I saw that today is the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, and the cook on shift on New Year’s Day happens to be a mother watch from Dalian. She said that she had prepared some Chinese decorations and food. I told her that I had downloaded a lot of Chinese folk music and New Year-style music, we can co-op. We have a crew of 20 people on board, the skipper and AQP are both British. There are 4 Chinese crew members, 3 ambassadors, 1 food officer, 1 Italian doctor, 1 Belgian girl, and 1 Hungarian male, all 25-35. The rest are all English-speaking people over 50 years old.

It is now February 8. We have been sailing in the trade winds for several days. It is not hot during the day, and the sun is alternating with cloudy days, rainy days and storms. Yesterday, another companion and I took turns to cook. We stayed in the cabin for a day. She was the main cook, and I prepared the dishes, washed the plates, and passed around the dishes. We cooperated well, but I was a little tired from washing the dishes. Not just because it was a long day, but because yesterday we happened to be facing the wind all the way, and the boat tilted 30-45 degrees to the left all day. We relied on working in the kitchen and exercised the balance and endurance of our core and lower limbs for a day, and we were a little tired.

The weather seems to be good for the next 5 days on the way to Luzon, so I feel optimistic.

I wish you a Happy New Year in advance and good luck in the Year of the Dragon!