Return Crew Day 4 – 11 February 2020

By Cameron

There are still some sleepers around the boat during the day but besides that, we had a pretty interesting dinner. We had some pasta with meatballs sauce and some tinned meat balls. The meatballs were quite something – I thought they tasted like burnt rubber, but who knows!

The last 24 hours have been quite unpredictable to say the least. The weather has been challenging as we have been close hauled trying to prevent heading in a northerly direction. We are hoping that the trade winds will come on Wednesday and allow for us to head in a more southerly direction towards the island Tristan du Cunha. There is currently a lot of cloud cover and we thankfully got to see some blue sky, even though it was just a peep! It is raining most of the time out here and ot seems like the clouds are going to stay with us for a bit. We will check what is going to happen when we check the weather later. There is also medium swell which tends to knock the boat around, the reason being that with the wind coming from a south easterly direction so does the swell, making things a tad rickety and rockety! The rain has not left us yet and there is lots of talk about having a shower on deck but we are yet to see anyone brave enough to attempt this!

We have not gotten to sort any repairs of yet as it is too dangerous to send anyone up the mast as we don’t want a flying crew member! Rory is busy with a silicone gun in his hand trying to find all the water leaks, while Ollie seeks out the leaks for Rory to sort out. Francois has had water dripping into the galley on his feet recently which he finds quite fortuitous! We have just had some splendid cup-a-soups and some bread with spreads such as marmite and butter. Some of the crew are also resorting to Netflix to keep them entertained whilst others with more sophisticated abilities, such as Tony, resort to doing crosswords in silence.

Some insight on who is with whom during the shifts:
Rory & Robyn, Tony & Ollie, Cameron & Clare, Francois & Kristy. In that order we do 2 hours of sailing with 6 hours break. With the conditions being how they are the wind drops and picks up very rapidly and unpredictably. This causes us to have to Jibe and perform 360s or even 720s if you mess it up! It’s really funny unless you’re the unfortunate person sleeping at the time that gets thrown out of bed! We have now also set up a fixed routine on who makes food when and who has the privilege of cleaning the busting bronco (the heads). If it is your turn for you and your watch partner to make a meal then you both must also clean the pots and dishes, and then clean the busting bronco!

During our classic oats brekkie (with sugar, milk and honey ) we got to see some sea birds called storm petrels that Rory pointed out to us and it is great to learn about such interesting life at sea. The petrels are hundreds of miles from land and skim the surface of the water leaving only centimetres below them and disappearimg behind the waves as they drop down in the swell. How they have so much energy and ability to not get swamped by the water frothing on the wavetops is astonishing and it’s anyone’s guess what they are managing to eat.

We are Android cranks the tunes whenever we play cards while shecontinues to supply us with gas and an occasional nap hugging her pillow.

Our candidate tonight on “Who came onboard” is our one and only quartermaster Kristy Whillier. After high school Kristy went and studied Therapeutic Reflexology and advanced life-support paramedics. We are very fortunate to have such skills on board. At the moment Kristy works in the ambulances and is staying in Joburg. Why did you come onboard Kristy?: “My main goal is to explore all the possibilities out there in the world and take every opportunity I get to see the world and experience anything I can in life.” Interestingly Kristy is a brilliant singer! She also apparently loves her animals endlessly and misses her doggo and cat cuddles to the core!

We would also like to wish Clare’s daughter Harriet a very Happy Birthday that is filled with lots of joy and love!!

We have travelled 100 nautical miles today
A total of: 492 nm
Chow!