ERICSSON 4 LEG ONE DAY 21 QFB: received 31.10.08 0917 GMT
Just sitting in the nav station, and I see that we’ve only got 695 miles until the finish in Cape Town. For some guys, 695 would be the longest race they do and here we all are, treating it like we’re almost there!!
It has been an incredibly wet 4-5 days. The boys are getting sick of being washed into winches, pedestals and each other. I’m sure there will be a few bumps and bruises coming out over the next few days.
After the record dash, we did another 540+ day giving us almost 1200 miles in 48 hours! I cannot describe what it was like on deck over that period. Wet, wet, wet are the only words I guess. The guys were extremely careful with harnesses and just taking their time doing everything properly. The last thing we need is a broken ankle or fractured eye socket! It would be just as easy to hurt yourself below deck as it would be above.
One thing that has gone very well, is the interior of the yacht. We never missed a meal and the guys have been good at cleaning their stuff up. We do have a ‘clothing crimes’ bag onboard, so anything that gets left lying around will always show up in the bag. Hopefully the shore crew won’t be sick to their stomachs when they step onboard!!
We currently have Puma about 60 miles astern and she has now gone into stealth mode. Pretty tense times for us, but there’s nothing we can do about it except sail our boat as best we can. Who knows, maybe we’ll pull ours out soon……
The water temperature is much cooler now. The complaints about the heat are now long gone and we’re just starting to get the first signs of complaining about the cold. No one has any dry clothes left, so it’s quite unpleasant getting into wet clothing!!
No real majors to report. Dave (Endean) had his 30th birthday yesterday and thought he might get the day off and be allowed to spend it in bed. Unfortunately we needed him, so instead of a nice sleep in, he got me, dripping water all over him, waking him up for watch at 6am. It’s a tough life
We still will have a big job list for the shore crew and they only have about 12 days to do it so our mission is to get her there in the best condition we can, without compromising boatspeed.
That’s all for now. Better try and get a bit of sleep.
Phil ‘Blood’ Jameson - bowman