Message from CV28, 18th September 2017. Fran Baker
Its mad that we’re now nearly there, although it seems like its still a while to go sometimes!! Half of me wishes I could carry on but half of me is ready to get off and have a good nights’ sleep, a beer and a shower. Its been a ridiculous experience, all that I expected it to be and more. So pleased that I have done it. I haven’t read my kindle, watched any films or anything – just sleeping, eating, sailing, chatting. I don’t miss not having a phone or being ‘switched on’ all the time at all. Just really enjoying everything I’m doing.
I had my first freshwater shower the day before yesterday and it was AMAZING – the boat on an angle, stood in the heads (toilets) turn the shower on to get wet for 10 seconds then off, sud up, switch back on and rinse off for 45 seconds. Then try and get with a towel wrapped around you back to a private area (no such thing on a 23m boat) to get dry and dressed. A 55 second highlight of the trip for sure! Hopefully its helped my yachty botty too – my sudocrem usage is enough to rival [names blocked] combined. The weather has dried out a little now and the waves have calmed so I haven’t been non-stop soaking for a couple of days which is a welcome relief.
Its amazing how the little things are the best things, a bucket of fresh water to wash your clothes in at the back of the boat, a quick rinse down in the toilet – these are our luxuries!! I did a bit of laundry today. Roy’s a bit more relaxed about us using fresh water now as we are 240 nm SSE of Rio so we know we’re on the homeward straight. We have 2 water tanks of 290 litres each, and 100 litres in emergency tubs at the back, so we need to make sure we have enough to survive on if the watermaker breaks before we can get to land so he is rightly protective of it.
Its started to get a bit cooler now which is a very welcome relief. Its hard to sleep in our longer sleep watches in the day in the heat, so were squeezing in a bit more now. I feel exhausted but when we’re busy its a distraction so all good. We’re going to be complete messes when we get on land, and I’m a bit nervous about land sickness! Our first job when we get to port is the dreaded deep clean, which means taking everything off the boat and cleaning everything from top to bottom. It normally takes 23 people about 6 hours so that shows you how much there is to do. The boat is MINGING now, hairs in the bilges, food and crumbs all over, sweaty/condensation walls, stinky sails in the sail locker – a general aroma of wet dog, but I think we’re more or less used to it. You will be surprised and alarmed to know I am not the smelliest person on the boat, which will also mean that you probably have some sympathy for me as I’m probably even down in the bottom half… pong.
Still love being up on the bow – the other day we we’re up there for a while changing sails which involved me sat outside the boat on the pulpit/bow sprit – the very pointy end – to pull down the sail from the leech as it drops and try to flake it (fold it in a sort of order). That is my favourite job on the boat as it means you get the full view back to the rest of the boat and an unobstructed view out to sea. The waves were really heavy so we were crashing through them and they were just absolutely washing over us, nice warm water though at this point fortunately, which makes a massive difference. It was pretty full on, with one of the guys up there will me joking ‘you know its bad when you have to breath in’. It is crazy when you see these huge waves piling towards you but I genuinely haven’t felt scared once – apart from maybe the time when I was in the cockpit and the wind overpowered our sails and we nearly breeched (ended up sideways in the water) until our coxon shouted “DUMP THE VANG” which meant releasing some ropes which de-powered the sail and then we righted again pretty much instantly. A bit of excitement though!
Have you read the blogs? The last one I did was about night watch. I’ve written a few and my latest was a poem, I’ve put it below in case not. Mum will bloody love it. We’re sailing under spinnaker now, which is a ginormous sail which billows out in front of the boat. There is a really funny blog from another crew about how to recreate what we do with the spinnaker on dry land, I’ll copy that below too as its pretty accurate.
We’re still getting flying fish making a jump for the boat. One hit someone in the face the other day which was obviously one of the funniest things we’ve ever seen. They are pretty gross though, they can fly for ages, so creepy! We have to keep checking they haven’t accidentally got below decks, as you can imagine, that would be even worse than the smells we’re already dealing with.
Any way, thank you for my emails, I love getting them. Can you please pass all of this on to everyone? Less than a week to go…madness.
Love you lots,
Fran
My poem;
Spinnaker TV
The wind turns, the call is made,
To hoist the kite before light fades.
Up, up, up she goes,
Bundles of fabric, throw by throw.
Catching the wind wherever she blows,
The luff and the leech, fills and bows.
She whips and cracks, and then suddenly tranquil,
The sail and sheets come to a standstill.
So facing forwards with all eyes on her,
Milking the attention, it begs to wonder,
What did we look at before this journey?
As we all focus on the Spinnaker TV
The sunlight drops and brings the challenge,
Of steering the kite without any damage.
Moments of calm, then calls to grind,
In the early hours, it plays with your mind.
All eyes peeled to avoid some ’emotion’,
Don’t want to wake Roy with a commotion.
So two on the grinders and one on the sheet,
The helm in control of keeping her sweet.
Until day breaks again with a sigh of relief,
That she hasn’t collapsed in the night in a heap.
As the wind turns again, we bring her down,
Safely back towards the ground.
Blow the tackline and ease her in,
Shove her below deck to our crew with a grin,
Because now is where the real work starts,
Wooling her corners together in parts.
Into the bag and away she goes,
Ready for when we next need her the most.
So for now we can all remain upbeat,
As we eat, sleep, sail, repeat.
Other crews blog on spinnaker wooling;
Curtesy of Mark Tucker CV30
GREAT Britain Crew Blog: Day 25 – Build your own woolling simulator!
Here on board GREAT Britain we know you love to follow us online and in spirit, but now we’ve teamed up with our friends at the General Woollers Union to come up with this helpful guide to building a woolling simulator to give you a taste of ocean racing at home!
You will need:
Several large pieces of fabric. About the size of a tennis court should suffice. Have your favourite haberdasher trim each into a rough triangle. These will be your kites.
A small caravan.
Friends or family.
A child’s paddling pool. Fill with water.
Wool. Colour and fleck to your preference but a brighter shade will bring joy to your day.
A rugby team (optional).
A fiery furnace or 100 stage lights (optional).
Blackout curtains and dim red lights (optional).
Patience.
A good sense of humour.
Plenty of tea.
Basic simulation
Install at least one of your friends in each of the carvan bunks and allow them to slumber; it is your mission for them to remain asleep until you’ve finished. Get into the caravan and shut the door. Have your remaining friends take one of the kites and dip it into the paddling pool. Once thoroughly wet, ask them to bundle, twist and generally contort it before feeding it to you through the caravan skylight. Now your fun begins!
The first step is to make sure it’s flat by removing the twists. Start at one of the triangle corners (we suggest taking it up to the end of the caravan with the vase of plastic flowers and copy of Puzzler), work your way down the edges until your as sure as you can be it’s flat.
Top GWU Tip: You’ll never be completely sure! Once you’re happy, bring forth the wool for now the actual woolling can begin! Starting at each of the corners, roll the edges in on each other and tie with a short length of wool. Aim to use as much or as little wool as possible depending on your mood; as a rough guide every inch is too often, every meter too little.
Work in from each of the corners to form a three pointed star of which Mercedes would be proud – get it wrong and nappy rash will be your downfall! Once complete, take your star and carefully pack into one of those blue bags from your favourite Swedish home store that everyone has in their cupboard. Stuff into the wardrobe. Drink tea.
Advanced Simulation 1 – Multiple Kites
As above, but ask your friends to stuff multiple kites through the skylight consectuively; the less time you have between drops the more fun you’ll have!
Advanced Simulation 2 – Night Kites
As per the basic simulation, but use the blackout curtains to make the caravan dark and push your woolling to a whole new level. The use of dim, red light is permitted.
Advanced Simulation 3 – Heavy Seas Kites
Employ the services of your local rugby team to violently rock the caravan as you work. Both sideways and forwards/backwards motion is encouraged – the more random, the more violent the more fun!
Advanced Simulation 4 – Tropical Kites
Make use of your fiery furnace or shine your stage lights to really heat things up! It’s what you wear that really makes this simulation shine. This year for him it’s all about turquoise silk boxers whilst for her, sweaty sports casual will really see you stand out from the crowd.
Advanced Simulation 5 – Multiple Night Heavy Seas Tropical Kites
This simulation is not recommended. Just say no.
We hope you enjoy your simulation as much as we have enjoyed bringing it to you.
This simulation is fully endorsed by the General Woollers Union. GWU: Working for our flock.
fransbigsail 