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October 22 2008

They’re finally off

This morning it looks like the boats have finally broken free of the doldrums.  With the guys to the west of Team Russia making all the gains at the moment, Navigator Wouter Verbraak shares his thoughts on the race so far,

In pre-race interviews people ask me about the Doldrums. My reply is: with the new code zero’s the Doldrums have become much less of an issue. Me and my big mouth! The Doldrums put us through some real character building stuff. Patience, determination and focus are crucial whilst wind gods throw random patches of wind at us. A swift crossing in a day? Forget it, try two days and counting.

Whereas the beginning of the Doldrums was good for us, yesterday we found ourselves sliding backwards through the fleet on the back of a big snake. Light headwinds blocked our way South to the trades, whilst the westerly boats are climbing their ladder with more easterly winds.

Frustrating? You bet! Are we hanging our heads? Now way! Next puff, next patch, and get to the next cloud line. Clouds are wind and that little extra two knots puff gets us onto the highway to Fernando that little bit quicker.

On the upside the Doldrums give us all a good opportunity to fix stuff in our areas. A personal highlight of yesterday was the resurrection of our state of the art GPS compass. It died a couple of days ago and so far got dropped down the priority list as the weather took charge. Quite some determination involved as the electronics tool bag was missing in action for a few days. Usually this means it is at the very bottom of the two-meter pile of food bags, personal bags, boat repair kits, and sails in the front of the boat. This time no exception as a fifteen-minute digging operation proved, but some basic electrical engineering later, and now we have our second compass up and running again. Yes!

What else is going on? Basically we are hanging out here with the boys and telling jokes and stories as we are going along. Sailing stories are big as are our previous conquests and ‘car crashes’ with girls. Sure you have all done the ‘what was the oldest girl you ever had sex with?’ chat, now try and follow that up with ‘and how old is she now?’ With some people in there forties you might be surprised! All good stuff that keeps a smile on our face and us looking forward to the next opportunity.

Big topic amongst us tough guys though is the concern about the lack of proper shower facilities. Usually the Doldrums have no shortage of this, but this crossing the power shower from the sky is failing us in a terrible way. The shampoo bottle is ready to go in the companionway, but is yet to be used. The special quick drying towels have been dug up from our personal bags; yet lie unused in the corner. Etiquettes on degrees of nakedness whilst sailing in squalls have been agreed on, but have yet to be enforced.

Some guys that have had a salt-water shower in anticipation of the rain are stuck with a sticky layer of salt on the skin that today has them itching and scratching. The laundry program is also running well behind, so there is a general sense of crisis building on the boat; how we are going to be able to present ourselves in Cape Town? Saving our stealth card so we can play it for the first 12 hours on shore has been decided so far as the best solution should matters not improve!