Greetings from Chrissy in Cape Town

Well we did it, they will be collecting their 3rd yellow winners pennant in the next few days. They look so good the 2 flying up front, now we will have a third.



Click on the image to see video footage from Cape Town

I thought I would just share my thoughts here.

Baz is helping deep clean the yacht today, huge job (everything and I mean everything has to come off and be disinfected down). None of the yachts want to have happen with what happened to Edinburgh (half the crew with the runs) which means everyone has to be so careful with hygiene.

The day they arrived into the marina was just a fabulous day. It was hot and sunny, the band was playing and we were waving our flags. I would not have missed it for the world to see Barry's happy smile.

Huge big hugs were given as, many people from Oz had said "please give him a big hug for me" so I did and I named each person/family as I did so Barry was black and blue at the end it. Nah just kidding!!!!!

Jan had texted me at about 11:00 am to say "are they over the line yet and should I open the champers?" Well they did not get into the marina till 1:30pm - they were becalmed just a few nautical miles from the finish line. Once over the line, they had to manoeuvre around for the press so that the Cape Town tabletop mountain was in the background. They then dropped their sails and turned the motor on but it was broken so that had to be fixed before they could get to the awaiting (dried as prunes in the sun) welcoming family and friends. 

This morning I went to the marina early with Baz and had another more thorough look over the yacht (like I did in Southampton before they left). 99.9% of the crew were not there as most had booked hotels for a few nights. When going down the ladder below I could smell a strange aroma of dampness and ?????, it’s a real suffocating smell, I can't imagine what it was like in the tropics. Most of the crew has said it’s pretty much unbearable.

Baz proudly showed me his bunk (he has had the same one since the UK). I hear a few of the yachts have a rotating system each leg. When the yacht is keeled over they try to keep the weight to the high side, so when a person comes off watch they, wake you up, you roll your sleeping bag up and they roll theirs out and sleep in the same bunk. I believe it’s called ‘hot bunking’.

The galley is just something else - nobody has a real good word about mothering duties, but they have a fabulous rice cooker (bought in Rio) and it worked its little butt off the whole leg. Baz was pleased with the rice cooker as he does not like pasta (which is nearly every 2nd night) remembering there is no fridge or freezer on this yacht.  He has lost soo much weight, his clothes are absolutely falling off him. I have never seen Barry look so thin. He used to have thick chunky legs but now that he cannot do a walk everyday like he used too, his legs are really slimmed down. We have to go buy some new clothes (especially warm ones) in Cape Town. The next race Cape Town to Geraldton WA is a long (over 20 days) and extremely cold leg. 

Team mate Wayne Reed (left) with BAMO

Quite a few of the yachties want to know what GCA secrets are for coming first all the time. Wayne Reed – a RTW Aussie larrikin from Townsville tells them if the leg is approx 16 days long (Clipper require take you on extra days food just in case you take a lot longer) that GCA work in reverse - they take less food than 16 days worth, so the crew work harder so they don't run out of food. He tells people it also makes the yacht lighter with less food. LOL. We'll I have seen it myself a few crewies have believed him!!!!!!!!

Wayne’s wife Heather (RTW) was on DLL from UK to Rio, then after she left Madeira she got sick (flu) and on arrival the doc said she could not continue she had to fly home to recuperate for the Rio to Cape Town leg. She is now back on DLL. Clipper does not place partners or husband and wives on the same yachts.

As I write one of our crew Lucia has gone to the hospital (she may have cracked sternum as a wave knocked her down the other day and she fell hard on some equipment on the deck).

There’s no doubt about it Richie - the skipper drives the crew hard, so I guess that’s why they enjoyed throwing him overboard shortly after their arrival.

The crew have organised a bus to take us all to the wineries tomorrow and do a bit of sightseeing of Cape Town surrounds.

Gotta go now, we are going out to tea with some of the crew. In the next few days Baz will post something to the blog. He’s looking forward to seeing all the photos/race viewer etc etc on the Clipper website - they don’t see any of this info out there, only us armchair yachties know what’s going on.

Toodles,

Chrissy