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In 'stealth mode'

Saturday, 17 October 2009

From twisters, to daydreams of a Cornish pint, Tom Gruitt shares the story from Cape Breton Island, which is currently in 'stealth mode' and battling for second place.

"Sorry for the lack of communication, we've all been busy sailing trying to catch up the miles on Spirit of Australia and put extra miles on Jamaica. Currently we are in stealth mode, so none of the fleet know where we are. We are in stealth mode for 24 hours, this will end at midnight tonight unfortunately, but hopefully we will have been gaining on the boats ahead of us.

"Due to very unpredictable light winds near Rio the race has been shortened to a headland off of Capo Frio, this is roughly a 6 hour motor sail from Rio and we should be finishing in 3 or 4 days, depending on the wind. It's looking like it's going to be a close finish between us and Spirit of Australia for second place, we have a slightly different tactic that we are sure will pay off in the long run, keep watching the tracker to find out!

"Just a few minutes ago we sailed under a lot of grey clouds and even saw a small twister reach down to the water. I grabbed my shower gel in anticipation of a nice freshwater wash on deck but was sadly denied as only a gentle spit of rain actually fell on the deck, what little rain fell was refreshing all the same.

"The temperatures here are almost unbearable, the sun feels like it penetrates through any layer of clothing and no matter how much sun cream you apply shade is needed readily. We are all glad the watermaker is still working as we are drinking litres of the stuff every day, I just long for the taste of some orange squash in my water, pure water does get boring after a while.

"On board we have mainly been talking about all the things we are looking forward to back on land and the people we want to see. The main things seem to be steak and chips, a full English breakfast and to have the option not to eat angel delight nearly every day (it does get rather sickly when you have no fridge to set it in). I think the thing I'm looking forward to most is a nice pint of Cornish ale down my local and some cheese and crackers, we only had cheese on here for the first few days before it was quickly demolished. Fresh fruit and veg all rate pretty highly among the crew, along with having a bath and sleeping in a bed that doesn't wobble from side to side. On board we only have 7 different menus for food, this means that cous cous comes up much too regularly for my liking, I always look forward to the beef stew with mashed potatoes and the Thai green prawn (from a tin) curry, it tastes better than it sounds honest! Lunch mainly consists of bread and soup, or tuna, salami or corned beef rolls. A highlight from the night watch last night was that we found a few bags of M&Ms in the cupboard, eating nice chocolate again was a luxury, but it soon disappeared and we were left with the cardboard muesli bars that no one likes.

"Hopefully my next update will be about the close of the race near Rio!"

posted by Hyde Sails at