Crew attempting to sleep in rough conditions. Image copyright Hamish Hooper.
by Hamish Hooper
Sleep was pretty much a non-event last night; every wave CAMPER hit propelled me forward inch by inch down my bunk. I kept waking to find my legs off the end of the bunk in a puddle of water. Every waking moment was spent pulling myself and bedding back to starting position in preparation for the next gradual slip.
I was happy to hear I wasn’t the only one with this problem. Nico asked me if I slept well, I thought about it, smiled and said “No”. He laughed and said, “Well you would be a liar if you said yes!”. He had the same problem.
Not much has changed today. Well actually it has, we tacked at 6am. After two long days and nights, the boys headed up on deck for another sail change. I hear a few comments that after little sleep the sails feel even heavier than they did the last time they moved them. The good thing is we are heading in the right direction- unfortunately the wind direction hasn’t changed so it’s still from the north.
Another long day beating into 35 knots of wind. I see what they mean when they say this race is an endurance battle. The good thing is hours seem to pass quite quickly, despite the monotony and with each hour & mile passing, it’s one more hour & one more mile less until things look up – I just don’t know how many hours & miles I need to keep counting down...
The guys begin coming up with appropriate names for East Cape, in consideration of the conditions we have had. The fact that I can’t repeat any of them will indicate their feelings toward it right now.
Salty asked me what I am going to eat when I get home, which is an extremely good question – I love questions like this. I dwell on it for considerable time narrow it down to a burger – a big one. But am still working out exactly where I will get the burger from; McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s, Murder Burger, Burger Wisconsin, Burger fuel... I think at this stage Burger Fuel is odds on favorite. Like most things out here, this could very easily change, and right now I like the thought of change.
CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand
Volvo Ocean Race
