Log Entry No 3 - 10th April 08. (Discoverer)

FROM THE CAPTAINS CABIN

Leg 7 - Crew.

To use an adjective from a previous leg – the weather has been pretty ‘sporty’ over the last 3 days, with Force 10 winds and big seas. Discoverer has been well up to the challenge and the crew have ‘earnt their spurs’ as well. Some of them despite bad bouts of sea-sickness and wet clothing – ‘hats off to all of them’.

NAV CHECK

Leg 7 - Crew.

The weather has improved today and it is now getting noticeably warmer – we might be treated to some more bad weather but at least it will be warm. Andy Olby has just come off watch and said; “It is gorgeous up there now.” Ollie is busy applying some suncream before going on deck to check.

We have been accompanied by a number of small sea birds, the skipper’s albatross ‘Albert’ (who has been with us through thick and thin) and, on one occasion, Sam Harper announced that he had just seen a fin in the water.

THE VIEW FROM THE FOREDECK:

Leg 7 - Life Jackets.

Now that most of the crew have found their sea legs, we have all settled down comfortably into the watch system. We were all a little surprised at the ferocity of the sea that we encountered between the nights of the 7th and 8th, at times, we were hanging on to anything we could, as the yacht became alarmingly horizontal and the boom scraped the tops of the waves!

The crew weathered the storms well and got through the tough moments of raising and lowering sails in the near darkness whilst being thrown around on the foredeck by the waves. We have been going through life jackets like they’re going out of fashion as the waves are triggering the inflation valves when they hit. We currently have four inflated jackets in the sail store. At least we know they work!

Now the weather has calmed down slightly, the crews efforts to dry out have been reasonably successful, although Andy Olby ruined Jim’s efforts this morning when he ‘accidentally’ helmed the bow into a big wave. Sam also got a soaking yesterday afternoon when he was replacing a life buoy on the stern and was swamped by a big breaker.

Morale is being kept high by two things: Gray’s food preparation has been excellent, (even when he’s rocking around the kitchen he still achieves very tasty meals) - thanks Gray; also, James’ and Ollie’s constant quoting around meal times of Ricky Gervais’s ‘The Office’ have given us a lot of laughs. When James asked Ollie his role on this yacht, ‘humour’ was his modest reply.

Spr Ryan Ostler