Puma Leg Five Day 23

The sea’s got that look about it today..... emptiness.  The fog enveloped us earlier today so we're sort of sailing around in a grey bubble. The fleet is spread out over a few hundred square miles of  ocean so no danger of running into any of those guys, and any ship out  here would be running the AIS (automatic identification system), so  we'd pick them up,  and they us long before any collision could occur   Capey  (Andrew Cape – navigator) also has the radar running.  Additionally we are well to the  north of the  Ice gate which was positioned very conservatively in the  first place, it's not really cold at all, other than the damp, probably  brought on by the fog.

A few hours ago we put up the A0.  It’s sort of a utility sail that can be used in a very wide range of conditions, an excellent sail for the Southern Ocean. The great thing about the A0 is that when it’s up you’re going fast in the right direction.

The conditions onboard have improved a little bit ... not so heeled  and not so bouncy, therefore a great chance for me to start catching  up on a bit of media work, generally when the weather is rough I  concentrate on shooting footage and taking still's. And then when things ease up a bit I dive into the editing and picture selection work. I tend to pull mammoth work sessions, it’s probably not the best way to go about things but I find that once the work starts flowing, I have to go with it.

When he comes off watch and eats his food before jumping in his bunk,   Sid (Sidney Gavignet/FRA) usually likes to eat and watch me work. He says, ‘what do you have to show me Ricky’?  So I show him my latest video sequence or set of still pics. Usually he's marginally impressed, but today he said, ‘you've done better’. Cheeky bloody Frenchman! I think it's because I've been interviewing Rob Greenhalgh a lot this leg, maybe Sid is worried about Rob stealing some of his airtime! Honestly I do try to spread the love and work with everyone.  It’s got to be tough for the crew having media around them 24/7, and some like it less than others. I think I've got them figured out by now.

Our Kiwi’s Justin Ferris, Rob Salthouse and Erle Williams are very happy today... and that’s a good thing....  Jess (also a Kiwi) our team nutritionist and chef who also helps out with the packing of the food that comes on the boat, managed to sneak three cans of some special New Zealand lemonade called L & P.  I have a feeling that they were supposed to coincide with us being off of that same little country, unfortunately we got the bags mixed up and day 21 and 22 ended up coming out before 19 and 20.

Rick Deppe MCM