Puma Leg Five Day 24

I spent the morning training Salty (Rob Salthouse/NZL) to be a back up MCM. We're thinking of a switch out in Rio. Maybe at the Horn if he's ready. Not sure if he’s had enough of it on deck, or if I've had enough of it down here in the hole. Either way he's already half way there because he always has great ideas, now he just has to learn all the different programmes, and we’ll be good to go. 

PS:  Just kidding about Salty's new position, we need him right where he is.

Its amazing  how many of our crews user names end with a Y or the Y sound -Salty, Kenny, Capey, Jerry, Ricky, Casey, Michi, Willy, Sidney!   Of course that still leaves Rob who could become Robby and Justin...  hmmm.  So much for that train of thought.

It just occurred to me that we’re going to miss Mardi Gras in Rio, and that’s disappointing. But it could also be a good thing. This  will put me at  three for three in Brazil (missing Mardi Gras),  although Capey (Andrew Cape – navigator) just reminded me that when the Whitbread stopped in Sao Sebastiao in 1998 they ran a Mardi Gras style parade for the visiting  fleet. As I recall it was quite impressive.

Needless to say, not much going on here today, we are just blasting along at 20 knots in the dense fog that has been with us for days now.  I can’t help thinking about the first time we sailed 400 miles in a day on the Whitbread 60.  It was really quite terrifying. Fast forward 10 years to now and it seems quite routine to sail that distance and each 400 miles takes a big chunk out of the DTF  (Distance to Finish) and brings us closer to the corner (Cape Horn). It’s ironic that people look forward to the Southern Ocean and then once there, just want to get the hell out of it.

Today was my day as minister of the interior. I was able to give the  galley and head as well a the whole boat to leeward a good going over  with hot water and the Chinese version of Dettol disinfectant. Just the smell alone made things a little more bearable and hopefully having a clean boat will pay dividends down the road if we can keep the germs at bay.

The whole forward part of the boat, where we don’t really hang out that much is experiencing major condensation. It’s caused by the temperature difference between the cold water rushing by the outside of the hull and the warmer air inside the boat. When we dive south after the next ice gates this will start to become even more of a problem in the rest of the boat. Something to look forward to. Not.

Rick Deppe - MCM