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Scarlet Oyster - Scarlet Oyster ARC Blog Update Thursday 4th Dec 2014




Day 11! The start seems another world away. We are fully into the routine
having reached halfway on Day 8 ... This was celebrated in style with a
bottle of Veuve Cliquot and a few Abba and Bob Marley tunes blaring out of
the Yacht's sound system... 'Ebbe' (one of our Swedish crew members) used to
work for the Abba Museum... It is therefore him that I blame for the fact
that my memorable 'half way' celebration point in the Mid Atlantic will now
always be tarnished with 'Super Trooper' and 'Mamma Mia'! :)

The ARC race it would appear is clearly a 'bucket list' item for all of the
8 non regular crew.... One of the crew mentioned that is was No. 6 on his
list, which inevitably led to inquiries about No.s 1-5... The subsequent
chatting in the cockpit by the crew on watch and inevitable loss of
concentration led to frustrated calls from the skippers for steering way
from our most effective course! For our two professionals (Co-Skippers Ross
and Mark) it is an opportunity to make ARC history with a potential 1st win
for Mark and a record 5th (4th on this yacht) for Ross. Between them they
have racked up over 20 Atlantic crossings.

The ARC was certainly a 'Bucket List' event for me. I came into this trip
with my eyes open, not fully knowing what to expect. I am a amateur sailor,
have sailed as a hobby most of my life, but have never been on an Ocean
going trip. I envisaged many scenarios... Battened down hatches with gale
force winds blowing overhead... And endless blue seas whilst getting a
suntan. The reality is somewhere between the two... Clouds, rain, sunshine
and a little bit of sleep deprivation and a lot of body odour! I work for a
large Investment Bank and am, by nature, a very competitive person. The one
thing that had surprisingly never really occurred to me when embarking on
this trip was the possibility of us actually winning the overall class and
event. The exciting reality of that happening is becoming ever closer with
only 4/5 days left to go (depending upon weather conditions). We are
currently still leading both our class and the overall race (based upon
handicap adjustments). This is clearly a fantastic position to be in, but it
also adds a great deal of pressure to the team and we all know that nothing
is certain until we reach the finish line. It is both ours to win and ours
to lose and 4 days and 800 miles is still a very long way to go. Any
mistake, spinnaker damage, poor course or simply bad luck of falling into a
'hole' (an area of no wind) can cost us everything.

Apart from Ross and Mark, we are amateur sailors and this is first Trans
Atlantic Crossing for us all. Life onboard this 45' yacht is not very
glamorous. 10 guys in a confined space inevitably leads to, although Mark
did comment on the fact that we were a particularly messy crew! Although
girls would be very welcome aboard for the race, I wouldn't envy them right
now if they were!! With nothing but endless water and our sleep patterns
being hugely messed up from the 3/2/3 hour watch system, little things
become more important... Imagine 'Big Brother' on yachts! We are all having
bizarre dreams, have developed the ability to sleep through noise and sail
changes (some more tactical than others!) and food is a constant topic of
discussion. Food improves crew morale no end... Mark has been dishing up
some great dishes (much better than I was expecting if I am honest!)
although he admits himself that there are only so many things that you can
do with meat, pasta, rice and potatoes... However the disappearance of the
apples/oranges and the infamous 'cheese stealing' incident has caused a few
rumbles amongst the crew! :) We have even had crew 'discussions' about the
rationing of baby wipes.... Yes BABY WIPES!! Other such incidents include
when I had a flying fish fly straight into me whilst I was on the helm the
other night. It fell by my feet and was flapping about whilst I was trying
to steer a strict course, much to my crewmates amusement... I think the word
'pussy' was used by our USA Bowman! Speaking of whom, Joe adopted the name
'Goldylocks' the other night after I found him asleep in my sleeping bag...
Porridge was not served in the morning though as we had run out. The sun has
been beating down over the past few days and so we have all been trying to
get a base tan in before we hit St Lucia. To the great amusement of the crew
I have managed to get a suntan clearly displaying hand prints where I can
reach round to my own back... I'll be spending the next few days trying to
reverse the affect. All minor examples of things that keep the Nautical
Miles ticking over with some amusement, but I appreciate back home they are
probably frankly rather droll!

Ross I gather is pleased with our performance especially given the strong
competition this year. We have gelled well as a team, are constantly driving
hard and despite settling into a routine, the simple truth is we are tired,
at times out of our comfort zone and are occasionally making unforced
errors. With only 4/5 days to go, we are absolutely loving it!!

Cy Lloyd Jones
Crew Member ARC 2014, Thursday 4th December

P.S. Love to my family and friends. Missing you all xx




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