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Aretha - Managing Tiredness, Shackleton and Baby Sunglass Chic



You know that thing where your mind plays tricks with you? Yes? Well that.

Having covered over 2,000 miles and seeing that you only have 700 miles to go, you think you’re almost there. You can see it across the team - the energy rises dreaming of turquoise Caribbean seas, rum punches and catching up with family and friends. The trick of course is that 700 miles is still a shed load of sailing. Equivalent in fact to our first voyage from Southampton down to Spain. No small feat and there is no room for complacency. At the skippers daily briefing today, we focus on staying safe, having fun and remembering to work as a team. We need to stay alert and focused.

It’s interesting to observe the signs of tiredness in both yourself and the team. Two weeks at sea now is a reasonable length of time. We are all getting on incredibly well but there are some signs of fatigue. Silly mistakes creeping in like taking the wrong clutch off the winch or shaking a reef out without releasing the reefing lines. In myself, I can sense some grumpiness - a sure sign I’m tired. I reflect. The past few days have been glorious sunshine and light downwind sailing. We’ve been on deck more and sleeping less. I encourage all the crew to take their full rest today and make sure their batteries are topped up. It seems to be working - at this evenings meal (another cracker from Jani), all the team are rating their energy levels at 8 out of 10 or higher. A well fed, happy and energised crew and fundamental to everything at sea.

Reality check in place. We feel in good shape for the last 700 miles and are taking nothing for granted. With the regular position reports, there is the temptation to race, but the watchword is always safety. For us, this is a marathon, not a sprint and we all need to be in good shape for our adventures beyond the Caribbean.

Learning continues on board. Whipping lessons from Paul, Columbus makes his first monkeys fist using the app on my phone for guidance and this evenings lecture from Paul is on legends of the sea. He has the rapt attention from both Bluebell and Columbus as he share stories of Shackleton, Joshua Slocum, Pete Goss, Tony Bullimore and many more.

Todays fishing isn’t great. We lose 2 lures. We surmise some big fish are out here and snapped the line in both cases. Moby Dick is clearly waiting for us to land him. We try again tomorrow - Chef’s instructions - we need fresh fish for lunch. The best time is early morning so we have fishing to crack on with at first light.

The weather is warm and balmy. Windows are open to get breeze running through the boat and Bluebell has taken to sleeping in the saloon to get more fresh air.

Quote of the day for me - Willow walking around with her nappy on. Sunglasses tucked in with one arm into the nappy. Are you cool Willow I ask? Yeah comes back the response as if to say did you really have to ask.

Over and out from a hot and focused team Aretha

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