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Thursday 12 May 2011

Wednesday - a beautiful morning, but no wind!


And with tide change during the night we had hardly moved. On the other hand, I think everyone had the best night’s sleep yet! So to make the most of the calm water my personal mission was a shower! All the daily mundane things you take for granted suddenly become very difficult indeed: brushing your teeth; putting your socks on; showering and shaving … I imagine it's a bit like being in space!

The shower is about the same size as an upright coffin and once inside – with door shut and no light – there is the most-generous five litres of cold water available! Trying to have a shave is most frustrating as the mirror is on the back of the coffin door where there is also a sink about the same size as a shot glass. Once inside, with your face is close to the mirror and without any elbow space it is virtually impossible to manoeuvre the razor. And that's my theory why sailors have beards!

The wind dropped dramatically around 10am and the noise of the limp swaying sails sounded like a novice clown endlessly practicing making balloon animals!

Leslie was worrying about how quick the sails could go up and back down again so made us practice! I was paired with Jamie and allocated the flying jib we practiced with Leslie timing us and managed to get from 1minute 32secs down to an impressive 33 seconds although we did improve significantly when he said no sausages for lunch unless 35 seconds or under! We got our sausages and if you know your sails and the flying jib doesn't come down quick enough on the day you will know who is responsible!

We ambled along towards Guernsey........

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