The travel to Subic Bay was comfortable and uneventful. I took a flight from Hamburg to Dubai and from Dubai to Clark International Airport. My first time on the Philippines. The arrangement for the 1 hour transfer to Subic Bay worked out perfectly. I had a long conversation with the driver. He assumed that I am coming for holiday, Scuba Diving and the happiness of Philippine girls. But when I told him what we are up too he was overwhelmed. He wanted to know all the details and I guess he was thinking that we are a bit crazy choosing a hot bunk and wet experience to seek for happiness. Because what he said was that happiness is what needs to rule the life. A balanced mood, a well settled life and enough relaxation to enjoy this world. Happiness and friendliness seem to be the ruler of this country as I should find out later. I took my hotel room, made some phone calls, answered Emails and finally fell asleep. 8 hour time difference provided me with an easy and early start. Where is Black Betty? Looked at the race tracker and yes around 8 o clock they should be here, my team, my crew. I got a bit distracted finishing my last blog before I realized that it was already 07:30 and I might run late for arrival. I rushed for breakfast and saw through the window how Black Betty came into the bay. I stepped out of the hotel but had underestimated the walking distance. Long story short, I was late. But Dean and Becca were already there with the famous poster „Welcome home WTC“. I rushed to the pontoon and there she was, Black Betty and its crew.
The bucket of beer and ice cold drinks was already on deck and the crew went through health inspection. Big hellos with Nigel, Susie, Dan, Lizzy, Ben, Kaz, Rachel, Spophie, Gareth, Jasmine, Kate, Melanie, Micheal, Paul and Laurence. I also had the chance to say hi to skipper Rich which I never met before. These guys were excited but you also could feel how tired some of them were. And the stress and work paid its tolls. Almost everybody lost lots of weight. I have to be honest, I almost did not recognize Nigel. I mean in L4 training he was strong and robust and now – slim like a model for a fashion show. The crew came in well prepared as they had to motor for 20 hours. Rich used the time to get deep clean started which allowed them to take this arrival day off and start relaxing and recovering. After a short time on the pontoon everybody charged off to the bar, a bar with 24 hour service and air-conditioned.
Lots of stories came across about the experience. This race was tough. It was a short leg but very intense and with changing weather conditions. It was warm though out the route. But their was a fair amount of beating against the wind. There was a good portion of living at 45° angle. Loads of sail changes, moments of frustration in wind holes. Susie reported how tired and exhausted she was at times but how good to see that there was a strong team behind that stood up for each other. A media reporter was guest and she left the boat with a tear in her eyes as this team – WTC here and now – showed what it means to be a happy boat with ambition. Great deal – well done team. In the meantime three new loggers for leg 6 showed up making it a total of 5 now. Dean cheered already the incoming Black Betty, Michael, David and Stephen arrived. Big hellos and more stories as also same stories again. How the halyard of the kite blew and BB ran over it, how much work is waiting for sail repair, how tired everyone was, how this hole race worked out. But around 11 the gathering was called off. Everybody got invited to the crew meeting at 3pm.
At three PM we all met in „The Lagoon“ and open restaurant at a small lake. It was obvious that the power nap had revitalized lots of energy of the crew and that there was a thirst of us newbies finding out what we will be up to. But most importantly we celebrated the „Happy Boat“ crew.
Ad for Laurence it was a great afternoon. She managed to find prime food for her – a baguette. These little things make a big difference. Happy she-
And it became obvious that the crew had to catch up what they missed out on when they were had sea. A big campaign was started to overcome dehydration and on top re nutrition was paramount. In minutes (or lets say by the speed of the waiters half hours) the table was full of goodies.
Happy hours with good discussions. I enjoyed feeling at home. And the loggers from leg 5 celebrated their farewell too. At around 05:30 it was time to head over to the club. There were a few leftovers of liquid on the table which we quickly put into Richs bag. This would help us to get through the night. Price giving was waiting for us.
We did make it to the podium this time. We also were not in time for scoring gates. But one victory was on us. We did win the Ocean sprint to the South beating Qingdao. § points for us plus 1 point for the wooden spoon gave us 4 points. But other than that Qingdao did it all being awarded with 19 points for this race, 11 for the race win, and two time 3 points for the two scoring gates – congratulation. And it was also announced that we will have a 05:30 pm meeting today to be explained how we continue on leg 6 from here. Where will we go? Loads of speculation.
And as usual, al the pressure had to be offloaded – party. For sure the teams enjoyed themselves with life music, sandwiches, Mac and cheese and proper refreshments.
Tomorrow we will be back in business and will resume the hard work. We will finish deep clean, start sail repair, do all maintenance on the boat, skip ad Dan will do through the planning. It will all start at 9 am and at 05.30 we will have the meeting were we will be going next. It was a good night guys – good night. Over and out
Joe Sails 