Second day in Subic Bay everybody was excited and had big expectations. Today would be the day where the decision of Clipper will be shared where we will be going. A crew brief had been scheduled at 05:30pm after the registration of the newbies, the leggers for leg 6. Speculations had been flying around for days and it was about time to understand what we have to prepare for mentally and physically.
But before we start it was time to do some work. Boats always tend to ask for a lot of work to stay in shape and offer a safe and sound experience to its crew. Theoretically the newbies were not yet on duty but no doubt we joined in for the work because there was enough to do. Finishing deep clean, starting important repairs on board and in the rigg and repairing sails so that we would get the best out of them as we go along. It was a 9am call and I managed to be late on board. What an embarrassment. The briefing what should be done was almost finished when I joined. The first of my task I stepped in was helping Kaz to empty the lazarette which basically means to get the trash out of the boat. It is not the best of the jobs because it is „fruity“ down there as the boaties tend to say. the proper translation for sure is – it stinks. Anyway it had to be done and at the end loads of double bagged black bags are piled up on the pontoon, some of them partially ripped. Gareth became our trash transport officer (TTO) and carried out he logistics to the trash pit.
Next was to bring the Code 2 to the lawn in front of the club. Susie and Laurance are our qualified sail makers responsible to keep the sails in good shape. And this time there was loads of work for them because especially the code three was not in a good shape. There was an incident out at sea where the halyard snapped on the Code 3 while sailing, the sail came down and the boat ran over it. According to Susie the sail was literally wrapped around the kiel and nothing could be done to get it out. Therefore Rich and Dan decided cutting the sail to recover it. But you will see later. At this time it was Code 2 and Code 1 that we inspected thoroughly, The Sails were in good shape and only minor repairs were required.
Code 1 and Code 2 were done fairly quickly as there was not so much repair needed. Once a while Rich came by to see what progress we were making. It was good support. He seems to be all over the place ensuring that he knows what was going on and in case to offer his help and advice. But the big challenge as mentioned before was our Code 3. I mean when we pulled it out of the bag and laid it our it became obvious that this would require major work.
The hole was big, basically the horizontal cut from the leach to the center and a vertical tear from the head down two thirds of the sail. We laid the sail out and consulted the sail maker from Hyde how bad this is in his opinion on a scale of 0-10 and he replied it would make barely a three. But for us it was huge. We were given a strategy ho to repair it most efficiently. Rinse the edges to get the salt off, tape the vertical but first, transfer the sail fro the grass to the concrete sidewalk and take it there from top to bottom. But after rinsing it it was time for lunch. Susie took us to a Deli around the corner. It was a big surprise because the food was exceptionally good.
We had to drink a lot because it was hot. The sun was high up in the sky, temperature was around 33 degrees and we were exposed. Sometimes my head felt like a shower head with sweat dripping down from all ends. I have to admit that I had to go to the bar in the boat house twice to cool down and not to pass out on the sail. It was hot, hot, hot.
But at the end of the day we wee able with the help of Martin, the sail maker fro Hyde to put the sail together. Now it was all about reinforcing it and sewing it together. But as it was 5pm already we packed the sail away in our open skied sail shop. This was for tomorrow for sure.
In the meantime we registered in. Registration was between 3 and 5pm. Our passports were taken away, Yes, now we cannot escape anymore. Impossible to book a flight this night the sneak out and hide away from the challenge. We were locked in.
And 05:30 we all gathered on the first floor of the boat house for the crew tried everybody waited for so desperately. The room was packed and for sure there was a bit of tension in there.
Mark Light and Sir Robin took the stage and after the icebreaker of the day, provided by Dare to Lead to Mark, a wet icebreaker underpants , Sir Robin explained the situation. Basically it was difficult to make a good decision which would cater for all eventualities considering quarantines, visas and so on. Qingdao, still a preferred place was out because of the risk of two weeks quarantine. South Korea, the preferred option was out because of the violent outbreak there. And finally Yokohama offered endless complications due to visa requirements for a number of crew which could not be solved easily. Therefore the decision was taken to go Subic Bay direct to Seattle. Race start would be March 21st. We would be 4 days longer at sea which means 29-33 days at best. Silence in the room. There was more to come.
In order to form the crews making sure that they will function as crew with the new guys on board another race would precede the long haul to Seattle. We would do a sprint race to the West. It would be a total of 750 miles, bit more than a Fastnet race and it would consist of three Ocean sprint. The course was set in a way that we should see fair winds but in case the wind dies on us the course could be shorten any time. This means a prep race in the warm, shorts and T-Shirt sailing but a very good exercise to get up to speed before we hit the Northern Pacific. This is with no doubt the purpose and I have to admit that this was a good call.
Obviously for the round the worlders this offered a certain challenge as the would race Phillipine waters for the three time. And considering that the last experience was nerve wracking with the unstable winds it looks like a challenge. But Sir Robin and Mark made it very clear. No opt out possible. We will be facing huge challenges and we must be well trained before we experience those. I would say overall was happy to know now and to be able to step up and adjust to the known. We know where we will be going. Lets hit it.
One more positive out of it is for sure that Stephen and I as the new victualers would have a pre stage 5 days victualing to learn what is good and works before we prepare the vistualing of the boat for the 33 day passage plus 5 extra days as reserve. This will be our big job for the week after March 15th when we will return from our sprint race.
Good night. Tomorrow 9am crew briefing on the boat, refresher training alongside and more repairs. It will be hot, hot, hot….
Joe Sails 