Day 11 - Party... Rona 2 Style

Day 11

Today started out of sorts with a late wakeup call at 9am, a nice change to the usual 6am rise. Work then started immediately on cleaning the decks before a light brunch; consisting of waffles, fresh fruit and porridge, was served at 11am – Banged out by white watch, who were on their usual top form. With everyone a bit more awake, thoughts turned to the crew sports teams. Rona entered teams for basketball and football as well as tug of war. It seems that sport is not our strong point as we sadly just missed out on winning the sports, however this is mainly due to Ben W impaling his face on Swedish football player’s head, resulting in what has been described as ‘pain and lots of mess’ (ice was administered and he is now fine). A lack of substitutes at this point meant that we lost our opener 4-0, however, numbers were soon made up by the employment of some friendly Mexicans who also happened to turn up.

                During the day we also showed many members of the public around Rona and explained all about the project, most seemed very surprised that 23 people could fit into such a small space! As the crew retuned from the battlegrounds (read sports fields), White watch continued to keep morale high as they prepared Thai Chicken Curry, received happily by all the crew, as per. Thoughts then turned to the crew party, involving the production of various punches and ice coolers, by the bucketful. The party was a huge success with over 250 people arriving, everyone making new friends and taking part in games such a beer bobbing (credit goes to Charlie for coming up with this one, turns out the Russians were very good at this.) This continued long into the night (and following morning, much to our neighbours’ delight) before winding down, and the crew all grabbing a few hours of much needed sleep … (by which we mean crashing into any empty bunks).

               

Day 10 - Water Bombing Helsinki

Day 10

After grabbing a few hours of much needed sleep we left Tallinn to cross the Gulf of Finland at 2am, our final sail together! Favourable winds enabled a speedy passage, and we had crossed the 50 miles to Helsinki by 9.

But there was no let up when we arrived, lunch needed to be prepared and everything needed to be made shipshape, meaning raising flags and scrubbing decks.  After a tiny portion miscalculation the crew were provided with a veritable pizza/soup/cheesecake feast for lunch by blue watch.

The afternoon consisted largely of water bomb exchanges with other crews, including Russians with baseball bats. Largely damage inflicted was greater than that received, although a fluke shot did make it below deck, leading to some significant gravy spillage. Otherwise the roast dinner, led by James, was spectacular, and left everyone completely stuffed except for Jonny, who claimed he could have eaten more in spite of consuming roughly half his bodyweight in sweet potato mash alone.

In the evening we went to a pirate themed party on a Russian ship. Ross provided everyone with pirate flags and a few used Lizzie’s eyeliner to draw an impressive array of scars and tattoos (which were apparently almost as painful as the real thing). The boat was a replica 1703 frigate and was absolutely magnificent. A good time was had by all and we went to bed looking forward to crew sports tomorrow.

Day 9 - The Delights of Talinn

Day 9 – Blog Entry by Red Watch

Dawn broke over the calm waters and quiet atmosphere of the harbour of Tallinn, Estonia… for all of about 10 seconds, before the crew of the Rona II returned from a celebratory night on the town. Having strict instructions to remain on best behaviour and to avoid getting too drunk, the crew set about getting completely “responsibled”, with the afterguard leading from the front in spectacular fashion. The early hours saw chunder dragons, Cornetto antics and boat jumping from several of the crew, much to the amusement of the more sober among us.

Having managed to survive the night with only one set of lost clothes, one bunk swap and one faceplant, the crew awoke for a “late” start of around 9:00am, nursing varying degrees of hangovers, injuries and memories (or lack thereof). Red Watch however, were awakened much earlier (6:00am), by the supposed animation of Snowy MkII, the crew’s inflatable dolphin mascot, demanding breakfast. Much to our disappointment, this turned out to be the drunken idea of two of our esteemed Watch Leaders, having decided to hit the motherwatch members repeated saying “It’s time for breakfast”.

The day began with basic boat restoration, namely feeding and watering the crew, cleaning the boat inside and out, and restocking with essential supplies, including making what can only be described as the booze run of the century in preparation for the boat party in Helsinki. The haul included such classics as “A. Le Coq” lager, “Fizz” cider and a randomly named Vodka (which will likely be akin to drinking paint stripper combined with cough mixture). Other supplies included crew personal drinks and water balloons, essential ammunition for the planned round two with the German crew, Espirit.

The remainder of the day was spent relaxing after the hard work of the race, and the members of each watch each found their own separate ways of spending this new found free time, whether it be water balloon hot potato, chilling in the sauna (albeit with the rather awkward appearance of a random naked stranger) or buying additional supplies for the week ahead (and trying not to drop them everywhere!).

Another interesting development was Charlie’s abdication of Red Watch (or now more aptly named, Storm Watch) in favour of Snowy the Dolphin (who had only that day mastered climbing the mast!). Snowy, now the Watch Officer for Storm Watch, now relays all orders for the watch through Charlie, who has now taken up the mantle of dolphin communications expert.

With great anticipation for the days ahead, and the sail to Helsinki planned overnight, the crew are ready, willing and able to hit the crew parties, crew sports and boat parties hard!

QOTD: meep meep meep [Snowy the Dolphin]

 

Day 8 - We Finnish the Race (geddit?)

Day 8 – as told by White Watch

 

With promises of being woken up to cross the finish line at 0300, the crew were surprised when they were woken for breakfast instead, albeit thankful for the extra sleep. As it turned out, the sea had become eerily calm, and the sails hung loose… a mere 4 miles from the finishing line! The ensuing hours were just as meagre, with the Rona II slowly drifting towards the line, after being overtaken by seaweed and bubbles. Eventually, however, with the lucky winner of the prize draw, James, helming the boat, the crew, Mate, and Skipper celebrated joyously with rowdy cheers, cries, and sea shanties, as we submitted our finishing time of 12:13:56 to race control, with the total distance raced at a grand total of 632 miles.

The engine now on for the first time since the race began, everyone on board the Rona II enjoyed the 700% increase in speed, as the boat skimmed over the water to the port of Tallinn. The time thereafter was well spent cleaning and tidying, with White Watch once again proving that they are just as good below deck, as they are on it. After momentarily waiting for the large cruise ships to leave the harbour, the Rona II finally drew up alongside in the Old City Marina, much to the gratification of the crew, and, after a hasty use of the port’s shower facilities, the noses of said crew.

The rest of the evening was given to the crew to do with as they wished. Leaving Josh, and the faithful dolphin Snowy, to guard the boat, the rest of the crew leisurely made their way to a local pub, to enjoy beverages, other than water and squash, that had not been served during the voyage. At a respectable hour, and after Joe had found somewhere to buy an ice cream, the intrepid explorers made their way back to the marina, and, finding the boat undisturbed, soon drifted off into a well deserved sleep.

Day 7 - Time For a Swim...

Blog Day .7

After almost universal predictions yesterday of a speedy finish, the day began with a perplexing loss of wind that continued until midday. Although this was frustrating in racing terms, it gave the crew some well-deserved relaxation time.  Red and white watch were the main beneficiaries, lounging on the afterdeck reading and listening to music, while blue watch slaved away in the galley using what little fresh ingredients we had to concoct Spanish (ish) omelettes and chocolate rice crispie cakes.

When the boat speed hit zero we plunged into the Baltic, led by Stu’s magnificent leap on Snowy 2^nd (an inflatable dolphin). Some swung off the boat on halyards, others took the opportunity to have a quick wash, and even Chris and Gavin joined the merriment. Soon though there was a puff of wind and we sped off into the distance at a whopping 2 knots.

A certain member of white watch managed to alienate his team using water balloons, and was evicted into his own ‘Judas watch’. In the meantime the boat was picking up speed and we passed our final waypoint cruising at 6 knots. The bread accompanying lunch went down notably well, and chicken curry for dinner was also well received.

At the end of the day Andy unleashed a week’s worth of brown hell on the heads. This was juxtaposed with a glorious sunset, after which many claimed they saw a ‘blue flash’. By bed time all were eagerly anticipating the finish line.

Quote of the day: “There is nothing wrong with my bowels” Andy

 

 

Day Five - Storm over Gotland

Blog Day 5 by Blue Watch

The first six hours of the day where spent doing sail changes as we rounded the island of Bornholm – mizzen staysail down, spinnaker replaced with the big number one genoa, and then finally the genoa being peeled back for the spinnaker again. We then hoisted the mizzen staysail again. Nearly every sail in the locker had been used before breakfast… By breakfast the cruising chute was raised, dropped and replaced by the genoa AGAIN. To keep ourselves awake, a new drink was invented… the Moccachino – one spoon of hot choc, and one spoon of instant coffee.

A hard morning of deckwatch was rewarded with a welcome surprise breakfast of pancakes served for breakfast thanks to Jonny’s ingredients and Oli’s pancake flipping skills, perfected on the 23^rd attempt. This was in spite of a 20 degree tilt of the boat which forced the cooker to be tilted as far forward as it could be.

There were strong winds throughout the day, gusting to 27 knots at points. White watch’s self-proclaimed ‘flawless’ run of headsail changes came to a spectacular end when they decided that the cruising chute needed cleaning in the Baltic. Most would have thought that these events would lower the standard of food, but blue watch would in fact go on to raise the bar in gobsmacking fashion.
Throughout the day Mother watch provided chocolate rice crispy cakes complete with a Malteaser on top; chicken curry for lunch with dough balls and focaccia; Tom & Jerry cupcakes which were iced inventively as a result of the tilt of the boat; before finally serving up an amazing beef stew. It was not only extraordinarily tasty, but was provided with an unexpected twist: Harry and Ben dressed up with shirts and pink bowties and cummerbunds. This was considered highly entertaining by the crew, mainly because the shirts were Harry’s and Ben was ‘slightly’ bigger than Harry and so the buttons on the shirt were not far from popping off of Ben’s shirt.

Shortly after dinner, we would hear through the radio that we currently sat in second position within our class.

By 10pm there was a nasty electrical storm brewing over Gotland.

Apart from the Baltic storm brewing outside, the final noteworthy event (which could be described as a storm in a teacup) before the end of the day was a squabble between Andy and George for a bunk which would last almost twenty minutes before both were told to find a bunk elsewhere anyway.

 

Day Six - Strong Winds In The Baltic

Day 6 blog by White Watch

The early hours of today where spent tacking to avoid ships off the southern tip of the island of Gotland. Then the wind got up and the big genoa had to be changed for the yankee. Each wave crashed over the watch on the foredeck as they wrestled the genoa into submission. One wave was so large that Riley, who was working the hanks at the time, ended up completely submerged, visible only by his luminous yellow hood poking up above the green stuff.

The effort on deck was rewarded as we overtook the 120ft Finnish schooner, Helena, in a solid F6 wind.

Below decks, the day began early for a certain member of white watch with a head on collision with the opposite bunk. Trend setting went on hold after said event, however resumed promptly with the emergence of Jack & Jones, making their debut in the world of Rona II. Chief Sharker No.2 quickly earned the name Chundersaurus Rex, after 4 seconds of semi consciousness followed by a hasty dive into the heads door, sleeping bag and all (it’s still drying out).

Breakfast started well with planning completed the night before for fresh homemade rolls, with intended sausages, fried eggs, bacon and beans. Sadly the light winds were abayed by the number 1 yankee and force 7’s rocked the boat (sock in a washing machine comes to mind). Therefore, a revised breakfast came in the form of porridge and sausage slammed rolls.

Winds overnight had led to the drop of Rona from 2^nd in class to 6^th. However we soldiered on, whilst others retired. The morning continued with a skeleton White watch (Ben W and the Flying Scotsman) manning through in the galley whilst the rest went for a little fresh air. Three hours later, having had their fill of the Baltic atmosphere, they returned, to start on lunch. Ben W has been promised a flagon of Ribena for his services in our absence. A special mention must be made to our resident Royal Marine, who took it upon himself to clean the entirety of the bilges, armed with only an allen key and half a bilge pump handle; Neptune has been referenced as a suitable comparison. Along with meals came regular doses of Stugeron, from intra watch medic Captain Ladbantz (soon to be Meng…possibly…awaiting results). Watches on deck continued with bursts of “tuneful entertainment” courtesy of Harry (he has no off switch. It’s incredible).

Red Watch (self-proclaimed Storm Watch) completed a range of sail changes after calling in the big guns of White watch (Tinners and the Tactician), during which Lizzie attempted a gymnastics display on the foredeck in the form of the splits. She is slowly recovering. Sam had ample opportunity to test his new waterproofs…

Mid afternoon we crossed tacks again with Helena.

Spirits were raised with a delightful meal and strong efforts from the whole crew lead to an increase of position to 3^rd in class. White watch are now signing off Mother, and are donning waterproofs to head up on deck to try and hold our position and improve on it.

 

Day Four - The Start

Rona blog day 4 – by Red Watch

 

We had a nice early day after a fun filled night of anchor watch, which involved checking the same three lights every fifteen minutes all night. Red Watch, however, brought the spirit back to the famished crew with a tasty and hearty breakfast of Spanish Omelettes and Porridge, and all round great pre-race meal. Breakfast devoured, we flew to the start line for the first day of the race.

Upon reaching the starting line, the crew was met with the sight of ninety ships, including Square Rigs and Racing Yachts, all making ready for the race start. The starting sequence began with the Square Rigs setting off in a spectacular fashion, soon trying to deploy to full sail. Next up was our class, with the starting pistol (a series of beeps on the radio) breaking the immense anticipation of each of the crews, having readied ourselves for the start line. The huge build up soon dissipated when the boat made a fantastic 1 knot start, thanks to a severe lack of winds: the crew, although disappointed by the anti-climax, comforted themselves in the knowledge that each of the other crews were also in a similar situation, with some boats even going backwards.

With a lack of activity to keep the watches active, they soon set about focussing their energy into creating a crew chant to bellow at passing competitors. As the boat reached an all-time low of 0 knots, the watches then further diverted their attention to “bird-watching” as we floated lazily past the other boats.#  Enterprising crew members were posted throughout the vessel with Binoculars as spotters for the local wildlife. However, it was not all that successful as we passed a boat with some old guys dancing around the mast topless, much to the horror of the crew.

As we finally got some wind and making some decent headway in the race, we came under attack by the crew of Esprit. Having chanted merrily at them with the new crew song, they returned in the traditional German manner of launching projectiles back at us (water balloons), successfully, managing to hit Ben directly in the face with a well-placed hit. Although we tried to retaliate in kind with a three man slingshot and our own water balloons, the attempts proved fruitless. The Germans have won this round… but, rest assured, we’ll be back!

The wind picked up throughout the day, and the watches were soon hard at work with racing sail changes and sail trimming to get the best possible speed out of the boat. The conclusion for day one of the Tall Ships Race gave the Rona II a position of fourth place in both class and overall standing.

Quote of the Day: “Is that a topless girl over there?! Oh no, wait, it’s just a guy with boobs…” – Reuben

 

# Afterguard might suggest the start of the race featured the rest of the crew trimming constantly to get any head way at all!! We did sail from the back of the fleet, chasing patches of wind, through to the front while others watched and focussed on their own struggles.

Day Three - Copenhagen

Blog Day 3 by white watch – mother today

Day 3 started with the overnight sail, completing the final part of the sail from Aarhus to Copenhagen.

Sailing down the Sound between Denmark and Sweden was dramatic, we passed Hamlet’s famous Helsinor castle at 5am, and then sailed past windfarms and the Oresund Bridge. More importantly we sailed past the Tuborg brewery.

White watch (voted best by a recent survey, conducted by mother watch) woke early to cook up a storm in the galley, therefore leaving Mother Nature with nothing to throw at us on deck. This resulted in the engine being heavily used. Lunch came in the form of tuna salad sandwiches, during which the ‘tuna line’ was constructed, a clever ploy to keep all those allergic (Ben W) to the chickens of the sea from passing. After extensive testing, this was nullified by the successful deployment of shoes. Arriving in the pretty Danish port of Dragor (close to Copenhagen airport) to complete the final chapter in the bid to collect the extra ballast (luggage) kindly returned by Norwegian airlines, after quiiiiiiiiite the hiaaaaaatus.

Meanwhile, the remaining crew were finding themselves propositioned by Harry (see quote of the day, below). Also enjoyed was the local supermarket, though in a desperate attempt to save the best cakes of the trip (to date) resident detective Tintin (Ross) found himself trapped in a glass cage of emotion, though managed to escape through determination alone. Oli became the master of the local dialect (albeit the wrong one), with a German couple wanting to refuel.

 After leaving port, spinnaker practice ensued, with white watch once again showing why Sir Ben Ainslie regularly phones for advice. Each watch practiced using the spinnaker snuffers, rigging the pole, and trimming the kites. We then packed all the kites away ready for use during the race. Also during spinnaker practice, white watch’s Rona II cake (Patent Pending) was revealed, to cheers by all those around. The training finished with a Man overboard drill, kindly aided by Tubby the Fender, who was rescued in a record time of four minutes. Andy is willing to put the crew through its paces again (he still thinks swimming is going to happen).

Dan’s repetition of Shakespearian sonnets, during a rather lovely sunset, solidified our knowledge of his pangs for his long lost Georgia (actual feelings TBC). A seal also showed his face, revealing that there is other wildlife other than swarms of midges in the Baltic. Ross’s dilemma of depleting stocks of hair product (only three litres remaining), and receding hairline (we all know it’s there, Ross), as well as the presumed loss of Snowy (we’ve seen the film, they’re inseparable). Dinner of the day was roast Lamb, with white watch finishing off their first Mother Watch with another exemplary meal. Sides consisted of roasted potatoes, homemade Yorkshire puddings, carrots, and cauliflower cheese. (Andy and George maintain that nobody actually likes the latter – we think otherwise). This was followed by rice pudding, the highlight of which was the conversion of a potential Made in Chelsea candidate (Oli) to the joys of a working man’s dessert.

As we anchored just off the Swedish coast, by the lovely headland of Falsterbo, an anchor watch was announced to the whoops and cheers of the crew, (or groans of annoyance, open to interpretation). Music was kindly provided from the shore by the literal Swedish House Mafia.

Quote of the Day, provided by Harry:

“…so can we all go in the shower at the same time? … ;)”

 

Day Two

Blog Day 2

The mother watch (blue watch) rose heroically early at 6 to prepare an exquisite breakfast of sausages, tomatoes and scrambled egg, which was on the table at 7 on the dot. After breakfast, news of the mystery of the missing bags: they were still in Gatwick, but were going to be flown out. The skipper and mate decided to pick them up at the airport partly to avoid any more confusion and also because it was on the way to the start line. The rest of the morning was spent preparing for the Parade of Sail and handing out invites to other smallish boats for the ‘80s rave’ themed party to be held on the boat in Helsinki. At 1130 we followed out Denmark to begin the Parade of Sail in brilliant sunshine. We were cheered on the whole way by crowds on the shore, in spite of our rather feeble Mexican waves and a rogue fender that hung off the starboard side for 2 hours! Once the Parade was behind us we began the trip to Copenhagen. Blue watch sustained the crew with a delectably spicy tomato soup and better winds than expected enabled the cruising chute to be deployed and the engine to be switched off. A new super high tech recycling system was developed, but it proved to be slightly too ‘cutting edge’, claiming two casualties in the first couple of hours.  With Jonny director of cooking operations, dinner was bloody amazing. The brownies were beyond perfect, and made a brilliant end to a day far less traumatic than the previous one.

Quote of the day: “This is the best shepherd’s pie I have ever had with Rona”- George

Day One

Blog Day 1

We met up at Gatwick to begin our epic voyage at the hideous hour of 6 am.  Little did we know the horrors that awaited us, not on the boat, but on the trip to the boat. It began with Harry nearly getting arrested when he said ‘C4’ unfortunately close to a passing policeman. Then Jonny realised he’d lost his passport. He discovered it was in his dad’s car… half way round the M25.  Next Sam found out that he hadn’t got his boarding pass. In spite of extra charges for an overweight bag and suspicion of drug smuggling (what turned out to be Jonny’s assorted spices) the beleaguered brothers squeaked onto the plane just in time.  The flight was uneventful, but turned out to be just a brief respite before the travel torture commenced again.  After touching down on Danish soil and making our way through the rather spacious Copenhagen airport, we picked up our luggage. Or at least some of us did. The rest (10 of them) waited… and waited… and waited. Eventually it was discovered that the bags were not in the airport, or even in Denmark!  Reluctantly we embarked upon the final leg of the trip, a three and a half hour minibus ride to Aarhus, which many spent contemplating the idea of living in the same set of clothes for 2 weeks.  The drive was mercifully straightforward, and included some magnificent bridges.  Arriving in Aarhus at 5ish local time, an even more magnificent sight awaited us: the tall ships, resplendent in the golden sun. Rona II was waiting for us, moored close to the square rigger Denmark. Those bags that had survived were unpacked, and something that almost looked (but definitely didn't taste) like pasta was created by blue watch.  The day was rounded off with a trip to a local ‘English Pub’, which played host to some hugely intense games of table football, which Dan took a tiny bit too seriously. We retreated to the boat at 11 and collapsed into bed. Will we ever be reunited with our bags? And in what manner? Will the parade of sail go smoothly? Find out in the next instalment.

Quote of the Day: “I had my passport ten minutes ago” - Jonny