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