Yet another F9 (Take me to Doldrums)
Level 4 Clipper Race training onboard Visit Finland was again spent in gale winds racing across The English Channel. Yet another stiff breeze of force 9 kept us busy and bruised in a 68-foot race yacht during a 3-day training yacht race.
That’s it, I’ve had enough of gale winds. Give me flat waters and windless calm of Doldrums, I need a break! Sunshine and fair winds will be on order when the race fleet calls in Madeira roughly in two weeks time. My personal demand is that the wind may not be stronger than F5, thank you very much. There is limit to patience when living in a tumble dryer.
Since starting intensive sailing training in Solent area (UK) in April 2011, strong winds of F7-9 have guaranteed thrills and frustrations aplenty. Discussions with couple of old cruising sea dogs have revealed that they have very seldom sailed in rough conditions, simply because they have had the option of staying ashore. Who would blame them?
UK is geographically located so that the low pressure areas sweep across the country bringing strong winds and rain with them. Fortunately the Clipper Race route takes us around the world to various conditions, also those becalmed ones for a change.
Shaken and stirred
The race yacht was again like a roller coaster riding up and down the waves, sometimes slamming hard, sending tremors through the hull when negotiating her way through the sea. The crew was amazing in their resilience, for some suffered sea sickness but very impressively carried on despite of quesyness. That really made me feel proud of the team, and I trust we will be able to punch hard when needed.
CV11 (Visit Finland) is functional and shining new race yacht, however we discovered some flaws thanks to excessive water washing the deck. For example water got into galley cupboards through light fittings, and ruined our dry goods. The leakage also ruined our new expensive fridge, which obviously didn’t like the water and so expressed disapprovement with a short-circuit that also took out our interior lights. Earlier during training race preparation we had already experienced a galley fire when cooking dinner, so the array of incidents put our team into survival mode instead of pushing forward in the race. We also kept finding metallic bits and bobs laying around the deck near the primary winch grinder, which was finally brought to halt on third day of the race. This reminds me of Chris Stanmore-Majors wisdom of winch repair: If you repair a winch and end up with spare parts, the size of the part correlates to its importance. Big parts mean that the winch will stop working straight away. Tiny parts mean that the winch stops working when you most need it.
Apart from equipment niggles, it was great to sail for the first time onboard our race boat with Visit Finland crew. I feel we have had a good start and now striving to improve our sailing skills and team work further. After all we have 11 months time to become really sleek, all-round good sailors! (Or about 2 weeks, if we want to be on top of the leader board.)
Lessons from Level 4 training
- Do not use silicone baking trays in yacht’s gas stove. They catch fire.
- All dry foods needs to be stored in waterproof plastic containers.
- Every little metallic part found laying around the boat has a purpose. Where and what exactly – you’ll find out in due course. Store them somewhere safe until you’ll figure it out.
- Wet hands and metallic handlebars do not go nicely together. I was sent flying through the saloon and got quite phenomenal bruises when tried to be too quick and nimble for my own good.
- Wear foul weather salopettes and boots when cooking. I got boiling water to my feet and hot soup all over my legs in rough seas, fortunately saved from burns by the said garments.
- Big food portions and even distribution of it are of utmost importance. Nothing is more demoralising than a meal which leaves you hungry. I can foresee conflicts if this aspect is not carefully managed. (“I got only 1.5 meatballs, when he’s got 3! Unfair!”) It may sound childish nit-picking, but I can assure you that it is a real deal breaker when you’ve been doing donkey work in uncomfortable conditions and then not getting a reward for it.
- Few people do a job quicker and more efficiently than a large group of people. 18 people working on deck simultaneously is quite frankly counterproductive. During the race we will be working in watches of appr. 8 people on deck – this is much more manageable and productive number of hands. For continuity’s sake it is important to let people finish a job they start – please do not try to be too helpful and grab someone else’s job!
- Diplomacy is important onboard a racing yacht. Finns are used to straightforward efficiency and do not carry emotional baggage, while some other nationalities may require more delicate handling and persuasion. It’s good to remember cultural and language differences, for example there is no equivalent to word “please” in Finnish language. For that reason Finns quite often forget to use it in English and therefore may come across as coarse or rude!
- Watch leaders need to take professional attitude yet be themselves. For example I may come across as hard iron figure, which can alienate others. I like pushing myself further and harder, however other team members may not share the same ambitions and would just feel uncomfortable being pushed. Everyone needs to take a step back and see how they can make the team work better.
- Visit Finland/CV11 surely can make good speed – our engine was engaged in reverse propulsion during the fleet photography session, so that we could slow down and keep our allocated position in the fleet formation!
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The main photo is by Clipper Ventures / OnEdition, sneakily taken from Clipper news article while waiting for the official release.
