JV Jumble III–Stinky Sailing…: Sure, racing around the world on a maxi-multihull is a glamorous business. But it’s far, far from comfortable. In an e-mail that ended up in a forum of the website Sailing Anarchy, Cheyenne’s Fraser Brown provided a detailed description of the, umm, atmosphere aboard Cheyenne, and the difficulties of keeping dry:
“I will say that the heat and humidity coming down in the St Helena high was something else. Everyone one was a complete sweat ball and breaking out in salt rashes left right and centre, it’s a hard compromise between getting the kit off but still protecting yourself from the salt and sun in fact most of us ended up wearing thermal trousers and long sleeved shirts, as long as we all do it then we all smell the same right. Self preservation in the heat is actually harder than the cold. Salt rash is also something you don’t want to get especially before getting in thermals for the south.
So after escaping that we are now in some pretty damn cold conditions which brings me to Ginge and Lyn’s questions, yes the boat is like a freezer down below but worst of all the condensation is unbelievable we have shammy’s going constantly to wipe the walls and the roof. My bunk is a shocker the mattress is totally soaked and even with 2 layers of insulation on the roof which I put on in Plymouth it’s still like a rain forest. I woke up about 3 days ago to water dripping in my ear lobe and one smack bang in the eye. The only thing saving us in a goretex bivy bag zipped around the sleeping bag which is keeping the sleeping bag dryish but you still can’t get rid of the cold damp thing, oh well it’s only for another 20 days!!!!!!
It’s also been a hard call as to when to change to your southern ocean thermals and mid layers you don’t won’t to change to early because thats it until the Horn same clothes, our navigator has informed me that I have about the next 18 days in these clothes and they have already been on for 3 days. We had a cold snap 2 days ago when we saw icebergs so that was my executive decision to take the plunge and get out of the Atlantic thermals and shit did they have a hum on. Although the shower was great, a whole bunch of pampers disinfectant wipes under your arm pits and of course in the high maintenance place called the groin. So now I have peeled to 2 sets of base layer thermals one mid layer 2 pairs of socks gloves 2 balaclava’s and a neck scarf at night with another mid layer top ready to go if needed although all of that under your foulies plus a harness and boots it’s getting hard to walk. Makes it bloody hard to open the chocolate bars.
The food is a hard one, some of the lovely gourmet dishes likes shephards pie are actually okay but the curries are just disgusting although I have only had 3 times so far that I have had to really force it down just to eat. The constitution is just a shocker, sometimes when you undo the lid to your food your faced with a dried up looking chunder ( expained by our fearless navigator Ado ) then you start to add more water tabasco sauce pepper and garlic, real gut luggage. I won’t eat rice again for years.”
Luckily, aside from the ride of a lifetime there are some advantages, too. Like being able to whizz through the trampoline instead of going below….
Funky Fraser: “Damn, my watch is over and it’s time to head back down into the Black Hole of Calcutta….”
(Photo: Nick Leggatt)
The Earthist Chronicles 