The last 48 hours
The last 48 hours on Medallia I have been at war with water and for a while the water was winning.
All IMOCAs are wet boats, and Medallia is no exception. I have accepted the hardships of racing a boat with no cockpit cover, for that is the boat that I have. But the last 48 hours have seen more water coming over the deck than ever before and I have had to work extra hard to ensure that my life on board does not descend into a soggy pile of ruined kit.
If I want to do anything at all with the trim of the boat in these big conditions I need to put my drysuit on before heading out of the cabin. That is even to cast a torch over the trim at night time, to wind the mainsheet on a couple of turns. The tiniest adjustment, which after all are the tools to maintaining speed over time, requires a full suiting up for a 2 minute job. It is easy to understand why I might not bother - there is a lot of effort involved and I will admit that at times I have had to bully myself into action.
Once out on deck the waves are merciless. There is no escape and no dashing on deck in a midlayer to do a quick ease of a rope as the waves can come at any moment and drench you without warning. Spotting a rope clogging a cockpit drain from the companionway once, I decided I would try to hook it out using a short carbon pole I had down below, rather than suit up to move one rope. I spent a good 5 minutes hooking this rope and trying to put it back in the bag it had come from only to have the next wave pick it up and wash it straight back down the drain. Of course in the end I had to suit up to put the rope away properly. I should know by now there are no short cuts when it comes to ocean sailing but that does not stop me from trying.
When I come back down below I am dripping, like I just got out of the sea. And my living space is small, I sleep on beanbags on the floor I sit and work at floor level so it is really important to try and keep this area dry. Before going on deck, I religiously pick everything up off the floor and put it in one of the storage areas. I rely on so much electronic kit that is kept only centimetres above floor level. it would be so easy to lose this if it got wet. If I need to stay kitted up then I sit on the floor and never in my chair or on the beanbags as if they get wet they will stay wet for the rest of the race. When we have been really going for it I have slept on the floor in my wet kit. You can put up with a lot when you are really tired.
If I am going to stay below for a while then I take off my wet kit in the engine room and hang it up there so the worst of the water drains off it and it is easily to hand when I next need to go on deck. I spend many minutes every day with a sponge and bucket, soaking up ever last bit of water on the floor in my living accommodation, just trying to keep everything as dry as possible. Though we have now got to the stage where dry has become a relative term for less wet than another thing.
I know that this is only going to get tougher, bigger seas, more intense periods of fast sailing and I wonder how wet everything will eventually be by the time I come back up the Atlantic. This is still early days. There is much more water to come. I've got a good routine going but it requires a lot of self discipline, which is easy to neglect when you are tired. Many people have asked me what I am most looking forward to when I get to the finish and I've got another thing to add to that small list.... being dry, wearing dry clothes, having dry hair and most of all dry socks.
