Last night, we had an excellent meal in the company of Sia, Michelle and Stella - they came down to visit Grey Power and we wanted to thank them for the wonderful evening we had in their company last week. In the meantime, David (Commodore of the Royal Coastal Racing Club - knows from here on until our return to England at the RCRC) went our with his friends from Rambler 100.
Overnight, our internal discussions continued on the use of the autopilot during the race. Brad Dellenbauch unlocked the mystery for us. This can be summed up as ISAF RRS 52 overruled by IRC 15.2(c) with the definition of running rigging including the means of adjusting the underwater appendages. Hence unless the autopilot is specifically mentioned on one’s IRC certificate, it means we will have to steer. Guess what - we will have to steer our way home. We also discussed last night taking the start in Imperial Poona Yacht Club style with a Gennaker flying from the back stay while going astern but I am pleased to report this morning that this was abandoned in the cold light of day.
We are pleased to report that Bernard has settled into the team since his arrival on Saturday but we are a bit worried about his behaviour since joining us. Most of us would go out and purchase new shoes when the existing pair had holes in them but not our Bernard, he had perfectly good shoes but then went out and purchased a pair with plenty of holes in the soles!!! No wonder the Brits get confused by the French!
On the other hand, maybe our very own skipper is turning French, not happy with the amount of onions and garlic on board, our skipper decided to send us out to get some more. Has he finally turned french gallic we wonder? Let’s hope he does not start wearing them round his neck during the crossing!!
Today was our final day of formal preparations so as to ensure we left plenty of time to do last minute overlooked jobstomorrow. Our solo circumnavigators put their skills to the test with a sowing repair to one of the mainsail batten pockets. This was while David was trying to get his back sorted by laying on the flat’s floor and while the Purser was getting the final ship stores.
So we are now basically race ready other than for the visit to the local liquor store to buy a couple of bottles of Black Seal rum!
As a side note and in order to facilitate the RYA's Equality Monitoring Survey and other statistical department, we are pleased to confirm to any interested pen pushers, the athletes various statistics...
Are we: male, female or unsure?
Males = 5
Age - Well the average age on board is 58!
How would describe your Race / Ethnicity?
Mixed Celt / Gaule = 1
Celt = 2
Real Indian = 1
Gaule = 1
Religion or beliefs? - Our belief is that our skipper should allows us to a daily tot of rum.
Please select the option that best describes how you think about yourself? A bunch of dirty sailors as no shower on board!
Do you consider yourself to have a disability? Yes we are missing an autopilot!
While on board, we thought we would also check the baseball caps which the Newport Shipyard kindly included in our welcome bag…that the first airing of our bird kit!
On a more serious note, we are also pleased to acknowledge the support of the New Zealand voluntary organisation which has contacted us offering the support of their 70,000 member. Thanks folks, we greatly appreciate. Terry King, we will included you from hereon in our regular blog broadcasts. We now think we have the biggest following of the entire race fleet! Not bad for a bunch of reprobates!!
Tonight, we attended the NYYC at 6pm tonight for the Wednesday start party. We had a wonderful time enjoying both the tapas and booze as one would expect! A wonderful evening was had...
Okay now that the final paragraph of this blog is drafted; we need to re-write it as we have been surprised by Sara (Robin’s daughter) and Myran who greeted us as we turned up to Zelda’s. Robin’s daughter caught us all by surprise! What a wonderful and total surprise for all of us. Dilip had kept us in the dark and we were delighted to see both of them great Robin In Zelda's!
Okay before we sign of for the evening, having retired to our base camp, we are pleased to report that the Commodore of the Royal Coastal Racing Club (known as the Arsy Arsy in phonetics terms) could not cope with the last little drinks and decided to sleep in his crew uniform…
While the rest of us enjoyed the company of Sara and Myran!
Finally, for those of you looking at the various ways to track our fun and games, here are the various links…
YellowBrick Tracking
Tracking Link: http://yb.tl/
Tracking Link: http://yb.tl/
Race Media
Website: http://
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.
Instagram: @nyyc_regattas (Whatever that is…)
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.
Instagram: @nyyc_regattas (Whatever that is…)
Grey Power Blog
The disabilities list should include Cdr Donde's missing tooth. He has been using that as an excuse for sitting on seats reserved for the disabled here.
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