November 27th

Skipper and Crew, Playing Around

One of the things that appealed to me about joining the crew of Playing Around is that we are not fixed with one role on the boat for the whole journey. There is only ever one captain and all direction trickles down from there.  At different times, I am playing all of these roles: helm, trim, navigator, strategist, fore deck, communications, interpreter of weather updates, watch leader, cook and cleaner.  

As much as Playing Around is equipped with lots of electronics,  I am old school and plot our position at noon each day on the paper chart. The scale of this journey is so huge that our daily plots after 140-200 nm barely seem to put a dent in the map.

My watch partner and I are starting to gel as a duo. We recognize each other’s strengths, we discuss strategy, sail configuration, we talk through our roles before making manoeuvres, it is crystal clear what we will each do when. She is a very competent and hard working sailor.  We know each other’s strengths and respect and support each other through our watches.   I have her back and I know she has mine.

There are some personality tensions brewing in the other watch duo that spills out and threatens to impact our whole crew.  It leaves the boat feeling a bit unbalanced and I can see that this is frustrating to the skipper who tries to address this in various ways.

I am keeping my focus on the wind and the waves and am grateful for the fact that on our watches we function so well.  We are becoming a fearless duo with flawless teamwork and we make a point of having fun in all conditions.

On another note we have hung a sail bag over the head door so the indignity is over.  We will get to know each other well enough on this trip and this sail bag door now feels like one of life’s luxuries.