Training - Part 3

We made our way onto our new boat to meet our new Level 2 crew mates, tired from the day's antics in the pool, jaded from the previous night's drinking and still fairly exhausted from Level 1 training, but with our gallows humour still firmly intact. We went below deck to encounter 6 pint-sized girls in their mid 20s tidying up the boat - we had officially arrived on board HMS St Trinians. The Skipper looked somewhere between ecstatic at having so many women on board and terrified at having so many women on board. Sparkey, Yacht Ninja and I just said nothing - we quickly realised that the gallows humour from the other boat would have to be toned down remarkably or risk being thrown off the boat for obscene behaviour, and due to the fairly tiny size of our new crew mates that we would be left doing every bit of heavy work on the boat for the next week. I have to admit my heart sank a little. The only person on board who was happy at this point was Michael - the only other male crew member doing Level 2 who must have thought he was in the middle of a Candid Camera moment when he seemed to be the only male member of the crew. However when we all sat down and had a crew introduction, my outlook changed completely. I referred in an earlier entry to the hardcore people who were taking on the full round the world race and how interested I was to meet them and see what sort of people they were. On Level 1 there were 2 - Keith, who had worked in the merchant navy for 20 years and now consults for oil rigs in the North Atlantic and the Yacht Ninja who had owned and raced yachts all his life - it made sense - only hardcore sailors would be willing or able to take on such a feat. But here we were back on HMS St Trinians and an incredible 4 of these pint sized girls were taking on the whole thing, 2 of which had never been on a yacht before their Level 1 training. I was stunned - were they stupid, naive or were they just remarkably gutsy? I have to say it was certainly not the former in any of their cases and for most it was just pure guts combined with maybe just a sprinkle of naivety! And as the introductions continued it became apparent that most of our new crew had a good sense of humour too and although not the dead-pan and slightly obscene humour of Level 1, we could still have fun in the week ahead.

Nicknames were the way on this boat - Sparkey and I carried our Idiots 1 & 2 names over from Level 1 (they seemed to fit so why change....) though Sparkey later became the Hippo, Yacht Ninja was soon christened, and we quickly had Jedward, Grabby Hands and Idiot 3 on board too. There is something quite comical about, in the heat of the moment of a complicated manoeuvre shouting something like "Jedward - throw the Ninja a sail-tie, quickly!".  What ensued was a thoroughly enjoyable week of sailing. No it wasn't the hardship and incredible bonding that we experienced in week 1 but it was great sailing and genuinely fun throughout. My initial impression of the pint-sized girls was completely blown out of the water - far from leaving all the grunt work to the men they were determined to prove themselves our equals and so we probably ended up doing less of the heaving lifting than we normally have. The only frustration they ever showed was at times their lack of height counted against them but never once did I see one of them beaten. The sailing, in sharp contrast to the "hell week" that is Level 1 was so enjoyable. We did more downwind sailing which is much faster and warmer than sailing into the wind and even flew the Spinnaker (the huge sail on the front of the boat) a few times. We practised the Man Overboard Drill 3 times a day and it soon became second nature - in total (all Clipper races) there have been something like 3 men overboard and all were recovered without any serious injury. The frightening thing is how long it takes - between 10 and 15 minutes to recover the person back onto the boat which must seem like an eternity when bobbing up and down in the water watching your boat sail away but by the time you secure the sails, get the engine back on, get back to the person and get them safely on board, 15 minutes have soon flown by.

The weather, though cold, was not as severe as week 1 with most days providing clear blue skies and amazing sunsets. And no night sailing this time, with most evenings being finished off with a hot shower and a couple of pints before bed and a good sleep. There were no shortage of comedy moments this week either. Idiot 2 (Sparkey) made it his mission to be the landing party (the first person to jump ashore with all the mooring lines) each time we came into dock. Now although it was warmer than last week there was still a good covering of ice on the pontoons each evening and watching the Hippo slip forwards, backwards, and even one time straight into the hull of a neighbouring ship brought many a tear to the eye. I myself had a comedy wipeout on the foredeck of the boat which resulted in some pretty spectacular shin bruising but that was nothing to the damage done to my pride - one of the few things that the First Aid course didn't teach us how to repair! The week pretty much flew by. The crew bonded well and worked very, very well as a team on deck. We had great weather - a little more wind would have been nice but no rain or sleet this time, the sailing was good and we learnt a lot. Thursday provided an interesting evening, as we pulled into Gunwharf Quay in Portsmouth to go for a few drinks. The showers were all busy so 4 of us went straight to the bar in our boots, waterproof gear etc clutching out plastic bags ready for showers later. But when we walked into the All Bar One (or equivalent generic bar) it was simply surreal - it was full of people all dressed up for Christmas drinks etc and we looked and felt like we had just landed from another planet. It hadn't even occurred to me it was just 2 weeks to Christmas. And although it sounds a little dramatic, it felt really strange trying to re-integrate to "normal" life after the 2 weeks we had just experienced. Dave, our First Mate on Level 2 had said he thought they should provide reintegration courses to people after they had finished the race and based on how weird it felt returning to society after just 2 weeks on a boat, I can only imagine how the round the worlders cope after 11 months on board.

And that was it. After another big Friday night meal and another hungover saturday course (VHF radio this time so a little less stressful than sea rescue) we said our goodbyes and headed home. The last couple of days have been weird trying to work out where the hell I am each morning when I wake up and then trying to remember how normal life works. But I guess in a couple of days the last two weeks will be little more than a strange distant memory. I thoroughly enjoyed the 2 weeks and learnt so much about sailing and life on board one of these yachts, and now simply cannot wait for the next training which is still 2 months away. The race now feels very real and very exciting and although it remains 15 months away I have a funny feeling the time will fly.