Flags

As we approach the final evening an air of calm has descended around
the fleet. The noise of drills and fibreglass repairs has been
replaced by the sound of flags gently flapping (with only a very few
exceptions). Jangada has been put to bed ready to race in the morning
- the end of nine months of preparations. At the briefing this morning
we received our "ticket to ride" a cettificate to confirm that all the
checks and hurdles successfully cleared. And so Trevor & I now head
for our beds for an early night, for tomorrow we race......

Rich

Pump it up

We thought we had reached the end of the job list - cleaning the Heads
(and I don't mean shampoo), when the main pump failed. With dinner
postponed we stripped down the pump to find the offending piece of
woodchip blocking the valve. Frustrating though it was, it did reveal
that the pipes have been connected wrongly, with the filter in line
with the shower but not the main bilge pipe. Which might explain why
the French labels on the tap were the wrong way round when first
delivered.

Off to dinner......

Rich

The fleet gathers

We're finishing off the last of the tasks on our joblist, along with the Pringles and beer, so as to lighten the boat for the first leg of the race, on Sunday. There are some pretty impressive boats here, but we get the impressionwe're well prepared compared to some - while we're renewing bits of bungee and stowing the food, some other crews are busy with fibreglass and bits of rigging.  Of course, that doesn't mean we'll be any faster!  The weather predictions look quite promising, but its a bit early yet to be certain.  Roll on Sunday lunchtime!

Trev

View from the Crows Nest

Land Ahoy!

With my family joining us for the day it was a welcome break from the
list of jobs to do. Although we did find a willing volunteer to test
the bosuns chair and check out the views from the Crows Nest.

Weather is fine and sunny at the moment but a low pressure in the
Atlantic will bring a change over the weekend. If the forecast is
correct we will have some upwind work to get us to the Scilly Isles
where we can then free off and enjoy a quick reach to Kinsale.

"Can I come down now?" - Chris

Jangada lands rare jellyfish!

Is it a monster of a jellyfish that Jangada has caught? Or a new
parasail that had gone horribly wrong and ended up in the water?

Or maybe just our final preparations for the RBI by deploying our sea
anchor. Turned out to be quite a challenge draging the sea anchor off
Plymouth, surrounded by eight warships playing chicken with us.
Complete with a fighter plane swooping in at mast tip height, in turn
playing chicken with the navy.

We survived the experience and now enjoying a cold beer in the
sunshine at the RWYC.

Dos Jangadieros.

Crew morals!

Only as far as St Albans and already the first flapjack bucket is
empty. I'm not happy! Was it Richard? Or Trevor?or maybe both. Crew
morale may be high, along with their sugar levels, but they haven't
earnt their flapjack yet. I'll be keeping a close guard in future.
Better order some extra buckets.

Sir Admiral Flapjack
aka "Waddle"

Needles

The start of an adventure. As we pass the Needles en route for
Plymouth, with preparations over, we are both looking forward to the
race. The delivery is a last chance to make sure things are working.
All seems well so far.

Richard