Training - Level 1

Sunrise in the Marina

The first thing you should know about me is that I had never set foot on a sailing boat prior to this experience, so I needed to "test the waters" to make sure this was something for me and that I didn’t get violently sick after stepping foot on the boat.  Booking my training the last week in October in the UK, I thought for sure, I would be giving myself a taste of what the cold conditions would be like.  But to my surprise, I brought the California sunshine with me (never mind that I wasn't actually living in CA at the time).  So maybe it was fate that I booked my training during the warmest Halloween on record in parts of the UK, ensuring it wouldn't be possible for me to have a bad time on my first sailing experience.  We had good wind, smooth sailing, and people were out on the water in their T-shirts and sunnies (not me of course, would need to be north of 90°F for me to be in a T-shirt)!  Safe to say, I had no complaints when it came to the sailing conditions!  

Me looking confused

I was however, overwhelmed with the new language I had to learn...anyone who knows me well, knows that I am the worst at understanding anyone that has a non-American accent, throw nautical terms into the mix, and I basically had no idea what anyone was saying!  It wasn't long before I caught on (thanks to the help of after hour sessions with our 1st mate, Quentin, who helped the crew make sense of everything and demonstrated the art of tying the infamous bowline knot, which I can now do with my eyes closed).  By the end of the week, I almost understood that ropes were called sheets and the sheets were called sails, who'd a thunk!

Food on a boat – well since I’ve only been on the boat for a week at a time, I haven’t quite fully experienced how “enjoyable” this will be.  Fresh food is out the window after the first week and then we switch over to long life food, think rice, pasta, and anything jarred or canned…did you know there was such a thing as long life milk?!  The best meal we had on level 1 was on the last night, a pasta pesto with pine nuts and cubed mozzarella compliments of Mr. Andy…who knew boat food could taste so good, Amazeballs!  

Tea break

Lunch on deck

And of course, being a company based out of the UK, we stop for tea breaks every 5 minutes!  I’m not kidding here…I didn’t know it was possible to drink that much tea at such scalding temperatures!  I’ve barely managed to tentatively take my first sip by the time everyone else has gulped theirs down.  I quickly became the irritating drink order on the boat…coffee with milk and sugar first thing, then I switch to black tea, and then hot water after noon.  Seems simple enough with eight orders, not so much when you have twenty different drink orders to keep track of!

I'm drowning in these!

 Sailing attire is comprised of base layers, mid-layers and foulies/oilskins which feebly attempt to keep you dry.  I quickly learned that petite people do not sail.  Or at least they never have in this race!  The borrowed foulies available were absolutely ridiculous on me…I could probably fit two of me in them and still have extra room.  My lovely Skipper Huw couldn’t help but laugh at me in my get up!  By the end of the week, I was appropriately nicknamed, “Yankee 4”, after the storm jib which is the smallest Yankee on board.  Luckily this issue has been somewhat resolved as this is the first year they have Women’s foulies available for the crew!  They are still a foot too long on me…can’t win them all!

Stripping down to our mid-layers so not to get the cushions wet

Although, a 70 foot yacht seems big (at least to my wee self), add on average twenty people and there isn’t much personal space left over.  Safe to say, having a great crew on board makes all the difference in the world!  I was fortunate enough to have an amazing training crew with me on board my Level 1 training.  If I didn't have such a great group, I don't think I would have continued on this journey...so thanks to Mel, Andy a.k.a Quads of Gods, Will, Nick, Phil, and especially Richard for your inappropriate humor…probably a good thing I only understood about ten percent of your jokes!

Skip failing to do the robot

And lastly, I have to give a shout out to Skipper Huw!  I was fortunate or maybe unfortunate enough to be placed with him on all levels of training.  I say unfortunate because he had the pleasure of dealing with me for every training and trying to get me to understand this new foreign realm I had placed myself into…not to mention he still has the rest of the race to look forward to!!!  I decided to be nice and give him a break on leg 6 though…at least for now :D 

Learning to change Sails

        

Preparing to go up the mast

Selfie from the top of the Mast!

My birdseye view