Delta Lloyd Leg Two Day 6: received 20.11.08 0637 GMT
Here are a few words about us! First of all, I want to say that the crew are all ok, nobody has had any problems, just little things: Matt (Matt Gregory/USA) has a sore throat and Husti (Ryan Houston/NZL) has injured his knee, which has been hurting since he smashed it after a wave hit us. Both of them have been great and they are not complaining at all.
After the first part of the leg, with windy, sometimes gale force conditions going South, I have seen that the boat is absolutely great. We don’t yet know the boat 100 percent; particularly me, and there have been several unnecessary broaches when I was helming, but fortunately with no huge problems. I was only trying to discover the limits of the boat! The problem is that every time we broach, the guys call it a ‘Chuny’”….funny! HA,HA,HA,!
The crew is excellent… We have a bunch of young guys onboard and I am pretty sure they are going to go really far in the world of yacht racing. Out of the guys I already knew, I am not surprised by their abilities – like Stu (Stuart Wilson/NZL) for example-. In one word: a FANTASTIC CREW!
Stu knows the boat better than the others, and he has helped me a lot to distribute the positions and tasks on board, before the start. He also has a deep knowledge of the sail wardrobe, as he is our sailmaker.
The new guys onboard, Morgan (Morgan White/AUS) and Peter (Peter van Nierkerk/NED), are really good trimming the sails. The first is a good bowman and has the great luck and experience of Johnny (Gerd Jan Poortman/NED) as a teacher; our veteran onboard; and you cannot imagine the tranquillity he transmits to the others on the team, at the bow. Peter is doing really well trimming and is quite motivated at the wheel. He is getting on very well indeed.
Both Eds (Eduard van Lierde/NED and Edwin O’Connor/IRL) are doing a great job too. Dutch Ed – is great helming and Irish Ed is checking all on board.
Crusty (Martin Watts/GBR) is always around the mast. I have told him he must stop ‘cos he will not receive the awards he won on the first leg again! Sander (Sander Pluijm/NED), our Media guy is cool and always trying to help with the things he is allowed to do around us, whilst never disturbing our work. All of us are going in the same direction and that’s great!.
I think we are going to cross the scoring gate last, but we are in a good position to head to India. It’s a good thing to be here, in close touch with the fleet and we have our options. We have sailed as fast as we could, but I haven’t wanted to push too hard and break – that would be far worse, for sure!
Matt has been studying the transitions in the weather and I think we have been doing quite a good job. We need to be a little faster changing gears and especially knowing our way around the boat at night. But it is all about preparation time; we haven’t had as much as the others, and we are up against the best-prepared teams in the world competing alongside us in this kind of race.
Roberto ‘Chuny’ Bermudez – skipper