Monday 23rd – Cape Town – Day 1 of Repairs
Posted by Della Parsons on Wednesday, December 9, 2009
The morning arrived – bright and sunny with rock solid Table Mountain still there in the background. However there was a very definite black cloud still hanging over us. Various contractors arrived bright and early to asses the damage and rumours banded around of a delay of anything between 5 days (which we knew in our hearts was unrealistic) and 3 weeks – which would mean the end of the race for several of the leggers and would also mean we'd be at sea for Christmas and (even worse in my book) in danger of not making it to Australia for the start of the next leg.
A long morning followed during which we tidied up and cleared up as much of the debris as we could. We were anxious for firm news and it couldn't come soon enough. By lunch time Joff called us all together to tell us repairs would start the next morning, we would have to move off the boat while they were completed and accommodation was being found for us. The time of the delay was uncertain but he hoped we would be back racing again by the following Tuesday – 9 days after the other boats had set off. It wasn't great news – but it was at least considerably better than the worst case scenario we had been dreading. Now at least decisions could be made and plans put in place.
We spent the afternoon blitzing the boat – removing the sails, clearing the entire contents of the rear living space so that it wouldn't get contaminated by fibre glass dust and taping and sealing up the others areas that couldn't be moved. We looked enviously at the Cork yacht as their repairs were already well underway. It didn't seem fair somehow that they should get sorted first when it had already been acknowledged that they were deemed to be at fault for the incident.
We knew both the crew and skipper felt bad about it though – for themselves and for scuppering our chances of racing
That evening we dined in the yacht club again, knowing that we would be moving out the next day. Cork's crew were also in the club so we bought them beers to show that there was no hard feelings (well not much anyway) and continued to share wine and beer with them into the early hours, as we all needed to let off steam after the roller coaster of the last few days.
A long morning followed during which we tidied up and cleared up as much of the debris as we could. We were anxious for firm news and it couldn't come soon enough. By lunch time Joff called us all together to tell us repairs would start the next morning, we would have to move off the boat while they were completed and accommodation was being found for us. The time of the delay was uncertain but he hoped we would be back racing again by the following Tuesday – 9 days after the other boats had set off. It wasn't great news – but it was at least considerably better than the worst case scenario we had been dreading. Now at least decisions could be made and plans put in place.
We spent the afternoon blitzing the boat – removing the sails, clearing the entire contents of the rear living space so that it wouldn't get contaminated by fibre glass dust and taping and sealing up the others areas that couldn't be moved. We looked enviously at the Cork yacht as their repairs were already well underway. It didn't seem fair somehow that they should get sorted first when it had already been acknowledged that they were deemed to be at fault for the incident.
We knew both the crew and skipper felt bad about it though – for themselves and for scuppering our chances of racing
That evening we dined in the yacht club again, knowing that we would be moving out the next day. Cork's crew were also in the club so we bought them beers to show that there was no hard feelings (well not much anyway) and continued to share wine and beer with them into the early hours, as we all needed to let off steam after the roller coaster of the last few days.
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