Dellaroundtheworld

Saturday 26th - Today started off as Cleaning day – and that's how it continued. During our morning watch we did our pretty much daily routine of sluicing buckets of sea water down the decks and giving the whole area a jolly good scrub – mainly to get rid of remnants of spilled tea, coffee and the various meals and snacks we've consumed on deck. (As long as it's dry, pretty well all of our eating is done up on deck).  Jeremy from the other watch then appeared with towel, shampoo and shower gel in hand looking purposefully for a bucket!  After filling said bucket with sea water he positioned himself at the back of the boat, braced himself and stuck his head in and proceeded to wash his hair in gritted, manly fashion – trying not to shudder from the cold water too much! This was the start of a steady stream of chaps who then relayed throwing buckets of sea water over each other so they could have a make-shift shower, and then rinsing off with a watering can of fresh water.  Those of us on watch, were treated to a display of a variety of physiques, a fashion show of swimming trunks that spanned many decades and were entertained by the reactions that ensued when the first freezing bucket of water hit each body – which ranged from a manly “Brrrrr” to the most piercing of girly screams that must have been heard by the other yachts – even the ones 70 miles behind us!  I later bit the bullet, donned my bikini and followed suit with a thorough hair wash and shower in this same 'al fresco' fashion. Why should the boys be the only ones to be clean?! Vic (who had been treated to a hair wash and head massage by former hairdresser Paul – accompanied by 'Herbal Essence' style sounds effects) also offered to do some 'smalls' washing for our watch – which then got pegged out onto the rails of the yacht to dry - so all in all a day of cleaning everything – pretty much like most people would be doing at home!