Prizegiving!

Rona II's crew creating chaos as usual during the Dublin Crew Parade.jpg

A busy last day... And two trophies for Rona II !

Today we have been charging around - the crew clearing up after yesterday's Rona II party and then preparing for the crew parade, the mate in the engine room adjusting cooling hoses and the skipper touring media studios - media tart that he is!

The first trophy came after a highly entertaining crew parade. The crew were fully "neon-ed up" with bright facepaint and wearing our C&C-sponsored hoodies, and proceeded to wreak havoc by singing "You've Lost that Loving Feeling" to unsuspecting female police and posing for equally unsuspecting Dubliners unwise enough to point cameras towards them. The trophy was for being the youngest crew - Rona II has the lowest average age across the entire fleet, at 20.2 years, and won a very nice plaque!

The second was won at the crew party held at Dublin Greyhound Stadium, when honorary Rona II dog "Clare Yank" won, resulting in the Rona II crew getting a photo taken of them out on the track with "their" greyhound.

Tomorrow we leave for our UK homes, leaving our home for the last two weeks - Rona II. She's looked after us well in some very heavy weather - now she will look after the girls who will return her to the Hamble.

Until next time...

Rona II's building reputation...

Overheard - genuinely - in the crew room in Dublin, about one of the fleet vessels: "They're a bit Rona II."
When questioned, this turns out to mean someone who's enthusiastic, a little boisterous, and up for any challenge. We're taking this as a big compliment!

Rona II at 12 knots

A good view from up there - just one of many great shots!

Dunmore East to Dun Laoghaire

This morning we left Dunmore East for Dublin at 6am and headed out onto the sea yet again. The weather was lovely and after a spattering of rain this morning the sun was shining and we had a beautiful 20 knots of breeze. We spent the late morning and afternoon tanking up the Irish sea ever closer to Dublin at 12 knots. At one point we had a spinnaker up along with three sails; a full main, mizzen sail and mizzen stay sail.

One of the highlights of the day was the the Skipper, in search of the perfect photo on a brief excursion to the top of the mast while under sail. Asked for a "Daily Rona" quote, the best he could come up with was "I'm getting old, you have to take these chances when they come" and "I keep forgetting how high it is up there" after returning safely to the deck.

After spending 8 hours steaming up the Irish sea in the blazing sunshine with speeds reaching 15 knots, our karma was equalised by a complete and utter spanking from a squall which necessitated a rather abrupt dropping of the spinnaker during which it was ripped in several places. Currently we are now blasting (under white sails!) towards Dun Laoghaire where we plan to stay overnight before proceeding to our final destination of Dublin for lunchtime tommorow.

 

 

Skipper's note:

The crew has been busy and eager to get out for some well-earned shore leave, hence the rather short update above. I will expand on it: even after our race across from Spain, which was excellent, if somewhat hard work, today was one of the best day's sailing I've ever had. Rona II was on fire, perfectly sailed by an excellent crew and excellent afterguard - one of those perfect spinnaker broad reaches where every gust just adds speed, not weather helm. We had a rooster tail off the stern and absolutely blew past two other Tall Ships making their way up the Irish Sea. Now, we're all really looking forward to showing Rona II off to the crowds in Dublin. :)

After that, we will be back home on Saturday - unfortunately!

 

Time to Clean Rona II... crew ecstatic. Not.

After the party of the previous night, the crew was up at the now familiar time of 7:30 for breakfast finding Lord Nelson has already set sail. After breakfast, the crew was called to the cockpit for a daily briefing. The outcome was the much favoured deep clean that was dreadfully needed after 3 solid days at sea. The only incentives given were that there would be some shore time and departure for Dunmore East after this was completed. The cleaning included stripping the boat of all bunks, floor boards and the largest amount of food any crew member had ever seen. (Skipper - I'd consider "not living in a smelly swamp" quite a good incentive, personally...)

Three hours of solid graft later the boat was spick and span and the crew started to get hungry. Whilst some preferred to take advantage of the tinned ham and cheese sandwiches over the multitude of options offered by Waterford. However, it would appear that the majority decided to opt for a McDonalds lunch as they were obviously craving fast food. During the shore leave, alterior motives were fulfilled such as restocking all the fresh food (tins were getting old by this point) and Alex purchasing new clothes to replace the ones lost during the dreaded - yet hilarious for the Watch Leaders - heads incident.

By 2:30 the crew had all returned to Rona II and were prepared to depart for Dunmore East. The weather was sunny and winds were fair so the crew enjoyed the pleasant journey down the river. It was nice for all the crew to spend time with each other after the watch system had made us forget we were actually sharing the boat with 13 other people. Time was spent reading, sleeping, eating cake and general chillaxation. Along the way the Skipper decided to take a number of crew photos including everyone sitting along the boom and a human pyramid that was incredibly painful for those on the bottom, let alone very unstable. (Skipper - Wasn't my idea!)

We arrived in Dunmore East as dinner was served and were moored next to Maybe, a rival during the race. After the Chilli Con Carne dinner, the crew were given some more shore leave in order to explore the sleepy village of Dunmore East, although the exploring never really made it past the village shop where there were a number of local girls congregated outside. Freddie and Ben were again using their obscure pulling techniques however in the end these proved unsuccessful. The shop was raided for biscuits, drinks, snacks and other essentials. In the late evening everyone returned to Rona and were chatting to the crew of "Maybe" who are now confirmed for the much anticipated Rona II UV party in Dublin.

Tomorrow entails a long sail to Dun Laoghaire, just outside Dublin for the last night away from our final destination.

White Watch