Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Friday, August 24, 2012
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...
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...
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
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!
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!
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
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
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Race day 2!
This is Red Watch 3 coming in hard and fast.
Firstly I will just appologise with the late issue, we have been terribly busy with this thing called the Tall Ships Race. :)
18th August
We have been racing now for 2 days. The insane windy conditions are behind us, the spinnaker is up, along with a full main sail and as many others that will fit. The afterguard are looking particularly pleased with themselves in fact. Having crossed past the Bay of Biscay and the Western Approaches to the English Channel we're about to enter the Irish Sea, escorted by dolphins, accompanied by glorious sunsine and all having a wonderful time. We haven't seen any other racers but we have apparently overtaken two so far and put a hundred miles on two that started at about the same time as us. Infront of us are another two that started a day earlier - they are in our sights!
We hope you are all well and having a lovely time at home following us on the race tracker.
Rona II over and out!!
Crew's Race Report - Day 4 / Race Day 1!
Finally the race was upon us, and like a well oiled cuckoo clock the crew of Rona II sprang manfully into action, or as manfully as any creature waking up at half four can. At any rate the crew got to work readying the boat for our departure, and after much grim contemplation of the weather we were off. With a wave goodbye to the port that had sheltered us for the past few days we sailed out of the sight of land into the ocean. A few pre-race pukes and a hearty breakfast later, we were ready to hit the start line running. (Broad-reaching actually – Ed!)
It was a lonely start but with a hearty Rona II cheer we started our voyage with fervor (admittedly an unusual adjective to use but little else could be used to describe our enthusiasm.) Although the crew's mood in general was a positive one, Poseidon's it seems was decidedly not, with waves that can only be described as "Rather Large", rating an impressive two and a half on the standard Jack Moss scale (and five meters for the rest of us).
After a few hours at sea the skipper took up a new past time... Surfing. A sixty-eight foot, sixty tonne vessel, he had Rona II at a maximum speed of 15.9 knots down the side of a particularly large wave, notably whilst with a sandwich in his mouth. Some other strange goings on included the food gaining the power of flight , many crew members staring lovingly into buckets whilst having strange and rather morbid sprees of deja-vu upon beholding the contents, and the mother watch learning to cook and clean down below in conditions best described as being a cross between a sauna and a tumbledryer. Altogether it was a highly entertaining morning.
By lunchtime Rona II was turned into a bakery with cakes and bread being produced left right and centre, however, despite these happy moments, the motion of the boat turned up a notch and as a result, so did sea sickness, with the mother watch being the worst affected, in fact one of the members of that lucky watch decided that buckets were suitable neckwear - literally - for all occasions.
Following these events a "small" mishap regarding dinner caused a depressingly large amount of pasta to be burnt to the pan. Luckily much was salvaged from the chaos resulting in the final meal from the mother watch meaning a much anticipated sleep was theirs. And so the first day of a three day race was over.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Day 3!
DAILY RONA
Rona II, Day 3 of 14
Hola, from a finally sunny Spain.
Today was day 3 of 14 and we woke early, with the hope of eventually putting to sea. Sadly, due to weather reports from the race course this was not to be.
The weather reporting vessel, a warship on loan from Ireland, gave an update saying they were encountering pretty breezy conditions. Given this information, Skip and Mr Mate made the decision to stay in foreign Espana.
Though this was followed by frustration from the crew, we got stuck into our after breakfast chores. Blue and white watch headed deckwards to have an outside tidy while red watch cleared the inside of our most wonderful vessel. This was accompanied by heartfelt renditions of classic songs such as; The Factory Song, The Wild Rest Show and We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off To Have A Good Time.
After the heads were cleaned and the deck was tidy the crew of Rona II headed on up to the sailing club bar to engage in an inter-boat game. This was the everlasting 'Cereal Box Game', where competitors must bend over and pick up a cereal box on the floor with their mouth, while only their feet remain on the ground. As this was happening red watch made yet another sacrifice as three members of the watch stayed on the boat to make tasty cakes for later in the day.
Once this was done the sun had, at long last, decided to come out and play, and we had our first nice weather that we were able to enjoy. Never being ones to waste an opportunity the crew decided to use the water bomb catapults to bomb the French boat next door. After many successful hits we felt bad and decided to let them have a go, so gave them the catapult and a gift of water balloons. Even so they only made one successful hit.
This takes us to lunch, when yet again red watch took the opportunity to shine through. After their earlier yummy porridge and scrambled egg breakfast they prepared a lovely meatball pasta lunch. Most of all the portion control surpassed that of any other watch during the week so far!!! Actually Red Watch have proven themselves the Kings of Portion control, with all 3 meals today dished out with perfection – same size portions and none left over.
More competition ensued after lunch in the form of a rowing relay! The crews from John Laing, Thermopylae Clipper, Jolie Brise, Alba Explorer and Etoile Aventure visited Rona II for the sporting event. The crews were mixed together into two large teams and had the race explained to them. It entailed crews of 4 rowing from one end of the pontoon to the other and switching with a new crew, who rowed back until everyone in each team had had a go.
Team One immediately took the lead and held it, generally being better than team 2. This lead opened up throughout the race until the last changeover for team one when cheating elements from team two (Ed – this would be Rona II crew members, it should be said...!) pirated the opposition's dinghy and rather stuffed up the entire race.
After race disappointment we decided what we really needed was a trip to the beach, so we invited the other crews and headed over. As soon as we got there we headed into the sea where huge waves crashed into the sharp sandy beach. While playing in the tall waves we tried new things like; drinking the sea water, getting turned upside down, surfing up the beach on our faces and having our underwear filled with sand. It was amazing fun, but now we have headaches and sore muscles.
General things that have developed throughout the day....
The entire crew has started speaking with a Russian accent. The disease started in red watch and quickly spread through the entire crew and now it seems impossible to stop. even our normal voices seem alien.
As I watch this I am watching Watch Officer Chris McHugh get stuffed unwillingly into a locker. What an unlucky man.
And finally I leave you with the information we are hopefully are leaving early tomorrow morning and have even gone so far as to move to a berth from which we can slip in the early hours of the morning.
Hi Mum, Dad and Charlie, and to all the other family members, friends and relatives from the rest of the crew.
Rona II out.
Joe Simmons
Red Watch – Crew member.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Day 2!
Woke in A Coruna this morning due to a 24 hour delay for the race start on account of bad weather. After the usual baked breakfast the crew was given some shore leave, which involved quests for ice cream, post cards, post offices, McDonalds' and general shopping for essential supplies. (Editor – they mean chocolate!) Later on before lunch, some of the crew got together to sing heartfelt renditions of classics such as 'Wonderwall' 'Don't stop me now' and 'Dani California' with instrumental input from guitars and a Spongebob Squarepants ukulele, brought by Jack Moss. (In Jack's defence he claims his sister bought it.)
After the tomato soup and cheese sandwiches lunch, we were approached by a representative of the Tall Ships 2012 Olympic Games. This really got the day going. The crews from 'Jolie Brise', 'Thermopylae Clipper' and 'John Laing' participated, along with, of course, the loudest and best - Rona II. Crews were taken to the local beach, where they were lined up in height order, numbered and grouped. Each represented a country and were pitted against each other in trials of strength, agility, speed and putting up with the beach's 'sand', upon which Ed eviscerated his knees.
The games involved 3-legged-egg-and-spoon-racing, knot tying races and a tug-o-war. After tallied scores, the results were:
1st Australia: Capt. Ed, Julian and Sam
2nd Kenya: Tom, Isti and Jack Ball
3rd Japan: Joe, Alex and Freddie
4th Germany: Capt. Ben, Will, George and Lewis
5th Canada: Capt. Matt, Nick and Jack Moss
After the games, team photos were taken, immortalising the competition, sportsmanship and fun-loving spirit of the Tall Ships Race. (Editor – a career in politics awaits this author...!) That was the point when all the participants took to the ocean to fight against the waves, failing and getting pushed back to the shore. This was repeated for the next half hour. Sadly, by this point time, as well as the waves, was upon us, and the crews made their way back for dinner and cake prepared by White watch. (Ed – yay, cake!)
Quotes of the day:
Skipper: "&%£$*~@ !%?=#$ *&%£@~ satellite electronics!"
George: "Dutchland, Dutchland, come on Dutchland!"
Will: "For the Motherland!"
Day One!
Day One!
Rona II: Crew arrived bright and early at Stansted, ready to take over Rona2 for the final leg of the 2012 Tall Ships Race. After an uneventful if cramped flight, the crew and afterguard arrived safely in Spain to be greeted by a gaggle of cheeky females from leg 1, and a rousing rendition of their chants. Looking forward to a quick coach journey to A Coruna, we found our first problem: the coach had forgotten us! After some entertaining charades and some appalling Spanish, and a few hours sunbathing our coach finally arrived. The journey was not to be a short one. Three hours of roaming roads through the countryside and hilly surroundings we finally arrived in A Coruna. To think we were in the clear was a foolish mistake. But finally a tour of the town’s back roads gave way to the sights of masts and square riggers and their vessels. A short walk later and we were onboard our home for the next two weeks.
Breaking News!
Man wipes fruit and complains – Sam, 19 years of age was asked to do the most important job on the ship – wiping fruit! When he found this out he was confused and angry!
An interview with the crew!
Q: What are your thoughts on yesterdays mishaps?
“It was a long day but there was never a dull moment.”
“I still need a shower.” He did...
Q: Nice, what did you think of the parade of sail?
“It was a good day over all, the water balloon bombing of the other boats kept morale up despite the race being delayed 24 hours!”
“Not too fussed as we will still get to race!”
“The positives of going ashore and spending, meeting locals out weigh the negatives like waiting to race.”
Q: What do you plan to do with your spare time?
“Erm eat, have a laugh and drink, maybe get a kebab! HaHa!”
When the interviewer himself was asked the same question, he replied:
“Erm, finish mother watch and explore a little, see what I can find. I hear the second biggest shopping centre in Europe is here and it has go carts!”
So over all morale is high despite all the set backs everyone is happy and just taken it in their strides.
Tomorrow.... we may race!
Rona II: Crew arrived bright and early at Stansted, ready to take over Rona2 for the final leg of the 2012 Tall Ships Race. After an uneventful if cramped flight, the crew and afterguard arrived safely in Spain to be greeted by a gaggle of cheeky females from leg 1, and a rousing rendition of their chants. Looking forward to a quick coach journey to A Coruna, we found our first problem: the coach had forgotten us! After some entertaining charades and some appalling Spanish, and a few hours sunbathing our coach finally arrived. The journey was not to be a short one. Three hours of roaming roads through the countryside and hilly surroundings we finally arrived in A Coruna. To think we were in the clear was a foolish mistake. But finally a tour of the town’s back roads gave way to the sights of masts and square riggers and their vessels. A short walk later and we were onboard our home for the next two weeks.
Breaking News!
Man wipes fruit and complains – Sam, 19 years of age was asked to do the most important job on the ship – wiping fruit! When he found this out he was confused and angry!
An interview with the crew!
Q: What are your thoughts on yesterdays mishaps?
“It was a long day but there was never a dull moment.”
“I still need a shower.” He did...
Q: Nice, what did you think of the parade of sail?
“It was a good day over all, the water balloon bombing of the other boats kept morale up despite the race being delayed 24 hours!”
“Not too fussed as we will still get to race!”
“The positives of going ashore and spending, meeting locals out weigh the negatives like waiting to race.”
Q: What do you plan to do with your spare time?
“Erm eat, have a laugh and drink, maybe get a kebab! HaHa!”
When the interviewer himself was asked the same question, he replied:
“Erm, finish mother watch and explore a little, see what I can find. I hear the second biggest shopping centre in Europe is here and it has go carts!”
So over all morale is high despite all the set backs everyone is happy and just taken it in their strides.
Tomorrow.... we may race!
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