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.