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
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