Story - Final Preparations
Kalandia Web Diary
Bill Peach
Sat 21 Nov 2009 12:00
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As you can imagine for crossing the Atlantic,
preparation is really important. During the week before the start things get
really busy. with a crossing of between 15-20 days all the equipment needs to be
checked, food and drink ordered and stored, fresh fruit and vegetables taken on
at the last moment. All this goes on at the same time as the busy social
program. Consequently there is a constant buzz on the pontoons, with all sorts
of activity. The last 2 days are even more manic as last minute crew arrive to
swell the numbers, families come to see the boats off, and a heightened
sense of excitement, anxiety and panic as the final preparations take
place.
By the Sunday of the start almost all boats are
ready, or at least as ready as they can be to set off.
Inevitably there is always a last minute crisis of
some kind, late delivery of food, last minute problems with equipment. We had
last minute problems with our satellite phone (used for email at sea as well)
and our freezer. The Sat phone was sorted out by Graeme; an engineer coming out
from London to fix the unit under warranty, and similarly the freezer not
cooling enough was fixed by a local engineer; Albert Strik.
A final farewell to other competitors was had at
the Farewell party, which is sensibly held on the Friday evening, to allow
recovery time before the start
The skippers breifing on the Saturday, goes over
all the rally rules and requirements, gives an overview on meteorogy and
communications, before casting us off on our
own
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