28:07:66N 15:25:49W Saturday 20 November. Final preparations....
Phoebe B
Sail Ionian
Sat 20 Nov 2010 19:44
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The last week or so has flown but now, with only 1
day to go before departure, the activity level has rocketed.
There was a "farewell" cocktail party last night at
Club Nautica in the harbour. Cocktails and tapas flowed but it's a mark of the
reality of the crossing that the farewell party was two days before departure,
not one. Hangovers and sailing don't mix!
There's been much focus on the last minute
safety checks on the boats - sails, equipment, systems, etc. There's also
been the provisioning of the boat. On PhoebeB we have 5 crew and so need
enough food fand other consumables for at least 20 days to cover emergencies -
that's a lot of shopping. Yesterday we did a big shop which thankfully the
supermarket delivered. And then down to preparation. We had to wash all fruit
and veg in a weak bleach solution to kill the bugs, spiders etc (especially in
the green bananas) and then wrap things like apples individually in paper before
securely stowing in boxes on board. Onions, oranges, garlic, etc are now
swinging happily in nets in the main cabin.
Preparation took a long time and some of the crew,
Lee and Sam (from our sister ship, Tranquillizer) and our Sue and Paul
got slightly diverted in the hot sun performing what looked like a cabaret for 2
carrots and 4 grapefruit or a somewhat suspect mime show. I think it's going to
be a long 3 weeks! Tony
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