Crews Cruise
Rhiann Marie - Round the World
Stewart Graham
Sat 31 Oct 2009 21:05
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We are now at Marina Rubicon at 28:51.40N
013:48.72W. On Friday the 30th we sailed off the anchor and sailed gybing
downwind all the way down to the lighthouse on Punta Pechiguera on the South end
of Lanzarote when we had to drop the sails - sorry press the furling
buttons. During the passage there had been two incidents of people pushing
winch buttons and not being fully aware of what they were doing and the
possible damage or injury that could be caused - some was.
After arriving at the marina and being allocated a
berth we manuovered in a fairly tight spot but in very benign conditions into a
berth almost right next to Tillymint the only other Discovery 67 in the world!
Amazing.
During our berthing I was a bit cheesed off with
the crew who hadn't sorted the bow line that was asked for and when it was
finally done it was rigged over the top of the rail - basic stuff and no excuse
for it after all those years. I thought I gently and quietly pointed out
that there needed to be better coordination and there was no excuse for lethargy
and rigging lines wrong after all these years. This caused a depression on the
crew but even so I pressed on explaining that these were benign conditions and
sooner than later the safety of the ship and people would require prompt action
by crew - which would need to be right first time and we would have to get
our act together - pronto.
I have embarked on this round the world trip with
my own set of objectives which need to be more fully developed and I will
explain them to you once I get them clear in my own head, but under-pinning
everything has been my priorities of safety of crew and safety of vessel
and the enjoyemnt of everybody aboard. Peoples safety is the ultimate priority
and my major concern. If people are not kept safe the safety of the vessel
is also at risk and there is no room for enjoyment if there are accidents -
so I need crew to be switched on and all aboard need to get on well. Craig
is in training to be a watch leader on the Atlantic and I know he feels this
responsibility heavily - but I feel a very heavy responsibility to all the crew
and one I am not prepared to compromise.
Forgetting about unrelated crew, have you ever
spent weeks at a time 24/7 in a relatively confined space with your wife -
holidays might be the closest you can come to it - but you are on holiday then.
Now add a moving floor and broken sleep patterns and a teenage son. Also think
about this from a teenage sons point of view being shackled into your parents
company for weeks 24/7 and of course months and months altogether. Dont get me
wrong this is an incredible experience for all of us to undertake and we
appreciate it very much I am simply pointing out that there are more issues than
meet the eye that need to be dealt with and managed. I am also long enough in
the tooth to know that in any environment when you throw a group of people
together ther are going to be tensions and there will be a bedding in period
until everyone adapts and adjusts to each other no matter how close you are or
how well you know each other in your normal environment.
Those of you who have sailed long passages before
know the importance of crew harmony. It may even be one of the biggest
challenges a skipper has.We will see how it goes but it is very important that
this wonderful opportunity is not tarnished in any way with people not getting
on. When we take on additional crew for the Atlantic another new dynamic will be
at play and I will need to manage that also. Chi sinn!
After we arrived Craig and I scrubbed down the
decks of Rhiann Marie and Trish got stuck into the laundry all in a spirit
of subdued resignation.
I am well aware of the news at home about the
couple of sailors who have been kidnapped by Somalis and at this stage it is not
appropriate for me to make any comment or express any views about this issue
which we will have to face if we are to get back into the Mediterranean -
however you will recall that a few days ago our own yacht was being hailed down
by two Africans in a small boat with a large red flag. It seemed as if they were
in distress and they certainly made every effort to attract us to them. Would
you have gone over to them about one mile away? I was off watch and Angus
decided to keep going on past and was just going to raise me when the guys put
the flag down started their engine and sped off in the boat. Before the current
news I would have said a very tight call - but on reflection and in light of the
outcome Angus's call was spot on. Who knows maybe they wanted to sell us fish -
if so no harm done we wern't buying that day, maybe they wanted cigarettes - we
dont have any aboard, maybe maybe who
knows..........
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