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Diary of a Clipper Racer
Around the world in 333 days with Mark Osgood
Supporting my chosen charity - "Dreams Come True"
Final Diary entry, 54, added Monday 6th October 2003.
Diary of a Clipper Racer Around the world in 333 days with Mark Osgood Supporting my chosen charity - "Dreams Come True" Final Diary entry, 54, added Monday 6th October 2003. |
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Diary News 32
- Sailing around Malaysia - April 2003 Welcome to new crew There
was a big change of faces in Hong Kong - we have said goodbye to Chappers,
Frenchy, Becks, Dave and Ross and now have an all male crew (with the exception
of Jazz and Lesley) for the next 6 weeks. Welcome
to:- Al Boyle (aka Al Quaeda) who has joined for the rest of the race. Al is another city boy who has given up life at a desk in a bank for the glory of life as an offshore ocean racer. No celebrity look-a-like at the moment. Rinaldo Marcoz (aka Ronny) has also joined us for the rest of the race. Our insider into the minds of the Jersey boat, which is where he comes from, Ronny has already been tasked with organising the biggest party that Jersey has ever known for the first re-union of the London crew on our penultimate stop. Again, celebrity look-a-like is still being worked on. Paul Coleman (aka Paolo) is the second competition winner and will be on board until Brazil. He is London's first true cockney and as such, he has written a little message below. Celebrity look-a-like is Frank Lampard. Tom Jenks (aka Jenksie) is with us until Mauritius. Another city boy on a break from his desk, Jenksie has introduced to the boat the game of Perudo, a game of dice that has already helped break the monotony of light winds and towing. If he thinks that game is leaving Mauritius with him.... Celebrity look-a-like is James Hewitt. Finally, John Traver (aka JT or Lovejoy) is also with us until Mauritius. The father of the boat, JT has already taken Paolo under his wing although we are not sure which of the two of them will lead the other adrift first. Celebrity look-a-like was invented because of JT - he looks like an old Mel Gibson (so as not to be too flattering) or Lovejoy or best of all, son of Robin Knox-Johnston. Welcome
all to the mad ship London. Paulo's
welcome London has its first real life cockney geezer, Paolo the cheeky chappie. I asked Paolo to say a few words for the website to mark the occasion. His response was:- Alwight,
welcome to my gaff, Laaahndan Clippa, don't shake me hand or I'll nick your
rings. Having a right bubble.
Crew alright but too much Chas and Dave abaaht the ole Cockney chit-chat.
Someone was giving big potatoes yesterday so I pushed him down the apples
and pears and gave him a dough boy. I'm
geezer I am. Am loving this
sailing lark though, it's the b******s. Cooked
a ruby murray for everyone, it was hansom, everyone was pleased as pucker.
Roasted by the ole currant bun, look like a crab stick, red on one side,
white on the other. Can't wait to
get to the battlecruiser to the
Jean Michel Jarre for a Nelson. Have
a Steve McGarrett in me sky rocket. Roast
Potatoes! Roughly
translated, this means:- Greetings,
welcome aboard my home, London Clipper, nice to meet you.
Really enjoying myself so far. Lots
of jesting about my Cockney accent though. Someone overstepped the mark so I
admonished him slightly. I'm very clever I am!
Am really enjoying the sailing though, it's marvellous.
Cooked a curry for everyone which they all enjoyed.
Bit sunburnt though. Looking
forward to getting to the bar for a nice gin and tonic.
Money is in my pocket at the ready.
Ding Dong! Quick
key to the Paolo's form of Cockney rhyming slang is:- gaff
= home bubble
(bubblebath) = laugh Chas
and Dave (rabbit, rabbit, rabbit) = too much talk big
potatoes = giving it large apples
and pears = stairs gave
him a dough boy = slap round the face ruby
murray = curry currant
bun = sun battlecruiser
= boozer or pub Jean
Michel Jarre = bar Nelson
(Mandela) = Stella Steve
McGarrett (Hawaii 5-0 character) = #50 sky
rocket = pocket roast
potatoes = luvverley jubberley Swimming
in the South China Sea We
have seen a tremendous array of wildlife since leaving Hong Kong. Dolphins,
sharks, sea snakes, huge tuna. All
of these were seen after our little swim! We
were very concerned at the lack of speed that we had and suspected that we might
have a problem with the bottom of the boat.
So, when the wind went light, it was decided that someone would have a
look underneath the boat to check to see if we were dragging something or if we
had a feathered prop. Jenksie donned flippers and a mask and dived down to
establish what the problem was and fix what turned out to be a feathered
propeller. (This means, by the way,
that one of the blades was out of place causing drag through the water - not
very much drag, but when you are a finely tuned racing machine like the good
ship London, drag is drag.) Of
course, their was interest in Jenksie's work.
So it was inspected by Ossie, Rory, and JT as they all went for a swim
around the boat. The water was a
glorious temperature and the water was so clear, it was easy to see the whole
bottom of the boat and the shoals of fish several metres below. The
sharks fortunately came later. Quiz With
the winds so light and the days so hot, we have tried to find ways to relieve
the boredom to make the day go faster. There
has been Jenksie's game of Perudo. There
has been lots of reading. And there
has been the return of the London Liverpool quiz.
Questions are set in a variety of topics and each boat has a few hours to
come up with questions before spending several hours trying to answer the
obscure and the ridiculous. A
little taster for you - what is Van Morrison's real name?
Answers on a postcard to good ship London.
The prize will be a meal for one on board London on 28 September.
A full list of prize winners can be obtained by writing to London Clipper
etc. etc. The answer will be
revealed in a later diary entry. A
little bit warm! It
is so hot! We do not have a
reliable thermometer on board but it is hot - and the water temperature is 32.3
degrees. The deck burns your feet
if you don't have shoes on, if we had an egg we could fry it up there.
Shade on deck is fought over ferociously.
Down below, is like living in an oven and our on board sauna doubles as a
toilet and shower. The fans on board, which are completely inadequate, struggle
to push yet more hot air around. Sleep
is nearly impossible and the deck at night is a mass of bodies trying
desperately to stay cool. We
have used buckets of saltwater to stay cool and are drinking enough water to
float the Titanic. Their is a
promise of air conditioned rooms when we get to port - that thought is like a
mirage in a desert. Finishing
last Everyone
on board was extremely down after finishing last in the race.
Another good start to the race was for nothing due to the feathered prop
and then all our efforts in the pack of four at the back were for nothing
as well as the race was cancelled at the one sched that we had fallen
behind at, due to a tactical decison that we felt would get us ahead of that
pack in the next 24 hours. Luck and
London are not going together at the moment. We
have reacted very positively though. The
last three days of motoring have given everyone on board the chance to hit the
jobs list hard and London is looking in good shape again after a battering over
the last few months. And
we have finally been able to arrange for the court of Neptune to be set up in
order to change our luck. Sailing legend says that when a sailor crosses the equator
for the first time, that person must be put before the court of Neptune and
tried by one of Neptunes' representatives (someone who has already been welcomed
in by Neptune. Failure to go before
the court of Neptune, so legend states, will result in bad luck until the
appearance in court. (I thought
that I had got away from appearances in court for a year!) Our
luck since Galapagos has been terrible. So
to try and put it right, Simon, Jersey's skipper agreed to conduct the court as
Neptune's ambassador and he came aboard on the motor into Indonesia.
Each round the worlder (the only ones on board to have already crossed
the equator) had a list of crimes read out to which the only plea is one of
guilty. The punishment follows, in
the form of a bucket of water, or something a little bit worse. My
crimes included supporting Pompey and telling everyone about it incessantly - my
defence that they had just become champions was dismissed immediately.
I was also found guilty of eating too much resulting in great waste
polluting Neptune's world. And I
was found guilty of wearing wicking pants - an essential bit of kit in my view.
My punishment was a bucket of seawater.
Jazz and Cookie were not so lucky. They
had promoted themselves to the role of Neptune's assistants and Neptune wasn't
very happy about that. So they were
treated to the contents of Jersey's slops bucket for a punishment.
Jazz didn't find comments about it being good for her hair to be very
helpful. The
upside of all this for the round the worlders is that now, they can then sit
back and enjoy the court being re-convened after Singapore to welcome in everyone else
on board, including Rory. Neptune
has a big crowd coming. Motoring
and pirates With
the race being called off early, we had a lot of motoring to do.
When the race finished, the fleet headed for Kota Kinabalu in Sabah (part
of Malaysia and next door to Brunei) to refuel before setting off for a week of
motoring and towing. Kota Kinabalu
supplied us with fuel, beer, burgers and an amazing tropical thunder storm. The
boats motor in twos, one towing the other, which helps with fuel efficiency.
There is very little to do on board except work or relax and we did both.
The boat did look in good shape when we arrived in port. The
other reason for motoring together is piracy.
The Singapore Straits is the busiest commercial shipping channel in the
world and it attracts pirates. By
motoring together, pirates are less likely to attack.
We did have a practice run though - a little practical joke on the girls
who did not know it was a practice run and who have to sit in the engine room if
the boat is under attack. We left
them there for 20 minutes whilst we opened a bottle of wine.
Very amusing to everyone on board - except two! Singapore
- nearly! We
were not able to get to Shanghai or San Fernando in the Philippines for various
reasons and the Asian leg of the race ended with Singapore refusing to accept
the fleet because of SARS. It
has all worked out rather well though. We
have been berthed in Batam, an Indonesian island just a 30 minute ferry ride
away from Singapore. It is a
beautiful island, with tropical beaches and golf courses everywhere.
Our hotel comprises beach huts on stilts and the three rounds of golf I
have had this week have been accompanied by a buggy and a caddy - I will never
be able to play at home again. Being
so close to Singapore, I have also been able to spend a few days there although
it has been limited. Highlight of any trip to Singapore is a Singapore Sling in
the Long Bar at Raffles Hotel. But
there were plenty of other things to see in the short time we were there. It
has been a very good stopover. Race
10 - delay We
are still in Batam, two days after we should have left.
The reason is that Hong Kong have destroyed their generator due to a
major oil leak which led to the engine seizing up.
We are waiting for a new engine to arrive from the UK so they have a
generator to run their watermaker and charge their batteries.
It makes a change for it not to be London with the problem! Am
looking forward to getting on our way again now though.
Am keen to make progress and nice as Batam is, there is still a long way
to go. Mauritius is three weeks and 3,500 miles away.
We also have one of the most exciting races to come as the winds are
strong and consistant with big waves and loads of wildlife.
It should be a lot of fun. Click here for diary entry 33 - Race 10 - Indonesia to Mauritius - May 2003 |
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