Life at sea is not just all about sailing

5 August 2017

Andrew Grinter writes:
“After a great start to the race we have become basically becalmed. The sound of sails flapping in virtually no wind is not a sound any of us like to hear. In fact without moving the rudder we jibed and tacked 3 times; fortunately the race committee has suspended the race with a new start about 300 NM away. Thank goodness we have a motor! In gentle seas we plod along at 6 knots which seems to be a perfect speed for attracting the odd pod of dolphin.
One of the things you do not think about before setting off on a 3 week voyage is the garbage that 31 people create in that time and what to do with it! Many would think you can either just throw it overboard or store it somewhere on the ship. In fact you must do a bit of both. Food scrap and only food scrap can be thrown overboard! It is natural waste that breaks down and returns to the environment in a healthy way. The rest must be stored on board in some way.
How to deal with the remainder? Is the big question. There is only so much room on a ship such as the ‘Oosterschelde’. There is no garbage room to simply bag and put the garbage in. This means that we have to store all the garbage on the deck or below deck in a way that uses the minimum amount of space. All of the garbage is sorted into its category ie. Cans, plastic, paper, cardboard and miscellaneous. Each piece of garbage that has food or drink residue must be washed, yes washed, to prevent us arriving as the smelliest ship, then compacted in some way. Cans crushed, plastic cut up into small pieces, cardboard and paper flattened and bundled then carefully packed into garbage bags in a way that uses the minimum amount of space. At least under becalmed motoring conditions this provides one of the watches with something to do. It is great that the crew of the ‘Oosterschelde’ take this very seriously and believe in having the minimum impact on this already frail and stressed environment. Waste, particularly plastic, is the scourge of our oceans.
Boredom is a problem on days like this where we are not really active. No sails to set and trim, the auto pilot is looking after the steering and course. The usual eat, sleep and sail does not apply. Both the crew and the guests are keeping busy. There is always something to do on board. The brass needs polishing, touch up painting, polishing of wooden blocks and fittings, routine checking of the rigging and a few repairs are some of the activities that are going on onboard. Most of us are catching up on our reading and having a little nap at any time in the day seems to be very easy. As with any long voyage meal times are looked forward with anticipation.
This period of inactivity has also been great for the 31 of us to get to know each other better. It has been a great opportunity to learn a bit about each other with conversation, gentle teasing and the sharing of skills that we have. For some strange reason learning to tie knots is a favourite. Fancy that!
I think we are all looking forward to restarting the race as soon as the conditions are suitable. After all we did come on board to SAIL. Hopefully tomorrow we will hoist every sail we have and continue to scamper across the Atlantic to Le Havre in our current position within the fleet. First place!”