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Odyssey 2 June 2018

"Hi from South Pacific!"

Having put in a long tack to get closer to the coast, Race for Water is now heading South, hugging the shore and negotiating a heavy swell, which is rocking her at best… The low-down from the second in command, Anne-Laure Le Duff.

“It’s been 12 days since we left Peru. We’re into the rhythm of the open ocean, the watches split up the days and nights, the swell rocks us or shakes us and the wind blows at varying degrees of intensity according to the days. We’re slowly but surely making headway towards Valparaiso.

It’s been a studious week. The girls have donned their painting overalls, Jean-Marc has been transformed into a plumber and Basile has slipped on his electronics engineer cap. In addition to the boat-related work, the captain has concocted a few unexpected safety exercises, the aim being to train, improve and test the existing procedures.

At the start of the delivery trip, two man-overboard exercises were carried out.

This week the topic has been Fire. The first was in the workshop. Like a shot, each person took up position. Two members of the crew kitted themselves out in fire-fighting garb with fire extinguishers, another coordinated the fire-fighting, another remained on watch on the bridge and a third prepared to lend a strong helping hand in case the fire took hold.  The captain put an end to the exercise and then a debriefing followed, drawing up all the possible scenarios and the various corresponding actions.

A few days later, it was in an area of the boat up forward that a fire was announced. This time the scenario was different. Here too, everyone knows what they have to do. We test the procedure put in place and subsequently discuss its weaknesses and strengths. We go about the exercise calmly and with the utmost seriousness. The debriefing takes place on the bridge and everyone reviews the event. In this way, we share everyone’s feedback and if need be we can readjust the roles and actions.

Safety exercises must be carried out on a regular basis as they help you to get a good handle on your role and the equipment used and enable you to hone your automatic reflexes, which will be decisive in a real-life situation. A well-trained crew is a crew that will keep its cool when the time comes. Indeed, as our captain says “train hard, fight easy”. There will be others then and they’ll be different types: Man overboard, abandon ship, a leak and a fire in other compartments.

Between daily life aboard, the work and the exercises, this journey is offering us some special moments.

For some hours, we’ve been making our way along the Chilean coast. It’s a gripping spectacle. Ochre-coloured mountains, without any vegetation, dropping away into the greeny-blue of the ocean. The contrast is breathtaking. It’s a wild, hard and magnificent landscape. Out on the water, the birds play with the swell, skimming the surface with the tips of their wings, enjoying following the wave. Contemplative souls get lost in this very beautiful immensity. We’re recording these images on our retinas, aware of just how lucky we are.

Meantime, the boat is a merry-go-round on a rollercoaster. The powerful swell is causing her to pitch like never before and suffice to say that nobody is walking straight aboard anymore and it’s nothing to do with the Pisco!

The sun is setting and the night watches come round again. We’re continuing southwards, happy to be at sea.”

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