Sail-World.com : Kiwis, Aussies and strange food onboard
|
Kiwis, Aussies and strange food onboard |
Life on board Puma's il mostro, as the crew head towards Alicante, Spain and the start of the Volvo Ocean Race 2008.
As our fearless Watch Captain Sidney Gavignet once told me, there are very few high level boats being sailed without Kiwis onboard. He should know as he won this race with a boat full of themin the Volvo 2005-2006. For those of you not akin to the sailing slang, a Kiwi is a New Zealander. I have to agree that it seems they grow great sailors on trees down there.
Fortunately, we have two if the most solid Kiwis I know on board. Justin Ferris and Rob Salthouse. Instead of telling you how great they are at sailing I thought I should give you a quick insight to who they are as people. Sure they are both solid as-a-rock sailors and can do just about anything on the boat, but what are they really like? Justin is one of the most subtle sarcastic ball busters I have ever met. You don’t even see if coming most of the time! It just gets you right when you’re not expecting it. Michi has been the recipient of it lately, and I have to admit, I have jumped in between on occasion to stir it up, but it’s funny and part of what we do out here.
Being real and having fun is all a huge part of being offshore. Justin’s sarcasm is a welcome wit – though when it’s coming down on me it may not be so hilarious. Salty is a different tale to tell. He came to us late in the game and was one of our last crew members to sign up. And as the last person in, Salty has not had the luxury of choosing the tasks he’s in charge of. Meaning – Salty got stuck with the food program. He has brought along the typical freeze dried delicacies that could choke a horse. This stuff is bad and not getting anybetter. But, he has also eased a new treat into the mix, some bizarre canned New Zealand creamed rice. Canned!!! Not exactly the light weight food we were hoping he would turn up with.
So far, Sidney is the only one who dares open a can and eat it, but as we have learned, Sid is the garbage disposal amongst the crew. So finally, Salty was confronted about the mysterious canned rice from New Zealand and was specifically asked if this was his version of 'never doing a bad job well.' No way he claims - that was not his intent (with a small wry smile to go along with his confession). But is has all back fired and he is now food boy for life because his creamed rice has brought so many bad jokes and amusement to the crew that no matter what the weight penalty, it is clearly worth taking to have Salty’s canned New Zealand creamed rice in our daily diet – or at least talk about it. Now if we could only find another person to try it.
Oh yes, sailing. We are still ripping toward Alicante and now officially a day ahead of our schedule thanks to the low that we are still riding at break neck speed. The amazing things about these boats is that is does not take much to go 20 knots. So it is not like we are on rails or anything, just ripping along at 18-25 knots having fun with a lot of smiles and laugher on deck. Very few boats in the world would allow you to say this as most would have you holding on for dear life at those speeds. I have to admit that early on in the program our goal was to get a great bunch of guys on this boat, and for now it is easy to say we have succeeded.
Kenny
From Watch Captain Chris (Nico) Nicholson
Hi Everyone,
Life onboard the good ship PUMA has been quite a mixture to date with days you want to forget followed by days you will remember for the rest of your life. With our ever rotating watch system the guys get to spend time with mostly everyone onboard.
Today we had a couple of Aussies reminiscing of the lucky county and its great cuisine. Basically, any cuisine is great compared to the jailhouse slop onboard the slave ship here. Anyway, the conversion between me and Casey Smith turned to some of our favorite foods at home. We could almost taste the dog’s eye and a rat coffin washed down with chocolate milk, ummm. I promise these foods are not what they seem and you’ll have to find a true blue Aussie if you need a translation.
As we have seen in the previous races, these boats are impressive and not to be taken for granted. I am currently experiencing a lot of trouble sleeping in by bunk. I’m not getting much sleep and it’s amazing how little sleep you can go with over these periods at sea. But, in the usual way, when you get tired enough you’ll sleep a bit.
Other than the typical toilet stories, all is good here. The team is looking forward to getting to Spain. There is still a lot of work to do but we’ll make sure to have a few beers and maybe try to find a dog’s eye for lunch.
Nico
www.pumaoceanracing.com
by Puma Ocean Racing Team
10:04 AM Thu 4 Sep 2008 GMT
Click here for printer friendly version
Click here to send us feedback or comments about this story.
If you want to send this story to a friend, please use link below
http://www.sail-world.com/USA/Kiwis,-Aussies-and-strange-food-onboard/48509
Click on thumbnails to enlarge and find more photos:
Click for further information on
Related News Stories:
MORE STORIES ...
|
Based on your current download speed Sail-World has delivered large images (660 pixels long side.) If you would like to see only small images (300 pixels long side)
click here . For medium sized images (500 pixels long side)
click here .
| |
