Volvo Ocean Race- Straight-line progress continues for Team Alvimedica

by Amory Ross, Team Alvimedica on 29 Oct 2014 Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15. Team Alvimedica OBR Amory Ross reports on the crew’s progress.

It’s beginning to feel a bit like Groundhog Day onboard! Our straight-line progress south continues without significant change and after 48 hours of port tack bliss we’re still free running in the South Equatorial Current at steady speeds in excess of 20 knots. Not that it’s boring, but when there’s so little variation from watch to watch the monotony leads to stories, and the stories inevitably get bigger. Some watches are notoriously talkative, some not enough—and on the topic of routines and the day to day, I figure it’s as good a time as any to introduce you to the watch pairs and some of their more recognizable routines:

Housty and Seb: Ryan 'Housty' Houston and Sebastian Marsset. The caffeine crew. These guys throw back coffees like it’s their job. Ryan’s been battling a bit of an addiction, Starbucks VIAholic. He found his limit the other day—three of them in a 4AM coffee. Spun out real hard, didn’t stop talking for hours and in doing so gave he (and everyone else) a multi-day headache. To his credit he’s righted the ship and is almost off the sauce altogether. Seb’s a model for coffee control. One VIA, short and black, every watch. Very European, very professional.

Mark and Alby: Mark Towill and Alberto Bolzan. The eaters. These two come down from their watch at the 4AM, 12PM, and 8PM serving times—first dibs at a fresh meal. Pretty sure it’s all they think about on deck because it’s certainly all they talk about. Alberto: quintessential Italian who performs best on a full stomach (preferably pasta). Mark: knows exactly what he wants to see in the chili bin and he’s broken my code: never two pastas in a row, a white meal is always followed by a red meal. Chances are he knows what I’m serving well before I do.

Nick and Dave: Nick Dana and Dave Swete. The lone rangers. With an odd number of three sailors on deck for a watch these two bowmen roll solo, always opposite each other. Nick--not really sure what he does when he’s 'on watch,' seems he’s always fixing something somewhere or getting wet on the bow. And if he’s not, he’s likely listening to country or watching Rihanna on his baby blue iPod. Dave—aka, giggles. Always up for a song and a story, professional producer of laughs. Like a walking jukebox. Never a dull moment around a guy that literally does not stop talking. Most of us drink coffees just to stay at his level… seriously motivated, seriously exhausting!

Charlie and Will: Charlie Enright and Will Oxley. 'Will and Grace.' Free of a watch schedule, these two set their own schedules. Safe to say they live and die with the six-hour position report and incoming weather GRIBs. Adamant trackers of sleeping statistics—they run a whole spreadsheet tracking their movement to and from the bunk. Quite scientific. Very studious. The professor and the protégé?

Good fun and long overdue. It’s a great group of guys and things have been going well for us over the last few days. We’re figuring the boat out a bit, finding a few more knots here and there, making our way back up through the middle of the fleet with sound decision making. It is going to be a critical few days of navigating the high-pressure between Cape Town and us, but we’re psyched to sniff the front of the fleet again and we’re all ready for some fast sailing towards the Team Alvimedica