Cork Week - Lulu Belle corked

by Anne Stockdale on 15 Jul 2010
Cork Week Day 3 report from the Aussie crew on Lulu Belle.

Wilson meandered down to the boat – rolling down the hill as he does and noticed that two of the crew were fighting. Namely, Kim Darling and his lovely wife Janno. Wilson overheard them talking about the shenanigans on the boat – something to do with Fantasy Land telling Adventure Land what to do in an unappreciated manner.

Janno had apparently thrown her wedding ring in to Cork Harbour and was heading home. Kim went running after her and that's the last we saw of them. Wilson panicked, but guess what, we ran into Anne and Chris from Manly Sailing who said they'd help out, gosh those people are handy! Anne promptly called Chris's niece Nic (not Nicky) and Karl (With a K) and so with great aplomb they jumped on board and we returned to the scene of the crime (BACKWARDS) to compete on the Slalom Course. Wilson who doesn't get seasick, because he has no stomach, offered Karl a seasick pill, but Karl was too busy eating his sausage sandwich and bacon and eggs as we wandered out into a tremendous storm. 40 kts (under the squalls, give or take) over the nose, horizontal rain and Karl decided to represent his breakfast. Wilson was noticed mumbling as he rolled around on the sole – 'bloody barristers' and so we made it to the start line.

40 knots (under the squalls, give or take), some snow, a bit of sleet, rain, 24ft waves (give or take) and then the weather left us. Sun, no breeze and a mark that went further away the closer we got to it. The skipper bellowed, 'hoist them up the yard arm' but no one knew what he was talking about so instead the crew chucked the spinnaker pole over the side, let the main sheet go, lost a spinnaker sheet and recovered the situation to manage a fine finish, still beating boats home and always looking good.

The Irish pulled out of the second race in droves, not to be seen again. Wilson on the other hand bellowed to the skipper, lets go again. Karl bellowed to the ocean, ' have my lunch again!'. And off we went on race 2. Best result of the week yet, despite the rain, mist and fog, no-one hurt (according to fantasy land but see pictures of bowman and mastman…). Of course Wilson, again safe and no bruises, waslast seen talking outside the fastnet bar to a gorgeous little roundheaded Sliother of a girl.

On the way home, the crew discussed tactics for the rest of the week which included the Seafood Cook off next Friday night between NSW and SA, while the Bowgirl went to the shops and bought high performance shampoo – in the hope that every little helps.

Previous report from the crew click here