James has been deciding the watch patterns we will take. With four adults on board, watches should be fairly civilised. He initally planned us to do 3 hours on, 9 hours off plus a rota of 'jobs' to be done, eg checking sails, making water, preparing meals, schooling the children, updating competition control / the blog etc. He is now looking at an overlapping 4 hour watch pattern which will mean that we only do two hours at a stretch on our own with the first and last hours overlapping with another crew member which should ease the pressure during times of poor weather when we will need two on watch.
Common sense, and also race safety rules, mean we must carry adequate emergency equipment. We have owned a suitable liferaft for a few years now, and obviously we will insist on lifejackets on deck, particularly for the children. Matthew still cannot swim and is likely to panic if he hits the water, so he has a foam-type jacket, whilst Elizabeth is a competent swimmer and has an auto-inflating type as do the adults. We will also carry an emergency beacon and have a similar function built into the radio / GPS which will transmit our position in an emergency. Another means to raise the alarm will be via a quick message on the sat phone which we can set up to automatically update the blog and go directly to family at home. Finally, James is a firm believer that you should never enter the liferaft until you have to step up into it, as many voyagers have abandonned ship, never to be seen again, whilst their allegedly "stricken" vessel has later been recovered, still buoyant and intact. It is much easier for rescuers to locate a 15m yacht than a tiny liferaft as this recent news story from Australia demonstrates: Passenger jets help rescue missing sailor.
The children will also be involved in onboard tasks. Elizabeth is keen to cook and Matthew will be encouraged not to spend all day every day playing with his toys. There is also much schooling to be done, as well as the indirect education as we teach them about the culture, history and geography of the regions we will visit. At sea, there is opportunity to teach them about the weather patterns, marine currents, cllimate and pollution, whilst clear nights will offer vistas of dark skies filled with distant planets and stars. As we near Christmas, we hope the children will enjoy preparing the boat by making paper chains and other decorations, drawing Christmas cards, devising small gifts and even making Christmas crackers from saved toilet roll tubes. We should all stay busy!
Common sense, and also race safety rules, mean we must carry adequate emergency equipment. We have owned a suitable liferaft for a few years now, and obviously we will insist on lifejackets on deck, particularly for the children. Matthew still cannot swim and is likely to panic if he hits the water, so he has a foam-type jacket, whilst Elizabeth is a competent swimmer and has an auto-inflating type as do the adults. We will also carry an emergency beacon and have a similar function built into the radio / GPS which will transmit our position in an emergency. Another means to raise the alarm will be via a quick message on the sat phone which we can set up to automatically update the blog and go directly to family at home. Finally, James is a firm believer that you should never enter the liferaft until you have to step up into it, as many voyagers have abandonned ship, never to be seen again, whilst their allegedly "stricken" vessel has later been recovered, still buoyant and intact. It is much easier for rescuers to locate a 15m yacht than a tiny liferaft as this recent news story from Australia demonstrates: Passenger jets help rescue missing sailor.
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| The missing yacht spotted from low flying B777 yesterday |
The children will also be involved in onboard tasks. Elizabeth is keen to cook and Matthew will be encouraged not to spend all day every day playing with his toys. There is also much schooling to be done, as well as the indirect education as we teach them about the culture, history and geography of the regions we will visit. At sea, there is opportunity to teach them about the weather patterns, marine currents, cllimate and pollution, whilst clear nights will offer vistas of dark skies filled with distant planets and stars. As we near Christmas, we hope the children will enjoy preparing the boat by making paper chains and other decorations, drawing Christmas cards, devising small gifts and even making Christmas crackers from saved toilet roll tubes. We should all stay busy!
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