Message from Virginia

So here we are in Barmouth ready to roll; or sail or row or run up a mountain or fly that spinnaker or wait for wind or eat or sleep or.....who knows...I have been busy today shopping, cooking and cleaning the boat, and we have meals aplenty for the light winds that are predicted. Our menu is not spartan like that in some boats, we have fish pie, chilli con carne and chicken curry all ready for eating, and a boat stuffed with goodies to suit all palates. Our team are big eaters, and there are no rules except if you eat anything you must offer it round.....and jelly babies on the hour through the night. It was good to send the rest of the crew ashore for a few hours today and get the boat shipshape and ready for action tomorrow afternoon. Kate did the race last year and completed it, and she has been teaching David and I how to fly the spinnaker as we came down from Scotland last week. Patrick and Andrew joined us at Holyhead and have been quickly learning the ropes too. Patrick and Kate are in charge above decks and David and I below decks. Andrew hasn't quite decided on his area of expertise, but as Devon Yawl National Champion he will probably be good on sail trim. Andrew was the ladies Team coach when I was sailing at Oxford a few years ago, where Patrick was the men's captain, and Kate was the Ladies Captain when I went to Bristol a couple of years later. So we have known one another for a long time, although have not been in touch much recently until we conceived this crew about this time last year. David is still wondering why he isn't up Everest as he usually is at this time of year, and his greatest challenge will be the night watches. He and I are Crip 1 and Crip 2 having sustained various injuries recently; we decided to get a carbon fibre spinnaker pole for him after he strained a rib when we did the Scottish Islands Three Peaks Race in May.
Anyway, I had better be off for now...here's hoping we finish this year!