Time to make diamonds

 

Dinner time, exiting Cuvier Island.

In a 10  weeks, Coppelia needs to be tied up in a marina at Westhaven ready for inspection and final checks before the start of the Round the North Island.

TEN WEEKS !!!!!

In that time, there is Christmas, I also have two week long trips to the US, and a world selection regatta to sail in my Flying Fifteen.

Campaign wise the big jobs on my list include:

• Getting on top of the environmental conditions, (tides, currents, local winds) for each leg of the race.
• Continuing on my fitness program, which is actually going pretty well.  Rob is just naturally fit so this is one less task for him.
• Food. Stuff that we like! We need a minimum of 8 days of food, but we might need as many as 12. Also our hunger levels and tastes vary day to day so provisioning can be a bit of a
  challenge.
• Sailing, getting out and doing some boat handling drills. For me practise brings confidence.
• Mental health, making sure that both of us hit the start line ready to give 100%. Remembering this sailing is a once in a life time chance, it really is now or never.

Rob has a huge list of boat work that I am not really qualified to help with, but will try my best and also he needs some time off to rest.

 

So what is the reference to diamonds ?

Diamonds are ordinary pieces of carbon, placed under enormous pressure, until they change in structure and become the beautiful strong  gems we all desire.

The next ten weeks for us is about two ordinary people making a strong gem of a campaign that we both desire.

 

Approaching Cuvier