Friday, August 28, 2009

Sailing Solo…. Almost - and food: Lots of it!

Yesterday was the big day: my first solo sail on Pink Lady since the refit. Well, actually that might be stretching the definition of the word solo as there were up to five cameras aimed at me at one point and I was wired up to a microphone throughout!

But it was easy enough to pretend when I hid behind the sails and disobediently turned the microphone off. ( Hey as I see it I was doing everyone a favor. Hearing me sing along to the stereo on full isn’t something I plan on sharing!)

Actually, I did spend the whole day wired up to a microphone because we had a TV crew visiting from the USA, I was filmed doing jobs on the boat, walking down the dock, eating lunch, and worst of all having a pre-voyage check up at the dentist! I’m pleased to report that I’ve been given the green light by the dentist, and the ESPN film crew were actually a lot of fun!

The other milestone yesterday was the big shopping trip, with the help of my strong and trusty brother Tom to do the heavy lifting, we set off to the local Duggan’s IGA to pick up the bulk of the food I’ll be eating. What a pile it was! And a big thanks to Nick and all the team at IGA for helping Mum chase down all those tricky hard to get essentials. After a quick look through all the crates a small problem emerged… make that a major one: There were no lollies! anyway the problem was soon fixed by a trip to the goodies aisle, armed with an empty trolley. What's that they say about letting kids loose in the lolly shop?

Back at Mooloolaba Marina, everyone’s been putting in the hard work to ensure everything’s just how it should be. So, a HUGE thanks to all the team and particularly to Jason from Linemaster for tackling communications and nav gear in the often over crowded cabin, Richard who keeps coming back to help some more, and to Dad and Bruce who really put the hours in.

Jessica

4 comments:

teaPod said...

I wouldn't quit on the microphone+music yet.
Samantha Davies, another Pink Lady of a.o. Vendée Globe's fame, had such a moment with the stereo blasting :
http://www.samdavies.com/gb_videos-voir.asp?num=1583
Hope you'll get as much fun!

Marcus Schormann said...

Hey Jessica , while stowing all the stuff on board ship be aware that there is noone doing a ´joke´ and chock the sweets and the loolies to a place you´ll find them a few weeks later ore never again :):):) .
Yours , Marcus from Germany

Anonymous said...

Jessica, will you or someone be posting a link to the ESPN report when it comes out?

I've been following your blog since an article I read I think from ESPN a while back.

Steelheart from Minnesota USA.

Anonymous said...

I am nearly 80 year old and wish
I could do the things you do.
I do wish you all the good luck in the world because that helps and your will power will do the rest.
From Martin