When something feels weird, it is mainly because of the vibrations of the boat and it is something everyone can feel.
As we entered the northern hemisphere we quickly got surrounded by a lot of seaweed floating all around us. The rudders or the keel catches a lump of it and you can feel the boat instantly slow down.
One solution to the problem is to dive down below the boat if the conditions are very light, but the main solution is to use the speed of the boat to get rid of it and shake it off.
This means we turn very fast into the wind to get a different angle and that normally shakes off the seaweed that was stuck underneath.
Feeling by touch during the night is something that you get used to when you start losing your head torch. Going from your bunk to the heads is usually the main reason for your trip.
The Volvo Ocean 65 is almost entirely covered with a grip material, which is very useful considering the average heel angle of the boat is often between 30 to 45 degrees. If you stop wearing shoes for a while, your feet become clean and you soon get a new layer of skin to protect you from the grip, but only when you get to shore… Stay in your boots they say.
The touch back of objects flying on the deck is a sport of its own. Water bottles, snack bars, coffee mugs, jackets, boots, shoes, torches, sheets, hooks, cliffs, cameras… we’ve seen it all. The gesture is mastered by all sailors, they don’t even try to look cool anymore, catching stuffs in 30 knots, without paying attention to the flying objects, it’s just going to land there is all.
