Sunday 23rd August

After waking up halfway down the Crinan Canal, we had to manoeuver away from the jetty, which proved difficult, owing to the boat that was moored right next to us! However, we overcame this challenge despite the rain, and continued down the canal. We are now all expert lock-openers-especially teammates Beth, Laura and Lizzie’s hand jiving when opening them, so getting our boat through 5 or 6 locks proved simple, if slightly wet and hard work. The rain provided an opportunity to make full use of Colin’s very cool waterproof camera! Snacks of jelly “children” and choc chip cookies kept up morale. After getting through the canal, we stopped for lunch whilst deciding on our afternoon plan (the night before we had ambitiously planned to do 8 hours of sailing after lunch!!). Soup warmed us all up, thank God we finally listened to teammate Kate, who has been wanting soup for days! We decided to continue, despite the strong gale force (number 8, increasing 9 at times :)) winds and rain-George was very excited!. We all a very positive mental attitude, and refused to let the rough seas get the better of us! To keep spirits up, and to stop the seasickness, we sang very very loudly and poorly! Songs included a full rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody, it was almost as if Freddy Mercury was in the boat with us, Mamma Mia (but just the chorus, as pointed out by Captain Col), and a selection of school hymns! Due to the strong waves which kept coming over the front of the boat, some of us got very wet, as we weren’t quick enough to grab a seat right underneath the hood ie teammatesJenny, Kate, Amy and Beth, whilst others, ie Lizzie, stayed bone dry! Teammate Jenny had a minor fruit pastille explosion when opening the bag…they turned very salty quickly so we set them free in the sea. George discovered fenders can be used as space hoppers! Thanks to the rough seas, and the fact that Colin had about a ton of salt in his eyes after trying to steer, we stopped at East Loch Tarbot at about 5. This gave us plenty of time for Laura and Kate to make a delicious pasta bake, aided by Phil (who, we found out today, won Ready Steady Cook many years ago!!) and to have a very welcome shower. Much to our excitement, we played George’s cup game (she learnt this at a Jewish American Summer Camp!) which proved hilarious, if a little tricky! We are about to plan our route for tomorrow, so see you then teammates! xoxo