After a partying on Merrilyn red watch pulled off an amazing breakfast in
the space of only 10 minutes. Our taste buds were blessed with a beautiful
combination of fried eggs, beans and pork burgers (may contain meat).
This gave us the energy to complete the day's tasks. Because most of the
hard work was done yesterday there wasn't too much to do other than some
light cleaning of the heads and the galley. While mother watch was clearing
things away below, blue and white were clearing the deck and re-attaching
the main, which had been taken off to be repaired.
On completion of the chores of the day it was time to have some fun. Those
of us who wanted went bowling at the leisure complex right by our birth. It
was an exciting game, which ended in a nail-biting battle between Paul
Steptoe and the skipper. Paul was quite far ahead, which meant that Chris
required 3 strikes in a row. Amazingly the skipper got 2 and unfortunately
only 9 on the third bowl, which was a great achievement, but not quite
enough to clinch the victory.
At 12 o'clock the five-a-side football matches were on the schedule. A
minibus was waiting for the eager Rona 2 football players. When we arrived
and had overcome the initial organizational issues players were shuffled up
and a few friendly matches with mixed teams were played. The Capitan Miranda
boys were on form in their crew football kit scoring most of the goals.
David and Marcelo from Capitan Miranda and Molly and Eloise from New Moon
were particularly good.
In addition to the sporting activities of the day, crew members were making
trips to Primark in the city centre to get kitted out for our party.
Boys with Primark bags filled to the brim with bright 80s gym clothes came
back throughout the day.
There is a lot of excitement amongst crew members about the party, with the
skipper acquiring an Irish Folk band with the help of our liaison officer
Joanne and a sound system for the music from Matt's laptop being hired from
a local shop.Refreshments being 'wheelbarrowed' in and invitations being
handed out. A proud red-watch moment was the trade of two party invites for
a few crates of Lucozade from some attractive promotion girls who were
handing out Lucozade to the public.
As the day progressed the crowd increased greatly (perhaps to the expected
400.000) There were also many tours of Rona 2 to visitors who were keen to
see what life was like on the boat. It is also always amazing to hear
stories of people who have read our blog and want to put faces to the names
that they have been reading about.
As we were preparing the curry for dinner we realized that we did not have
any curry powder left. In a heroic mission by Bryn, he ran to the local
Indian, 'Indian Ocean', and returned with the manager's personal curry
powder mix. The dinner turned out alright considering it was made with
tinned hot dogs and meatballs.
With the speakers set up and the drinks on ice the party was ready to start.
The first guests started coming in at around 8 o'clock and stories of the
previous night and the day's events were exchanged. The Capitan Miranda boys
turned up too and told us all about life on the navy ship as well as
thanking us for our blogs, which provided them with some entertainment along
the race. During the course of the evening the Irish folk band turned up
with harps, fiddles and pipes to create a perfect party atmosphere on the
boat. Towards the end of the evening there was some concern about the public
coming onto the pontoon without crew badges. However, Rona 2's police
service led by Simon and Bryn dealt with any wrongdoers effectively.
The sheer mass of brightly coloured boys created a spectacle that onlookers
couldn't get enough of, taking pictures and asking to come on all night.
To everyone's disappointment the party drew to a close around 2 am but many
of the lads stayed up to talk about the nights events. It was fair to say
that no one was looking forward to the clean-up operation of the sticky
deck.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank James, Angela and Paul
Connan for the generous donations and driving us around to pick up supplies
for the crew party. Rona 2 is very grateful and the party would not have
been the success it was without their support.
Crew of Rona 2
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