All going well on Ericsson after a pretty fast and hard first few days. The body has taken a decent beating after being washed face first into the life raft while pumping the bilge pump.

I thought I was ok with my safety tether clipped on but the wave had
enough force to wash me back and flip me over head first into the raft. My first thought was to worry about my nose and face, this being my biggest asset, and I will need to call on my good looks for my modeling career after the Volvo is over.

After shaking it off, I found I had split by lip open, banged my nose, a lump the size of a golf ball on the side of my head and a very sore fore arm. The fore arm is giving me the most problems and is wrapped in a splint and has limited use at times.

The rest of the night I had a few more spills and have a bruise the size of my hand on my hip, where I was pushed against the reef line from a wave while running the second reef line.

These boats are something to respect as the moment you turn your back, you will find yourself getting washed back by a wave that is about chest height and coming at you as if you were in the surf on a beach in Aus.

Things have calmed down a lot since then and we are now racing along
trying to find a few extra miles here and there, and seeing what the next big cloud will bring us, the boat is al dry and we are settling into the watches and the bodies getting use to the good old freezed dryed food, which is as good as is has ever been.

Tom Braidwood

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