March 14, 2004
2 minutes reading time
Bank BPH Sights Land
On their crewed round the world non-stop record attempt, the crew of the Polish VOR 60 Bank BPH are seeing good daily mileages.
On their crewed round the world non-stop record attempt, the crew of the Polish VOR 60 Bank BPH are seeing good daily mileages.
They are currently close to the little known Gough Island, and the weather is getting steadily worse. Here is the latest from the crew, who are thankful for their kit…
We are so close to land, yet still so far away. Since yesterday, the weather has been getting significantly worse and we are getting splashed with greater and greater intensity. One of yesterday’s first watches stepped up to the challenge and put on their dry suits. By evening, all the watches were wearing their one-piece dry suits. Gentlemen, these suits are great!! You start and end your watch dry. Everyone has forgotten how we used to use two-piece dry suits and I think they won’t even remember until we round Cape Horn. For these you put on breathable underwear as the first layer, a polar fleece windbreaker as the second layer, and you’re ready to go! I recommend them for anyone who has ever frozen at sea. We only regret that we didn’t have such foul weather gear during The Race in 2000.
In all this it is important to wear the layers properly as we were instructed by MUSTO (using the first and second layers) because if we didn’t, for example, use a breathable polar fleece as our second layer, everything would be OK until we actually had to do something on deck. We’d crank the pedestal twice and be completely drenched in sweat. Wearing the right layers as determined by MUSTO, we won’t have any problems like this.
Our hats and gloves are yet another story, and I’ll describe them once we begin to use them on a daily basis.
Another day with 300 nautical miles in the right direction has brightened our spirits.
Best wishes from on board the Bank BPH
Robert “Jabes” Janecki