Cape Breton Island Crew Diary - Eleanore Gough

2:42 PM Tue 26 Jan 2010 GMT

'Cape Breton Island - Eleanor Gough at the Helm' Clipper Ventures PLC &copy

New Kid on the Block - Eleanor Gough - Cape Breton Island - 9th January

Today marks my sixth day on Cape Breton Island, the start of my two-leg stint on the Big Blue Canoe. Already I have spent more time on board a boat than ever before, the longest previously being three nights out on our Part C training back in July last year.

I have been looking forward to this moment for exactly a year after my first interview at the Boat Show last January, but on Sunday morning as I packed up my last bits of kit, put on our crew 'uniform' and walked down to join the rest of my crew I couldn't help feeling a bit like the new girl starting her first day at school.

I knew most the crew already, having spent prep week or training time with many of them, but by now ten of them have sailed half-way round the world, for them their first race start seems like many moons ago and I was soon to realise that between them they had developed into a fine tuned sailing machine. Aside from the sailing experience, the 68 feet of beautiful blue boat has become their home, them they know where every last packet of flour is stowed, which bunks offer the best sleep, the right proportion of flour and yeast to make enough bread for 18 people and what make the best combination of toppings for toast (so far peanut butter and jam, or Nutella and marmalade seem to be in the running), all the most important things of course!

I on the other hand haven't sailed for around six months and have spent the last four weeks enjoying myself bumming around Australia. How was I going to manage? Would I remember what everything did? Which rope to pull when? How to pump the heads? Or would I end up feeling like the class dunce?

Six days in, in all honesty I can probably say a bit of boat. I'm amazed that it's only been a week; the small space we inhabit (and yes 68 feet is quite small when there's 17 of you 24 hours a day, seven days a week) has started to feel like home. I've perfected the art of getting in and out of my bunk without incurring too many injuries and my fellow crew members have helped me through some of the more 'blonde' moments to make sure I'm not sitting in the dunce's corner too often.

Whilst there are still almost three months to go until I complete my experience, I can already cross a couple of firsts off the list...

Participated in my first Clipper race start - an exhilarating couple of hours which was great to watch in Hull but so much better to finally be involved with

Baking my first batch of bread rolls on board a boat - and very yummy they were too

Assisted in my first sail repair - something I was hoping that wouldn't happen so soon, simply because torn sail's are never a good thing!

Experienced at first hand some of the types of equipment failure I have been reading about for the last few months, when the guy on our spinnaker broke (for the first time) - and was incredibly proud of my fellow watch members, all of whom happen to be round the worlders except me, who acted with cool, calm and collected professionalism to control the situation and get the new kite flying in just about an hour

Discovering that trimming ability isn't limited to just sails, as I set about giving Luke a bit of haircut yesterday afternoon - the results (of my first every haircut) were a lot better than most expected so if I decide PR isn't for me when I get home maybe a career as a sailing hairdresser beckons??

Being rewarded this morning by my first sighting of a pod of dolphins surfing along the waves in our wake, in addition to the hundreds of flying fish from the previous few days

Helming under spinnaker at night - a nerve-racking experience at the best of times for inexperienced sailors but when the second of our spinnaker guy's had broken just hours previously leaving five large tears in the sail and we desperately needed to make up some miles the pressure really was on!

I can safely say that so far the experience of a lifetime is exceeding all my expectations. I know that we have many more tough times ahead, and that while we're all cowering from the heat at the moment in a few short weeks we'll be beating our way up to Qingdao and wishing for the sun we're currently hiding from. But I know that then I'll no longer feel like the new kid.

by Eleanor Gough

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Cape Breton Island Crew Diary - Eleanore Gough

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