BRISBANE BLOG 8:

Another day in Paradise………………

Yes, it is another day in Paradise which means an early start. Either the pounding rain, or the searing sun, or both, will have you wide awake by 5.30 in the morning with this late start being something along the lines of a luxury lie in.

For the Brits here at the Royal Queensland, there was an added excitement to the day. Despite Christmas being long gone, their much delayed present, a 40ft container holding the entire kit for the team, was about to be delivered. Then, as the morning wore on, the jaunty atmosphere was replaced by something else….  3 days after being unloaded, the container was still sat on the wharf  - with the next big country wide shut down, for New Years Eve, looming fast.

Some frantic phone calls later, some fancy footwork by various individuals and it now looks as if things could be about to happen. A posse of desperados, lead by Richard Buttner and Chris Boshier, had the summons for them to head over to the Quarantine Section. If they can show the Officials there what has been done, there is a very real possibility that the container could be here on site later today.

In the meantime, the pace here at the RQ (Royal Queensland) continues to pick up as more and more people arrive. Some early measuring has already taken place, practice sessions are being clocked out in the bay (including the practice bait digging sessions with the mast head, an ever present risk in these shallow waters) and there is now a distinct air that something big is just around the corner.

As Wellington said of Waterloo, "this was a close call".

Event Measurer Gregg Barrington  (in Blue shorts) doing his best to pass Geoff Fisher's new Bonezzi through. The hull form was positivley anorexic, with the final measurement being right on the limit of the tolerances. Geoff, in the hat, is beginning to sweat and it was not even hot. (That's what Bundy drinking does to you).

Mike Denham (white sweatshirt) is giving this the "och, that's a wee bit of a squeeze" comment.

Everywhere you look there is more activity, a much needed move as the Team GBR sailors, with no boats to sail, had started drinking Bundy and Cokes by midday – this according to one local Contender sailor is well down the path towards an indeterminate ending!

Mad dogs and englishmen go out in the midday sun. Chris Boshier in his trademark floral shirt collects his new mast with the aid of Mike Denham. At least it could be a mast, either that or Mike is using his North Sea Oil experience to drill  down for the Bundy's.

But all these issues matter no as we are, after all, in Paradise.

We are?

According to some (albeit loose) interpretations of the Koran, the faithful will find themselves served by 72 virgins in Paradise.

But hang on…. According to some whizz kid of a marketing guru, THIS is Paradise. Well, I’ve seen a lot of the local ‘wildlife’, but no sign of the 72 virgins (would they make good trolley dollies?).

Frankly though, it matters not. I would be happy for a Paradise where you can get through an hour without either another torrential downpour, a blast of wind that would chill one in the Troassachs if it wasn’t so damned hot and humid, or just a day when the big shiny thing up in the sky would make an appearance. The last reported Australian appearance of the sun was actually up in England, when for once it was the visitors who were praying for rain to save them from certain defeat in the Ashes Test. No wonder they want bad weather, it allows them to practice their excuses for the next round of open warfare (what the Ashes have become) when it is the turn of the Brits to come here.  In London recently, it was announced by the Metropolitan Police that the worst offenders for overstaying their visitor visas were the Australians. Now I know why….. They are escaping the local weather here. Call me a whinging Pom…. but what we have here makes the Lake District on a wet Bank Holiday Monday look attractive…….

The beautiful strip cedar planking of AUS 278. Sadly is has spent rather too long in this position of late. Locals are now worried that there will be a shortage of clams and oysters, with them all have been dug up by the masthead of 278.....

Expect another update very soon…… with news of the Brit Container, fingers crossed.

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David Henshall

Bearfacemedia/ Brisbane