Facing the Camera

Lindsay Cunningham, one of the crew for our upcoming Atlantic Crossing, is a teacher at the prestigious King’s College Junior School in Wimbledon, London.

The school is taking a keen interest in Adina’s crossing and we’re informed the fleet tracker showing our progress will be shown at assembly each day so the boys can follow us from Gran Canaria to St.Lucia. Lindsay is also hoping to make a documentary of the crossing to be shown to the boys when she returns. The goal is to help not only improve the boys’ general geography knowledge but give them an understanding of all that goes into sailing a yacht and looking after the crew over long distances.

Welcoming King’s College Junior School to Adina

Just before October half-term, Lindsay presented an assembly about the crossing, showing the boys various pieces of sailing kit to inspire them. She then asked the pupils to write down the questions they wanted Susie and I to answer for them about sailing and the crossing. So out came the camera and following a video tour of the boat, Susie and I sat and answered the questions for Lindsay to take back for her next update to the boys after half-term.

It must be said that we loved the thoughtfulness of the questions. We’ll publish the final footage once it’s been shown to the pupils but for now here are some of our favourites:

James, Form TC
“How far is it to cross the ocean?”
James – sailors use nautical miles to measure distance at sea and it is approximately 2800 nautical miles from our start at Las Palmas, Gran Canaria to the finish at Rodney Bay in St.Lucia in the Caribbean. That’s approximately 5200 kilometres.

Luke, Form 1H
“How will you make sure there is enough water to drink?”
Luke, we have a clever machine onboard Adina called a water maker. It takes in seawater from beneath the boat, removes the salt, and turns it into drinking water. I can reassure you it’s very good and tasty water.

Ashwin, Form 1HL
“What weather do you expect in the Atlantic Ocean?”
We expect a variety of weather; there will be days when there is no wind and I’m sure there will be some days with lots of wind and rain. But where we are sailing there is a good record of nice winds to help us cross the ocean safely. We’ll be sailing not too far from the equator so we hope it will be sunny and warm.

Guy, Form TBP
“How many sharks do you think you are going to see?”
Guy, we hope none! But if we see them they will be beneath the boat and of no harm to us. We certainly do hope to see dolphins and whales!

Adam, Form TBP
“What kind of food will you eat?”
Food is one of the most important parts of our preparations as we need enough food to last three weeks. We’ll take fresh fruit and meat with us. For the first few days we’ll eat meals we prepare before leaving, like chilli con carne. Then we will use frozen meat especially vacuum packed and frozen to last longer. Things like eggs are rubbed in Vaseline and stored to last the entire trip. Towards the end of our trip we will rely on long lasting food you can buy in shops and maybe some tins. But hopefully we’ll catch fish like tuna and dorado that we can eat!

Jack, Form 1HL
“What is your worst fear at sea?”
A good question Jack! My personal worst fear is somebody accidentally falling off the boat – what we call ‘man overboard’. But we are well prepared if that happens as Adina has lots of special equipment to retrieve people from the sea and all our crew will wear lifejackets that inflate if they fall in the water. We’ve also made sure we’ve practised using the equipment. Hopefully we’ll never have to use it and will have a fun and safe crossing.

Romeo, Form 1HL
“Where will you stop for a rest on your journey across the Atlantic Ocean?”
We never stop, we sail day and night. We have a watch system which means some people will be sailing the boat and some people will be sleeping, and then we swap around. In fact sailing at night is fun as you get to see all the stars!

And our favourite question…
Harry, Form TBP
“I would like to find out if you are going to find treasure on the island?”
Harry, the treasure we hope to find on the island of St.Lucia is Caribbean rum!

Thank you to all the boys at King’s College Junior School for their questions. We do hope you will be inspired you to take up sailing yourselves!