Day 43 30th Movember Update..
Today was the end and final judging of the Movember fundraising Moustache growing event.. As previously mentioned in the daily blog the guys and latterly some of the ladies joined in the fundraising for Male Cancer Awareness. Over £50 was raised, and after smoko the great judging event took place, judged by the Captain and Bosun (both blindfolded for fairness) and judged for hairiness style etc.
All the competitors lined up and were marked out of 30.. After much deliberation the joint winners were announced Noel, H, Roger and Peter all tying on 21 points. Special mention was made of Henry for his Green and Red Tache as an aid to Navigation, Henry and Betty for their His & Hers entry, Neil the BM for the most creative use of fruit (you had to be there..) Sally for the most knitted and finally points for turning up went to Marcin we think his effort blew away when the wind hit 15 kts....
Will and James sadly didn’t have the time to finish their part of the blog, as they were both called to help tease a reluctant Topgallant sail out of its furler. They both provide a few comments below though:
Will:
Recife was painted to us as being an extremely commercial city, and to that extent I suppose they were right. The commercial port (where we moored) was extremely industrial, and the surrounding area didn’t immediately endear us to the town. The old city centre however, and in particular the old old town of Olinda were both well worth a visit, and underscored the enormous level of history and culture existing in Brazil, that we from the outside are only starting to get a glimpse of. The presence of stunning views, UNESCO-funded monuments and a truly excellent café really set the seal on a superb full day. Members of the crew were at times bemused by the number of people who had come up to them pointing and telling us that we had been on TV! It seems that the camera and radio crews that had been present at our arrival (apparently at the insistence of 'the highest level’ of government) had definitely got their message out to the wider community. One hell of a propaganda boost for JST! Sadly yours truly didn’t manage to get on TV, so the moment of stardom may have to wait a bit. It seems odd that this visit to Brazil is in fact the beginning of the end for our little crew, as our next and final stop will be Rio. Having had no sailing experience before, I can only say that the experience was one which I would repeat in a heartbeat. May the last few days and weeks be as enjoyable as the first!
James:
Recife for me was an interesting port, although there was a lot of building work going on. Recife is a very large city (as we saw from the shore), and clearly they were doing a lot of work in preparation for the World Cup. We also visited Olinda, where we had a brilliant view of Recife. There was a very interesting Cathedral, and we all went out for a meal which was very nice. It feels strange that we are nearing the end of the journey, although for me things are slightly different as I will be staying on board until the 27th December, to sail on the short trip the ship is doing to promote the JST while we are in Rio
Will andJames sadly didn’t have the time to finish their part of the blog, as they wereboth called to help tease a reluctant Topgallant sail out of its furler.They both provide a few comments below though: