One month to go until first Mini Transat race for Nikki Curwen
by Nikki Curwen 28 Mar 2014 13:13 GMT
28 March 2014
Nikki Curwen launches Boréal at the Royal Southern Yacht Club © Rich Bowen
Over the last month I've been crazy busy, and not just with the boat...
On 15th March I officially launched Boréal at the Royal Southern Yacht Club. It was a great day with around 100-150 friends, family and Royal Southern members there for the occasion. Most of which now think I'm completely mad to sail such a small boat so far, without even a real cooker or a toilet, let alone a washing machine!
Working
Earning some cash has been a high priority recently - I can finally sympathise with every other boat owner who's complained about their "girl" taking all their money! However many hours I rack up at work there always seems to be a hole in the pit.
Over the last 3 weeks I've been working with Grapefruit Graphics, helping them paint sails for a Volvo 65 project! Long hours and lots of paint fumes later, my hands are now multicoloured, but a great experience. After painting both sides of 7 sails with the same design, I can safely say it gets quite repetitive, and music and sugar is vital to get the job done.
Working at Grapefruit in the days and at the King and Queen in the evening and weekends, there hasn't been a huge amount of time for the boat or sponsorship hunting, or even sleeping! I've spent a week just catching up on everything I should have been doing all while trying to recover from the dreaded lurgy!
Talks
I've given two talks this month about my campaign, how I've got to where I am now, and what's to come. One down in Weymouth at Castle Cove Sailing Club, for their Z Class Dinner, and the other at Royal Southampton Yacht Club. It's amazing to see how much enthusiasm and interest everyone has for my campaign, and although I'm a solo sailor it never feels like I'm doing this all by myself, which is a great feeling.
Sail 4 Cancer
Over the weekend 20-21st March, 39 cadets from the Warsash Maritime Academy braved the weather and spent 24 hours in a liferaft, floating in Hamble river - all in aid of the charity Sail 4 Cancer.
Conditions were tough with gusts of 40 knots over night, hail storms and torrential rain, but they all braved it out and managed to raise over £11,000 for Sail 4 Cancer. I joined the support team for a meer 5 hours of their epic challenge, their perseverance and attitude was inspiring. It's not too late to donate.
With only 37 days to my first race, it's now back to boat work and getting everything sorted and ready to go and looking for sponsors!
nikkicurwen.com