Pollywog to Shellback

So on 1st October at 16:08 UTC Team Mission Performance crossed the Equator into the Southern Hemisphere. Of our 20 crew members (including Matt) none had crossed the Equator under sail before apart from one (Ed), so we were known as Pollywogs! Yesterday lunch time we had a ceremony with King Neptune, to pay him respect and to see if we were to be accepted into the Southern Hemisphere, a traditional act amongst sailors! I have heard of previous stories from past races of what they do to the crew members, so that morning I put on clothes I was prepared to throw away. The entire team assembled on to the deck, King Neptune appeared and declared a ceremonial statement and then one by one we were each called to kneel at his feet to receive a flogging, then have old porridge, dirty sink water and what ever else could found poured over us, following this we were made to kiss a dead flying fish (which had landed on the deck the previous night) attached to King Neptune's Staff! Unfortunately for Matt he was flogged by the entire crew and had most of the bucket of porridge tipped over him! Afterwards, we got the fire hose out and had a good rinse in sea water so we didn't smell as bad! Now I am a Shellback, and in the Southern Hemisphere for the first time.

At the moment we are in the middle of the Ocean sprint between 5 degrees south and 10 degrees south, there is a chance to gain 2 extra points if we are fastest between these two marks, so we are pushing the boat really hard; as we are sailing close to the wind the boat is constantly at an angle so when I am off watch I sleep on the floor on the high side as any extra weight there can make her go that little bit faster, we also check the trim of the sails every 10 minutes to get the maximum speed. In the past 24 hours we have done 250 nautical miles compared to around 40+nm a day in the Doldrums (1 mile=1.1 nautical mile approx.)! This is great and at this rate we hope to be in Rio by the 7th. We also saw land for the first time yesterday since departing Brest, leaving us all very excited for what Rio de Janeiro is going to be like.