Getting to know each other - our new family for the 2.5 months sail voyage!

On the 7. and 8th of March, we had our 2nd Teambuilding Event in Hermanus Yacht Club, which was organised by our motivated candidates. It was definitely a successful weekend - with lots of fun activities and perfect for getting to know each other! Please find below the logbook entry of our two candidates Helen and Gustav as well as some visual impressions:

Saturday, 7^th March 2009, 11:00
At 11:00 this Saturday morning the final SA Team met at the Hermanus Yacht Club to spend a weekend together doing teambuilding events and just getting to one another better. The event was organised by Chrissy and Marx (who managed to get permission for us to use all of the club’s facilities). When we arrived we were all really excited and wanted to know what the plans for the weekend were but Marx and Chrissy wouldn’t tell us anything, it was a surprise, but one well worth waiting for we later found out.

When we arrived in Hermanus the weather was almost perfect. It was mild (definitely not as hot as the previous two days) and the water in the lagoon was 24˚C according to Marx’s GPS on his rubber duck. The only disappointment was that it was very cloudy so when we got out of the water after swimming we were all freezing! After everyone had arrived, Hillary and Dayana gave us a debriefing about the previous teambuilding event (the swimming) and then spoke a bit about what our expectations were for the coming weekend. We also had a short icebreaker which Dayana did with us where we got to know what each other’s interests, strengths and weaknesses were. This helped us become less shy around each other. Chrissy and Helen then each chose teams: The-Blue-Team-and-we-will-bring-death-to-the-yellows and the Yellow team. We stayed and competed in these teams the whole weekend.

After that we all got into our swimming stuff and Marx took us in two groups in his super-fast ultra-cool boat across the lagoon to the mouth where we had our first team challenge; having to do a relay race involving one person swimming out to, and around the boat then swimming back and touching their next team mate’s hand. It ended in an epic tie with Bryan and Gustav fighting it out for first place. After the race Marx took us back to the club where we all enjoyed a nice hot shower. We then chilled and listened to music at Marx’s cabin before Andi introduced us to ‘Ultimate Frisbee’. Some members of the yacht club also joined us for this exciting game. Finally came the long awaited braai. Marx said that it is every man for himself when it comes to getting a spot to braai ones meat but the SA team responded quickly and we all had our meat sizzling whilst chatting to some of the members of the yacht club. Once we had all satisfied our hungry stomachs, Bryan suggested we go for a night cruise on the rubber duck. Marx agreed and we were off. This was really cool, being on the water in the dark, talking away and having some REALLY good laughs.

Once we had all disembarked from the boat people were still chatting which was obviously a good thing because after every minute of talking we would feel more comfortable and relaxed around each other. So eventually people started getting tired after our eventfull day and one by one we fell asleep. The girls in the cabin and the guys in the tents…

Helen & Gustav