If you can imagine yourself on a boat like this one I am sailing around the
world on, what would you think would be one if the most valuable
commodities? Water would probably rate the highest. We have a water
maker on board to provide fresh water. (The water is wonderfully pure and cold
as it comes directly from the 13 degree C sea.) Of course fuel and battery power
is very high on the list.

Apart from that it seems that
food, but more specifically snacks, cause a lot of bickering, especially
when people steal the snacks from the collective storage, or when they take
anything from the opposite watch's snack box! Probably not important, but
certainly valued.

But today we have now
realised that one of the most sought after commodities is toilet paper!!!!

This is a long leg - not as long as leg one, but definitely more challenging
in terms of the weather and managing our resources. To stay within our budget
we need to plan our food and general usage products well. It seems that
we our now fast running out of stuff and have not managed all our needs and
usages very well. And yes you guessed it - we realised today that we are very
low on toilet paper. Bog paper is now
rationed to one toilet roll per person for the rest of the race!!! So today we
each got one roll in a plastic bag, and we will have to get by with that
one roll until we arrive
in Albany. I can just imagine how interesting things are going to become if
people start taking other people's rolls - someone apparently already took two
today because we were one short when they got divided up. Some have also
started negotiating exchanges for Weetbix, which is down to two and a half per
person per day.

Tea, Vegemite, sun glasses, sun block and lip balm seem to also rate high on the
list of necessary commodities according to a quick little survey I just did. So
is milk and the Skipper's cigarettes!

Watch this space on how the rations are going to go for the next few days.
People are getting creative and the jokes are reaching really low and basic
levels!

I am
currently offering 10 Australian Dollars for a piece of chocolate! Haven't had
any offers yet. I am going to buy myself a huge block of dark chocolate as soon
as we get to shore!

To all our PSP supporters - keep your faith because as you can see we are slowly
but surely catching up on our competitors. We still have a third of this race to
complete and anything can happen. We are determined to get a high position.

Sending you all my love and miss my friends and family incredibly!