Annie Lush / Team Brunel

gender Female
Bouwe comes out of the cabin into the cockpit wearing a Santa Claus costume. He's holding a sack and banging on a teapot. Carlo watches from the shrounds. Santa: "Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!" Santa gives a present (a card?) to Capey. Capey: "It doesn't look like I can eat this." Peter watches from the helm. Peter gets a (poorly wrapped) present. Abby gets a present (hers actually looks pretty nice). Santa gives Annie one present, then swaps out a different one and gives hers to Alberto. Louis, poking his head up from below, gets a "baby" one. Santa walks to the bow, then back. Kyle emerges from the cabin rubbing his eyes. Louis puts on reindeer+Santa hat sunglasses. (Assuming that was his present?) Santa passes out the final gifts: Cookies. "Sharing, sharing..." Santa removes his beard to enjoy a cookie. Carlo talks to Ugo: "You really miss out on the special days doing this race. So it's nice to be able to celebrate Christmas with Santa on the boat." Below, at the nav station, Santa/Bouwe types at the computer.Annie is in her foulie bottoms below. She's movnig a little gingerly? Puts on her foulie top. "I was trying not to go up when it's windy, but it's always windy. I can't stay below anymore. We'll see what Bouwe says when I get on deck. At the moment he won't let me grind, so not very useful. But we'll see." She finishes gearing up, goes on deck. Right into the washing machine. Later (how much later?) she's back below. Talks about how it's cold and wet, so "not the perfect conditions for recovery." But she's getting there, she says. Below, Bouwe talks about her spirit and drive; good to see she's getting better.Brunel is sailing in the sun in about 14 knots of wind on starboard gybe. Annie emerges from the cabin to walk on deck. Kyle: "Get her on the bow!" Annie: "Get my harness on." Annie takes a few practice turns on the grinder handles. She raises her arms. Annie, sitting on the stack: "Below doesn't smell that good anymore. It's quite nice to be out in the fresh air even if it's cold." She explains taht she talked to the doctor, and he thought she should only be making tea and coffee. She's only on deck because conditions are so light, she says. She turns the grinder handles under load.Annie writes a sign on the whiteboard: "CAFE IS OPEN! TODAYS SPECIAL: 'THE VESTAS CHASER'". Annie in the galley preparing something. "Feeling much better. Finally out of my bunk after 72 hours. It feels amazing. They've been really good. I feel like I have an email relationship with Spike now. We speak every 6 hours... I keep asking if I can push through the pain, and he doesn't like that... I think by lunchtime today I'm going to be negotiating on when I can go back on deck... At least I can make breakfast. Do something for the team, which feels good, because I've been watching them work for 3 days. Yesterday, at least I can make the meals, and clean a bit. If it helps the guys have more time in the their beds, hopefully it's helping a little bit." She preps a meal in an insulated box. Talks with Abby. "With gravy? I'll see what I can whip up."Annie, with no foulies on below, puts her foot down and holds on, wincing, as she slowly adjusts her position to get out of her bunk. She says something to Abby, next to her. Lying down, she describes getting pushed into the guy wire against the back of the boat. Big pain in her right side, couldn't move her right leg. Couldn't stand up, couldn't crawl. Ice gate was coming up; guys had to drag her along the deck and put her in the bunk. Shot of them taking her foulies off as she describes the pain. "It's like a burning pain." Bouwe: "Suggest the only thing is get the gear off now, and get her in the sleeping bag." Later, as she's lying down, she describes the pain to them: "It's like a 6 most of the time. And then sometimes it's a shooting pain that's more like an 8." Bouwe: "Most important thing is get her down, even if the ice gate is coming up... Security first. Before any medication I just made a quick call... Because if there's any internal bleeding then of course you can do wrong things." Every 4 hours she's getting [something; presumably painkillers]. "But she's a tough cookie." Shot of Bouwe on the phone at the nav station, writing notes, crew pawing through bag for medicine. Bouwe talking to Annie in her bunk. I think they're talking about where the pain is. Bouwe: "It's basically on the [bum?], yeah? That's good, because I was worried at the time [something]." Annie: "It's my lower back." Bouwe pats her on the shoulder. Annie, in her bunk: "Since then for the last 24 hours I've been in my bunk. Bouwe called Spike [?] yesterday, I've been on painkillers, I've just emailed him a few hours ago to see if he knows what it might be and if there's any way to fast-track getting me back on deck. At the moment we're going along the ice gate and we're gybing a lot and I feel very bad that I can't help everyone with the stacking and gybing. It's hard to stack myself. The goal is to get back on deck as soon as I can. We're not even halfway through the leg yet, so, yeah. I really need to recover quickly." Carlo, below with Sudocrem (?) on his lower face, goes through a bag labeled "First Aid". Louis: "It's one pair of hands less on deck, so it's obviously much harder, there's much more work to do. So if you're with four persons on deck there's always one who can rest. So now it's 4 hours full on, grinding, trimming, driving. So then you suddenly realize how much Annie does. I really miss her in my watch for sure."Slomo shot of Carlo working the foredeck, going to weather in windy conditions on port tack. Other boats astern as they're leaving Cape Town. Bouwe, the next day, talks about the spectacle of leaving Cape Town. Talks about other boats, points them out. Abby, below, does something with a rod. Sunset shot from the first day of the boat sailing on starboard with reefed main on starboard tack. Below, Annie, below on the next morning, talks about everyone being pretty tired, it's been upwind, nearly 40 knots. Now it's dropping. She talks about the other boats. Hard, shifty conditions. Capey grinding in the pit. Carlo and Annie on the foredeck. Louis on the helm. Dongfeng sailing to leeward and abeam on port tack, about a quarter mile away. Shot of Dongfeng behind them, on their starboard quarter. Shot of MAPFRE dead ahead of them, a half mile away. Abby studying Dongfeng through binoculars. Bouwe, sitting in the cockpit, talks about how they've been sailing the boat better and better, and it's good that they're now keeping up with MAPFRE and Dongfeng. "Because they've showed some heels to us in previous legs." Drone shots of Brunel sailing in light winds, including a low-altitude shot and a shot with Dongfeng a half mile away to leeward of Brunel.Carlo, below, talks about being in the southern ocean conditions the last few days. "There's definitely times we're on deck that I'd rather be anywehre else than on this boat, and I just hate it. But there's a lot of times when I just love it." Annie, eating below, talks about the wind ligtening. Capey talks about how the pecking order may be already established, but they're doing their best to see if they can change that. Abby, on deck in the dusk, says they think they're deserving of a podium finish. "I think it will be disappointing if we're not on the podium." Capey, at the nav station: "It's a rich-get-richer situation." Annie: "It doesn't really matter where we were a week ago; it's where we finish." Shot of crew working on the bow for a sail change as spray comes over the bow. Peeling to a ligher-wind headsail (MH0?). Bouwe on the helm. Annie eating below. Abby bailing out the engine compartment. Clew of the headsail. Closeups of instruments below, and at the mast. Stacking below. Night shots of maneuvers in the cockpit. Day shot of coiling lines in the cockpit. Someone with a meal pack below.Annie, in the galley, talks about washing the mugs. She pours some hot chocolate. "You're giving away my special recipe here. Top secret stuff." Richard: "At what point does it become dangerous, Annie?" Annie [laughing]: "You'll see in a minute when I start pouring the boiling water." She pours in hot water, mixes the mug. Annie: "I think we're 25 to 30 degrees of heel, and it's quite choppy, being thrown forwards and backwards... It's taking me about 20 minutes to make 4 drinks." With her foulies on, she carries the four drinks up. Someone on deck: "Coffee time!" Annie: "Coffee time!" Shot of spray coming over the bow.Below, Capey is at the nav station. Off camera, Bouwe asks, "When do we start cutting the corner? Tomorrow? Or the day after?" Capey: "80, I think's, the true wind direction where we've gotta start. Around that, yeah." We see an instrument display showing TWD of 085. Kyle, on deck, talks about how AkzoNobel is to the east, having "cut the corner" earlier, but at the risk of missing the good part of the front that Brunel is hoping to hook into in a day or so. Maciel, looking through binoculars to starboard: "Yeah; Copacabana." Then, pointing: "Yeah, there they are." He lowers the binoculars, hands them to Kyle. Maciel: "Vestas. On top of the wheel." Annie, at the galley, talks about smelly boots and wet foulies getting dried out. Kyle, on the wheel, points out his "cigarette legs... very powerful legs as well." Row of boots hanging along he weather rail. Spreading a sail out to dry on the cabin. Kyle, on the helm, jokes with Bouwe and does a Crocodile Dundee impression: "That's not a knife."Shot over the side as Brunel reaches on port. Annie, below, tells a disgusting story about having peed in the head, and going to pump it and having sewage fly out over her. Annie: "I've just had to clean the head and shower at the same time. It's the cleanest it's been. So I guess that's the silver lining." Carlo shows his bowl of food: "It looks something like this." Various shots of the head.Kyle and Peter get their equator-crossing initiation. I think maybe Capey is playing Neptune? Not full-on cosplay, though. Shot of the three inductees on the bow in the spray.Below, Bouwe talks about competition, winds, minimal doldrum crossing, possibility of a restart in the last 100 miles into Capetown due to the high pressure there. Shots of wheel, compass, Annie talking on rail, horizon.Kyle, below, talks about Peter's winning the World Sailor of the Year award (twice). How it's a little hard for him, being on the "receiving end." Annie, below, talks about what an accomplishment it is to get to the Olympics and to win, and then to get the America's Cup. She says the goal onboard now is to get him the Volvo, so he'll have won all three. Capey: "Shows the character of the guy, he's got 6 months off, so he comes to do the Volvo... Having Pete Burling in your crew is like having Mick Jagger in your garage band."Capey, at nav station at night, refers to chart and talks to someone off camera (I don't think he's talking to Richard, though): "We could always just go down the coast, if we wanted to kick our ass." (?) Annie, below in daylight: "There was a point last night where I sort of thought it would be really nice if there was a bit less wind and it could be really dry. But I'd regret thinking that in a couple of days when we're in the doldrums and it's hot and no wind. So we should enjoy it right now... The America's Cup boys they do a good job, yeah. Driving hard. They may not like the lack of sleep, but none of us do. Yeah; sending it." Slomo shot of Peter on the helm. Epic washing machine shots. Bouwe, below, talks about the weather patterns and winds. "The more you're getting down to the equator, the breeze will go further to the east. If you go too early you never can make westing anymore. So the more westing you make, it looks very horrible, the more cheap it is in the end." Annie: "We've got some miles to make up now; the others got a better shift, Dongfeng and MAPFRE. Just trying to chase them down again now." Shots on deck: Kyle on the helm looking dour. Peter, Alberto, and Kyle shifting the stack in preparation for a gybe. Slomo spray on the foredeck.Abby works the pit in the washing machine. Annie, below, out of breath: "Classic Portuguese coast weather. Quite breezy, and the wave state is pretty big right now. Fun downwind sailing, big waves, lots of water coming over the bow." Abby, below: "We knew it was coming. You've got it in your mind that you know what you're going into... But I think when it happens, it's always, yeah, that first night, it's a baptism of fire, like going straight into the deep end. [She looks out the hatch.] It's daylight now, so it makes it a little bit easier to see the waves." Maciel, below, eating: "A windy night. Wet. [He gestures at his bowl.] First meal from Lisbon. Trying to get some rest, and back on deck in three hours." Abby digging through the stack below. Capey crawling around and shifting the navigation panel to the port-side configuration. Abby putting her gasketed foulies on. Shots of winches, Maciel in the cockpit washing machine, Peter stacking on deck and then on the helm.Alberto and Annie getting dressed below. Alberto: "We're gonna peel to the blade. And we're on the Masthead 0 right now. So we've got a little bit more breeze, and the blade is hopefully going to give us a bit more speed." Shot of Alberto on the bow and Annie on the foredeck rigging the new sail (the J0?), and then griding in the new sail in the cockpit. Peter: "We've been having a pretty good fight with the Turn the Tide guys for the last two days." Kyle: "A little bit frustrating. We make a bit of a gain and then lose again... They're not for slow, that's for sure." Peter discusses the belowdecks stack with a crewmember in the companionway. Shot of Bouwe looking serious on the helm.Abby, below: "One thing I'm most looking forward to tomorrow when we get off this boat is a shower." Martin: "That's it?" Abby: "Well, it's a long list. But shower's at the top of the list. Food, fresh food, and sleep." Peter: "What I want the most tomorrow in Lisbon is to try to finish off this leg well... Some nice food would be good too. Freeze-dried is not too good... Burger, steak; whatever." Annie: "I think in Lisbon the most I want is a shower and a hair wash. Look at this [undoes her bun]. I've got disaster hair." Bouwe: "When I arrive? A better place than we're in right now. We're dead donkeys, so that's not very good. But then I have a second one, called my family." Carlo: "Pancakes. Banana/bacon pancakes. With some maple syrup." Alberto: "A big steak. The biggest possible. And then some good sleep."