Gillman and the crazy bunch

2003-01-24 12:30

Jo Prins

Johannesburg - "It's the craziest bunch of guys I've ever come across.

"Together, the 11 of us are the true version of a reality soap where people are thrown together in a house."

Mark Gillman of 5fm was remarking on his 12th day with the crew of Daly's Insurance competing in the Cape to Rio yacht race.

Gillman, who has been presenting his morning programme from the yacht for the past few days, said the programme gave him some respite from the tedium since not much was going on on the yacht.

"We are a few thousand miles off the coast of Africa and about 2 000 miles from Cape Town. One of the highlights so far was holding a flying fish for the first time."

Gillman appears to have slept through another highlight on Wednesday night when their boat was rocked by huge swells almost capsizing a few times.

"How many topics can you actually find to talk about on a boat? You are surrounded by sea and clouds all the time. Having said that, however, I'm blessed with a bunch of crazies.

"One guy, we call him 'Herman the German', tells jokes non-stop. At the same time he finds nothing more challenging than preparing food under the most difficult circumstances."

Gillman says not only does the crew get sick and tired of their shifts, but also of each other's company.

"So far we have discussed: politics, sport, our wives, women and sex. You know how it is when people start getting silly for a lack of sleep? That's us, the stupidest jokes have us in stitches for hours."

Daly's Insurance was lying ninth on Thursday with two Gauteng entries, Baleka and Investec first and second in Class A respectively. In Class B Aquila and Cumin Thru were in first and second places with Swedish trimaran, Nicator in Class C likely to cross the finish in first place on Friday.

- Beeld