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One of the highlights and most important nights of HMS ENDURANCE’S deployment is Penguin Racing Night. It’s an important night because of the amount of money the Ship’s Company raises for the Charities they support.
The Start Line
Don’t worry, we didn’t illegally capture some penguins whilst in the South Atlantic and train them for racing; the penguins we used were wooden models, and the racecourse was set up on the quarterdeck. On Easter Saturday, after enjoying an evening barbecue, we gathered around the racetrack, a white plastic sheet, rather like a twisting river, divided into rectangles with numbers written in them. The compare for the evening was the “Buffer”, complete in fluorescent bow tie and cummerbund.
The rules were fairly simple. Two very large dice were thrown: one with a selection of colours on and the other with numbers. Each of the penguins had a rider, different for each race, and a colour that was represented on the coloured dice. So if the white colour came up on the dice, the white penguin would move forward the number of places indicated on the numbers dice. I hope you are still with me. Each of the four races was slightly different, some with fences and water jumps and some were run on the flat.
George parading his penguin
The Chaplain in the lead...he wins!
Some of the Ship’s Company arranged themselves into syndicates each paying a sum of money into a kitty. The penguins were then paraded around the course as bidding took place from the different syndicates who were attempting to buy a penguin. The highest bidder then owned the penguin for that race and if it won, the syndicate took the prize, adding the money to their kitty. Individuals could also place a bet on the penguin of their choice. All profit made once the prizes had been paid out are shared between the Ship’s Charities. A great evening was had by all and ENDURANCE’S Charities are now £756.05 better off, an outstanding result, especially as a third of the crew are not onboard at the moment.
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