Leg 11

Sunday    May 2010-05-16

Apologies for the lack of blogs this week, it’s been a busy old time but the crew has gelled together well and we are now several days into leg 11. Let me recap on week one:

A full crew arrived in Antigua on Sun 9 May, an all RN/RM team, oh, and a token Pongo, as follows;

Skipper – Richard

1^st Mate - Al

Red Watch

Jason, Jane, Dave and Dan

Blue Watch

Tom, Jo, Mags and Glen

Green Watch

Inga, Jake, Ali and Mike

Monday morning started pretty early with most defects fixed, victulaling done and emergency briefs all complete by 1030.  The Skipper was keen to get on our way so we were off by 1700.  After a few drills (man over board, tacking, reefing etc) we were off.  With a fair wind we made excellent progress in the first couple of days.  A brief stop in a sheltered cove provided an opportunity for a swim and a bit of a snorkel. The ‘Le Mans’ restart against Disco put Adventure into the lead! The team soon got settled into the watch routines with the competition set by Green Watch in the making off canapés before dinner.  It took a couple of days for a few of the crew to find their sea legs but Dave is making up for lost time on the food front and Inga has given up her comfort bucket.  Fair winds have seen much activity on the foredeck with reefs in and out like a yoyo.  On the food front bread making is well under way, getting more adventurous by the day; today saw chocolate Danish pastries. OK so Red Watch may be the upper deck heroes but Green Watch is ahead on ‘Mother’ Watch. 

Unfortunately the wind began to drop by Sat am but as it was on the beam ideas of flying the ‘kite’ began to emerge.  After a few more drills the small Spinnaker was up.  Breakfast was served and all was well.  Alas not for long!  A call came out of Tom that steering had been lost and the Skipper called everyone up on deck whilst putting into action a number of very swift actions to take control of the boat. The emergency steering was put in place, the spinnaker stowed and a quick headcount showed that everyone was safe; in fact at one point we thought we had grown an extra crew member!  Communications with the other 2 boats confirmed all boats positions and put everyone in the picture.  The following hour was spent hunting for a replacement rudder cable which had sheared straight through.  Although a boat transfer of a cable looked like the only option, Jason came to the rescue in finding a complete cable on Adventure. A cheer went up and within 4 hours the cable had been replaced, steering was regained and the spinnaker back up.  It was quite an experience but one that we have all learnt from.

It’s now Monday 17^th and with light winds all 3 boats are now competing for lead position and of course we are slightly ahead, not that anyone could call the Skipper competitive.  That said there is still some 300nm to go so it’s all still up for grabs.  The determination not to use the engine has set in!  Sunrise this morning was spectacular and with dolphins on the bow all is mellow onboard. There’s music on the upper deck and a bit of tie lashing on the go, never a dull moment!

Crew Blogs:

Ali

Hi to my three favourite boys.  Sorry we have not managed to get this blog sorted until now.  Missing you lots but learning a lot.  Say  Hi to Kaidi.  All well here and waiting for a bit more wind to carry us to Charleston.  Will phone you from USA as soon as I get there, at least I will be able to get in through this time.  Hugs and kisses to Edward and Jamie and lots of love to you Jon.

Remember to be good for daddy boys.

Love from

Mummy (Ali) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dan

Hi Jenny, hope all is well at home, hope the dogs are behaving. Had a Maldives experience today, at 6am this morning a couple of dolphins decided to swim with our boat for a few hours, I got some good videos, was pretty cool. As it says in the blog, the first few days we were flying, just the last day n half the wind has let us down, so should be in Charlestown in a couple of days, so I’ll give you a ring then. Love you, hope you’re coping well, keep safe, hope the house ain’t trashed after your party. xxx

 Jason

Hope you had a good birthday in Belfast, and hope the kids are behaving themselves for you. We’re having a great time but now slowed down with light winds so will take a while to get to Charleston. The book lived up to expectations, although left a lump in the throat. Will call when we get in. Lots of love, xxx

Jake

Hi every one, it’s going to have to be a quick one I’m afraid, well it’s been quite an adventure, with its good and bad bits, but I’m still enjoining it thankfully, it’s been interesting living on the yacht with 14 other people and I should imagine quite a good experience when I get on ship, were doing watches of  4 on 4 off, then a mother watch which makes it quite hard to keep a track of the days, that said I’m well and wouldn’t have missed this for the world. See you soon x x x

Al

Hi hun – hope you and tribe well and the GCSEs not causing too much stress!!  Flippin hot here and wind has gone quite light so taking a bit longer to get to Charleston than we had hoped for although it will not affect us getting back to UK; not sure what the volcano or BA cabin crew are up to though!!  I will call when we get in.  Love and miss you millions Alxxx PS did you remember my Mum’s birthday?!?!

Jo

Hullo from the sunny Atlantic!  All good here, enjoying the sailing (a nice change from running!) and found my sea legs quickly.  Still bumping into things though:  I’ve a good chance of winning the prize for best bruise at sea :o) Antigua and Tortola both very nice (but very hot) Hope all is well at home.  Looking forward to speaking to you all very soon.  Lots of love, xxx

Glenn

Hey ho! This has truly been an experience I’ll remember, woke up this morning to find dolphins swimming alongside J it hasn’t all been fun and games in the sunshine though. Adventure has taken damage to the steering gear, being a trainee marine engineer really enjoyed the hands on experience helping fixing it and getting Adventure back racing.                 Hope everything is all good back home, see you real soon Lizzie x

Inga

Hi to all at home and Meerkat Manor!  It’s been a great trip so far and after my usual hug with a bucket all is well.  Flying the ‘S’ thing has brought back some memories but the Skipper has beaten them out of me.  This trip has done much to restore sanity and prove there is a life beyond the desk; I’ll put the fiddle away now.  The go faster tan is developing nicely and I doubt I will be paying for highlights for a while!  Love to all XXX

Richard

All going well; not quite as responsive as the apple, single pole gibing with 2 fixed forestays is interesting but not fast!  Good luck in the exams, look after mum.  XX Dad

From the Marines

Are we there yet dad

From Discoverer

4 May 2010 - Location: Jolly Harbour Antigua

I promised you a final blog from Challenger when we arrived in Jolly Harbour, Antigua.  Well we are finally here after two weeks in the Falklands putting Challenger back together after her knockdown off Cape Horn and 30 days at sea (with a one day stop in  Recife, Brazil).

As soon as we got into Jolly Harbour we moored alongside the other two yachts on the expedition (around 4am) and after putting her to bed (stowing sails, tidying up etc) we all enjoyed an hour or so of sleep before the Skipper briefed us on the next few days prior to returning to Blighty.  We spent the first day relaxing, enjoying the beach, having a few (?!) very cold beers and generally unwinding before the main task the next day of sorting out Challenger ready for the next crew.

Sorting out Challenger ready for a handover essentially means completely stripping out the yacht of absolutely everything, and in a Challenge 67 yacht that means alot of kit, and giving her a really deep clean as well as fixing a myriad of small faults such as broken bulbs, torches etc.  All the sails needed inspecting as well as the hanks (attachment points of the sail)  lubricating, this is a major job as it can take 4 to 5 crew just to lift one of the genoa's (sail at the front of the boat); to lower the mainsail takes 6-8 crew!

The entire task of sorting out Challenger took 13 crew a very long day's work, but was worth the effort as the Skipper then declared himself content and gave the crew a few days off to enjoy the sounds and sights of Antigua.  Meanwhile the Skipper and the Mate set to sorting out the myriad of paperwork a yacht like Challenger requires; immigration, customs, port authority, marina, generator log, engine log, water maker log, handover notes, finalising voyage log, faults log, spare part requirements, food inventory left on board ..............etc, you get the idea.  Another complete days work.

We now have two days left before we return, one day will be another beach day and the other day has been reserved as a yacht maintenance day, which will include checking the mainsail and replacing sliders, hull and deck clean, repacking spares boxes with replacements flown in from the UK, fitting new spares to Challenger such as lifebouys and generally making sure she is in as good a condition as we can possibly make her, ready for the next crew (from Headley Court - The Forces rehabilitation centre) to take her over and enjoy their voyage to Charlstown, USA.

So to finally finish, what have been the highlights of this trip for me? Although it might sound slightly strange, I found the two weeks in the Falklands getting Challenger ready for sea again after her Southern Ocean trip were very rewarding; turning a yacht that was a bit of a mess into an ocean going vessel ready for 5400 miles of ocean crossing.  In a way, these few weeks were very valuable as they helped turn us Challenge 67 virgins into very knowledgeable crew and helped turn us into a team rather than a bunch of individuals who had never met each other before.  I was stunned by the wildlife we saw, particularly in the southern ocean; whales, albatross, birds of every variety, dolphins, flying fish galore.  How about swimming in the ocean with 6 km of sea beneath us and with the temperature of the sea at 29 degrees, the same temperature as my local heated swimming pool at home!  As the Mate on the trip, I also enjoyed the challenge of helping the Skipper mould the crew together into a team, particularly when tempers got frayed, as they were always going to in unrelenting heat and humidity of the equator and the tropics.  The Skipper was the absolute master of his trade and personally I am most grateful to him for guiding me through the pitfalls of running such a large and complex yacht.

However, without being too philisophical about the whole thing, for me personally, the real highlights of the voyage were the ability to occasionally do absolutely nothing  when on watch and use the incredibly valuable time to soak up the unbelievable views of the stars in the night sky, watch an Albatross soaring above the waves for hours at a time, to simply understand the vastness of the oceans and how insignificant we are in the grand scheme of things, and to ....think about nothing in particular; without the pressures of life at home - a rare luxury.

Apr 2010 – Challenger Blog 8

Position:  N 10 09.356    W 052 47.564

Since our last blog we have had a really interesting variety of weather thrown at us.  North of Recife the weather was incredibly variable with winds varying from only a few knots to over 20 kts very quickly; too quickly to keep up with sail changes.  One thing you learn very quickly on a 50 ton yacht is that all sail changes can take a long time and a great deal of sea room; it is therefore a wise Skipper / Mate who waits for the weather to settle before ordering yet another sail change, otherwise they can end up with a very ‘bolshy’ crew who end up constantly changing the sail plan and never really catch up with the weather conditions!  This of course never happens on Challenger – honestly!

We then hit a period of 5-6 days of squally rain showers, truly tropical conditions.  Beautiful blue sky followed by a cloud appearing over the horizon spied warily by the On Watch.  Sometimes the cloud merely turned into a shower and gusty winds but occasionally we were treated to a real humdinger of a tropical downpour; very strong gusty winds with rain that defied belief:  It was often so heavy that the normally unlimited visibility turned to less than 20m, we often could not see the bow (front) of the boat and that is only around 50 feet away from the main cockpit.  Occasionally these downpours, which create their own wind, can last up to an hour or so, but more normally only last around 10-15 minutes.  Whilst spectacular these showers eventually started to get somewhat trying as getting any washing dry was impossible; the Skipper took 6 days to get one set of his clothes dry, whilst the rest of us just stayed constantly wet. It is probably enough information for you to read that some of the crew have had ointment issued by the Doc for ‘Rash Bottom’!

For the last few days however we have had the most fantastic sailing conditions, 17-25 kts of breeze on the starboard beam (right hand side of the yacht) and cloudless sunny skies.  We have been regularly sailing at 10+ knots and putting in 200+ mile days helped by the Guiana current which has been pushing us along at an extra 1.5 kts or so.  This current is shown as very reliable and steady on the South Atlantic routing charts which we use to help decide our course strategy, as they show the probable prevailing winds and current for every month of the year.  However, as we reached the Amazon basin, they moved significantly and the current pushed us directly away from the coast for as long as we were abeam the Amazon.  This is amazing as we were at least 300 miles from the coast.

 Generally we have been luckier than the RAF and RN yachts who had very calm conditions for several hundred miles and were therefore forced to motor, whilst we have been sailing for much of the time.  Talking of which, we were expecting to be in the Doldrums by now, which are normally around 200-400 miles wide or so of calm windless weather.  I must google ‘The Doldrums’ when I get home as all we have seen is lovely sunny skies and wonderful sailing conditions with no let up in the wind at all!  Perhaps I have misunderstood what the Doldrums really are, or perhaps we have been very lucky.  We were planning to go for a swim in the Doldrums but that hasn’t happened so it was lucky that in a short period of windless conditions earlier in the trip, just after leaving Recife, that the Skipper allowed us all to go for a swim in 6km depth of water; a very spooky feeling as you don’t really know what lurks just under the surface of the sea! The sea temp was around 28 Celsius – the same temperature as my local heated swimming pool, and without the heating bill!

What of the local wildlife?  We had a feathered visitor a few nights ago, he was obviously exhausted and took refuge on the deck of Challenger for a rest.  The next morning we offered him some sustenance in the form of a crumbled up muesli bar, but he looked at it with disdain.  Jon suggested that if we formed it into the shape of a fish he might be more interested! An hour or so later he took off for a test flight. All systems seemed functional and he landed for a quick undercarriage check before leaving us for good.

Hardly an hour passes without seeing flying fish, the ocean seems to be absolutely teeming with them.  They seem to fly out of the water out of the back of waves, often turning in flight, sometimes bouncing off a subsequent wave before returning to the seas, hopefully avoiding whatever was below with big teeth!  We have had a number of these flying fish landing on the deck and one went high enough to hit the main sail before landing back in the sea.  This afternoon one landed on the deck and as Al went to pick him up to return him to the ‘oggin, he struggled free, went straight through an open hatch and landed a foot away from the cooking pot, within which was tonight’s sausage casserole!  One lucky fish, he seemed unhurt and was duly returned to the sea.

We also had a very close encounter with two large whales yesterday.  The Skipper was on the helm (steering wheel) when he spotted two whales that where coming to the surface to blow, only a few metres from Challenger.  The Skipper took radical avoiding action and we saw them pass only a few metres from the starboard side of the yacht, an incredible sight.

I was on watch a couple of nights ago when the entire night sky was lit up by a meteor; none of us had seen anything like it before.  A single meteor and unlike the normal flash across the sky, it was like someone had let off a massive firework which lit everything up including the horizon; a breathtaking sight.

We are currently about 300 miles of the Suriname coast with around 750 miles to go to reach Antigua.  At our current speed that means we should be tying up in Jolly Harbour around mid day on Sun 3^rd May, only a few days away.  30 days or so at sea in the very close company of 12 other people you have never met before is an excellent exercise in diplomacy, however we have all got along really well and are looking forward to setting foot on dry land in a few days and maybe..... just maybe, Skipper allowing, we might indulge ourselves with a cold beer or two!

This is our penultimate blog from Challenger. I will send our last blog from Antigua and update you on our last few days at sea.

Apr 23 2010 – Challenger Blog 7

Position:  N 00 32.668    W 041 22.982

We have now crossed the equator!  All the zeros of latitude came up around 0430 this morning. Neptune of course had anticipated that Challenger would be crossing the equator today and had warned the crew that he would be holding court after breakfast.  Neptune required the crew to attend his court (with his Queen Amphritite ) in their best costume with a item to sacrifice as the price for a safe onward journey.  Neptune and his Queen (aka the Skipper and the Mate) duly held court, charges were read and suitable punishment awarded ( a pouring over the head of a foul mixture of sea water, porridge oats, tomato ketchup, soy sauce, BBQ sauce, raspberry jam etc and a touch of salt and pepper for taste!).   Neptune must have been pleased, as following a toast to the sea with a tot of Rum, almost immediately the wind dropped, the rained stopped and the seas calmed down!

Well we have now left Recife well behind us.  We were very lucky with the wind, as we expected to have to motor up the coast of Brazil, but shortly after leaving Recife a perfect wind sprang up and we beam reached (wind coming directly from the side of Challenger) up towards the eastern tip of Brazil.  The wind then backed (went anticlockwise) and we were forced to gybe (turn the back of the yacht through the wind) away from the coast.  Actually this was ideal as the charts indicated a mass of fish cages off the coast that would undoubtedly be unmarked.  We definitely did not want to get caught up in those!

Almost at the start of the voyage the skipper brought out his secret weapon, a fishing kit.  Much interest was shown as the skipper connected all manner of wires, swivels, line and lures together and promised us unending supplies of fresh fish for the trip.  Well, the fishing line was deployed and ....nothing!  well, for 3 hours at any rate, as we then had a bite and the call for FISH ACTION was made.  After hauling in our catch, the skipper gutted, cleaned and cooked the fish to perfection.  He/she? was large enough for a starter for the 13 of us.  Expectations had now been set and we were looking forward to fresh fish every day.  So how many other fish have we caught over the last 20 days? .................. yup you guessed – none, zip, nada, nix!  Although we did have a very very large potential catch as one of the Skipper’s favourite lures (known affectionately as ‘little blue’) was taken by ‘something’ with big enough teeth to cut straight through a solid stainless steel wire trace!  We still deploy our fishing line every day, however more through habit than expectation of another catch!

The weather for last few days has been very changeable, with unbroken sunshine followed by massive gusts of wind and absolutely torrential rain lasting up to an hour or so.  The rain can cut down the visibility from almost unlimited to less than 50 meters or so.  What never changes at these latitudes however, is the unrelenting heat and humidity.  It is impossible to escape;  above deck the sun gets you (it can burn through your skin to produce blisters in less than 10 minutes – as one crew man can attest to his cost!), and if you try to escape the heat by going down below ...well you can’t as in a steel yacht with it has to be said, very poor ventilation, you are slowly broiled alive.  Everyone has difficulty sleeping (with the notable exception of Richie who always looks remarkably refreshed after his 4 hour nap!) and we all have to be very careful to drink massive amounts of water as we all dehydrate very very quickly in these temperatures.  It is at least 35+ degrees below decks, day and night.

Well that’s enough from me for the moment (9-10 days sailing from Antigua) here are some words from the crew:

Dave:  Hi everyone, Great to talk when we stopped off to refuel. Looking forward to the 9^th May and seeing you all again. I promise pressies from Antigua for everyone. Love hugs and kisses to Karen, Amy & Millie. xXx

Helen:  Orvil – happy birthday!  Sorry I missed it – hope you got my card.  J & S – happy wedding anniversary for today.  M & D – did you manage to get away on hols, hope so.  Paul – I guess  you got to and from Jordan okay.  Did any Kepinski products manage to slip into your bag again??? Xxx

Mark:  Finally porridge is off the breakfast menu; I can relax. Neptune and Amphritite costumes all worked very well and printed cards were appreciated.  Looking forward to Antigua for a few days before coming home to working on the garden!! Xxx

Denise:  Neptune has christened us all Shellbacks...apparently that means we are no longer virgins...equator virgins that is (Dad)!   Nick great talking the other day and glad you and the cats have settled.  Are you priming your liver for your stag do?  Drugs are packed in the box in the garage should they be required after!  I performed one of those seller questionnaires with the estate agent before I left so either use that one or all the info you require will be on the one they have got – lease length etc etc.  Miss you all .. only a few more days to Caribbean so will ring then x x x

21 Apr 2010 – Challenger Blog 6

Position:  03 57.3 S   036 30.9 W 

After much motoring, followed by excited shouts of ‘land ahoy’ Challenger finally spotted the murky waters within the approach to the glamorous city of Recife.  Unsure of what to expect, Windy asked for the anchor to be made ready on the bow.  This is by no means an easy task involving negotiating 70kg of sharp steel from the stinking bowls of the forepeak (under the bow) onto a moving deck, over a metal guardrail and into its feeder whilst trying not to drop it into the water/stab yourself with the pointy end!  Sails were dropped as we approached the breakwater and all eyes on deck were tasked to navigate us safely to our berth.  The pilot book mentioned that there had been some ‘recent development’, however  we were not expecting the Manhattan skyline to appear, but spirits were lifted as we felt sure that recent developments meant that there would be a top of the range marina available???  With a lack of local navigational aids, a good look out and a slow approach gave Mark the mate his first opportunity to drive the good ship Challenger at close quarters

So Challenger pootled pass the breakwater into what can only be described as the area of Recife still awaiting development.  There were a few yachts at anchor by a small marina, however the prospects of us dropping anchor and doing everything by dingy looked grim, especially as we needed around 1200l of diesel (1.2 tons!) unloading all our rubbish, taking the crew for showers which would have involved endless shuttle runs and then anchor watch while the others went for a run ashore.  We had a look around and decided to moor alongside a wall adjacent to the old city, where we were greeted by many curious children (many swimming in the somewhat dodgy harbour waters), tradesmen of various descriptions, fisherman, dock workers and people on their lunch break.

However the area in which we had decided to moor turned out to be one of the less salubrious areas of Recife; the local advice was that nothing should left unattended and that you only went wandering around in a large group and carry nothing but essentials (we were even told that wearing a watch was not a good idea!). With most of the crew left behind to protect our home (Challenger), a select bunch from the crew (Mark – the sensible one with all the paperwork, Denise – for eyelash fluttering, Rich – for protection, Jon – to carry the bag and Alec to act as decoy) were then dispatched into the old city to recce and book us through customs. 

The recce crew returned with limited success, nothing seems simple. With limited time on our side, we were only stopping for a 24hr pit stop in order too get some nice fresh veg and fruit and to top up with fuel before we hit the doldrums. It was decided that Mark and Helen would split from the crew and go in search of this new, top of the range marina.  After jumping in a taxi they arrived at the Cabanga Iate Yacht Club and with a mixture of their  best pigeon Portuguese, numerous drawings trying to explain what we needed and with loads of arm movements, they managed to secure a berth for the night.  A friendly local gave them a ride back down river in his RIB (inflatable dinghy).  This served two purposes; avoiding death by crazy taxi driving and to memorise the approach through the channel. The tide was still low, scattered with local fisherman trying to scratch a living, catching anything that’s moves, by using hand through bell nets or wading nets. We had had to move quickly as dusk was slowly creeping in and the channel was unlit.

So we were now in a position to leave the old town ghetto and move to our plush surroundings in the marina.  Slipping the yacht from the town quay was a challenge as we had 25 knots of lee shore wind (ie. pushing us into the wall, however with some cunning manoeuvring we managed to get ourselves off,  slightly clipping the starboard aft quarter (back right hand side of the yacht). Even with fenders packed in, with the boat under way they rolled out. So now she has a small new ‘go faster stripe’.

 The entrance to the marina was tight, not leaving much space to turn Challenger to come in and moor stern to. The depth of water was interesting; after much gesturing we were convinced that the marina staffs were aware that we would need 3 metres of water to berth when the water dropped at low water, The good old cry from the marina staff: “you’re good, loads of water”  – not so it seems.  Let’s just say, we touched out on a silty bottom.

After securing the boat and a well earned proper shower, the crew jumped in taxis down town for top nosh meal.  ‘Take us to some meat’ Alec cried and we ended up in essentially what I can only describe as the poshest kebab restaurant known to man.  Any cut of meat was on the menu – of course we opted for the all you can eat buffet and gorged ourselves silly on beef, chicken, pork and lamb.  Unsurprisingly the rice and pasta was left untouched...

The next day various boat jobs were completed (unblocking the heads......again – Mark/Al the first time, Charlie/Alec the second time), laundry sorted, the boat restocked and refuelled – we were ready for sea again.  Exit from Recife was rapid and without incident (apart from the odd fisherman swiftly forced from our path, under the cover of darkness).

Hi everyone,

I hope you have found the blogs fun and an interesting read. I apologise for the lack of photos and on this particular leg, the lack of blogs from Discoverer. This is due to a technical issue that we hope to get sorted out in Antigua.

Adventure and Discoverer are now parked up nice and safe in Antigua, depending on the current aviation issues, we hope to have the crews back home in the next few days as planned. We cannot give a more definate date until NATS lifts the airspace restrictions.

Andy

14 Apr 10 – Challenger Blog 5

For the last 4 blogs you have been reading life on board Challenger from the Mate’s (Mark Castle-Smith) perspective.  The crew thought it was about the right time for a blog mutiny and have taken matters into their own hands....

We are now on day 12 and for those of you that are watching our progress keenly on the tracker will see that we are hugging the Eastern coast of Brazil, roughly 250 nm from Rio de Janeiro.  After much nagging, bribing and gentle persuasion we have still not managed to persuade the skipper to make a ‘vital spares’ stop at Rio.  Oh well, I hear the carnival is overrated anyway.....  Those mojitos will have to wait until our planned stop – currently scheduled for Recife.  Where on earth is Recife I hear you cry?  Well it is pretty much our half way stop between the Falkland Islands and Antigua – on the 08 S latitude for those of you that way inclined.  We plan to have a short stop over (just enough time for a proper shower and the luxury of a washing machine) in order to refuel. 

So far we have been incredibly lucky with the wind and have been able, on the whole, to sail.  However as we move further north we will move into less and less breeze, but fingers crossed more sunshine.   However, we had our first evening of rain showers last night which have unfortunately continued into what has turned out to be a rather bleak morning.  The current lack of tanning opportunity, combined with winds less than 10 knots and a big swell make for an uncomfortable ride!  Oh well this will change soon I am sure. 

As the boat is constructed out of steel the inside is beginning to feel like a Chinese laundry.  The photos on the website will give you an idea of our ‘luxurious’ sleeping quarters.  Each cabin has one tiny window or hatch that we can open to attempt to circulate the warm and sweaty air.  However, we have to try and time the hatch openings, with the waves – one false move and your cabin is drenched in salt water.  Also each cabin has its own ‘air conditioning’ system – sorry, I mean one tiny fan placed in such a position that its cooling ability is severely restricted.  The sleeping bags have now all been packed away, only sheets can provide a small level of decency.  I think the crew are now all used to seeing each other in their pants!  Just one last thing to mention about the cabins; what I have described above is how life is in ‘cattle class’.  Obviously the skipper and mate have MUCH better sleeping arrangements; a cabin each, 2 windows each, air con, a tv, room service....

In the last 24 hours we have seen some form of life out at sea – we were beginning to think that it was only us out here.  As we have got close to the coast, marine traffic has sprung into life.  Out first entertaining moment came when Jo noticed on the chart plotter (essentially our only TV on board) that there was a rather large vessel, towing another rather large vessel, towing 4 nm of cable.  Although we could not see the vessels ourselves, the light show over the horizon was clear and on further investigation (namely the skipper calling up the towing vessel on the radio) we were told to give the area a 6 nm wide berth.  We believe they were towing an oil rig which would make sense as our next exciting moment came when we sailed pass some oil and gas rigs – again a good light show!  There was much sniggering by the crew when the skipper called one unknown vessel which had appeared on the chart plotter to ascertain his intentions.  ‘What are your intentions’ the skipper asked, ‘I have low manoeuvrability’ the vessel replied, ‘I am a sail vessel and I have the right of way’ retorted the skipper, ‘Your call mate, I am an oil rig’ was the reply............. (or words to the effect!)

9^th April  Day 23 at sea

The start to the day was marked by pancakes for breakfast, and not the ready mix kind either, real pancakes, a first by any but Red Watch. This cemented White Watch into their second place for Mother watch duties. Disco is about 20 miles away, running parallel further north. No other shipping sighted for five days now. The morning was spent with Charlie and Rob trying to solve the puzzle that is the Rubik’s Cube. They managed to get one face done in about 45min with the tips they got from Master Alex and for the next 3hours managed no further… To their dismay Master Alex has mastered it in 4min 20sec! Lunch by White Watch was homemade pizzas, again a first by any but Red. They are obviously making a run at the title in the home stretch! The temperature has been cooler downstairs than the previous 40 degrees with the engine off, although not by much…  Maintaining 8 knots without the assistance of the engine seems to be an achievement on this leg and our current speeds has had everyone continuously calculating our ETA. But the sweepstake is apparently set in stone and no changes are allowed. It starts with an optimistic Jess at Tuesday 1530 and finishes with Alex on Thursday 0830. Those on Wednesday are sitting pretty.  At least now with a few days of plain sailing under our belts concerns over fuel is subsiding (not for the Skipper though). This of course has its down sides as some of the boys were hoping for another quick pit stop in Barbados to refuel, although refuelling themselves and not the boat seemed to be more appealing.   The evening meal was whatever was left (four week old mince – not really helping with Red watch’s cause) followed by a new desert created by Lorenzo the magnificent, now known as ‘diabetes in a bowl’. This comprises of custard, cookie mix, apples, offee from Banoffee, a dead cert to take years off your life. The heat over the last few weeks has taken its toll on the food and even the apricots and rice pudding supplies leftover from the last leg are vastly fading. With Jess’s birthday soon upon us at least one brownie mix has been saved for the birthday girl.

2200 saw ‘Steve’ the bird join us till dawn, perching on the life raft for a wee rest of his tired wings. The sun came up and no less than five flying fish were found strewn along the deck. These were presented to Steve for breakfast at around half 5, but he had clearly decided he had enough of the adventure on Adventure and flew the nest, never to be seen again. 

With one Reef in and not the smoothest of sea states,  lifejackets were worn throughout the day today, even through the phys sessions (just because we like them so much). Nearly under the 800 mile mark and the crew are looking forward to putting their feet on dry land. Showers, hotel rooms, laundry and the odd beer are all on the list of favourites as usual as well as calls home to loved ones.

After near enough 3000 miles we finally said goodbye to Brazil a few days ago, but before we concluded this passage around this huge country, we passed the famous Rio Amazonas (River Amazon) 350 miles offshore. We are now currently riding 300 miles off the coast of Guyanne Francaise ( French Guyana). However this is a considerably smaller country and with a coastline of only 150 miles tomorrow we leave French Guyana and start passing the Dutch Colony of Suriname. This will please Alex aka Big Guns Boris who is half Dutch, although not for long as with a similar coastline of 150 miles, the larger coastline of Guyana and Venezuela will be beckoning by the end of the weekend. The famous Guiana current which continues to pushes NW towards the Caribbean is a blessing. So we are currently heading for the Guianna Plateau, which sounds less appealing than the Demerara Abyssal Plain which sits above the plateau, particularly as we are nearly out of sugar supplies for vital ‘wets’ (teas and coffees)

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 On the upside, the Way point which sits 30 miles off Antigua  has finally come into view on the chart plotter screen and the crew are more than happy to concentrate extra hard to drive straight through the red square in attempt to cut time off to our long awaited destination. The visual of Caribbean islands such Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, sitting south on the chart plotter screen have certainly wet the crew’s appetite for their arrival in the Caribbean.

 April 10^th Day 24 at sea

First ship sighted in 5 days! After merrily trucking along at 7 knots the skipper and mate did some number crunching to come to the conclusion that if we were to fire up the donkey again (it’s been so peaceful without it!) we’d make extra “knottage” (aka speed, thanks Jess) and we’ll reach Antigua on the morning of the 14^th. The decision was unanimous and the familiar sound of machinery is with us once again. Since crossing the equator it has been noted that the temperature has dropped in the evenings – we now sometimes have to wear t-shirts! - and so the extra heat created by the engine brings us back to the temperature we are used to! Lots of flying fish about today, big shoals of around two dozen from time to time. Sunbathing was order of the day, although we are running low on suncream supplies…Alex is indeed a strange colour. Lorenzo and red watch produced another culinary delight in the form of Dahl for lunch along with freshly baked bread. The deck has been scrubbed and we’ve just eaten fruit flapjack as created by Nikki.

Blue watch, aka Morale watch and no longer spew watch, had a disco to boost morale whilst making the evening meal, a concoction of pasta, chorizo and cheese sauce followed by a trifle which was a success despite missing 4 out of 4 of the ingredients for a trifle – jelly, sponge  sherry and cream.

Attempts to assign responsibility for the action in Antigua seems to be of a collective nature. G dog (Gio) has put Luke in Charge of  Jase as he is worried Jase will lead Tom astray in Shirley heights. This is a fair call as Jase clearly needs to let his hair down before he shaves his beard off. Tom on the other hand needs to be in charge of Luke as he too looks like he could go a bit crazy in landfall. Alex will be responsible for the girls as he is tall, big  (and handsome) and will be able to fend off any unwanted attention. If Salvador is anything to go by when Charlie had to be walked home by one of the mates, and then proceed to sing in his sleep for a few hours, Charlie will definitely need a carer for his stay in Antigua. I am not sure if we will be hiring one locally or going with someone from the crew. If it’s someone from the crew it will be a short straw and if it’s someone native, Jolly good luck to you. As for mate Becky she should be able to get herself home with her met background and star navigation. So that leaves Rob…

Sunday 11^th April – Jess’ birthday

Jess’ 30^th (sssshhhhh) today! A plane was spotted  at 0100 reminding us that civilisation is still out there! Wonder what exciting things we’ve been missing at home and across the globe whilst we’ve been sunning ourselves cut off from it all?! Blue watch raised morale once again by producing bacon butties and scrambled eggs for breakfast, making a welcome change from porridge which is wearing a bit thin on day 25 even for avid oat fans! Jon arranged for a  pod of dolphins came to play in our bow wave, especially ordered for Jess who only just returned in time to help with the washing up (mother watch duties don’t quite relent even on your birthday!)! Nikki gave the birthday girl a foot massage later on in the morning which was better than cleaning the heads and after opening her cards Jess received a present, in the form of a carefully gift-wrapped onion!

4 o’clockers came round with brownies, although these are gooey-er than normal as we had used up all the eggs in the scrambled “egg-stravaganza” so improvised with extra margarine. The brownies were a success nevertheless although ice-cream would have complemented them perfectly. White watch created a strange “spam and meatball surprise” with risotto for the evening meal and a sticky sweet duff that certainly wasn’t wasted when the midnight watch found the leftovers!

The evening set in with changeable winds, going from E to SE and variable strength with it so we put reef 1 in the mainsail. At one point Blue watch were managing to sail backwards – a fairly difficult task even when trying – and waves were sploshing over the transom! The AIS showed a merchant ship heading towards us around 20 miles away, but just as the on-watch got a visual, a squall set in shortly before midnight resulting in some extremely difficult helming for a short time and a vast reduction in visibility, not so good for the oncoming Red Watch!

Monday 12^th April

Red Watch spent the first part of their 12-4am shift staring out the port side to glimpse the merchant ship that was due to be on a collision course with the good ship Adventure; eventually she was spotted about 2 miles away and Jon was required to call them up on VHF to establish what their intentions were, as we were the stand-on vessel. It was soon apparent that their radio operator didn’t understand what we were asking and so we were forced into making a 360º turn to gain more time. Unfortunately, the wind chose this very moment to drop off completely rendering us without much in the way of steering and the merchant vessel bearing down on us, the engine revs were quickly upped as evasion skills came into action as the ship passed ahead of us little more than 800 metres away.

A call from Disco shortly before 7am warned us that they had just been through a squall and gave us time to prepare for it coming towards us. The on-watch armed themselves with brushes  (as well as manning the main), to use the opportunity to scrub the deck but the squall skirted around us, with only minor rainfall, and the reef was taken out shortly after breakfast. Such was the outlook for most of the day: intermittently inclement weather alongside sunny spells…Tom still managed to get sunburnt!

A squall was spotted on the horizon at 1215 and so we put reef 1 back in (this exercise can now be completed in under 5 minutes!). The wind continued to increase during the afternoon and it was decided that reef 2 should be put in too. Whilst carrying out this evolution the reefing pennant sheave and car bust, dropping the boom around 4 feet so it dipped briefly into the water and after a split second  Jon and Nikki realised the car had blown, Blue watch were reassured it wasn’t their fault through a reefing error and set to putting in reef 3 after reattaching the topping lift to alleviate some of the pressure on the boom. The surplus sail then had to be lashed up somehow – there’s a lot of it! - all in all adding some excitement to the afternoon watch.  See Kat’s photos for the fun we had!!

Disco was spotted on the horizon behind us,  the chart plotter shows us to be in the Caribbean now, having passed Barbados and being alongside Martinique, although admittedly we can’t see the islands, being around 250 miles off the Venezuelan shoreline.

Again the wind increased as the evening set in and the decision was taken to exchange Yankee 1 for Yankee 2. It’s going to be another wet and windy evening, not quite how we expected the Caribbean Sea to be!

Don’t forget Nikki is collecting for Help for Heroes and wishes to raise £8000 for the good cause. She will have sailed 14000 miles over the last four months from Australia  around Cape Horn to Antigua. If you could take a small amount of your time and go online to Just giving Nikki Woodroffe (found easily through google) to find out more information and help the good cause I am sure it will be appreciated by many.

Individual shout outs-             

Mates:

Rebecca – Can’t believe that in a week I’ll be back in the delights of Shackelton building for my last week of loafing before going over to the dark side. Have loved the past few weeks – as if any of you thought I’d think otherwise! Astro nav is my new favourite thing. M, can’t wait to see you again, really looking forward to being back with you. Mum, dad and Hector – next time I see you it’ll be wedding time. So excited! Loads of love to you all. Xxx.

Nikki

Hi all, probably my last blog. Firstly I hope my tutor group at Kelly are well rested and ready for the summer term of exams after the easter break. This end it’s been emotional. Nearly 14000 miles done. It’s been crazy, ups and downs as one would expect but I still don’t want to get off ! Thank you to all who have donated towards the Help for Heroes campaign and thank you to my very understanding and loving family and friends for their support. Love and Kisses to all, Heathrow and the real world here I come…. providing I get my extra large bags and various large random items I’ve collected along the way through customs! So looking forward to seeing you all soon. Hugs xx

Jessica- Hey Nic!  Almost there!  Been a huge challenge for me and only really now starting to absorb what I’ve been doing for the last few weeks. Desperately trying to soak up the last few days for all they are worth. I had a good day on my birthday, skipper ordered a fly by of dolphins in the morning, which made my day. Nikki gave me an amazing foot massage and the mighty blue watch made the day pretty special with thoughtful touches. Thank you for my card. It made me giggle and smile from ear to ear in equal measures. Speak very soon, miss and love you like crazy, stay safe Jessica xx

Katrina – Hey there! Whoop we’re nearly there….dry land but not for long….where’s the rum? Still rocking the shorts and wellies look, I’m telling you it should catch on elsewhere! Everything’s still going great although I’m definitely looking forward to getting back (Uni not so much, I might even rock up home at some point!). Hope all is well in Chorley and Southampton, speak to you when I get phone signal (should be before the rum!) Lots of love xxx

Rob – Hi my lief, almost there… A week from now I’ll be getting off the ferry! We should land in Antigua tomorrow(Wednesday) morning. I forgot to say, can you look for hotels in or near English/Falmouth Harbour, the island is not that small and a hotel in St Johns won’t really do while we have to clean the boat… I’ll call in the morning(midday your time), love you lots, bisou.

10 Apr Challenger Blog 4 - A day in the life of Challenger: Part 2

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So where are we in a day in the life of Challenger?  Oh yes,  the 0400 watch come up and the Mate takes over from the Skipper.  An additional task for this watch is making bread for lunch.  The first effort by Charlie was a valiant effort, but had a crust with the consistency of a wooden chopping board!  However the Skipper came to the rescue and fantastic bread has been coming out of the galley ever since.  Around 0630 Mother watch is woken and starts breakfast, which is normally porridge (which two of the crew agree is the food of the Devil; Mark and Jon!).  Two sittings of breakfast, the oncoming watch at 0730 and the offgoing  watch at 0800.

After breakfast the routine of the day sets in.  The Mother Watch in particular now dread the Skipper’s announcement:  ‘the bilges  (the bottom of the boat where all the dirty water, diesel and other utterly yucky stuff ends up) need hoovering’!  Normally on a yacht, we have a bilge pump, where all you need to do is operate a manual pump handle and this sucks the bilges dry.  In a Challenge 67 there are all sorts of hidden areas where water can accumulate, that need drying out otherwise the boat becomes somewhat “nasally challenged!”.  So it’s up with the sole plates (floor boards) and out comes the wet vacuum cleaner.  We then literally hoover the entire bilges; normally we get out 4-5 buckets of dirty water; sounds sort of ok, but when you’re doing it heeled over in a very lumpy sea it takes on a completely new meaning to the word ‘housework’!  Mother watch are also responsible for cleaning the entire boat, stem to stern (front to back), including the Heads (toilets), another job which is keenly contested for (NOT!).

The Mother watch also have the pleasure of a shower, well..... by shower, what I really mean is that you grab a bucket, put in a kettle full of hot water and some cold and then retire to the heads.  You then perch the bucket precariously on the toilet and proceed with a strip wash, making sure you do not lather up too much as your bucket is the only water you have to rinse with, and no more.  If you are brave enough to shave (2 crew have done so far; Jon and Mark – they are also the only ones who hate porridge, not sure what the connection is?!), you have to make sure that your whiskers are the only things you remove from your face!  Remember that you are probably doing this whilst the boat is rolling all over the place and there are various handles and other hard points that are rather conveniently placed around waist height, or slightly below! Blood and bruises are not uncommon!

Mother watch are also allowed to do their Dhobie (wash their clothes), however this is also not quite as it sounds.  Clothes are washed in a bucket of cold water (which is half salt and half fresh water) and hung out to dry on the guard rail (the wires that run around the outside of the boat that hopefully help us from falling overboard).  This also has its dangers as if we have to carry out a sail manoeuvre quickly, ropes can carry away some washing:  Al has, I think, lost thermals and some underwear so far!  You quickly learn the most secure way of tying on key clothes, such as looping some rope all the way through both arms of a jacket and tying the rope to the guard rails, much better than just relying on a few clothes pegs of somewhat dubious origin and reliability!

That pretty much sums up Mother Watch’s duties, as a new Mother watch comes on duty at 1200.  So each watch is Mother every three days.

Meanwhile the other watches are on watch every 4 hours (4 hours on and 4 hours off), although this sounds fine, you have to do all your own personal stuff during your off watch period such as cleaning teeth, keeping a diary etc.  So sleep is something that everyone never really gets enough of.

During the day the two watches are also kept busy during the on watch periods with daily maintenance of the yacht.  The Skipper decides what are his priorities and everyone gets on with it; be it making up new sail ties, repairing the temporary wooden cover for the day locker, which was knocked up by a chippie in the Falklands but which keeps on self destructing, screwing back wooden trim that falls off regularly, replacing the water impellor on the generator (which failed two days ago),  repacking the day locker and cleaning up some diesel that leaked from a Jerry can etc etc.  It is amazing how much ongoing maintenance needs completing every day..... which reminds me, I need to pull up the sole plates and check the engine coolant and oil.

Well that almost completes a day on Challenger, only lunch to go which could be chicken noodle soup or bread and bits and pieces or ....whatever the Skipper decides!

The two watches after lunch are only two hours each which ensures that each watch changes its hours every day; no one wants to be on the 0000-0400 watch every night!

Hopefully you now have a pretty good idea of what we get up to every day.  It very much depends on the weather but ocean sailing can be incredibly hard work, especially when the wind decides to do its worst.  We are all also all living almost in each others laps for weeks on end with practically no privacy.  Most people feel ill at different times, are almost always tired, can be wet and irritable and are living with people that they have never met before in very close proximity.

So why do we do we do it; without getting into the aims of military Adventurous Training, for which I believe offshore sailing ticks all the boxes and then some, I personally do it for the sheer pleasure  and isolation of being at sea in the massive expanse of the oceans, the peacefulness and time to contemplate life, seeing all the fantastic wildlife around us (a couple of hours ago we were sailing in the company of around 40-50 Dolphins, all jumping out of the water and playing around us) and of course the incredible challenge and exhilaration of sailing fully powered up with a great breeze (more the better – but there are of course limits!).

Here’s looking forward to the next 4 weeks or so of ocean sailing!

Call Outs:

Helen:  To all at 1RRF, will be thinking of you all on the 12^th April – give him a good send off, I am sure you will.  Paul – have you managed to get some leave yet?  Hope you get a chance to go down to Plymouth – say hi to Chris, Kelly, Killy (any sprogs yet?) and Pat.  Stamps – hope you had a good Waldringfield weekend.  We are slowly heading North – I am still hoping for a stop off in Rio.... x

Charlie:   Hi girls, starting to warm up out here, hope the weather has been OK for the hols?

Denise:  Sunny sailing at last ..this is what we signed up for!  Hi to everyone back in Pastyland. We are all looking forward to stopping in Recife to refuel and then crossing the equator before arriving in Antigua.  Not seen another boat since leaving the Falklands! 

Jon:      Millie I have seen dolphins, penguins and a seal. Still no sign of Shamu, but I will keep looking.  Jo; How do you stop Rich snoring??????????????????

Jo, Do I snore that much!!!! Hope all is well at home, love to Mum Dad & Sam, ho Dad hope the new dog is going well and he has not chewed all the furniture, will call first chance I can, give the boys a hug Jo, see you later. Richy

Dave:  Hi all! Hope this shout finds you all well. Weather here is getting warmer & warmer so getting in as much sun time as possible! Today is your birthday Karen – here’s a birthday kiss X. Did we make it to the cup final? Love to you all. Kisses for Amy and Millie. xXx

8 Apr Challenger Blog 3 - A day in the life of Challenger: Part 1

After two blogs and 5 fantastic days sailing we thought that rather than another blog describing the weather etc we would give you all an idea of life on board a Challenge 67 when on an ocean passage.  So here goes: the last 24 hours on Challenger, starting at supper time:

We have three watches on Challenger, two of four crew and one of three.  At any one time one of the watches is taken off deck duty for a complete day and is responsible for the boat's admin including cooking all three meals, cleaning the boat from bow to stern, miscellaneous tasks set by the skipper and the ships favorite job of all: cleaning out the heads (the toilets!).  This watch is known as the Mother Watch. Mother watch also get to have a wash using a bucket in the heads and to do their personal washing, again in a bucket!  Buckets feature rather heavily in life on board Challenger!   Although it doesn't sound it, the Mother Watch is enjoyed almost as much as the deck watches as they manage to get a full night's sleep rather than the 4 hours on and 4 hours off of the other two watches; but more of that later!

The mother watch for this blog period was John, Denise and Rich.

So, just before we start cooking we normally turn on the diesel generator, this charges up our batteries and also provides mains power.  Mains is used in the galley (the ship's kitchen) for the electric kettle and toaster (all the mod cons here!).  The crew also use the generator time to recharge the batteries on their ipods and cameras.  The ships laptops are also charged up, which is how I am writing this blog, which is then sent over the ships satellite communications system, more of which later.  The generator is normally run three times a day, generally during meal times, it also critically provides power to our water maker, which rather cleverly turns salt water from the sea into fresh water, which we use to keep our fresh water tanks full to the brim.

Back to supper, the menu included Falkland Island Cumberland sausage with mash, gravy, onions and tinned veg, followed by pineapple rings - all went down a treat, however the mother watch is having to manage with two or if we are lucky with three rings on the cooker as the other rings are not working and the gas man in the Falklands could not get them working.  In addition to the gas rings we also have a small gas oven and a small microwave, which helps keep food hot as we feed the crew in two watches.

At around 1930 the ongoing watch (which runs from 2000 to midnight) get out of their bunks (otherwise known as beds or scratchers) and have their meal around a small table next to the galley.  They then get togged up in their thermals and waterproofs, as we are not yet far enough north to go on watch in our tee shirts and esepcially for the night watches  it is still chilly.  They also put on their life jackets and lifelines.  It is a cardinal rule that at night and in bad weather, we all wear our lifejackets and clip our selves onto the lifelines that run all around the decks.  In calm weather and daylight we can relax the lifejacket rule.  The watch then go out on deck and take over the watch from the offgoing crew.  The offgoing watch leader briefs the oncoming watch about the weather, the course he has been sailing and the sail plan and then dives down below with his watch for scran (food) and bed.

Mother watch then clean the galley and can go to bed until they have to get up to make breakfast which is served from 0730.

All is now peaceful on the boat as the only people that are up are the watch on Deck; Charlie, Helen, Alec and Dave, and the Mate (Mark).  The Mate and the Skipper (Windy) alternate on watch every 4 hours or so, depending on what is happening with Challenger at the time. Unfortunately the weather has other plans and as the wind starts to pick up we have have too much sail up so the skipper asks the Mate and the watch to put a reef in the main (this reduces the amount of sail we have up the mast - more wind less sail, less wind more sail), this is a major job in increasing wind, large waves and in the pitch black, however 40 minutes later the job is done.  For those who haved sailed before we are keen exponents of heaving to when reefing the main or carrying out sail changes when conditions are less than favourable as it puts less strain on the boat and can be much safer for the crew.  All during this time no one down below decks has been getting any sleep as the noise of the ropes and the winches keeps everyone awake, the slightest sound on deck seems to resonate all through the boat, which is steel, and seems to have all the qualities of a 7 piece steel band at night!

Every hour during the watch one crew member goes below and fills out the ship's log.  We include all the key information we need to navigate and manage the boat in the ships's log, such as the course we have been steering, how long the generator has been running (to keep track of fuel use and maintenance times), any repairs we need to carry out, spares that are used etc.

Around 10-15 minutes before the new watch are due to come on deck they are given a wake up kick (sorry, a gentle call!) and they are all up on deck by midnight.  The offgoing watch also makes sure that the new watch have a brew waiting for them.  The new watch are: Al, Jo, Tristan and Kev.  The Mate also hands over to the Skipper who comes on watch at midnight for the next 4 hours.  All is peaceful............... except that the wind rises again and yet again the Skipper decrees that another reef has to be put in the main.  Yet more noise and banging.  Around this time Denise (who is in a top bunk) is heard to shout "coming down" as she falls out of her bunk and flies past the other bunks below her!  Fortunately no damage is done!

As I said earlier, the mother watch value their full nights sleep!  Denise declared that she had managed around 10 minutes kip the whole night whilst Rich declared the same, however as he was heard snoring the most loudly, this claim was met with some scepticism!.

Part 2 at our next blog.

Call Outs:

Rich:  Jo my love having some trouble finding my torch, any idea were it is as you know were most my stuff is? Hope you are well and not working too hard, Mum & dad, hope the holiday was OK, see you soon, Mason, not long left of school mate, hope the exams are going well. Just to let you all know, i did get some sleep but don't tell any one else. Love you all.... Rich

Helen:  Holly and Nathan - have a fantastic day on Saturday.  Gutted that I cannot be there and i will be thinking of you both - have a GA dance off for me and Babs!  Susie - happy birthday.  H x

Dave:    Karen, have a very happy birthday on Sunday (11th). Amy, hope all is OK with you and school and stuff! Be good and look after Millie for me! Millie, Happy 6 months for next week (15th)! Hi to Dad, enjoy Cuba and a final good luck to Portsmouth FC for Sunday's FA Cup Semi-Final. All OK at this end, weather inproveing all the time. Antigua here we come! Love to all.....Dave xXx

Jon:    Mel, Mum, Dad, Claire, James, Erica and Millie.  Hope you are all well and Emma's 30th was a good night.  See you soon, love to you all from somewhere in the South Atlantic!!!!!!!

Alec: Mum hope things in France are going well and the weather is starting to pick up,  Dad same for the UK ! Send my love to Lyndsey if you speak to her.  See you all when we finish! x

Charlie:   Hi girls hope all is well, say hello to Nan and Grandad.

Windy:  Lou, hope your having fun in the sun XX. Heiford I hope your doing loads of DIY and that BBQ's cleaned down and ready for a few tinnies. Budda, all is going well out here, its a long old hike, hope lit-lin is well. Hope my little goldies are well and not getting too fat!!!

Denise:  Nick, good luck with the move back to Pastyland and enjoy your stag do!  Danny has promised to return you in one piece.  Sun out today and warming up now we are out of the 40's so wedding tan commenced! Love to Mum, Dad, Dot and Barrry. See you all soon x x

Jo: Love to Alex, Mom, Dad, Lorraine, Rick, the boys and little Dukey. 1000 miles down, 4,300 to go. See you all in May. xx

Mark:  Dad, don't worry, should be back home in time for the course, Susie, love ya loads, hope you had a great Easter and Gert is well, see ya after your birthday!

06 April 10 - Equator crossing!

The big highlight since the cracking night in Salvador was crossing the equator, 0degrees.  The actual crossing followed a marvellous meal cook by the weakened white watch – they haven’t quite been the same since losing their top member.  As we crossed champagne corks popped, much to the delight of most of the Army crew members who are still struggling with the concept of a ‘dry’ boat!  For the hour that followed the crossing any boats in our vicinity would have struggled to identify our vessel due to the constant flashing of cameras drowning out our navigation lights.

Boy Wonder (Luke) felt slightly let down by the fact that nothing actually marks the line in the sea and so started to dream of business opportunities – neon lights, a bar maybe even a casino.  He’s still talking about it 36 hours later.

The crossing was also the opportunity needed to make our offerings to Neptune and hold a Kangaroo Court for all those on board.  I won’t for obvious reasons mention most of the content, but I will include some of the less embarrassing, more trivial fines:

PB (Pussers Becky) – fined for not bringing any non issue rig bought in the last 20 years.  Particular item of note were her MC Hammer disco trousers.

Gio – fined for continually claiming to be Italian.  The accent gives it away Gio or should I be saying Barney?  Second fine for only producing one cigar to follow the champagne.

Lawrence – fined for using every cooking implement in the kitchen every time he’s in there- even if just to make a cup of tea.

The day that followed the crossing

The rum and cokes are getting closer by the day

April 7^th

Finally the NE trades kick in good and firm allow us the donkey off for more than a few hours..

A pod of  Dolphins leaping like salmons join us for a while including some very ickle tiny ones which were exceptionally cute and almost like large fish they were so small. One jumping 8 ft was caught on Jason big papaprrazi camera.

Commando sailing speak is continuing to grow after Charlie accidental shout to let go on the Starbie sheet all those weeks ago back in good old Punta Del Este, the list has indvertently been growing since. Laurence says its all okay as it’s about time the sailing world becomes more accessible, breaking down barriers is always a good thing. He reckons with the new words starting to shape through the innercity clientele will be reached.

Please note the new Commando sailing jargon/ terms and their creators below.

Jess..  on thinking the Genoa was actually called the ‘Ginola’ the Genoa has been renamed the ‘David’ after the footballer David Ginola.. makes sense to me..

Charlie  coined the term ‘Chicken wing’ – misunderstanding the term goose wing asks are we sailing ‘Chicken wing?’, who knows in a few years this maybe diversifiying in to KFC.

Alex.. on shaking out a reef ‘wait the eyebrow is still in’… clearly meaning to the earing which is used in reefing. Later to be recoined by Laurence, give me the ‘earwig’ and I will  put it in..  

Charlie  are the next ‘posse’  awake. New term for watch

Are we slashing the main?  Meaning putting in a reef?

Big Dog – the skipper

The ride.. the boat..

These are providing great entertainment for the mates and skipper who didn’t realise they had such a creative pose on board.

            News

Late after noon Charlie disputes the course being followed and asks on mate Nikki for an arm wrestle who is standing in the cuddy. She replies wait one I’ll just get my lifejacket so we are evenly matched, at which point Charlie retreats to the pit to sit down muttering I’m not arm wrestling her she is ripped.

Skipper Jon