LEG 5 GETS UNDERWAY WHILST EX. TRANSGLOBE MOVES INTO RACE MODE
IN PREPARATION FOR LEG 6 AND THE ROLEX SYDNEY-HOBART RACEForty-two British forces service personnel have set off from Perth in WA on three 67ft steel-hulled yachts leaving Fremantle Sailing Club at 1200 local (0400 UT) to tackle a 2,200 nautical mile voyage through the Australian Bight and the notorious Bass Strait en route to Sydney on the east coast of Australia. This is the 5th and a relatively short stage of a year-long, 13-leg adventurous sail training exercise that rehabilitates, restores and revitalises its crew members, many of whom are  complete sailing novices, and many of whom have only very recently returned from serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Some individuals will, on their return to the UK, be deployed to Operation Hellick; hence why many of those on board can only manage a short spell away to undertake some AT (Adventurous Training) prior to returning to active duty.

Mike Bray, who hails from Southampton but was educated in Nottingham where his family now lives is a Navy Warrant Officer 2 at HMS Collingwood, currently detached to RAF Waddington, who only returned from a 5 month deployment in Iraq in June. He has no sailing experience whatsoever and is keen to achieve his Competent Crew having completed this leg of TRANSGLOBE.

Before they slipped their moorings, the crews spent a few days acclimatising, learning about the yachts, getting to grips with hoisting and lowering the enormous and extremely heavy sails (especially when wet), victualling the yachts, get sorted into watches, learning how to tie certain knots, learning how to use winches and set up the emergency steering. They all have to go through numerous health and safety briefings.The three yachts represent the Royal Navy (HMSTV Adventure), the British Army (HMSTV Challenger) and the Royal Air Force (HMSTV Discoverer) on Exercise TRANSGLOBE.

The skippers on Leg 5 are all highly accomplished: Chief Petty Officer Neil Penman skippers Adventure. He is a reservist and runs Torbay Sea School; Challenger is skippered by Staff Sergeant Darren ‘Windy’ Gale MBE from the Royal Corps of Signals. Windy was part of the project team when the Royal Corps of Signals previously went around the world on Adventureas part of Exercise Mercury Challenge in 2006 and he was the first mate on the yacht when they rescued Koomooloo in the 2006-07 Sydney Hobart Race.  Lastly, for the RAF yacht Discoverer, Phil Brown, is a JSASTC (Joint Services Adventurous Sail Training Centre) Staff skipper from Wales who joined JSASTC in 2008 and has since sailed over 10,000 miles on either Challenge 67s or Nicholson 55s.  Phil was a skipper on Leg 2 of TRANSGLOBE which took the fleet from the Canary Islands to Rio, a trip of 4,200 miles. He is also currently programmed in to take part on Leg 12, from Charleston to Boston.