Exercise Transglobe :: Leg 5 Perth

The Crew:

No change – but a few more feeling a little more human.....but only a little more and only a few.

“Message in a Bottle” – The Police

Apologies for the late arrival of our ‘in voyage’ blog. Our modem has not been talking to our sat phone, but in true Apollo 13 style, with an egg cup and some sticky back plastic and string, we have (well Steve has) managed to get our IT talking to satellites and are now back in comms – no more Message on a Bottle moments for now.

“Make way while the wind blows” – one I made up!

Challenger has been making the most of the strong winds over the past 4 – 5 days and has averaged some 200 miles per day – not bad at all for a boat built like a tank, named after a tank , weighing in at 45t of pure British Steel and with a planning range, or should I say distance, of 160 miles per day. The sea has been a maelstrom of confused waves, making for a roller coaster ride – but Challenger is extremely robust and in her element, she happily rides the waves any way they come at her. Those crew members affected by our motion mayhem are gradually starting to come around and some are even opening their eyes more often, which is good news. Life on board is kind of settling down and things are getting just a little more comfortable . We had identified a period of high pressure which should have been over us for the weekend, but it hasn’t arrived yet so still, for now, there is no respite. We keep talking of calmer seas on board and the opportunity to sort some of the gear out, but it just doesn’t seem to be coming. So we are making as much headway as possible while the wind blows.   We are in good company. Dolphins have been swimming just metres from the boat; there are a number of Frigate birds flying off the stern as well as a number of albatross’s, and Polly somehow managed to see a small shark just off the cockpit of the boat. There might be some linkage to the amount of partially digested food that has been projected overboard which is attracting these creatures, but their presence is spectacular. The skipper is enforcing a weetabix, milk and sugar diet for those in need of some energy and the Doc is threatening to deploy some of his saline drips for those who need a top up of fluids.

Leg 5 in Context

The sea here is a vast desert of water with the swell forming magnificent peaks, deep troughs and wild spray blown off the waves by the howling winds. As we monitor our progress on the electronic chart, the size of Australia and the distances involved are put into stark context. It seems to have taken an age to round the South West land mass of Australia, but we have clearly made way and have transitioned from the Indian Ocean to the Southern Ocean in a matter of days. We are currently 8 hours ahead of GMT and the UK, but by the time we reach Sydney, we will have crossed 3 time zones and be 11 hours ahead of you; the additional 3 hours will have wreaked havoc with our Watch system timings. Undoubtedly there will be winners and losers.

As I write, Buzz is back in the Galley as the only unaffected member of Harry Watch. He happily helms, crews and makes food and brews with a smile on his cheery face. Rations are stretching much further than anticipated. The Curry lasted 48 hours and the Pasta Carbonnara did the same. We could have saved a small fortune on rations had we known! At times, a small glass of red wine would have been most welcome, but Challenger is dry......well alcohol free but not exactly dry when it comes to sail changes.

Sunday 29 Nov – A day of rest........

We talked of calmer weather and flatter waters and this morning our prayers were answered. The wind abated from 35 Knots of down to below 10. Sunday has already proven to be a day of rest and administration. We have managed to clear all of the water from the bilges, have a morning sing-song on deck, a shower, fix the sink pump (Roddy!) , fix the email problem and dry clothes and towels out. We even managed to have bacon for brunch as opposed to the usual diet of cereal and toast – very very refreshing after a 5 day battering. Furthermore, 13 of the 14 crew look 90% or more human, with only one exception – Phil. He’s still below par, but on his way back to life. Murray has his array of cameras back in action, so we know he is feeling much better. Morale today has been exceedingly high, but the winds light and progress slow. We know we have a pretty horrid low pressure system chasing us and it may well be upon us when we enter the Bass Strait, the much shallower stretch of water between SE Australia and Tasmania that acts as a reef (the depth drops from over 1000M to well below 100M) and throws the seas into turmoil. But we are well prepared and everyone has now experienced extreme sailing.

We hope everyone back home is well and we look forward to making communication with you once we get to Sydney.

Noticeboard

1.       Dick watch were feeling disgruntled that there were only 3 of them and Tom and Harry had 4 apiece. Then as if by magic, some bloke called Phil appeared. We think he might be a stowaway! But at least he isn’t a drain on food!

2.       Buzz has had the brunt of the dampness in his berth. He is hoping it is sea water and not one of the sickies not wanting to get up to go to the heads!

3.       Roddy may need to see a snoring counsellor as soon as he gets back to the UK otherwise Windy may have to impress on him the urgency of this matter. With a Lemar winch handle.

4.       Windy sends a big shout out to Lou, X, Heiford,Minger,Mike,Liz, and my two gold fish, thats if my old cats have not eaten them.

5.       Murray sends his shout-outs to the Posse in Bristol, all the family, big grins to all in the REYC and any of the RFOM crowd who are checking in. Better a bad day on the water than a good day in the office and we’ve had precious few bad ones!

6.       Big shouts to Bridge, Woodsy, Hels, Claire, Lisa, Caroline, Bob, Fraser and all the REYC associate members – sorry you can’t be here! Rob Moy – Gutted mate!

7.       Ryan, Hi to Karen, dad and the boys, mum Charlie and everyone in Ireland, Knocker Midders and Pops, Ben and the lads hard at work and Rachel hope you’r not missing me to much i will not lie im missing ya lol x x Ps cant wait for Sydney. As for the sailing lets just say its an experience!!

8.       Nols, Rose, Holly and James, love and miss you, see you in a couple of weeks. 6 months in Afghan and not even close to being sunburnt – 3 days in the Southern Ocean and my nose is ready to fall off!!! There is no justice. I hope all is well on the home front, I’m not missing the weather you are having. Hello to everyone else checking how we are getting on; let’s just say the only thing missing from the back of our boat is “Follow the Sapper”J

9.       Polly, (AkA Terry) Hi to all watching at home, it is a real eye opener, some of you who sail would love it, however most of you I think would have been pretty ill by now. Love as always to Sally, see you soon with tales from the high seas.

10.   Stevie, Hey shout out to my darling wife, this trip is worth it!! LWMU. Hi to my kids, missing you and hope you all still behaving. Again thanks to mum and dad, hope you got home safely. Hello to brothers, especially to Jar Head.   Of course to Chaz and the lads, really not missing you all, this place rocks. Mel and steve sorry didn’t get to see you, any chance you can visit Sidney around the 8^th or 9^th. Finally a big shout out to the girls at autonomy especially Anita, Paula and Tash. Hope you’re enjoying ‘miserys’ company!

11.   Great stuff!

12.   Hi to Manisha – hope you get this blog message and that all is well. To Rob Moy – hope your course is worth it and as fun as this expedition – see you when I get back! Chris.

Sun 29^th/Monday 30^th November (St Andrew’s day for the four ethnic minorities on the boat)

While this is, technically, an arduous sailing expedition (and let there be no doubt about the arduous bit people) today and much of yesterday has been spent motoring. While this may sound like a bit of a cop-out bear with us for a couple of minutes while we state our case to the jury. There is, no wind. In fact there is a little. About 5 knots in fact, from directly where we are trying to go. There is also a happy current pushing us backwards at about a Knot. This means that if we could sail directly into the wind we would be making 4 Knots (or just more than 4 Mph) towards Sydeny. Which is still two time-zones away. We hope, dear reader, that you’ll bear with all three yachts as they attempt to fast-forward into the next low pressure system. For those of you who missed ‘Southern Hemisphere Weather 101’ in essence High Pressure = Flat, windless, slow. Low Pressure = bouncy, windy, fast). Much of the crew spent most of the first few days praying for a high but now we have our sea-legs the High sitting above us is simply, slow and boring. We are also wary of asking for too much in case we get it.....

So if we can’t spin tales of derring do on the foredeck, awash with foam and flailing sails what shall we talk about today? One thing that occurred to Harry Watch (Murray, Buzz, Lee and Caesar) at about ‘dark o’clock’ this morning is that while some of our audience will be old sea-dogs themselves and some may even have been following Challenger and Co around the globe for a while equally a number of you may be friends and family with no idea what we are actually up to. Equally some of you (I know I was one) may be crew due to join the race, ahem, exercise later on and you may be trying to get a feel for what life is like. We’re pretty sure you’ve got the idea that we all sit on deck all day, pulling ropes, gently turning the steering wheel ducking the occasional wave. For the length of a continent. Um, sort of. Challenger is in actual fact a hive of activity the whole time, a yacht of this size is in reality a small ship, village, machine, racing car and elderly relative all rolled into one and as such needs constant attention – as does the crew!

The crew splits down into it’s three watches (named after those famous tunnels – this is our ‘great escape’ after all!). The first – and using today as our ready example – Watch are the ‘on-watch’ they’ll be doing 4-hours on deck before being relieved by what is currently the ‘off-watch’. Essentially they will do turn-and-turn-about alternating between working on-deck and eating, sleeping and fixing the boat and most of the other niff-naff and trivia that keeps the boat ticking along. ‘Mothering’ the crew is left, strangely enough – to ‘Mother-Watch’ theire job, for a 24 hour period is to feed and water the crew and keep the inside of the boat clean and hygienic (easy sometimes, other times less so.....). What this all leads to is a three day rotation which, when you add in a two-hour dog watch to off-set watches doing the same times each day AND changing time zones, means that we are constantly busy, often blurry and usually utterly confused as to either/or the date/time. Add in rough weather, sea-sickness, darkness, comedy bunks etc and you may start to notice a little degradation in our ability to spill, punctate and use grameeeer. If you see what we mean (Roddy never could anyway...).

In some ways the early part of the voyage was pretty simple as the boat was in tip-top condition, food was plentiful and the conditions meant that your time-spending choices were

1. a. Sail – as hard and fast as you could “sail it like you stole it!”(if already a sailor).

1.b. Sail – Lean. Quickly (if not already a sailor).

2. Sleep – “ahh blessed sleeeep” – Homer Simpson, repeatedly (also (Ph)ill)

3. Work out how to feed 14 hungry (sometimes...) people when your ‘kitchen’ is at 30 degrees, your ‘cooker’ is at 10 degrees (and is swinging randomly) and handling anything vaguely sharp has potential to be ‘interesting....’.

At first anything else was pretty much beyond us. Now however our boat needs more work, as fresh stores dwindle we need to start being more creative with our food and frankly we’re used, believe it or not, to our watch routine we have time for a few other pursuits. For half the crew the first option is easy – smoke. For the non-addicts amongst us books are being read, new skills learnt (sewing!), all the old jokes and stories are being dragged out and we’ve even had a few sing songs using Dave’s ever-ready song books (Flower of Scotland being Murray, Steve, Eddie and Roddy’s song of the day). All very domestic but wait until you hear about our bread-making, with fresh supplies exhausted it looks like the next mother watch could be in for some fun......

Before Harry Watch sign-off we’d just like to add a few notes for those back home.

1.            We are NOT in Australia. Australia is merely the closest land-mass. The next closest land-mass is Antarctica... While we are sure you all have images of us on a sun-drenched deck, in shorts and sunnies with ever-deepening tans you could not be much further from the truth if you tried. ‘Day wear’ on deck is a minimum of a thermal base-layer, trousers a soft-shell jacket and a hat. Usually this will have a full-on ocean spec’ Gore-Tex suit over the top of it. ‘Evening wear’ is similar but you can add in thick fleece salopettes and a fleece jacket to the tally. The only bit of us getting ‘tanned’ is a narrow strip between face-mask and hat – and that’s wind burn not sun burn!.

2.            The second point is a word to one of our sponsors (they all deserve a cheer – without them we wouldn’t be here, but this is quite a specific one). We had quite a long chat about this one on Harry Watch last night. Sponsors, we suspect, get all kinds of thank-yous. Some of those will be formal letters or the implicit type that comes from enormous transfers on the side of the boats but there is another type. This is the muffled thank-you of a fore-deck crew, doing a sail-change in the Southern Ocean. This is when they realise that the incoming wave is coming over them, not past them and that because they’re wearing good gear that wave is going to keep going with a minimum of its tonnes of water ending up down neck or in boots. So just a short muffled cheer of thanks to Gill. Good kit boys.

Highlight of the Day

On Monday afternoon, at about 1610 hrs, Tom Watch were in the driving seat when the helm (Dave) saw a seal (not an Otter, as Chris called it) jumping frantically out of the water just metres off the stern. All hand were on deck before too long to see this spectacle, but the real event was to follow as a pod of over a dozen Minkie Whales swam just metres from the yacht, like a true RAF flypast showing off their frames. Suffice it to say, we never saw them or the seal again.

What, if anything, are we starting to miss.............................?

The UK weather.......................hmm, no

Phone calls ..............................no, not really

Texts.........................................not really

E mails (from Jason)..................NO

TV .............................................no...................no, especially reality TV

The News..................................no, but intrigued by what we ‘could’ be missing

A change of scenery..................sometimes, but only sometimes

Regular showers........................yes

A comfortable bed.....................yes, definitely

A good night’s sleep...................yes

Pukka Pies...................................yes, ‘........don’t compromise’

Families and loved ones............yes, of course

The Navy and RAF boats............yes and no........................alright, no

A meal in a level dining room....yes

A glass of wine with a meal......would be nice occasionally

High winds and rough seas.......no.....and yes, for the speed, adrenalin and exhilaration they bring

Great Stuff! Thank you for reading and we’ll continue to keep you informed of our voyage as we transit through the notorious Bass Strait between Tasmania and Australia, and then on our final stretch of 400 or so miles up to Sydney from the SE corner.

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No Challenge to 'Be The Best'.

by Clive Cooper on Sat 05 Dec 2009 10:21 AM GMT

Blog covering Tue 24 - Thu 26 Nov 2009

The Crew:

Skipper – SSgt Windy Gale (not a made up name!)

Mate – LCpl Roddy Simpson RE (Legend in his own lunch time!)

Tom Watch : Col Dave Pardy, Dr George Kivell, LCpl Polly Parsons, LCpl Chris Purdie

Dick Watch: SSgt Eddie Morrison, Spr Ryan Taylor, Spr Phil Davies, Cpl Steve Board

Harry Watch: Capt Murray Smith, Cpl Keith Busby, Cpl Caesar Pennell, LCpl Lee Philips

“Time nor tide waits for no man” – some maritime quote – stating the bleeding obvious frankly!

“Slip by 9am” he said (Windy Gale[1] our skipper that is!). What he did not take into account was that the Navy boat, Adventurer, was in front of us blocking our exit, and they had a number of admin tasks to do before they could slip Perth. We hurried, then waited, and waited, and waited. No change there for the Army, so we made some additional sail ties and whipped some rope ends to pass the time – concurrent activity at all levels and ....admin! 10 am came and passed, as did 11 am. A little later, with the Navy kindly moving forwards to make room for us, we slipped Perth and made for open water to shake out (coolly shake the room! As Windy would say). The sun was beaming and faces were ‘all a glow’ (there’s a song there somewhere) some literally through exposure to the southern hemisphere’s potent rays during the acclimatisation period.

Tom, Dick and Harry – The Great Escape – Challenger’s Watch System!

Being a largely sapper crew, and having escaped the real world, we decided to name the watches appropriately: Pardy’s team being Tom Watch, Dick being Eddie’s and Harry being Murray Smith’s. Escape is clearly our theme, and many cannot believe they have managed to find time away their day jobs for such an adventure – but which tunnels will make it to the other side in tact? Time will tell.

“You spin me right round baby right round” - lyrics to some song? (Answers on a postcard)

Windy wanted to set the compass on the Raymarine E120 Nav computer, so we completed a number of long slow circles in order to try and calibrate the system. It should have been 2 complete revolutions, but we lost count in the end. This procedure did not go as planned but was not the end of the world. “We’ll get by with what we’ve got” said the skipper – typically Army!

“We are sailing” – Rod Sewart (some short, old aged husky voiced singer who attracts good looking but, by nature, seemingly shallow women)

Joining yacht Adventurer in open water, we shook out, raised sails and started to get used to the boat. Everything on Challenger is over-engineered (= bl***y heavy) as the boats were designed to sail around the world against the prevailing winds in the BT Global Challenge. No task is easy – simply moving, raising or lowering sails is a major team effort, and the crew found out pretty quickly that this would be no cruise. We sailed around for a while and when the Royal Navy yacht joined us, we lined up and set off south, destination Sydney Australia. A couple of whales were on station to see us on our way and made for a real spectacle.

“You spin me right round baby right round” – again!

As we headed south, the seas grew and the southern ocean swell started to gradually take its toll on the crew who started their own spinning acts. The resident Doc, George Kivell, had ordered the taking of sea-sickness tablets 24 hours prior to departure; they worked a treat for several of the crew, who became sick as dogs and were soon paralysed by their condition. Before long, over half the crew were incapacitated wholly or partially, the Perth smiles having been wiped away – but only temporarily – they’ll be back. The clean white deck started to become a hazard zone with pizza toppings being strewn around. The seas grew and the wind picked up increasingly as we headed south – the swell made crew unwell and the dash to some down-wind space to remove stomach contents was a sight to behold at times.

Pamela Anderson eat your heart out! We have Doc Kivell on board.

Changing sails in rough seas is a trick in itself. We needed to lower the No1 Yankee (too big for the fast approaching foul weather!). Roddy, Dave, George and Polly dashed forward to do the deed. Getting the sail down was one thing, stowing it below another. It was like grappling with a large sheet of cardboard on a howling rainy day. Just as we were getting to grips with it, whooosh, Dr George was showing all the signs of major breast surgery – his life jacket inadvertently inflated due to the amount of water he was wearing. He actually looked quite attractive – for a brief moment – it was hilarious and we had to take time out to laugh at our circumstances whilst holding on for grim death. Oo-er Doc! The same happened to Dave Pardy who was soaked putting a reef in the main – similar impact and he must have been to the same surgeon for the look was identical. Murray Smith, almost naked, was receiving our foresail down below and had the first shower of the voyage – unintentionally – such was the mass of water entering the foredeck hatch.

“An Army marches on its stomach” – anyone in the Army will tell you that.

No mention of sailing in that quote, and it became clear early on that food would not be in such great demand on this trip – is this a new diet for the market – the TRANSGLOBE Diet?. The Southern Ocean was taking its toll – 36 hours of big seas and winds in excess of 30 knots were making for a roller coaster ride – and some of the crew were not fans ......and not enjoying the ride. Buzz Busby on Harry Watch ran the Galley almost single-handedly on the first day, taking it all in his stride. Buzz allows nothing to come before the crew and their food – an epic achievement under bouncy circumstances and pies all round for supper – a real sapper meal. On Wednesday, Tom’s Diner was in full swing as Dave and George (Dr George), prepared a sandwich lunch with fillings to spare and then a chicken curry – hot and spicy as ordered - with all the trimmings to go with it. Preparing such a feast for 14 crew at 45 degrees in an unstable environment was an epic to watch - and no mean feat for it took 2 ½ hrs to prepare whilst fighting gravity and the boat’s tilt. All of that effort, but sadly, Tom’s Diner was not filling all of its seats; gaining custom was hard work, even with the hard sell approach and spicy aroma emanating from the kitchen (Galley!). Hell’s Kitchen has nothing on the Gormet Galley, but the language here is much cleaner than Gordon Ramsay’s, apart from when the fruit nets spill their contents all over the deck. We have much bruised fruit on board.

As we approach the first 48 hours at sea, Challenger is ploughing through the southern ocean and making around 200 miles a day thanks to the strong winds. At the rate, we should get to Sydney in good time. The crew is (largely) in fine spirits and due some slightly calmer weather in the next 48 hours, and this would be most welcome. Challenger performs like a dream and long may she continue to do so – she is in her element!

Messages from the front: From those who could find a few words........

Windy – Best way to stop being seasick is to hug a tree!!!!   Roddy is holding my card to ransom for extra hours in bed, miss you all big kiss. X

Roddy – Well hello to Dad and Kath, Mum and to Shelagh, and to all family and friends, and my wee pal Clark, Angus is loving the trip!! All is going well and dad we have run out of sick bags, just like the straits of Gibraltar but bigger seas, Hope you all have a lovely Crimbo, I`ll be throwing some shrimps on the bbq, love to you all. x

Dave – To my wonderful family, I hope you are all well and looking forward to Christmas. To B Div ACSC 13, hi all and enjoy CLM. To my Director, thank you for indulging me and good luck with your next job – this battering is already doing my soul the world of good. “Scooby Dooby Doo, we love you”. See you all when we’ve nailed this southern ocean leg.

George – In Action, seasickness help provider, if you need help please call 0800001066!!

Polly – To Sally, you would love it out here, missing you, tay. x

Chris – Not available for comment.

Eddie – Hi all, a quick quote from one of the novices on board who plays rugby league for the Army and is not lacking in strength: Ryan - “the first bloke who tells me sailing is for poofs when I get back, is getting bloody knocked out!”

To all my family, love and miss you – see you in a couple of weeks. To all at work – suck it up buttercups!

Ryan – Hi, I seem to be the last sapper standing at the moment; much to my surprise, the sea sickness has only affected me slightly. This is nothing what I expected a leisurely sail around Oz - yeah right, it’s hard core this sailing business. Hello to everyone at home especially Rachel, catch you later.

Phil – Not available for comment.

Stevie –Hi Jo, thanks for a lovely few hours sat, best fun i’ve had in transit accommodation in years!, glad you back to uk safely. LWMU. Hello to Joe and Nadine, hope you had a good time with gran and granddad , I know you behaved yourselves. Hi to Amy and James, see you at Xmas. And a big thanks to my folks for helping me get away on this adventure. Dad you may have ruled under the sea, but sappers own it!! Chaz and lads, this is awesome, wishing I could be back at work, ................not!!

Murray – Not available for comment!

Buzz – Loving it!

Caesar – Not available for comment.

Lee – Not available for comment.

Love to all,

Challenger Crew J

[1] SSgt Windy Gale – Royal Signals skipper of Challenger – not a bad bloke as it happens!

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She is D.I.S.C.O.

by Clive Cooper on Sat 05 Dec 2009 10:15 AM GMT

Greetings from the nightshift of Disco. At this moment in time I’m sat at the chart table mid way through a 4 hour watch between 0001 and 0400 and my thoughts go back home. As I sit here with 3 layers of clothing and having just had a mug of tomato soup the majority of you reading this will be settling in front of the TV having just had a Sunday roast. Oh how our minds wander – anything to stay awake on the graveyard shift!!!

Anyway as I’ve sat for the last 2 hours upon deck the Southern Ocean sprang to mind. Here we all are on an adventure that is taking us through the infamous ocean of the world. I doubt many of the crew or skipper will ever have the opportunity to sail this area ever again however it will no doubt be etched in everyones heads and log books for many years to come. I think I speak on behalf of the crew, family at home, friends and work colleagues that everyone envisaged that this would be the so called ‘easy leg’ of the exercise. It wasn’t until arriving in Fremantle that not only the crew but Phil our skipper realised the enormity of the task. Many thought that maybe this would be the board-shorts, beach and ‘throw a shrimp on the barbie mate’ cruise, however, how this could be further from the truth. Most of us are resembling Michelin men rather than the desired beach bum look on a daily basis and the shouts of does my bum look big in this are a dim and distant squeak. The wind whips us constantly from the south which for those unfamiliar with the region is directly from the Antartic. Isn’t it supposed to be summer here?

The Southern Ocean could be described as the longest North Sea crossing ever but without seeing anything except its inky eerie blackness and grey sullen skies. The thought crosses our minds that the only reason the original visitors from UK to Australia never made it back home was that they couldn’t face the journey back through the Southern Ocean again. Our only sights since loosing sight of our fellow yachts are 2 dolphins one morning on the port side. Our elation nearly got the better of all 4 crew members who were hoping and praying that they would join us at our bow and ride the surf man, however this was not to be and they disappeared as quickly as they were spotted. For the last day or so our newest member Albie joined the Disco crew– the magnificent albatross circling our position and pointing out our course like a pathfinder from WW2. A very welcomed sight as each day he visits without fail.

Sunday morning saw the first crew decision being made but only after a few rounds of fresh bread and bacon butties. As you can imagine smiles all round. Since we left Fremantle we have been under a low pressure system whisking us along with winds up to 35 knots, however behind us a high pressure system eventually caught up with us and the wind has disappeared. Al asked the crew and the decision to put the engine on to get us to Sydney on time. This will give us a penalty but we have no alternative. Later the evening whilst eating lasagne we have found out that the other 2 yachts have come to same decision. A welcome relief that we were not the only ones to see sense.

Due to the sea conditions and the welcome thunder of the engine we have the relief of not being heeled over on a 45 degree starboard tack in our water bungalow since leaving Fremantle. The crew are feeling more comfortable and while nursing their sporting injuries from the last couple of days Phil put the crew to work. Jamie, Paul and Phil entered the twilight zone of the forepeak – a place where no man or woman wants to go. They managed to tidy it out from the bottom and re-stacked all the sails. On the foredeck were the team of Andy, Rich, Nick, Bob, Bomber. The intrepid team set about 3 rounds with the sail bag and No 1 Yankee. This entailed taking it out of the forepeak, undoing and then flaking the sail back into the bag. Sounds easy – it could be liked to retrieving your washing from that spin cycle again. What a team, it was touch and go at some points and a few blows felt by both the sail and some knees, but they didn’t let the sail get the better of them and after the bell rang the sail was safely stowed below.

Monday arrived and unfortunately disaster struck the good yacht Disco. The day had been spent catching up on maintenance and the stantions of Disco resembled the Boxing Days sales in M&S with everyone doing dobey (washing to all you land lubbers) We had all been treated to a curry night including homemade naan bread and red watch were just being given a rendition of the skippers joke about Henry and Christian – the prawns from prawn town!!!(the Southern Ocean has affected everyone in more ways than one) when out of nowhere the engine just stop and died. Phil, leapt to his feet and sprinted back to the cabin. Here both Bob and the skipper wrangled with the engine and after a few looks of fear on every crew members face tried to figure out what had happened. Meanwhile up on deck red watch (myself, Ian and Kev) like a coiled spring, reset the main to try and power us along, both Al and Paul now on deck assisted and within 5 minutes the watch had not only put up the forsail and staysail but managed to get a round of teas and stickies in. Air traffic and ABMs working in harmony!! This gave us a measly 3-4 knots but this could be Discos only speed for the next couple of hours. While the workers worked on the engine the talk upstairs was – well we may now get to see Melbourne after all. Our trusted SEF Chf Tech Bob from Odiham and Phil showed no signs of stress (but lots of sweat) and within an hour the engine was back purring with its fuel problem now resolved and the rest of the crew safely asleep. However when finishing red watches’ night shift Bob was heard mumbling in his sleep that maybe he could get a GEMS award or even a good show. I don’t know what some people do eh?

Today is the 1^st Dec, we had a we wish you a merry Christmas with skipper cooking us all bacon omelette for breakfast and the opening of day1 of Discos’ advent calendar.(thanks Scotty some well earned morale down here). We decided that day 1 should be Neptunes chocolate much to the angry eyes of 2 females as the Cadburys’ chocolate was thrown overboard. We were also treated to some of the elusive wildlife. Off the starboard side at about 0600 a pod of about 15 Dolphins suddenly appeared, only briefly and then no sooner had they sunk below the inky sea than on the port side a whale popped up blew some air then descended. At 0600 this brought some of the crew to watch and smiles all round were seen.

In good old fashion Rich is at the moment in the galley making us all Christmas cake which smells delicious, hope we get to eat it before we get to Sydney and as I write this last paragraph our own Fireman Bomber is getting himself strapped into the bosuns’ chair to ascend the mast to grease the mast track. He is still looking for his pants and however hard we tell him i think he is looking in the wrong place. If they had been up there maybe we would be in the lead as it he has mentioned that they were baggy enough to catch wind! For all his pals at work we have some good video evidence of his ascent - it puts a whole new slant on the role of a RAF Firefighter.

Well that’s all I guess. We will keep you posted and by the time you get our next blog we’ll be in the Bass Straits and days closer to sailing under the harbour bridge.

Ta Ta For Now

Vee

Shout Outs

Terry - Hello Jane, Mum, Dad and everyone. Still crashing from port to stbd and accumulating lots of bruises. Haven’t managed a trip from bow to stern without unintentionally blundering into someone else’s cabin with a crash. Hope you are all ok, looking forward to speaking with you all soon. Hope the Christmas prep is going well, looking forward to doing mine when I get back, not! will be thinking of you Jane when I get to Sydney. All my love to you all T.

Jamie – Hi Caroline, Amy and Emily. Many happy returns Caroline, I did sing happy

birthday to you out on deck yesterday morning just as the clock would have ticked over 12

with you. Hope you liked the prezzies? Girls I hope you are looking after Mum for me and

you took her for a nice meal? Bit quieter seas at the moment, waiting to hit the Bass straights.

Dodgey weather again is expected. Still this has really been an adventure so far and a real test

of lots of things, but I am coping pretty well. Just done some washing and its out on the side,

Amy, I have just had my first shower in a week, Emily, guess what I smell like? To all the

Family who are looking on, we are doing alright. Think the Army will take the leg, but we

are giving it a real go. To my girls, love you lots and can’t wait to talk. All my love. Xx

Rich – Talk of Australia invokes such images as long sunny bonza beaches, beautiful Sheila’s,roos, a tinny in hand while a shrimp sizzles on the Barbie, Shane, koilee, and Rolf Harris! However, our little “cruise” couldn’t be further from this perception. We are 14 deep aboard a vessel considerably smaller than your average two-bedroomed bungalow, except that the bungalow is not loaded to the gunnels with sails, fenders, safety equipment etc. Nor does the average bungalow lean to the side by 45 degrees. And where on earth is the sun! My legs still resemble porcelain, save for the impressive collection of bruises I have accumulated thus far from various cleats and shackles aboard! Message to mummy, send more thermal long-johns please, shorts aren’t really

appropriate as we continue southwards. Is this exercise Transglobe, or exercise Antarctic Explorer?! Thankfully, I am very much in the minority of those who have avoided sea-sickness, which has blighted much of the crew – all of which have now recovered. To put into context the scale of our voyage, our total route is just over 2000 miles and we are averaging between 150-200 miles per day. We have just past the half-way mark so our relentless drive towards Sydney should conclude sometime next weekend. With over 1500 miles on the same heading it is nice to have a port-side bunk with the boat heeled-over as it is! The nautical wildlife remains elusive, save for the odd albatross, and the occasional mermaid – but the latter may be down to sea-madness. Furthermore, I continue my baking odyssey across the southern ocean, producing breads and cakes to keep the crew going. I have also added seamstry to my talents having had to carry out emergency repairs to my foulies! In the meantime, the “plotting” continues afoot. With the sockies throwing their support behind my cause, and keeping dutiful watch over me while I sleep, it won’t be long before we have command of the boat. Next stop Tahiti! So a big Henlow to all the clans of Cambridge Square, Poppy Hill, and Westell Close. Caz – miss you so much and can’t wait to see you soon – I so wish you were here with me – but no long to go now. Love you loads. Sam – I hope you are being a good boy for mummy – miss you too and I am looking forward to seeing you soon – and I’m going to bring you back something nice. To everyone else (including all Exochatters!) – a big hello from the far side of the globe – we’re still bound for the horizon and onward until dawn! Yo ho me hearties, hoist the colours high!

Bomber -As you’ve probably gathered I’ve been a little bit under the weather! I seem to have now found what little sea legs I have left and unbelievably started to enjoy myself. The weather has picked up the last couple of days and things are starting to run smoothly, although as I write this our engine packed in for about 40 mins which was worrying times as I need land desperately! Thankfully skipper, Big Bob and Terry have fixed it and we are chugging along nicely now. We are hoping to make Sydney by Monday but anything could happen. The weather is on the turn for Thursday which could mean more time looking for my pants over the side or in my pit! Leanne, Nico and all the family love and miss you loads and I’ll ring when I can. Take care and I’ll see you all soon xxx

                                    P.S Andy wants a mention because he reckoned he helped fix the engine

Andrew – Actually I fixed the engine single handed while making a curry for tea and washing up. Well I did make the curry and washed up, but cannot take the glory for fixing the engine.

                                    The sun came out today and I had to unpack the sun tan lotion. Might even get the winter tan after all. Deb, Oliver, Jack and Chloe, love you all see you in a few weeks. We will hopefully get into Sydney in about a week. Take a couple of days R and R and then the 24hr flight home.

Bob – Hi to everyone back home and as the guys have previously said it has not been a T-shirt and shorts sail round the Oz coast...numerous layers of clothing in large waves with little sun!! Not to worry though as Phil the skipper keeps us entertained with his jokes and more importantly guides us through the passage and hopefully on to Sydney next weekend for a well earned rest! Anyway, hope everybody is well and I will keep you informed as we progress past Tasmania and then on to the famous harbour bridge. Take care now xx

Vee – Hey Adam, how’s it going. Hope you opened your Christmas card. Unfortunatley no Sex is on fire out here.... they just don’t seem to get it- yeah man. Hi mum and dad hope the new car is fine. Miss you all hopefully get to speak soon. Big sis, miss you and hope you and Russ are still smiling. See you soon big hugs Me xxxxxxxx

Kim, Hannah and Matthew, Still bobbing along, we have a real GNER albatross following us! Looking forward to seeing you soon. Love Ian

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