Blog 3

Discoverer set sail from Hobart on Monday 4^th Jan evening after one of the Adventure crew was given the all clear to travel despite having spent 12 hours in hospital for an infection in his leg.  He joined our crew on Discoverer so that Alison, our Doctor could continue to administer his medication with the plan to transfer him back to the Navy crew once at sea.  Once we had found room for our stowaway and welcomed him on board we were on our way.

Once out of the Derwent River the wind and waves picked up and our stomachs were put to the test.  Some people have been experiencing the pleasure of their meals more than once but everyone is beginning to get some color back in their cheeks and enthusiasm for sailing once more.  Some fantastic meals have been presented already including Thai green curry, chili, Granny Titters Special Beef Stew and spag bol. Steve, Henry and Phil have done a fantastic job of the shopping and hiding all the food on board and I don’t think chocolate supplies will ever run out!  I even won a free bar of chocolate from a wrapper today but don’t think I will get back to Tasmania to claim that.

We have been lucky with the wind, despite the threat of high pressure building over the Tasman sea a low pressure pushing in from the west has created a squeeze in the isobars and build up of wind with some great downwind sailing and plenty of surfing experience on the helm.  Simon has beaten Martyn and Steve’s speed record by reaching the highest speed of 16.4kts on the helm so far. 

On night two our adopted crew member was deemed well enough to return to the navy after donning an RAF T-shirt and stuffing his bag with RAF merchandise we negotiated with the senior service over his ransom! (1 x generator impellor) Unfortunately the first attempt to return him was aborted after a few problems including losing our boat hook and Siobhan getting into our dinghy over the side of the boat to recover it, I think it was as close as she would like to get to the (shark infested) Tasman Sea.  The following morning in even bigger seas a second successful attempt was made in.  Much respect is due to our naval colleague in his bravery to be passed between boats in big seas 200 miles out of Hobart and also to his crew in recovering him safely, I think our hearts were in our mouths during the transfer as there were a few interesting moments.

As soon as he was safely on board the race began, we put our spinnaker up straight away in an attempt to gallop away from the Navy this worked initially with some good boat speed however soon after we were unable to hold it on any angle that would take us towards New Zealand.  Unfortunately the drop was not very efficient and the Navy escaped.  Looking at the positions of the 3 yachts at lunchtime today we are all quite close with no runaway winner yet, with the winds due to drop it may be a case of the last boat to keep the wind gets the advantage.

Sailing at night with each crew doing 4 hours at a time has been a new experience for many, during the day we are sailing for 6 hours at a time, the only wildlife spotted each day has been albatrosses or albitri!  Jim is still attempting to get a good photo.

We don’t need a foghorn on board with Henry around and his enthusiasm knows no bounds, when he is not making noise he has been crash gybing the boat to make sure everyone knows he is still there.  Today we have been celebrating Mark’s 40^th birthday with BLT sandwiches, cakes and noisy balloons that Carl had planned to release on the New Years Eve flight but sensibly decided not.  Siobhan landed on her bum as she fell out her top bunk during our rescue attempt the other morning, Steve is offering to apply arnica.  Sleeping on the boat is a noisy affair and is like being in the tumble dryer.

So the race continues and we’re all looking forward to a few good hard days of sailing.

Shout Outs:

Mark would like to thank his daughter for her lovely birthday gift and say hello to Archie.

Steve says Hedley can you remember to put the bins out.

Jim says love to Hazel.

Neil says hello to Cathy.

Siobhan says love to friends, family and the Boy.

Carl sends his love to Owain and Emily in Parsons, Kent.

Henry says hello to his family and he hopes the kids have gone back to school happily.

Gill says she can’t forecast the weather out here but she is doing her best, hello to Mum, Neil and friends reading this.

Love to Alison’s husband Peter.

Phil wants to make sure the kids are all working hard at school(!)

Warning to the girls in Auckland… Simon is on his way!

Helen, I am afraid the food is good on the yacht, so it looks like the post Christmas weight loss program is on hold for another year!! Enjoying the sailing but still missing you loads. All my love V xxx

Skippers footnote.

All the team are working together well and have settled in to the routine, the last 24hrs has been good sailing weather and although we hoisted the spinnaker at the start (mind games with the Navy) as soon as they were out of sight we slowed down to get used to the yacht. Most of the team have now settled in and all are looking forward to a good sail to Auckland. We have a nice 20kt wind astern of us at the moment and are finally making way in the right direction, the wind may drop soon though as the following high weather system arrives (clear skies and very little wind)......... good for getting our washing dried but not so great if you are trying to sail a 42 ton yacht. A great atmosphere on the yacht and most have now had their first shower so happy smiling faces is the order of the day. Thank you for checking in on our progress. Vaughan.