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Thursday, February 25
EXERCISE TRANSGLOBE NEWS UPDATE #17
EXERCISE TRANSGLOBE NEWS UPDATE #17Issued: 24 February 2010 by Peta Stuart-HuntMedia Enquiries:Peta Stuart-Hunt | Press Officer
T: 01590 679621 or M: 07711 477707
TRANSGLOBE: Adventure (RN) is racking up the miles leading the dash to the 'Horn'It's Leg 8 and the longest of the entire year-long expedition at 6,300 nm from Auckland to Montevideo, Uruguay. The knock-on effect of the Army yacht Challenger's recent mast track problems within days of leaving NZ and being forced to turn back for the repair job in Wellington means that the Army are going to be around two weeks behind the other two boats into Montevideo. Remember that this Expedition is actually a Training Exercise not a full-blown out and out 12-month race between the services but this delay will almost certainly mean that the Army boat won't be in the right place at the right time to compete in Antigua Race Week in mid-April. The Sydney-Hobart in December/January and Antigua Race Week are the only two bona fide racing legs that have been built into the 13-stage programme.
Meanwhile, the Project Team back in Gosport, Hampshire, is working overtime to try and ensure that, logistically, everything still runs as smoothly as possible for everyone concerned but flights have had to be changed and crew members notified of major delays etc etc.
We will continue to keep everyone posted as and when we have more detailed information on how things are likely to pan out. Meanwhile the latest positions are below and there's some great blogging and shout-outs from the RN and RAF crews on the website at: http://www.exercisetransglobe.com – and there are excerpts from Adventure and Discoverer below the positions as a taster...enjoy!
ADVENTURE (RN):23th Feb 2010
lat 50.652222 S lng 109.817778 W (Decimal)
DISCOVERER (RAF): 23th Feb 2010
lat 50.5833332 S lng 114.968611 W (Decimal)
CHALLENGER (ARMY)Challenger catching up with the fleet
23th Feb 2010
lat 45.783333 S lng 169.35 W (Decimal)
ADVENTURE (ROYAL NAVY) BLOG
No ice and no penguins so far but lots of albatross down at 51 Lat where variation is 30 degrees East (difference between magnetic course and true course).
RACE & SAILING SITUATION REPORTThursday 18th Feb - brought us constant winds and we were able to pole out the yankee (front sail), changing up from the No 2 (mid size) to No 1(largest) Yankee at midday. Occasionally switching to a broad reach (wind from the side of the boat) to gain boat speed on the on the wind shifts and maintain our course to our next waypoint (fixed target position) figure at 51 degrees South 105 degrees West. This is when we will be permitted to head further south to start our decent to the Horn. The descent will be performed through a series of downward steps which have been preset by the Exercise Transglobe Sailing Instructions. The steps are simply lat and long positions from which we can descend. There are three steps roughly 400-500 miles apart. The first one is currently just over 1000 miles away and we should be there on about the 24th February and from thereon we are allowed to go as far south as 54 degrees. Whether we choose to or not depends mainly on the weather but obviously the further south we go the shorter the route to the Horn will be as you are able to take advantage of the curvature of the earth.
Over the last six days we have done over 200 miles a day with the highest being 234 miles, averaging 10 knots. Disco now sit behind us by 20 miles after coming down to the same latitude to avoid lighter winds to the north and it appears that keeping south has paid off for us, at least for the moment!:) This is the biggest lead we have had over them so far on this 2700 miles journey. ..but it’s still very close.
Friday 19th
Today Disco sits 25 miles behind us, although we have both had our share of things to repair. For us the second batten (semi flexible strip giving the main sail its wing like shape) lost a screw from the luff box, forcing the batten to make another appearance out the front of the sail. It was put back in the slider with the aid of Blue watch with mother (Red) assisting. Mind you, this is this is forth repair we have done to the battens/luff boxes and apart from getting annoyed at having to depower the main for repairs, we’re getting pretty slick at it! Meanwhile Disco had a spinnaker wrap (big kite sail tangled around the rigging) plus a batten problem - all of which helped maintain the status quo.
Saturday 20th
Two weeks at sea and we are all still holding up or just about. A few aching muscles and wrists from repeated helming has meant a slight and temporary change to watch manning to help ease the load and give some a rest. White Watch are currently at the controls up top as the sun is starting to set over a single reefed main and No2 Yankee. On goes the tri colour and the compass light. The spray and swell is rising and the wind has just picked up to 25 knots so boat speed is on the climb, White Watch have worked their magic again. This falls in line with the met forecast as we are expecting a good blow of 40 knots tonight – with the prospect of more sail changes. Tonight is chilli con carne night with bread and butter pudding (Frankie stars again!) and so Red Watch are hard at it this Saturday evening to prepare the restaurant for its 14 punters. Normally it’s a table of 7 for two sittings with portions monitored carefully by the Stazi (the Pusser). Besides being on standby for sail changes and other sailing evolutions, the other duties of Mother Watch include cleaning the heads, showers, empty the bilges and bins and cut the non bio plastic waste up into 10L bottles. Every cloud has a silver lining however and, subject to sail change help being required during the night, the Mother Watch will normally get the first “all night in” (in their bunks) that they’ve had for two nights. Currently the generator is on and with the drying heaters still not working, the door to the foulies wet locker room is opened and closed quickly to give some chance to dry of the sodden foul weather kit that hangs within.
This last day or so, crew have started to talk about what will be the first thing they will do when they get home, the four top things they are looking forward to most seem to be a big comfy bed and seeing loved ones, followed by a cold beer and a pee standing up! (stand fast Nikki, Lou, and Laura ) We currently have just over 2000 miles to go to the rounding of the magical Cape Horn. It will then be another 1500 to Montevideo (and three of the above)!
THE RAF BLOG
Fri 19 Feb. We awoke to much banging, clattering and then whooping and roaring - and that was just the skipper! Yes, the spinnaker had finally made an appearance and there it was flying high, resplendent in all of its glory for about 2 hours. It’s amazing how such an idyllic picture can turn to a pile of guano in a few seconds – within 30 seconds. Yes, just 30 seconds of Blue Watch taking over, the spinnaker was wrapped around the forestay in a manner described by the skipper as the worst he has seen in his 30 years of sailing. Nothing else for it, our intrepid Doctor Nick climbed the mast and started the long and arduous process of unwrapping the ‘kite’ and it soon became apparent that the offending article was a halyard that had been inadvertently left attached to the headsail; Blue Watch were off the hook! Nick spent an hour and a half being battered at the top of the mast, but managed to escape relatively unscathed and had managed to free the top half. The bottom half was, however, wrapped tighter than Lily Allen in rehab. With half the spinnaker still flying, Jason was sent up the forestay to try to ‘snuff’ the kite – the kite ‘snuffed’ Jason at times, but he managed to tie it down and we finally managed to untangle the spinnaker after nearly 5 hours. Remarkably, there was no damage to yacht, kite or crew - the spinnaker has now been hidden from the skipper in case he thinks about flying it again!
Sat 20 Feb. Surprisingly, we lost only a few miles to the Navy yesterday and we are now about 20 miles behind with 2000 miles to go to the Horn. The sailing is fantastic with Force 5-7 winds (17-33kts) and Disco is eating up the miles in glorious sunshine today. Early this morning the skipper had a screw loose..... on one of the mainsail track sliders and spent a couple of hours with white watch trying to wrestle the sail in high winds, straddling the boom with Alex hanging off the mast to fix it back in place; he is now walking like an Argentinean Gaucho who has just delivered the cattle into town. Overall, Disco is in great shape – which is more than can be said for those participating in the dubious looking beard growing competition.
Sun 21 Feb. Again we awoke to banging and clattering, but thankfully the spinnaker was not making a re-appearance. Our resident ‘sparks’ Alex was trying to fix the instruments that supply our wind, speed and mileage data. The skipper and Alex spent most of the day pulling off every panel to try to identify where the wires ran and their persistence paid dividends when the offending loose connection was eventually found and our instruments restored. Meanwhile at the helm, Mikey B, who is looking more like Lee Marvin every day and sporting a new haircut, managed a voyage record speed of 16.2kts surfing down a wave. Doc Jo received several plaudits for the quality of her muffins and later went on to cook a delicious Thai beef and noodles; we really are eating fantastically well! With about 1800 miles to run to the Horn and with progress like the 230 miles logged yesterday, we should round the Horn somewhere around 1-2 Mar. We need to drop down to around 56 deg south which, from our present position, means a difference in latitude roughly the same as between Bristol and Edinburgh. So far, the screaming 50s have been kind to us and hopefully the good weather and winds will continue. All is well from ship and crew aboard the good yacht Disco and minds are starting to turn towards what our first run ashore will entail in Uruguay.
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
- The aim of TRANSGLOBE is to provide members of all three British Armed Forces with the opportunity to develop their personal qualities and team skills in a challenging environment that will test their physical and mental stamina, their courage and help them develop self confidence and powers of leadership. Every other leg is being used as an adventurous training exercise whilst the emphasis on the alternate legs will be to encourage a spirit of Corinthian competition between the Services.
- The Exercise re-affirms to members of the Armed Forces and the wider public that the Armed Forces are committed to the personal development of every sailor, soldier and airman, regardless of rank or gender, to reach their full potential. It also serves as a demonstration of the superb Adventurous Training opportunities and facilities available to all service personnel throughout their careers.
- Offshore sailing is arguably the most demanding environment in which personnel can test their mental and physical toughness by getting the best out of their boat to arrive safely at their destination. Exercise TRANSGLOBEhas the honour of the Royal patronage of HRH The Duke of York, and the full support of the Service Chiefs.
- Of special interest is Stage 11 taking place in May 2010 is between Antigua and Charleston. Each yacht will include crew who are recovering from wounds received in recent military operations and some medical support staff, all from Hedley Court and the Help for Heroes initiative. Individuals may have lost limbs in combat but they are determined to prove themselves as effective members of their respective service crews in all respects. On arrival at Charleston they will be conducting joint land-based Adventurous Training with members of the US Forces Wounded Warrior programme.
- During each stage crew blogs are periodically uploaded to the official website but the crews are very restricted in the bandwidth and air time they can use, limited to two data bursts per week. It also means that crews cannot send photographs via the Iridium system, but they are captured and posted on the website after they reach their next stopover.
-- Peta Stuart-Hunt
Press Officer
Exercise TRANSGLOBE
+44 (0) 1590 679 621
+44 (0) 7711 477 707
peta@prworksuk.com
Skype: PRPETA
www.exercisetransglobe.com
www.prworksuk.com
PATRONS
HRH The Duke of York
Ambassador: Nick Knowles • Supporters: Bear Grylls • Babs & Robert Powell PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL
This email transmission is intended for the named addressee only. Its contents are private and confidential and should not be read or copied by or disclosed to any other person.
If you have received this transmission in error, please notify the sender immediately by telephone on 01590 679621and arrangements will be made to recover it.PPlease consider the environment before printing this email.
Monday, January 25
Maintenance team in Auckland keep in touch. All 3 yachts get some TLC.
Maintenance Week 1..
Carl to Oram’s yard… Sorry where did you say the gap was for the hoist?’
And afterwards… phew!!
Sunday 10th January
The crews of Discoverer, Adventure and Challenger from Leg 7 were kindly escorted to Auckland airport after a couple of days of RNR, where crew meal send offs and typical NZ activities, such a sky diving and visiting the Auckland Tower for civilised evening cocktails were encountered. We must initially thank the very kind hospitality of Lt Commander R Saynor of the New Zealand Navy who, at their HQ Auckland barracks in Devonport, fed, watered and accommodated the crew with a chance to sit by the pool in the glorious NZ sunshine for 2 nights before departing back to the snowy UK.
Incoming Challenger Skipper Mike Symes, and out going Skippers and Mates Paul, Vaughan, Neil, Nikki and Carl cracked on with compiling the defect lists in Orams yard, where the boats were taking a well earned rest. The maintenance crews would be working along side Chris Brown, Naval overseer, who would be co-ordinating the contractors the IRAMS yard. A plan of attack was agreed and set to making the boats ready for the next leg. Arguably the hardest leg of Exercise Translgobe, departing in two weeks, Auckland to Montevideo. With already 7 legs complete and many miles under the belt since last maintenance there was a lot to do. Many thanks must go to the IPT crew of Martin Hawkins, BASS Team Leader, Gary Trowbridge refit and repair manager and Jack Anderson Deck officer for their amazing financial support.
Monday 11TH January
Initially the main battens were measured and spare battens restowed. The split ones, which seemed to be unanimously the top 2 , would be replaced before departing for the long leg of the Southern Ocean. Subsequently the famous square blue spares boxes were brought, one by one up into the pit of each boat into the glaring sun and parts from impellers to gas isolator valves were found and not found.
The idea was parts would be counted against the inventory so the skippers could compile a list of ‘what they had’ against what they should have per the inventory, to enable spares to be shared around sensibly. This would ensure all boats had working spares, before any gaps were filled by flying spares out from the UK. Of course all ensured they had a Uruguay flag! Generator checks were initiated by the contractors and Tim started on the assessing on the rigging on all three boats.
Tuesday 12th January.
A busy day at the yard in the sunny land of Auckland began with an early start to enable all three Challenge yachts to be lifted by a hoist which looked severly underload. The tyres were fit to burst but we were reassured the crane was able to lift 60 tons. Adventure was first up, and by 11am all three boats were lifted and crew aboard back into the blue box mode. The heat was tiring and the awnings helped to break the heat and maintain the work rate. Scott and the other electricians were aboard like busy bees, discovering and sorting the various ailments including misconnecting flood lights on Adventure. Whilst the bunk head bulbs that needed 24v 5w or 10w, well lets just say the debate started. Tim was still working on the rigging and the engineers started working on the steering on Adventure which had been causing problems for a while, as those on leg 6 will remember. Lots of work in progress, long hours at the yard..
Wednesday 13th January
Another busy day at the yard where, with all spares boxes checked, tidied and inventory taken, skippers began negotiating and trading spares. 2 fuel pumps to Disco from Adv, 10 M6 20 ALU screws from Adv to Disco, one clew strop from Disco to Adv, 2 rolls of masking tape from Challenger to Adv. This provided much amusement, with a little bit of I will give you this if you can give me this type of affair. With Becky trying to get rid of 300 black bin liners that Challenger seemed to have collated. But in all fairness there was a serious side, skippers collectively tried to ensure all boats had enough of what we needed per the inventory. Tactics to avoid excess weight and create more space weren’t employed. Mean while, Chippies were aboard running through their list of chores and the boats were becoming fast hives of contract men, Tim was still on rigging, Sean was still on the diesel leak on Disco and a man was assessing a crack in Adventures boom. Then there was the steering which was still being pulled apart.
In the afternoon, Vaughan, Becky, Nikki and Chris headed off down route14 motorway over to the Sail loft at Doyles, which is in Rosebank on the NW side of town. The place was simply amazing. The main work area was big as a football pitch and clearly a motivated and professional team lived here. We arrived to see all three main sails laid out, details were soon discussed as to essential repairs on these and subsequently the other sails. After long discussions on the damage to leech lines, luff boxes, sliders, patches, battens, logos, cringles, tell tells, we managed a quick peak at how Doyles make their the stratus sails… no cameras allowed. Meanwhile back at the yard spares agreed and negotiated we being exchanged from boat to boat up and down the ladders. This day also saw the disembarkation of poorly Pete the spinnaker pole from Adventure who was lowered from the rocky heights of the deck to the ground beneath her. This was a parting ceremony on two accounts, one for Neil and Nikki but also for the pole itself as it fell into two parts following the removal of the famous first aid unsharpiness treatment of gaffa tape and a few old rags.
Vaughan, as ever in his crocks, went home with very blue feet. Even the shower cubicle is still blue.. no guessing what colour the antifoul is on all three boats!!
Thursday 14th January
The rudder would need to be off Adventure today so already on stilts, Adventure was lifted again in situ to enable the rudder to be dropped. On Discovery, Mike and Carl lead the way in chores and clearly had too much time on their hands. When they were asked to assist Tim to replace main and trysail track. They spent at least 20 minutes cleaning their halyards that really should have had just a sheet over. Meanwhile the galley inventory raised a question…just how many egg cups do you need going through the Southern ocean? Vaughan, as ever provided a sensible and straight forward answer ‘well it depends on leeway, so you can get a straight loaf of bread made.. simply the more leeway the more egg cups needed’
Friday 15th January
Today concluded five hard days of work on the yard and the end of week one of maintenance. Water chemicals were put in the water tanks and workmen continued to busy themselves fixing door latches and making emergency wash boards fit. Life jackets were serviced and Vaughan appeared with emergency supplies of goodies including exciting items such buckets and brushes, and electrical tape of all sorted colours. Logan from Doyles called by to talk about how the sails were coming on and progress with the hanks and batten materials. It was made official Adventure’s rudder - pitting and erosion had caused the bearing to bind. Challenger’s shaft is now straight and the propeller has gone away for balancing and the engine needs a slight re alignment. The Raymarine expert confirmed and mended Adventures radar, which was out by a few too many degrees and Challengers heading issues. On a cosmetic front, under cabin bungy and netting was freshened up on Adv.
Skipper of Adventure, Nick Trundle arrives tomorrow and with a busy programme next week, to name a few jobs, sorting the famous issues of Adventures’ rudder out, compass swings on all three, fix sections of broken main and tri track, sails back from Doyles, put the main sails back on, sourcing food for the six week leg this will keep us busy. Then we aim to splash the boats on Wednesday…watch this space!
Yours truly,
Vaughan, Paul, Becky, Mike, Carl, Neil and Nikki.
Thursday, October 29
A short message from Vaughan Marsh, Fleet Operations Manager
A short message from Vaughan Marsh Fleet Operations Manager JSASTC
I have had a few phone calls in the last 24hrs so I thought a very short message to put to bed any worries may have had would be worthwhile.
I am sure you have all read that the yachts are getting a bit of a hard time down there in the Southern Ocean. Challenger has been in 85 knot winds causing an interesting time with sewing sails back together. Adventure had a bit of an incident with a following wave that put them sideways and because of this they lost some of their safety equipment, (we have a huge amount of safety equipment on board and although I would rather there were no losses, it does not effect the overall safety of the yacht or its crew).
This does mean the Army cannot send its usual length blog’s, however we hope to get reduced blog’s from them just bear with us. The RAF have also been in some rough seas and very strong winds. The yachts and the crews are made of stronger stuff than the Southern Ocean can throw at them. The crews have all pulled together well as a team and all the messages I receive from the yachts (we are in contact daily) are very positive. At times the elements have pushed both the yachts and the crews to dig deep into their reserves of energy and determination.
All the Skippers are very proud of the teams they have around them and have nothing but praise for them. All is well on the yachts and discussions of big waves and scary moments will, I am sure by now, have returned to talk about porridge for breakfast and what is the first thing they are going to eat on arrival in OZ. 9 days to go seems to be the best guess at the moment but please don’t hold me to that. To quote one of the crew “they are living the dream”
Tuesday, September 29
LEG 4 PREVIEW : CAPE TOWN TO PERTH
CAPE TOWN TO PERTH WILL SURELY TEST THE GRIT AND DETERMINATION OF
SOME OF THE NOVICE CREW MEMBERS
Leg 4:Cape Town - Perth 5,000nm
A 21-year old RAF Officer Cadet student, Gemma Lamont, who hails from Scotland, has done ‘a bit of dinghy sailing and some yachting’ during her service with the RAF, but nothing remotely significant compared to her latest sailing challenge on Exercise TRANSGLOBE. Gemma has signed up as crew on board the RAF yacht, HMSTV Discoverer, to sail one of the longest legs during TRANSGLOBE, from Cape Town to Perth, a distance of 5,000nm, scheduled to depart Cape Town on 5th October.
Gemma (or ‘Wee Gemz’ as she is also known) needn’t worry though. She is in excellent and very experienced hands as one of her fellow crew members is retired Air Marshal Sir Graham Anthony ‘Dusty’ Miller KBE who is now a member of the Volunteer Reserves. Another is Sqn Ldr Neil Cottrell, the TRANSGLOBE Project Officer and the mastermind behind this extraordinary adventure training exercise as well as being Discoverer’s 1st Mate on this leg. Dusty Miller, who lives with his family in Cheltenham, has already sailed over 5,000nm and completed 16 service expeditions during the course of his 41 years service in the RAF.
Meanwhile, over on the Navy boat, HMSTV Adventure, Lt Vivienne Masson (aged 27) will be hoping that her three yacht delivery trips across the Med will stand her in good stead for the long passage ahead. Viv was educated in Cheltenham followed by three years at TS Legion with Cheltenham Sea Cadets and five years at HMS Vivid (Plymouth Royal Naval Reserves). She is based at HMS Heron, Yeovilton. Adventure’s skipper is a member of the Joint Services Adventurous Sail Training Centre (JSASTC) staff and the majority of the crew are Royal Marines from 45 Commando who have recently returned from Operations in Afghanistan.The crew for the Army yacht HMSTV Challenger are all from the Royal Logistic Corps and were lucky enough to be selected from a large number of Corps applications. JSASTC staff skipper Mike Symes is in command and this is his 2nd Leg of TRANSGLOBE having been the RN yacht’s skipper on Leg 1. He will be ably supported by Captain Austin Prendiville as the 1st Mate. Austin is a qualified Yacht Master Offshore and an accomplished sailor working to achieve his YM Ocean qualification on this passage.
Tackling the Roaring Forties...twice!The three sets of crew board their respective yachts at Cape Town’s Royal Cape Yacht Club for a period of training and boat preparation prior to the start day on 5th October, skippers and weather permitting. Cape Town is 33º 57’ South of the Equator, very nearly at the bottom limit of the Southern Horse Latitudes. The Great Circle route to Perth will take them down as far as 50º South, involving a double crossing of the notorious Roaring Forties where the Southern Ocean Lows dominate the weather patterns. Combined with the sea swell that circumnavigates the higher Southern latitudes, and uninterrupted by major land masses, they can expect a mix of challenging and exhilarating conditions.
Their route starts with a departure from the shelter of Table Bay, South of Robben Island and round to the start gate which is a line due South of the Cape of Good Hope. Heading South East approximately 80 miles , they will pass offshore of the most Southerly point of Africa, Cape Agulhas at 39º 49‘ 57’’, which is also recognised as the point where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean and two great ocean currents mix with capricious eddies and variable salinity.Perth will be nearly 5,000nm away and the passage will take 30 to 35 days to complete. The crews will have stocked up with over 5 weeks of provisions that will fill every nook and cranny below decks.Kerguelen Island is half way pointThe halfway point is marked by the rugged outcrop of rock that rises to nearly 6,000ft known as Kerguelen (or Desolation) Island, part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands. Situated at 49º 15‘ South, 069º 35‘ East, the island stands as a waypoint for the most Southerly point of the route as a limit of no further than 50º South has been imposed for this passage. After Kerguelen, the crews will turn Northwards towards Perthand the welcoming hospitality of the Freemantle Sailing Club in mid November.
The 13-leg Exercise TRANSGLOBE is a major Tri-Service Adventurous Sail Training Exercise open to all UK service personnel, Regular and Reserve. The guys and girls who have signed up for TRANSGLOBE are experiencing the extremes of ocean crossings from the heat of the Tropics to the extreme cold of the Southern Ocean. TRANSGLOBE is certainly testing both physical and mental stamina whilst building confidence in their own capabilities as well as those of their fellow crew members.
Tracking and position reports as well as more details about Exercise TRANSGLOBE are on the official website at:
http://www.exercisetransglobe.com.
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