Wednesday 11 November 2009

 

Hi Folks,

 

It is me again but you can breathe a sigh of relief as this will be my last blog and I will soon leave you to get back to the tranquillity of your normal life.  Thanks for not pressing the Escape Key during the past 5 weeks even though it might, from time to time, have been very tempting – knowing that you were able to follow our adventure, and were doing so, has meant an awful lot to us and we are very grateful for the time you have devoted to it.  It brought you nearer in spirit and there were times when that was very important to each of us.

 

Whatever you have heard about Australia is true: the Aussies themselves are wonderfully laid back and welcoming and have shown great interest in our trip from Cape Town; the weather is fabulous with hot sunshine and blue skies and temperatures well into the 30s; and the flies are a bloody nuisance.  Mind you, the locals disown the flies and are keen to point out that they neither originate nor belong here and merely drift in when the wind blows from the interior – the afternoon sea breeze tends to support their view because the flies all disappear in the early afternoon when the wind picks up.  Finally, being an Englishman, I struggle with the incongruity of mid-30s temperatures and the Christmas decorations which now discretely festoon the Fremantle Sailing Club.

 

Going back to where I left you (leave the Escape Key alone for just a little longer...please).  We enjoyed a simply terrific final morning as we ran down the closing 70 or so miles to our destination.  Disco was flying, so much so that Red needed to reef the mainsail to keep us within the limits of the rig.  The Skipper was commanding from the main hatch, Buzz was helming and Sally and Mike were on the foredeck and getting exceptionally wet.  They had taken over the watch at 0400 when the wind was mild-mannered enough not to need a reef and because it was already feeling warmer in the cockpit neither were wearing their oilies.  Thus they looked a sorry state when I peered out, but in truth they were anything but sorry and were simply awaiting the opportunity to get their own back on Buzz, which Sally did a little while later when the headsail needed changing.  As the morning wore on the wind continued to build but held in a direction that enabled Disco to hurtle forward beneath a fabulously clear blue sky. 

 

Rottnest Island eventually hove into view and we began to see the distant skyline of Perth and the reef that guards the entrance to Fremantle – the excitement aboard was electric.  Buzz came up to the cockpit and, with Neil on the helm having as much fun as he could whilst keeping his clothes on, directed our path towards the marina and our final destination.  We crossed the finish line to the south of Rottnest a few minutes after midday and the Skipper brought Disco to a perfect stop for the first time 32 days alongside the Customs berth in Success Marina at 1430.  As expected, Adventure was there ahead of us and Challenger arrived about an hour later.  We were met almost immediately by the local Customs, Immigration and Environment inspectors, as well as the people from the Fremantle Sailing Club, who were the first people (beyond our crew) we had spoken to for over a month.  Once the inspection formalities were complete there was a spontaneous outbreak of group hugs and handshakes with the crews of the other boats simple because it was so good to see them safe and well.  It was a truly magic moment and I suspect it will be a long time, if ever, before I experience it again.  The rest of Monday disappeared in a haze of securing Disco, rigging her for a couple of weeks alongside, a quiet beer in the cockpit, a real shower where nobody cared a jot how much water was used, flushing toilets and that ‘soft, strong and absorbent’ moment, and of course those all-important phone calls home many of which caught you at a busy time of day, the others having arrived while you were still sleeping.  In the evening we met with the crews of the other boats for another beer before setting off to Fremantle for a bite to eat.  We were all swaying, and not just from the boats’ motion, and all were tired so it was not a particularly late night.  Having said that, some of us struggled to get back into the sailing club because they lock the gates and turn off the lights at a very early hour here.  A few of us found people with electronic keys who were able to let us in whereas others did not and were forced to resort to other, less conventional, methods of entry.

 

Tuesday was dhobi day in every sense of the word.  We all packed off our exceptionally smelly clothing to the local laundrette for a service wash and set about cleaning Disco with a vengeance.  When we first looked around a Challenge 67 in Gosport on 1 October it seemed to be an awfully big boat, but by week 2 or 3 of the trip Disco had shrunk to quite normal and manageable proportions, or so we thought.  Now however, she assumed the size of a supertanker as we went through every nook and cranny to clean, disinfect, bleach and dry her.  And the accumulation of human detritus from 14 people over nearly 5 weeks is simply staggering – if you bothered to collect all the hair alone you could knit yourself a new pair of very fluffy socks.  All the sails needed to come out, be unpacked, inspected and re-packed in the time-honoured sailor’s fashion of flaking, and every pot and pan in the galley needed to gleam as never before.

 

By 1700 we were done, all bar a few minor matters that could be dealt with before we set off to the airport on Saturday.  The Skipper assembled the crew on deck for tea and cakes and then disappeared below because a VIP was due to visit in the next few minutes.  Vice-Air Marshal (I know, but it is how he likes to be known) Algernon Biggles-Smythe (with an E) appeared in the hatchway looking remarkably similar to our Skipper and awarded purple hearts (cut from our plastic eating bowls) to Paddy and Adam in recognition of their injuries sustained en route from Cape Town to Fremantle.  He then awarded medals to all members of Disco’s crew stating that the RAF always conclude an event with tea and medals (the Skipper is ex-Army).  Biggles-Smythe – or BS for short, but there has been rather a lot of it over recent weeks – was dressed with a stick-on ‘Future Pilot’ badge on his Tilley hat wearing an extraordinary handlebar moustache fashioned from mousing wire and spinnaker wool.  We enjoyed the moment and if I am permitted to add just one serious comment, the Skipper had obviously been thinking of the stunt for a while and it meant a lot to us all.

 

We are now into furious wind-down.  Sally has gone to Brisbane to spend a couple of days with rellies (as they say in these parts), and Tim, Buzz and Hayley have gone ashore for a couple of days to enjoy the relative comfort of the Australian barracks a few miles from here.  The rest of us are either helping the Skipper with the outstanding jobs (I was up the mast this afternoon replacing the radar reflector – it was too sporty to try it at sea) or are sight-seeing and shopping.  Many of the beards have now either been trimmed or have gone completely, and many of the shaggy heads are now shaven again (no, not mine silly).

 

Nearly there then you can put the kettle on.  I have thanked you once but will do so again to emphasise just how important your support has been.  It is a great pity that we have not been able to read the comments you have added to the website but we all look forward to doing so in the days ahead.  Thanks for reading this and thanks for your comments (which I hope are not too critical).

 

I must add my personal thanks to the other 13 members of Disco’s fabulous crew for putting up with the grouchy old guy who simply drove the chart table, messed up the sail trim, typed nonsense or quoted Milligan poetry across the wastes of the mighty Southern Ocean.  If I can ever be of service to you, you only need to let me know.

 

A huge debt of gratitude is owed to Neil Cottrell and the Transglobe staff for their diligent work setting up the exercise and ironing out the problems before they occur, as well as the Royal Cape Yacht Club and the Fremantle Sailing Club who have welcomed and hosted us with exceptional generosity. 

 

Finally, Andy Fernie, the Skipper.  I have taken the mickey without mercy, some contrived and some true, for several weeks but I do not apologise because I know (I hope) you have enjoyed it.  I have learned a lot from you (that is, in addition to the endless list of jokes), for which I am extremely grateful, but most importantly thank you for your sage guidance and for giving the Mates their head and being ready to step in when things got a bit sporty, which they did from time to time.  If you ever need anyone to pull ropes for you, please gimme a shout. 

 

And Christine, thanks for letting Andy come out to play.        

  

The final word: does anyone out there need a new pair of freshly-knitted very fluffy socks, potentially an ideal Christmas present for a loved one?

 

Stay safe and we will see you soon.

 

Dusty

 

    

Saturday 7 November 2009

 

Hi Folks,

 

It is half-past-midnight here, mid-Friday afternoon where you are, although by the time this is posted it will be Monday everywhere and we might well be alongside in Fremantle.  We can only hope.

 

Right now Disco is rolling through the Indian Ocean (we left the Southern Ocean a little while ago) with a pleasingly brisk tailwind which might just blow us all the way to the finish line in a little over 2 days time.  We have just over 400 miles still to run and are making around 7 knots under a full main and poled-out No 2 Yankee up front.  I have just taken over the watch from the 1^st Mate, Blue are in the cockpit, and with Fireworks Night safely in the rear view mirror, the Skipper is in bed with both eyes closed.

 

Shortly after first light this morning I was awoken by the clink of the metal fittings at the end of the spinnaker guys as they were being carried up to the deck.  Unwilling to miss the action I arose, took a quick shower and shave, and joined the deck watch just in time for the spinnaker to blossom in all its splendour at the head of Disco’s mast.  With the engine shut down for the first time in 24 hours, serenity was re-established, apart of course from the Skipper instructing the helm how to keep the spinnaker flying.  It was a genuinely uplifting experience – it looked mightily pretty, we were going faster than we had in the previous 24 hours, it was quiet and, most importantly, we were moving for free and not consuming precious diesel.  A few hours like this and we would have enough fuel to guarantee not needing a tow to our eventual berth in Fremantle.  Alas, all good things come to an end and the Skipper decided to douse the spinnaker after a little over an hour in order to repair a small tear in the fabric.  Having done so, the wind came up so we hoisted the No 2 Yankee and poled it out and have stayed that way since.

 

During the day a fleeting almost-contact with other humankind occurred when a vessel ghosted into view on the Automatic Identification System screen and a little while later disappeared again.  It was some 22 miles to the south of us, well below the horizon and not actually visible, but it was the first almost-contact in several weeks – we are hopeful that we will actually see something/somebody soon.

 

Having proclaimed in a recent blog that we had grub-a-plenty aboard Disco, I now have cause to eat my words (and wish my words were chocolate flavoured, very slightly chewy, perhaps with a hint of vanilla ice cream, finished with a mature stilton and a glass of port).  Incredibly, we appear to have eaten our way through the monster amount of shopping Neil masterminded in Cape Town and we are now living on some pretty suspicious-looking meatballs, corned meat (yuk) and frankfurters.

 

Which leads me nicely onto chocolate envy.  Part of Neil’s shoppex was to buy a sack full of chocolate bars, or ‘nutty’ as nautical types term them, as a treat for the night watches.  The bottom of the sack eventually hove into view so a few days ago Neil handed out the final nutty ration of 6 bars per person.  Some ate theirs in seconds, others took a little longer, and a tiny minority still have some or all of theirs intact, and I will leave you to imagine the degree of envy between the haves and have-nots.  Gemma, a self-confessed chocoholic, has nonetheless been saving her final Crunchie bar in the fridge in the galley.  She was brought close to tears yesterday morning when on opening the fridge she found in the place of her highly-valued Crunchie bar a little handwritten note........... ‘Yum-yum, burp, thanks, Crevice’.     

 

The beard-growing competition is approaching judgement day although the task of deciding the winner has been reduced by a number of us withdrawing.  The final contenders are likely to be Paddy, Adam, Tim, Paul, Buzz and Al but the hot tip for placing your money must be either Paddy or Adam.

 

More later when the sun is up.

 

Sunday 8 November 2009

 

Hi, I am back and the sun has been up and down and up again (in other words, it is now Sunday),

 

Simply put, yesterday was brilliant.  We broke out the heavy-duty spinnaker at 1000 in the morning and eventually doused it just after dark.  Disco spent the day surging along, mostly pointing towards Fremantle, and once we managed to prise the Skipper off the helm we all enjoyed driving her in ‘racehorse mode’.  The weather was suitably kind and we cruised under partial cloud cover mixed with blue sky and sunshine.  The evening and night were just as impressive with a heaven full of stars initially then a very bright moon to finish the night.  When the heavy duty spinnaker was taken down Blue Watch found a number of squid and one flying fish on the deck but again we were too busy to get them safely into the cooking pot – Hayley, our champion of flying wildlife, was protecting the flying fish in any case.  A surprising lapse in hunter-gatherer spirit especially as we have officially run out of just about everything edible on board, apart from those ghastly ruddy meatballs.

 

Just after 1700 yesterday we received a call on the VHF radio from Challenger telling us she had just sighted us and was on our port quarter.  We all scrambled into the cockpit and sure enough, there she was.  All we could see was the top ¾ of her mast and the radar told us she was some 7 miles away but she was the first contact with other humans for several weeks.  The excitement aboard was tremendous, as was the excitement in the voices between the respective Skippers on the radio.  Later, all we could see of her was her masthead light dipping above and below the horizon.

 

At first light this morning, Sunday, we flew the light weight spinnaker in an attempt to squeeze some more speed out of a pretty light and fluky breeze.  It worked for a couple of hours but then as the wind continued to drop the risk of wrapping the spinnaker around the forestay overrode the need for quiet speed so we doused it leaving Disco to run beneath a full main and No 1 Yankee up front, although most of the drive is now coming from the engine.

 

At the morning HF call the Skippers agreed that we each appear to have enough fuel to make a run for it and we are now some 200 miles off Fremantle pointing directly at our destination.  We will not arrive today but there is a very good chance that we will be alongside before the pubs close and before it rains tomorrow.  If that is the case, you might already have received a text message or phone call from your loved one telling you that he or she is safe and well, albeit on the less fragrant side of smelly and suffering from coffee, sugar, chocolate, most others foodstuffs, deprivation.

 

Unless anything dramatic happens in the meantime, I will catch you later.

 

Monday 9 November 2009

 

Hi Folks,

 

It is Monday morning, the sun is shining brightly, Disco is sailing at 9 knots under a full main, No 1 Yankee and Staysail, Challenger is off our port quarter (as she has been for the last day or so, and the cupboards are bare (no exaggeration) so it is by immense good fortune not to mention a miracle of modern navigation that Australia is in sight just some 20 miles ahead of us.  I say Australia but it is really just a small part of it, a tower that stands 80 meters high, that is visible – the tower is the northern limit of the finish line.  I anticipate that Adventure crossed the line an hour or so ago and we expect to do so by 1200 local with Challenger slightly behind us.  Then...............well, there is still the small matter of about 10 miles of pilotage to the berth, customs and immigration, and maybe, just maybe, a small and very refreshing beer.  It will have to be small or 5 weeks without alcohol and a sudden cessation of boat motion will have us all flat on our backs in no time.  We will, in our own ways, acclimatise slowly...........and I know you know how that will be.

 

Buzz, the leader of Red Watch, has been afforded the honour by the Skipper of piloting Disco to her berth and is presently in his bunk, having been on watch since 0400, summoning the energy to do so.  The warps and fenders are now ready awaiting his command. 

 

With that in mind, I am now off to enjoy the morning.  If we have not already done so, we will be in contact soon.  Lots of love from us all.      

Tuesday 3 November 2009

 

Hi Folks,

 

To be honest, I am not sure which is worst, the hammering violence of a Force 10 storm or the stultifying tedium of flat seas and a mere zephyr of wind which teases you into thinking you might be able to sail, but cannot.  Either way, they test the resilience and tenacity of the crew and I guess are the opposite extremes of adventurous training, each calling upon inner reserves of character than we maybe did not realise we possessed.  A bit deep?  Yep, but that is what you get from a demented blog-writer at 0200 in the morning when the engine has been clattering away for the past 17 hours and we are on the second sitting of the Skipper’s jokes with a grumpy 2^nd Mate (it’s his age) as dessert.

 

Fremantle is now some 950 miles ahead of us and we are slowly clawing our way round the top left hand corner of a high pressure zone that has stubbornly blocked our path for the past 3 days.  The wind should (I emphasise the word ‘should’ because the wind appears to be unaware of the brief and is not behaving very well) set as an easterly and increase up to 20 knots, but so far it has shown little or no inclination to do so.  In parallel with the weather we download from a US website, we are now also receiving fax, satcom and voice forecasts from the Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology, National Meteorological and Oceanographic Centre – a long and illustrious title meaning the Met Office.  Happily, or unhappily, they seem to agree with each other that the next couple of hundred miles are going to be hard work.

 

The high points of today include the Skipper fixing the freshwater pressure accumulator, and the item subsequently knowing its place and staying fixed, for the time being at least.  Worryingly, during the process the 1^st Mate dropped a knife into the bilges and we are now concerned that Crevice is armed as well as being cunningly devious so we had better not relax our guard over the last few days of the trip.

 

Blue have been Mother and have embarked upon a novel approach to culinary art which combines the strengths of various forms of national cuisine into something you can get out of the variety of tins found beneath Disco’s seats and flooring.  Tonight we were treated to Indo-Italiano curried sausages with spaghetti, served with a fine and carefully matured fruit juice, followed by apple choco-crumble, the unique texture and flavour of which were derived by Adam bunging copious amounts of cocoa powder into Hayley’s crumble mix. 

 

Unsurprisingly, the wildlife are now giving us a very wide berth and apart from one albatross, a distant whale and one sooty pigeon, nothing has been near us all day.  The sooty pigeon even had the temerity to land alongside Disco, take off again at twice our speed, and give us one of those looks normally reserved for burning off a Skoda at traffic lights.  It was quite hurtful to observe! 

 

Later on Tuesday 3 November 2009

 

The day started as I indicated earlier with light airs defying our every attempt to sail but by early afternoon (after a number of very professional sail changes) we were able to kill the engine and have sailed serenely since.  The wind has steadied as an easterly of around 15 knots and under a full main, No 1 Yankee and Staysail Disco is making around 7 knots over the ground roughly in the direction of Fremantle.

 

During the idle and somewhat listless hours of the morning it occurred to us that Fireworks Night is just 2 days away so we approached the Skipper for permission to build a small bonfire on the foredeck and fire off all the emergency flares as surrogate fireworks on Thursday evening.  Surprisingly for such a laid-back chap he declined our, we think, most reasonable request citing the burden of paperwork should such an event occur.  The ‘Penny for the Guy’ campaign has yet to get underway because the Skipper sleeps with one eye open.........I will leave you to fill in the blanks.

 

Apart from the normal squadron of sooty pigeons waiting for Owen to drop his guard we were visited by a seal today.  I use the term visited loosely because it glided down our port side not 20 feet from Disco’s hull displaying nothing more than its bottom and hind flippers – Southern Ocean seal mooning, a first perhaps?

 

Food is now occupying a disproportionate amount of our thinking time.  To my horror we found the bottom of the coffee tin 2 days ago but the Skipper, being endlessly generous, gave me a box of coffee bags for my Birthday.  We appear to have cornered the market in tea bags though, so much so that we have enough to quilt our own life raft should the need arise – a double bonus would be that it would act as a sea dye marker should it ever get wet.  Quizzing the 1^st Mate over what provision had been made should we actually run out of food and he informed me that we have quantities of compo rations on board in addition to the emergency rations reserved for real emergencies like abandoning ship. When I expressed a modest degree of delight because I love the compo puddings he informed me that the puddings were considered surplus to requirement and left behind.  Left behind in a bunch of sea cadets it turns out!  I bitterly regret having to confess to a full-on Victor Meldrew moment........or 2.

 

Dinner this evening was fresh Scottish salmon fishcakes with minted new potatoes and petit pois – well, the substitute form, meatballs in dubious gravy with suspicious-looking noodles followed by an ‘amuse bouche’ sweet which just managed to take away the taste of the meatballs.

 

As I sign off for the night Disco is pounding away through the waves and Australia is just 850 miles ahead of the pointy end.  White are on watch in the cockpit, Red are doing the washing up, and Blue are in repose awaiting their turn at the helm at midnight.  The Skipper?  In his bunk with one eye wide open.

 

G’night.   

 

Wednesday 4 November 2009

 

Hi Folks,

 

My early morning slumber deep within the warmth of my Febreeze-freshened sleeping bag was penetrated by the mouth-watering and sense-teasing waft of bacon frying in the galley.  Real bacon and really frying – no substitutes here – and we were treated to a breakfast of freshly baked bacon butties, fit for Kings.  Buzz, Sally and Mike had done it again and we all happily agreed that their destiny beyond Transglobe was to open a roadside snack bar serving bacon butties and cups of tea.  Clearly, their caravan would have to be bricked up to a 30-degree angle and would need to be visited by a wandering band of hooligans every few minutes to give it a good shake in order to replicate the conditions under which they work to their best.  A tip-top breakfast plus a night of substantial progress towards Australia has placed Disco’s crew in fine spirits despite the rain and rather bumpy ride this morning.

 

During the night, an Owen bird (named due to its likeness to Owen – that is to say, pale and apparently undernourished [or scrawny]) landed in the cockpit at the feet of the helmsman and scuttled away beneath the helmsman’s seat.  Gemma’s initial reaction was to wonder aloud how much meat there might be on the bird, which remains under the seat and is now known as Speckled Jim.  Hayley has taken it upon herself to represent the RSPB and looks crossly at anyone licking their lips and wandering nonchalantly towards the back of the cockpit with a sharp knife and a cooking pot.

 

Thursday 5 November 2009

 

It is now 0300 on Thursday morning and Speckled Jim, seizing the opportunity of the hungriest-looking crew being abed, has departed Disco’s cockpit.  He took the care to inspect the Watch before leaving then did so without so much as a by-your-leave or excuse me.  The Skipper, deprived of a potential Melchett-moment, is nonetheless pleased not to be responsible for yet another recalcitrant flyer on board.     

 

Looking back, Wednesday carried us closer to Australia – now 700 miles ahead – but we were reaching more towards North than East in order to keep with the wind, and the day was gloomy and dank with persistent low cloud and drizzle.  A centre of low pressure hung to the North of us blocking our direct path to Fremantle.   In the late evening, as the low moved South, the wind dropped and we have been motoring for a few hours and burning precious diesel.  If the wind follows the brief, it will fill in behind us tomorrow and should give us a good run for a couple of days.  The Skipper is itching to get the spinnaker out but it remains to be seen if that is ever going to be a practical proposition.

 

Earlier I mentioned arriving in Fremantle over the weekend – I now think we will be later but I am not certain by how much.  Please take it from me that your loved ones are safe and happy but looking forward to dry land/cold beer/shower/hair wash/shave/clean clothes/huge helpings of food/many other unmentionable things, and they will contact you just as soon as they are able.  I too will keep tapping out my version of our story until we are alongside at least, so keep your finger hovering over the Escape Key.

 

Stay safe, lots of love from us all.

 

Shout Outs

 

Sally – Hi to everyone and love to all.  Not many days to go now, we hope to be in on the 8^th the 9^th at the latest.  A couple of days RnR and then clean the boat and home.  Si and Neil hope you enjoy the concert – hope you got all your jobs done and the wallpapering hasn’t been too arduous!!  It won’t be long now until I’m home and in need of some serious sleep and rest my aching bones. Si love and miss you loads xxxxx

 

Neil – Becca hope you’re happy with your first placement, I’m looking forward to catching up with your news when we get to Fremantle.  I’m missing you all very much, all my love Chris, Mike, Becca, Laura and all the Cottrell/May clan.

 

Wednesday 28 October 2009

 

Hi Folks,

 

It occurs to me that I have been prattling on about Red, White and Blue Watches, and Mother Watch, without telling you what it all really means to us aboard Disco.  You may feel that you are able to complete your serene passage through life without being disturbed by the knowledge of such things, but to really understand the nature of human endeavour aboard our 50 ton (and extremely elegant and well-appointed) life raft, you deserve the opportunity to inwardly digest or, should you so desire, press the Escape Key.

 

The crew of 14 are sub-divided into 3 watches, minus the Skipper and 2 Mates who operate their own watch system or duty roster.  The 11 crew are Buzz, Sally and Mike (Red Watch), Paul, Hayley, Adam and Tim (Blue Watch), and Al, Owen, Paddy and Gemma (White Watch).  Each of the 3 watches has a leader: Buzz, Paul and Al respectively.  Each day, one of the 3 watches is nominated in rotation as Mother Watch and they do all the cooking and cleaning, including the heads, for the entire crew for a 24-hour period from 1030 (yacht time) in the morning.  The other 2 watches rotate on a 4-hourly basis in the cockpit and drive the yacht.  As the word implies, on ‘watch’ means that they helm and lookout for anything of interest or that might endanger the boat, and execute sail changes as decided by the Skipper or the Mates.  Because of the scale of Disco and the effort required, many sail changes occur at watch changeover when 2 watches are available.  The duty Watch also keeps the hourly log up to date (a legal record of what we are doing) and pumps the bilges.  The daily routine of watch changes is 0800, 1200, 1600, 1800, 2000, 0000, 0400 so you will see that your loved ones are only ever likely to catch something less than 4 hours sleep at any one time, unless they are on Mother when they are able to take a full night in their bunk as well as have a shower if there is sufficient water to do so.  You might have noticed that the watches are at 2-hourly intervals between 1600 and 2000 which enables a slight shift in synchronisation.  Also, whenever we move the clocks forward, we complete a watch change at 2330 and simultaneously wind our clocks forward by one hour – in that way, everyone gets to benefit from a shorter watch (except Mother).

 

So just what does the Skipper and his Mates do?  Good question, and I will quickly fill in the blanks before the crew do so in my place.  The 1^st Mate and I work a rolling 8-hour watch timed to coincide with the major meal times at 1200 and 2000 (and, of course, 0400).  On watch, we generally drive the chart table and monitor the communications suite, decide changes to the sail plan in order to meet the Skipper’s intent for the period and, if so inclined, spend a little time in the cockpit with the duty watch either helping with sail changes or simply enjoying driving the yacht.  In my case, I repeatedly make the mistake of going on deck wearing insufficient waterproofs and spend the rest of my duty time drying out wishing that I would sharpen up (the 1^st Mate is a lot smarter than me and always wears his wetties).  Off duty we tend to a host of little things including personal admin, dhobi, mending things, and trying to catch a few zeds.  The 1^st Mate is also the ship’s doctor and much of his down-time has already been used tending to the injuries I have previously mentioned as well as a host of minor ailments (but not quite Dr Ruth!).

 

That just leaves the Skipper.  Without being flippant, the Skipper guides and directs everything, and carries the responsibility for everything, but does so in such a manner as to ensure that he is perpetually available and sufficiently rested to take active command over an extended period should an emergency or any other need arise.  He knows Disco inside out and knows how to sail her in all circumstances, which makes him unique in our crew.  By comparison, the rest of us are amateurs, albeit exceptionally keen and highly motivated amateurs.

 

In a nut shell, that is how it works.  It is presently 2130, Red Watch are Mother and unsurprisingly served up another fabulous meal this evening; they have just finished the washing up and are relaxing before turning in for the night.  White are in the cockpit helming downwind in the moonlight beneath a mainsail with one reef and a poled-out No 2 Yankee up front.  Blue are abed and will take over from White at 2330......we change the clocks again tonight.  I will hand over to Neil at 0400 (0430 to give him half the hour saved) and get tomorrow’s weather from a US website before I hit the sack.  The Skipper, I know, is in his bunk monitoring every creak and groan of the rig and every footfall on the deck, and trying to get some rest.

 

I hope this has helped your understanding of the hamster-wheel life aboard Disco.  Boring?  No.  Repetitive?  Undoubtedly.  But ‘exciting’ in the Southern Ocean is something we assiduously strive to avoid.

 

Today was a glorious waft downwind, but as the seas flattened the wind also faded away so we progressively increased sail to keep moving.  Helming tonight in a rolling sea and light winds is not easy and White are making a good job of it.  If the wind continues to fade we will shake out the final reef.  Last night the light in the compass failed and Paddy ended up taping a torch to the binnacle to illuminate the compass.  During today Tim earned himself a Skipper’s Mention in Dispatches by pulling the binnacle apart and rewiring the lighting system – for this type of sailing the crew’s skills other than pure sailing ability are highly valued.

 

Disco is now dark and quiet save the infamous gurgle of water so I will close and attend to driving the chart table towards Australia (well, someone has got to do it).  I will add a line or 2 in the morning before I send this to Gosport and then go to bed.

 

Night-night.

 

Hmm.  Slightly before intended, I am back.  The night was punctuated by an enormous twang followed by the sound of something metallic landing on the deck.  Al rapidly indentified that the canvas strop at the end of the pole had broken leaving the guy to spring back under its own tension and fall to the deck – the pole was no longer restrained and under the pressure of the headsail started to wag around.  Like a coiled spring uncoiling mighty quickly the Skipper was on deck and in command and a few sharp instructions later the pole was put to bed and tranquillity reigned again aboard Disco.  I, as you might have guessed, was in my Sunday trousers which again are soaking wet – will I ever learn?

 

I shall bid you good-night once again.         

 

 

 

Shout outs:

 

Neil – Happy birthday Laura for Sunday, love to all at home.  Not long now until we get to Fremantle and phone calls, then back home.  I’m missing you all each day.  To Andy, Clive living the dream, but need update on finances soonest (email or SATC).  To all at JSASTC thank you for the making TRANSGLOBE possible, your work to get us here and continued support has been, and remains, outstanding.   

 

Dusty – Hope the holiday was fun.  Love and e-hugs to Lesley, Katie, AJ, Ali & Danny.  xxx

Wed 04 November - As we near the end of the trip much of the discussion on board is centred round ensuring our rations will see us through to Perth.  The scarce rations have resulted in members of the crew displaying their culinary skills creating masterpieces from nothing.  White Watch started by producing Cinnamon Swirls, only to be outdone the following day by the Chelsea Buns of Red Watch.

Over the past few weeks the crews sailing knowledge has increased dramatically, people are now confidently calling out the process as we tack through the wind, or taking moments to put in a reef as the wind increases. 

There is now an expectant air amongst the crew to determine who will be the first to see land or get the first mobile phone signal as we close down the last 800 miles to Australia.

 

Thursday 05 November - Greetings from White Watch!!!  At the time of writing this blog we are approximately 763 miles from throwing a few shrimps on the bar-b in Perth.

With the brilliant White Watch providing the culinary delights for the past 20 hours, morale on the boat is through the roof.  The entertainment on board as been brilliant as usual, last night it was ‘Naughts and Crosses’ followed by ‘Hangman’ on the white board.  It really does amaze us how the simple things amuse the most. 

Since yesterday afternoon the good ship Challenger has been motoring along as the wind has taken a prolonged break.  This is the worst kind of setback we could have imagined as the longer it takes for the wind to return the less time we will have in Australia.  At this rate we will have two days off when we get there.  The majority of this time being spent cleaning the boat and conducting repairs.

There was a welcome change in scenery when Hayley, Davy and Austin were sprayed by a Whale as it surfaced.  Hayley still maintains it was the best facial she has ever had!!!

Thoughts on the boat are now turning to ‘What have we missed’ mode.  In this modern tele-communications driven world it is very unusual to be cut-off from the outside world for such a prolonged period.  The sorts of questions being asked are quite funny:  How is the mighty Aberdeen Football Club getting on in the SPL?  Who won the F1 championship?  Is Tony Blair the head of Europe?  Who shot JR? And most importantly, when does the new series of Top Gear start?

As we have been at sea for four weeks and not seen land for over three, we are now starting to feel like extras in the Kevin Costner movie ‘Waterworld’, and we all know how bad that movie was.

The issuing of nicknames has also provided a good morale boost.  The Skipper has now been renamed ‘Dr Evil’, Austin is his ‘No 2’.  White Watch are now known as the following : Dave Mason is now ‘Sir Davey’, Davy K has been allocated the title ‘Princess’,  Hayley is ‘Bambi’ even though this was hotly contested between her and Dave M, (they’ve both had equal trouble  finding their feet, resulting in a few bruises and lots of laughter).  Tony has announced he will only answer to the title ‘King Ginger Love Thing’...

SHOUTS

Hayley (Bambi):  Been very quiet and relaxing not sure I have enjoyed it as much but I had one fantastic watch where me and princess had some good surf, with the mighty Taylor Swift playing on the boom box.  Been thinking about home a lot and missing my family and friends in Scotland, if they seen what I have just took part in they would think I’ve lost the plot.  Mother I shall ring you as soon I get half a bar on my signal ok?  Love you so much, say hi and I love you to my kid brothers for me xxxxxx

Davy K (Princess):  Don’t quite know how I acquired the nickname but hey ho.  Mum and Dad hope you are all fine, I’ll phone when I get back, say Hi to everyone.  Simone, hopefully you are finding the Blogs entertaining, I have written a few of them, hope are you coping with Ollie and the dogs.  Have they annoyed your parents yet??? I don’t think we will have a lot of time in Oz so I will make it my main effort to get you some Keith Urban albums.  Speak to you in about 5 days when I get a signal on my phone.  If I can’t get any Jelly Babies or Chunky Monkey Ice Cream in Oz you will have to go shopping before I come home. Love and miss you loads.  Give Ollie a big hug from me.  xxxxx.

Dave M – Sorry to everyone at home for the lack of my shouting from the boat, the blog has been pretty good at telling you all what’s been happening though! Only a few days till I get some telephone reception (hopefully?) to be able to catch up with how things have been.  Been thinking of you all loads over the past four and a half thousand miles!!!

King Ginger Love Thing: Not long now we hope, we are all counting the days down so that we can all call home, eat, drink and get merry. I hope Daisy had a great party I am sorry I missed it but we will go out when I get home.  Start buying some wine now so there is enough for when I get home!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Can’t wait to speak to you at OZ.  Hello to everyone back at home and I will see you all soon for a drink or ten.  A big shout to Edd and all at 234sqn. Take care everyone xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Matthew Arnold: I can see OZ on the GPS and it’s still about 4 day away if only they knew what is about to hit them. I’m still wanting my burger and a BIG fat steak and a long hot shower then get totally trolleyed for my birthday.

Antoni Gabanski: Hay mum and to all who are reading this. It seems we will be landing in Freemantle on the 9^th or 10^th. All is going well, taking every day as it comes. Cannot wait to be on land again, have a proper shower, bed, and meals, not slagging off the chefs on the boat or anything, and the food is very good. Soon will be sipping on a few pints. L8rz xxx

Steve Galvin: Greetings to all, since the last update there has been a distinct lack of wind and as a consequence our originally planned arrival in Freemantle has been somewhat delayed. The silver lining is not having the boat heeled over and being able to sleep without your face stuck in a “Lee cloth or a Bulk head”. The most difficult task aboard is building a meal on “Mother Watch” with our now meagre rations’ although no one has gone hungry yet. We still have a number of days of emergency rations (in the form of ORP) to fall back on should the wind continue to be unfavourable. Morale continues to stay high as the dream is still being lived. Regards and Love to all! “Live Slow & Sail Fast”.

Steve P: As you can see Oz is getting closer, though it still seems a long way off. Looking forward to stepping onto land again but sure how my legs will hold up. I’m so looking forward to getting that first phone signal so I can ring home and to speak to you Mac, it has been such a long time. Like everyone else it will be lovely to get ashore and have a shower etc and to get rid of the smell on the boat after 5 weeks in the same clothes, less the base layers. Love to everyone. Speak soon.

Shaun Broom: Hi ya babe, days getting few, feel like I have been on a diet for weeks, look weird I think. Hope you are well, as soon as I get a signal I will ring you, can’t wait to hear your voice. Gutted not going to get to Sydney can you face book Claire for me and explain things have taken a bit longer, will ring them to when get to Perth. Speak to you in a few days babe miss ya loads xxx.

Colin Harrower: Not long now....Yipeee!! Hey Gayle, really missing our daily wee chats, can’t wait to talk to you! I will ring you as soon as I can regardless of what time it is. Hope you won’t mind?  Mum, Hope Craig is now home on his well earned and deserved leave. Likewise I will call as soon as I can. Take care xox

Matt Wright: Hi all, been singing on deck and playing silly games to pass the time. I am the chess champion on the boat not found a challenger who can beat me hands down yet. Missing everyone at home love you all loads XXX

Nathan Evans : Nearly there, Tess I can’t wait to get into Australia and catch up on all thats gone on.  Hope all is well with everyone back home.  To all at 13 Sqn I hope some others will have the opportunity to take part in an exped like this in the future.

Over the last few days, subsequent to "Adventure going flat" the Skipper, mates and crew have been putting her back together again. The Roaring 40's roared and we are glad now to have passed our penultimate waypoint prior to Perth/Freemantle and are beginning our gradual climb North West, towards the Western Coast of Australia. The storms and strong winds have eased (for the time being) and having had 48 hours of fantastic sailing in flat waters with full main, No.1 Yankee and staysail averaging 9kts, today we find ourselves now motor sailing through a very stable high pressure system, with no wind. Currently our approx position is 39Deg39'S and 098Deg10'E COG 070 Deg true Speed 6kts. All are well onboard and the calmer waters have led to a "cooking competition" with each watch taking pride and skill in preparing some fantastic meals. Having seen little or no sea life other than "Birds" South of 40 Degrees, the last 24 hrs have seen pods of Dolphins alongside and the sighting of several whales. All onboard are watching the miles slip away as we begin to count down towards our final destination, mileage to go 950NM.

Hi – Sally here,

 

I thought I’d update you on some of the less technical aspects of the sail and more of the gossip!  Obviously boredom does set in as each day rolls into the next and conversations with your fellow watch members are the only thing that keep the minutes and hours on watch ticking by. The next thing that happens is someone will mention a Sweep stake. 

 

Our first Sweep stake had to be our arrival date and time in Perth.  The date and time had to be guessed within a deadline of the 13^th October so no unnecessary cheating could take place.  The earliest (optimistic) date chosen was the 6^th November by Owen and the latest the 10^th November by Dusty with various crew members picking dates and times in between.  Unfortunately no member of the crew (except the skipper) can really influence our earliest arrival date but I’m sure the pesky 2^nd mate could definitely slow us down if he felt it necessary to win the huge money at stake.

 

The second Sweep stake was based on part of a Peter Kay sketch – ‘Guess who’s dead’? – You know what it’s like – you pack your bags go on holiday for a couple of weeks and a celebrity always dies whilst you are away......so having the normal ‘Forces’ sense of humour our second sweep stake involves us all having to guess which celebrity will die whilst we have no contact with the outside world.......names range from Amy Winehouse to Gordon Brown – some are wishful thinking, some are educated guesses and others more in a sick sense of fun! - Let’s hope everyone is really OK when we finally hear some news!!

 

Living on Board:

 

We have on our notice board crew nicknames earned whilst on the boat – or admitted to in a drunken state before boarding so far we have.....

 

Paul – Mufty, Diesel, Ninja (Yoshi) – Blue watch are the Ninja watch

Neil – Moley, Tubbs

Tim – Big Gay Bear

Owen – Billy Goat, Pterodactyl Toothpick,

Haley – Hughey

Adam – Mong, Ninja (Hirohito)

Paddy – Perverted Uncle

Gemma – Sameface

Sally – Xana warrior princess

Mike – The green mile

The Mates – Statler & Waldorf

 

It also contains the ‘Bread Roll of Honour’.  Since the end of week-one bought bread has ceased to exist and so the ‘Mother’ watch each day have to prepare and make their own bread.  Although we bought standard bread mix and have this for lunch on a daily basis a competition has arisen between the watches to produce extra bread each day to fill us all up at dinner time.  All the breads have been fantastic and different in their own way – I have listed below the Bread Roll of Honour so far.......

 

Paul – ‘One egg’ bread, Chocolate Bread,

Buzz – Cheese bread, Chilli bread, Garlic Bread

Tim – Chilli Bread

Adam – Olive Bread

Paddy – Pizza, Pitta bread, Bagels, Fruit and Nut loaf,

Sally – Turkish Flatbread

 

Everyone else has made the ‘daily bread’ and has put in maximum effort to make it a success.

I thought I may lose some weight in time for Xmas but with the bread and the desserts I’m afraid I’ve put weight on!!

 

Anyway Ill sign off now as it’s nearly time for my ‘dog watch’ although we seen no sign of life or land for 12 days now – and definitely no dogs!

 

Sal x

 

Friday 30 October 2009

 

Hi Folks,

 

God bless ‘Sally of the Galley’ for writing a few lines yesterday.  It is now early Friday morning and the cold light of dawn is beginning to steal across the outside world.  Blue Watch have just taken over from Red and Disco continues her eastward progress towards Australia, now just 1600 nautical miles ahead.  The wind remains fickle, set in the south west and cycling between 8 and 18 knots giving a boat speed of some 8-9 knots over the ground.  The helm is light and the motion easy both of which are very conducive to sleep, especially at this time of the morning.

 

Sally closed by mentioning not having seen any dogs for a few weeks – equally, we have been blessed by the total absence of any form of insect life since leaving Cape Town.  That is, until a tiny moth was seen yesterday evening fluttering around in the galley leading to the suspicion that the Skipper had inadvertently opened his wallet.  A serious point for all would-be ocean travellers, we went to great pains in Cape Town to strip all cardboard packaging from the rations we brought aboard in order to avoid introducing unwelcome wildlife (especially cockroaches) into the boat’s stores.  So far, our efforts appear to have been successful and I would not like to imagine having to deal with an infestation at this stage.

 

The Skipper gleefully rearmed and repacked 7 lifejackets today leading him to levy a charge of one bottle of wine for each and every subsequent jacket that inflates without the wearer being off the boat and in the water.  Paddy, consequently, has taken to devising a protection racket threatening to douse with sufficient water to trigger their life jacket anyone who does not pay.

 

The general mood aboard is now one of jaded anticipation – we are all tired and most of us are carrying niggling aches and pains from the perpetual need to brace against the motion of the boat.  For me, the cold and damp keep reminding me that my teenage enthusiasm is not matched by creak-free joints and I look forward to being genuinely warm and dry once more.  Looking ahead and counting the days/miles/meals still to come we appear to be reasonably well-placed for rations and I salute Neil’s excruciatingly detailed planning which preceded the Cape Town shopping trip.  ‘Substitute’ food (in the Black Adder sense) has been in vogue for a while – fresh vegetables are fresh from the tin, but we are not yet into substitute sugar – but we are still a long way from breaking into the emergency rations which hopefully will remain intact for the next leg.  Our frugal use of the engine and generator mean that we still have a fair amount of diesel aboard, although not yet enough to light up the iron donkey and power our way to Fremantle regardless of the wind – that point is still several days ahead of us.  The water maker continues to play silly buggers from time to time so we remain conservative in our use of fresh water.

 

I will keep this short as there are 3 full days ahead before I send this to Gosport for the web.  

 

Saturday 31 October 2009

 

Hi Folks, its even-older bloke again,

 

Friday passed peacefully with little to disturb the stately passage of Disco towards Aus.  Soon after it was properly light we hoisted the No 1 Yankee and Staysail (well, Red Watch did while I added ‘helpful’ comment from the helm) and continued in light airs for the rest of the day.  Progress was not magnificent but we were making up to 9 knots in the right general direction and we soon passed the 1500 miles to go point.  As daylight eventually failed the wind dropped and the Skipper started the engine, and in little or no time we had dropped the 2 headsails on the deck because they were beginning to flog and would eventually impede progress.  Thus, we spent the night under a full main, sheeted in hard and held in place by the handy billy, with the engine clacking out its infernal racket.

 

During the 1800 HF call between yachts Adventure’s skipper gave us a little more detail of their knock-down a few days ago.  He painted a very amusing picture of the freezer emptying itself into the bookshelf although I suspect at the time it was anything but amusing.  The fact that they have all come through the experience with nothing more than bumps and bruises is terrific and they will have some harrowing (and possibly tall) stories to tell their grandchildren in the years to come.  By the sound of it, Challenger’s crew are similarly placed after their weather bomb, now seemingly very many weeks ago.

 

This morning the wind teased us into hoisting the 2 headsails, then died away again leaving us to continue motor-sailing.  The sea is pretty flat with nothing more than occasional long rollers and the usual host of seabirds continuing to ride our wake.

 

At 0001 this morning Red and White Watches sang Happy Birthday to me, and later we all enjoyed a very special breakfast of freshly baked bread rolls, crispy bacon and scrambled eggs, thanks to Blue who were just finishing their stint as Mother.  I have been a very lucky lad because I will celebrate my birthday again alongside my daughter Katie’s in mid-November.

 

Eventually Blue Watch managed to scare up some wind and by late-afternoon Disco was running under a full main, No 1 Yankee and Staysail again and it was blissful not to have the engine hammering in the background.  The crew treated me to a deep ocean Birthday/Halloween Party, complete with costumes and scary make up.  The Skipper eventually relented from his starting position of ‘I’m coming as the Skipper’ and donned a very believable pirate rig.  A splendid meal served in inimitable Red Watch style was finished with a cheese platter with port and a terrific Birthday cake.  I have said it before but it deserves repeating, it does not get better than this.

 

Sunday 1 November 2009

 

Sunday dawned grey and cold but Disco was still making good progress across an increasingly flat sea.  A slightly gusty wind caused us to reef the main but we were still making a good 9 knots over the ground.  At the morning HF call we exchanged positions with Adventure and we seemed to have gained in the region of 30 miles over night, thanks to the precise helming of White and Blue Watches.  It is all becoming a lot easier now that the land mass of Australia is appearing on the right side of the chart and the wind is allowing us to point Disco’s sharp end towards our destination.  The Skipper has tasked each of the Watches to devise a pilotage plan for our entry into Fremantle and there has been some casual chart staring over the past few hours.  I anticipate a growing frenzy of activity around the chart table in the coming days as there are very few left before we sight land (I just hope it is Australia when we see it).

 

During the day the Skipper and 1^st Mate spent time in the bilges taking apart the freshwater pressure accumulator which took it into its mind to start leaking yesterday.  Having extracted the offending item they discovered a hole in its base-plate which, short of any other option, the Skipper has fixed with the inscrutable application of araldite that only Skippers can do.  He then spent many hours with what can only be described as resembling the starship Enterprise clutched in his hand while the araldite set.  Tomorrow we will see how well the fix has worked.

 

It is now late Sunday evening and Disco is going quiet for the night for the crew to get some rest.  Glancing at the gizmos above the chart table, we have just 1168 miles to go which, all things being equal, should have us safely alongside next weekend.  If that is the case, this will be the second to last blog from Disco’s Leg 4 crew and I will endeavour to summarise our great adventure next time.  Incredibly, we have not seen hide nor hair of other human existence since we saw a fishing boat off the coast of South Africa many weeks ago.  We are looking forward to sighting something other than waves and sky and should do so in the next couple of days.  Our attendant squadron of seabirds appear to have largely abandoned us today leaving just 2 of the dark no-name birds in our wake – at night they are bats and in daylight they are sooty pigeons.  I hope we have not seen the last of the magnificent wandering albatross – they make aviation look so effortless and I am deeply envious.

 

Time to wrap up for tonight – take it from me, we are all looking forward to getting within mobile phone range to have at least a few minutes on the phone to our families and friends who we have spent the past 4 weeks thinking about and missing like crazy.  If we cannot call because of the time difference, we will text or find some other way to get in contact.  Until then, stay safe and lots of love from us all.

 

Shout-Outs:

 

Sally – Hi and love to all. Si, Sal and Neil hope you had a great time in Spain and didn’t miss me too much.  It’s not too bad although Groundhog Day is now very apparent. Things we are all looking forward to are...........Massage (aching shoulders and arms), Fresh fruit and Veg and obviously a large glass of wine (any colour!!) We had a small tot of Port for the 1^st mate’s birthday so I still have my half way treat to look forward to!  Hope everyone is OK at home love and miss you all – should be able to land line around the 8^th November x x x x

 

Paul – Iestyn and Rhys, I hope you are well; I am missing you both very much.  Best wishes to all my friends especially MY. I am looking forward so much to catching up with you as soon as I reach Australia – hopefully in just a few days now...

 

Skipper – Infamy, Infamy, they’ve all got it in for me...........

 

Happy Birthday Dusty for the 31st.  All the best from crew of Disco Vera.

 

Owen – Hi all, I would just like to say how well I am doing and have learnt tonnes on the trip so far, from most aspects of sailing and also quite a lot of cooking, everyone is really keen to teach me new skills which I am always happy to take in. Hope you are all ok, especially Stacey who I am missing like crazy but not long left now so I’ve still got to make the most of it, caio for now................

 

Gemma – Mum, I would just like to wish you a massive happy birthday. I hope that dad, Claire and Ross are spoiling you rotten and that I’m not missing out on too much going on at home. Everything is great here, plain sailing in fact. All my love xxx