Exercise Transglobe Leg 7 Hobart to Auckland

 

Newsflash 1 from the Tasman Territorials aka ‘The Red Devils’ on the good yacht CHALLENGER

 

Leg 7 of Exercise Transglobe is from Hobart to Auckland via the Bay of Islands which is a distance of approximately 1500 nautical miles. The crew of the Army yacht CHALLENGER for leg 7 is the only all volunteer crew out of the 39 crews participating in the Exercise.  We are very grateful to Captain Terry Hackett for the extraordinary work that he has done to organise and fund the Leg, largely found from 71 (Yeomanry) Signals regiment.  The crew members are as follows:

 

Skipper : Paul Molyneaux

First Mate : Andy Whitmore

 

Red Watch:

Kev Harding

Tracy Isaac

Gary Taylor

Adam Twose

 

White Watch:

Roy Carpenter

Nicky Hemsworth

Graham French

BazTowers

 

Blue Watch:

Derek Fairclough

Clare Sharp

Teresa Mallia

Jason  Bontoft                         

 

 

Red watch crew Blog

Watch members – Kevin Harding, Gary Taylor, Adam Twose & Tracy Isaac

 

Thursday 31st December 2009 to Saturday 2nd January 2010

We assembled at Gosport for the safety brief, an update on the exercise so far and to be issued with kit at 0930 hours on New Year’s Eve. The Gill sponsors kindly supplied all of the necessary kit for all three crews, and the project team supplied us with loads of extra spares that the boat needed to put in our luggage: the horseshoe life buoy and engine pump were hard to fit in!

 

We left Gosport for Heathrow at 1700 hours, taking off at 2200 hours. What should have been the highlight of the flight, New Years Eve, turned out to be belated message over the Qantas tannoy which was somewhat disappointing. We landed at Hobart at 1000 on the 2nd January 2010, all very tired. After half an hour’s rest the shopping party, led by our very own Dale Winton, Adam Twose (Chopper), did a supermarket sweep in the half hour before the cash & carry closed. The rest of the crew spent their time carrying out minor repairs to the boat after the Sydney to Hobart race. Once all the food was packed away and the repairs complete the crew went for a well deserved shower. The Taste of Tasmania Festival was the entertainment for the evening. The crew sampled the local bush tucker and amber nectar and marvelled at the locals enjoying the biggest festival of the year. Moo Brew and Wallaby burgers were a big hit! The Mate, Andy Whitmore, thought he was having a close encounter after seeing luminous algae in the pipes of the heads during his midnight visit.

 

White watch Blog

Watch Members – Roy Carpenter, Nicky Hemsworth, BazTowers & Graham French

 

Sunday 3rd January

It was an early start for all in order to allow us to re-fuel Challenger, breakfast was served at 06:15 and we motored for approx 50 yards to re-fuel all 3 boats in convoy. Since it takes quite a while to fuel three 67ft yachts (approx 5 hours) we were able to go shopping again and carry out some final pre-sail admin, including a full tour of Challenger from Andy Whitmore (mate of the yacht).

 

After lunch it was time to head into the bay and do some sail training evolutions. Each watch did a couple of tacks and gybes to get back into the swing of things.  We also practised man over board under sail and in the process should have carried out a hat over board drill after Gary’s went flying. The Skipper was delighted that the Mate achieved an MOB under sail in case he was that man!

 

Upon return to harbour we had to relocate from our original spot as the owner had returned.  The new plan was to do some ‘‘Mediterranean Mooring’’ which involves having the bow on a buoy and the yacht perpendicular to the pontoon.  The trickiest bit was to get 2 members of the crew shore side to catch the warps.  The initial idea was to return to the fuelling location and simply step off onto some tyres; unfortunately the tide was a lot lower than the time we left so it would have been more a leap of faith to grab the bottom of the tyre and haul ourselves up testing our upper body strength!  Our next plan was for the 2 lucky victims (Nicky and Jason) to get off at a ladder and make their way round the other side of the harbour.  This would have involved a little bit of ducking and diving and either climbing 2 sets of fences or ducking under the fence whist negotiating the tyres under the watchful eye of the harbour’s CCTV cameras.  In the end our chosen method was to drop them off at the final pontoon, which was relatively pain free.  There was then a challenge for the rest of the crew to pick up the buoy whilst Nicky and Jason fought against 50 tonnes of steel (and won)!  Concurrently the RAF had appeared alongside us who had a slightly different method and had Nicky and Jason not been there to help would have struggled!

 

A nice supper of chicken curry was prepared by Chopper and the rest of the RED WATCH.  After which our 2 novices on board, Gary and Graham, were fortunate enough to row Adventure’s dinghy, as part of their competent crew training, which they both thoroughly enjoyed. When the opportunity arose for Graham to row a passenger safely back to shore, the spectators quickly dispersed so Gary was the chosen one.

 

The rest of the evening involved personal admin for all and the terrible trio (Baz, Gary and Derek) disappeared to the local bars until the early hours for the second night in a row!

 

Blue Watch Blog

Watch members – Derek Fairclough, Clare Sharp, Teresa Mallia and Jay Bontoft

 

Monday 4th January

Reveille was at 7 am so that we could have a quick breakfast and then prep the boat for the off at 10 am. Sadly this was not to be since it transpired that one of the navy crew was in hospital after a suspected insect bite left him with a balloon-like foot. The Skipper was champing at the bit to be out on the briny blue and caused much hilarity during a crew briefing when he demonstrated his compassionate side by declaring that if the decision was up to him alone, the Army would set sail immediately! After much deliberation over what to do, (during which time we took the opportunity to have crew photos taken) the RAF doc broke the chap out of jail and took him into her care on Discoverer. So, finally at 1830 we were able to slip from Hobart and set sail. It was a beautiful evening with twenty knots of wind so we took the opportunity to do what we came here to do: we hoisted the sails and blew away some of the cobwebs. The other two boats decided to motor-sail which meant that they rapidly disappeared into the distance. Unfortunately it had been agreed that the three boats would stick together for the first two days in order for the navy crew member to recover and be monitored by the doctor before being transferred (mid ocean!) back to Adventure. So, we trimmed our sails accordingly and by first light the following morning all they could see was the red rear of Challenger!

 

So far we have seen quite a number of dolphins (or possibly porpoises, we’re not zoologists!) as well as an albatross or two. We have also seen a rainbow encircling the sun which had us all amazed. We have already been forced to question the musical taste of one crew member after listening to their ipod…honestly, who has Dolly Parton on a 90s playlist?! The crew have also learnt a new word whilst checking the diesel level in the day tank: meniscus. Kev thought this was a new word for diesel and most of the others still can’t pronounce it!

 

Shout outs

 

For AHE – we’re off! Paul

 

G’day to Emma and Rachel - haven’t died yet!

Martin, Clare – You would like all the sun

Mum and Dad – Hope you are well, great seafood down here.

See you all in Feb, Jason.

 

Mandy and Jessica, missing you loads, look after each other, see you in 14 sleeps time. Love you both, Graham.

 

In pink and strapped on! Andy

 

It beats the basement any day. Missing the Hunni monster. T

 

Jane, Emma and Nick – Miss you all loads. Take care and will see you all soon. Lots of love Kev. p.s. Having a great time in the sun!

 

Ian, Mum and everyone – g’day from sunny Oz, this adventure training lark is a breeze! Not thrown up once yet. Missing home already. Love you loads (especially Ian). Give the girls a kiss from me. See you all soon, love from Tracy.

 

To all at home – yes, I am missing you. Nic love you today. Been sick so that is all done with, now can enjoy the trip. Thanks for the pressies. Love Adam

 

To Julie and Charlotte and everyone – g’day mate from down under. Roy

 

To Angie, girls and Josh – well, I am finally at sea down under. The sea is good, fair winds and lots of sun. Miss you, see you in two weeks. Love Baz xxx

 

To Mum, Dad and Michael – Enjoying the sunshine, there is lots of it. Hope the snow at home is not too bad and that all the animals are well. Nicky xxx p.s. Charlie, Baz says Hi!

 

Bri – Missing you, really wish you were here, you would love it! Apart from a brief bout of feeding the fish during the night I think I have found my sea legs – woohoo!

Ali, Dan, Mum and Dad – Having a great time, don’t worry I am always strapped on!

Anyone else who might be checking – Thanks for looking in and sorry it took us so long to get this blog up! Looking forward to telling you all about the trip when I get back.

Love Clare xxx