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. 

Shout outs:

From Jason:  J, miss you lots, hope your new job is going well.  Don’t let Ibbo post me away!

From Wozza: Hi back home.  As ever, a big hello to the folks and Sis. Hello to Lindsey H and the NE crew, inc Trudy and Tracy, hope your all well and not causing too much havoc at VS. Hi to Jeremy, Lucy and the bambinos and a big hug to Lucy W and the family. We are still moving on at a good pace and although we have had some rough weather we all know that a beating is on the way at some point, especially as we are getting ready to head further South into the track of the Low Pressure Systems. Everybody is in good spirits knowing that we have passed the halfway mark and we are working hard to catch the Navy. Today’s thought was to set up a 24 bar when we get to Uruguay and apply the ‘system’. Worrying for me is that my beard has grey in it. No doubt a few more will be added. Missing the following: red wine, cheese, my ‘pit’ and a stable floor to stand on.  Catch you all in a few days, off to my bunk for another power nap before putting on the rubber ‘banana suit’ and getting another salty rinse on deck ttfn wx

From Gonzo: Big hugs to Laura X. Much fuss to Ali, Rory, Ben & Bess. Hello to my folks and family, sorry unable to call, will call when I can. I had a brief chat with Laura a week or so ago so call her to get the SP. Hello to Nan and Rita. Hello to all the Mathews’ and Drummonds. We’re getting there steadily, making @220 nautical miles a day averaging about 10 knots/hour. We’ve been making progress east for the last couple of weeks, we now need to head south east towards the Cape and inevitably worse weather than we’ve had so far, but we have developed the skills that will allow us to deal with it. Looking forward to seeing you all again in a couple of weeks. Love to all, Ian.

From Brian: Much love, big hugs and kisses to Pauline, Oli, Mike, Chris, Emma, Mum, and the Clifford Clan.  For the FSC team of Dom, Grahame and Phil, thank you for your hard work – hope the promotion, posting and recovery going as planned.  I’m having a great time and the sailing is exhilarating.  Looking forward to a long hot shower and shave, and of course being at home with my loved ones – honest!  Yes, I’m doing the salt and pepper beard growing thing.  It’s soft and fluffy at the moment but I’m not quite sure what it looks like because we have no proper mirrors on board.  About 9 days to go to Cape Horn, weather good as far as we can see out for next few days.  Love and miss you all xxxxx.

From Mikey B:  Hi Babes, all’s well here, had a haircut at a local shop today, not sure Lee Marvin is right, more like Steptoe!  On the evening watch now, pitch black, 30 knots wind, and spray all over the place.  NICK/CHRIS – don’t get use to my side of the bed, you’re out of there soon!  Miss you all, love you.xxx 

From Jo R:  Hello!! Guess what... we’re finally on a chart with land on!  All going well, Dad I suppose Joint Services have told you but the PUK code you sent was not accepted and so the phone is blocked still, sorry, not sure if there is anything you can do?!  Mum – no dolphins yet, the dry shampoo is great though!  Winnie hope all going well, dart board case ordered yet??!!  Kiran, fun on Magic Carpet?  With all this water have big plans for a hot hol – Yes?  Hindles – not sure if you’re reading this but getting to grips with the instruments and lots of ideas for the qualifier and beyond!! Lots of love xxx

From Alex: Hi all. Still here and getting along, things are becoming a ground hog day, but fixing the boat helps break it up!  Looking forward to a good beard trim on return, don’t know how you keep them Harry and Dad. Toni miss you lots, be good to be back for hugs and squeezes.  Thinking of you all xxx.

Blog 6 HMSTV Adventure reporting form the Southern Ocean

No ice and no penguins so far but lots of albatross here down at 51 Lat where variation is 30 degrees East (difference between magnetic  course and true  course).

RACE & SAILING SITUATION REPORT

Thursday 18th 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 24^th 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 20^th

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!).

WATCH REPORTS & INDIVIDUAL SHOUT OUTS….

Mates

Nikki..  Carmen Rendell how the devil are you my sweet, how has South America been treating you? We are thinking it will be around the 13^th  all going to plan. Becky had to turn back due to mast track probs so you won’t see her but otherwise we will be there ready to see your beaming smile. We are much looking forward to seeing you 10000 miles later and catching up on all your news and of course for one of usual nights of chaos, love you loads.  Marcus and Jo if you are reading this a big hi to you guys and the cats, can’t wait to see you and catch up  and share time. The lovely words you wrote  while we were in Auz are up by my bunk. Heidi hi Shane, it doesn’t look like I’m gonna be back for the ball on the 26^th    March as I’m going to head on to Antigua and fly back from there. Andy Mieklejohn if you reading this hope your back from America safe and Sydney is good fun, keep smiling and I  will be in touch when I get to Monte ref hopefully catching up in Antigua. Zoe miss you loads, can’t wait to have a catch up on life with you. Windy see you in Monte- your gloves have been amazing thank you. With the biggest risks come the biggest achievements,   Hugs  to all xxxx

White Watch.

Dave – Hey Stinker, last time we spoke we were just setting off up the path toward the sound of drums, on the way up we couldn’t see the top because of the swirling mist but the strange sounds of steady drum beats continued to get louder.  Just as we began to think we would never reach the summit the path flattened and the mist cleared, to our surprise we found ourselves in the middle of a village, all around were huts with grass roofs and great statues of what must have been the gods of the people who lived here.  Upon further investigation it became clear that the village was deserted, all the huts were empty, the camp fires were long since out and the sound of drum beats was being created by a wind powered contraption!  It seemed as though our quest to meet new tribes would not happen here today.  Just as we thought of leaving this deserted and lonely place Tim spotted another path leading out of the back of the village, at its entrance were crossed spears decorated with bone ornaments and a pair of painted skulls, was this a warning not to follow the path?  Whatever the message we pressed on, after a short walk we came to an abrupt halt.  Facing us was a giant set of wooden doors, the biggest I have ever seen, they towered up above our heads and blocked the entrance to a small valley, beyond the gates appeared to be dense jungle and rising up from the green canopy was the gently smoking tip of a volcano.  All three of us looked at one another, and without hesitation began to unlock the great gates.....bit more next time son, love from way down here, miss you, enjoy half term, Daddy xxx

All, hope you’re all ok, everything really good here, wind strong and driving us eastward toward the cape, over half way now and leading by 25 miles.  Love you all, thinking about you and home a lot xx.  Speak soon GG, travel safely xx.

Tim – Having an extraordinary time; now at a point further from any other human that it is possible to be on the planet!  Really getting quite chilly – I’ll have to start using my thermals soon.  Hope all’s well at home and half term is enjoyable.  Lots of love to Claire, Ed and Louis.

John  RCIRO, Hello again from a very remote part of the world.  The seas are very impressive as they grow bigger and bigger before we surf down them rustling up some pretty impressive speeds.  No we are not having fun and yes we are taking this seriously.. ish.  I hope you are all enjoying Cornwall.  I look forward to seeing the photos.  Plenty of swimming and lovely long dog walks.  It’s been a long time since I stepped out more than 30 strides.  I love you all and am counting the days until I can speak to you from Punte Del Este, Uruguay.  Until then.  All my love to my special girls.  Daddy.

Red Watch

Red Watch are having a couple of health problems but persevering on….. Poor Laura had a stomach ache; which the 3 boys aren’t totally convinced that her medical condition isn’t due to secretly snaffling all the chocolate……

Strong man Frankie’s muscles are too big for his own good and caused him pain due to their ongoing expansion – if they continue he’ll end up looking like Popeye (if he didn’t already look like Brutus! Red Watch has thus been temporarily reduced to 2 (Simon & Clive) but have had guest appearances from Lou (Blue Watch).  Red Watch managed the 3000 miles marker this morning (with Guest Lou) at 0330 hours along with 44.7 miles in 4 hours, narrowly taking the prize away from Blue Watch (44.3miles).

As many of you know, out here fresh water is in short supply and limited to what we have in the tanks, so we tend to wash our plates in salt water.  When fresh water used for cooking and occasional showering runs out the cry ‘we are out of fresh water’ turns to tanks being swapped or making more water but this comes at a cost of running the generator for the water maker which is in essence diesel that could be used for engine hours if for some reason we are unable to sail or the wind dies.  Currently we have a depth of 4571 metres of water under the keel and in the middle of the southern ocean so luckily salt water is not in short supply.  This did not stop Clive shouting out whilst at the sink the other day that ‘we are out of sea water’ – to hoots of laughter from all others in the galley!

Frankie has been taking oh so many photos and excellent video clips which are downloaded on the yacht laptop for us to browse over in our spare time of recent events and this will certainly be helpful for all of us to share with all of you on our return home.

Simon has found some similarities with home as he tells the girls (who are in their 20s/30s) to: eat their crusts, finish their main course before they have sweet, not to use “like” every other word and that the time for breakfast is 0730 and that no there’s nothing left to eat at 1030hrs!

The beard growing competition is in full force but Simon is being accused of “campness” due to his goatee beard. Only the photos of his wife convince the men that they’re safe…… 

Simon:  More surfing mountainous seas on a 67ft sailing, surfboard today – this time under lovely blue skies. Continues to be both challenging and rewarding. Glad to be (finally) closer to Chile than NZ and almost half way overall on this enormous (6000mile) venture. Use of Sextant for navigation going well (2mile accuracy last attempt) despite challenging sun sights due to the huge seas and “false horizon”. All my gloves performing well!

Caroline, I hope all went well with Treelands and that it wasn’t too difficult for you all. Send my love to Guy, Henry & Annie.

Linda – miss you more than the prospect of walking on dry, stationary ground! Thanks for understanding my need to do this exercise. I love you.  X

Elizabeth and Estelle – I think about you all the time and constantly wonder what you’re up to. I can’t wait to see you both again and make up for the time we’re missing out on now. Sweet dreams my little girls. Big Kiss. Pappa XX

Laura: Hi to everyone, all going well here temperature starting to drop so all my warm weather kit is keeping me toasty. Had a minor stomach bug as mentioned above but back to full fighting force now and getting back on deck is a relief. Am missing you all a lot and looking forward to a nice warm bed which is bigger than a post’it note! Sending love and hugs from the Southern Ocean xxxx Tom- I hope Norway is going well and you’re enjoying time on ship, missing you. Love you xxx

Clive:  Hello to everyone, we are currently at 50 degree south by 123 degree west (basically, in the middle of the ocean) it’s getting colder each night and we have broken out the thermal underwear, very sexy.  We have approximately 2000 miles until we reach the Horn.  The Cape Horn is a very big achievement apparently the same in walking terms would be climbing up Mt. Everest J Missing you all loads and looking forward to getting feet back on dry ground.  Lots of love Clive x x

Kyle and Willow – Daddy will be home soon and we can have lots of play time together – love you both x x

Frankie: Hi to all out there, officially in “no-mans-land!” at least 2000 miles from any civilisation!!! Unless that is the space station flies overhead!!!! Personally I’ve been put out of action with some trouble with the nerves in my hands ( constant pins & needles in fingers) been off for 4 days and got a little better so hopefully I’ll be back on the deck in no time.  We have just clocked less than 2000 miles to go to the “Horn” and then another 1500 to Montevideo!!! OM*G!! Babes, its very hard to write anything, there are so many questions but no point cause I wont get any answers, hope you and kids had a decent half term.  Hope all is well with everyone,  especially Luca and Jessica hope you are helping mummy until daddy gets back soon. Love you babes XXX. Tutto bene un saluto, Ciao.

Blue Watch.

Blue Watch – or the Westoes (all from the West Country) continue to push the limits and trim to win at every opportunity. With Red Watch having two men down, we have donated Lou to boost their numbers but are already looking forward to her return and her squeals of joy when we hit a new high speed or hear that we have pulled further away from Disco during our watch. Lou continues to sleep through anything (including Andy and Paul’s snoring) and in typical northern fashion to save money, has perfected the art of keeping her feet dry without buying expensive Sealskinz socks – a freezer bag sandwiched between two pairs of pussers socks! Steve, our second WAFU member, continues to rule the watch with his inimitable flexible rod of steel and has really taken to the art of cooking in the galley…ish. Normally calm in crisis, his resolve was tested in the early hours of this morning when, having been dragged from a good sleep to climb into wet foulies and take up the middle watch, he trudged up the companionway ladder ..only to catch his life jacket toggle in doing so.  In the ensuing explosion of an inflating life jacket the air was filled with venting CO2 (which set the fire alarms off), Steve’s expletives and a cacophony of hysterical laughter from the rest of us! Emerging back through the hatch head first, looking like a sunflower with a grumpy beaten face surrounded by yellow asking for help only made the laughter louder! For those out there interested in Paul’s progress with his oceanography book, we are pleased to report that the first chapter is complete! As we sit here in the galley having just finished the forenoon watch he is sitting trance-like with eyes closed listening to his iPod having just started tonight’s bread-run off. He has already got into the “round the Horn” mode and is currently the only one in our watching putting the earrings in on a regular basis. (I’m sure that he will be able to explain this when he gets home). Andy meanwhile, in tinkering mode having dismantled and rebuilt most of the luff boxes on the mainsail caused a stir when he noticed a semi-tone change in the frequency made by the steering gear whilst on the wheel and caused a clear lower deck whilst all the mechanism was checked – not the most accessible at sea in a force 6 with heavy swells! (all was fine ). He continues to misplace his glasses from time to time and has now perfected the art of the micro monocle as a back-up.

Steve( our illustrious watch leader)- As you can see from above we are all still smiling and having a fantastic time.  Pretty bruised now though! Hi Kaz, hope all is well back home, wish you could be out here to experience this, it is extreme sailing to say the least! And fantastic. Hi Harry I am having a great time, I will be back home in a few weeks now, as soon as I get to Montevideo I will give you and mum a call. Can’t wait to speak to you both. I hope all is going well at school, remember keep trying and don’t give up. To all family and friends following, we are still in the lead and all working hard to ensure it stays that way, let’s hope we can keep it up. Take care, until the next time ta  ta for now.

Andy (the snoring doc) ..thanks for that intro Lou!  All well here as you can see. Counting the miles down to theHorn.. only 1800 or so do! Enjoy Dublin darling. Lots of love to everyone. Looking forward to being able to walk on the moors i.e. further than 67 feet! A xxx

Paul (big Bird) – Counting down to the horn, arms aching but body and feathers just about keeping together. Sleeping bag worth every penny. Trying to decide which ear to put the ear-ring in. Miss you all & Ermington. Keep well. Paul xxx.

Hi Folks, the good ship DISCO here and all is well!  Today (18 Feb) is a special day for us; it is our 2-week anniversary since we set sail - 14 days at sea and half way to the Horn!  For most of us it has gone by in a flash and we have settled really well into life at sea.  The Watch system has taken over our lives and we have to struggle to remember what day of the week it is; nevertheless, morale is really high and the banter is rife.  We spend a lot of time discussing our ‘most favourite meal’ and how deep the next bath is going to be.... and we only have another 3 weeks to go!  It does seem now that each Watch has its own persona; Taff’s Red Watch gets most of the foredeck work and they only need to appear on deck and the weather turns bad (Skipper tries to keep away from Taff’s Watch.. and usually fails); Jo’s White Watch are the ‘Bananarama’s (from all wearing the yellow one piece dry suits), seem to spend too much time laughing and are far too cheeky (says 1^st Mate Brian); Mike’s Blue Watch (the chilled-out-sea-dogs) just spend time shooting the breeze and helming one-handed.  However, all the Watches have excelled when it comes to ‘Mother’ duties - we are eating like Kings!  The fayre has ranged from Chicken Curry to Fajitas to Beef Stew and Dumplings.  The bread baking continues although today Blue Watch burnt the first batch, but this could be forgiven if they were sidetracked by White Watch who were gybing the boat whilst taking the pole down!  The fact is Jason took a shower whilst the bread was in the oven and didn’t tell anyone!  Oh Yes, we put out the pole for the first time last night so we were truly ‘goose winged’ (main sail out to Starboard, foresail poled out to Port to catch the following wind).  Other highlights of the week include an increased number of goffers, one of which emptied several gallons of briny sea into the galley – the seats took 3 days to dry out.  As we type this the sun is out, although the hailstones from this morning reached biblical proportions (or so the story telling goes), last estimate was golf-ball size and growing.  The wildlife continues to elude us apart from the quite astonishing birds that seem to pop up from time to time; has no-one told them we as far from land as you can possibly be on this planet? In fact we have been discussing this issue more and more: none of us have been this far from any land before, and therefore so far from any humanity; indeed, when the International Space Station flies over us, as it has a couple of time (as Mikey B claims), at 250 miles high the astronauts become our nearest neighbours for about 6 mins!

Shout outs:

From Jason:  All of the ‘incapabilities’ from work - Yes it was me who burned the bread! SMK has degraded to Susan Boyle; Jade Goodie and Amy Whinehouse.  Loves to Joan – tell Jarvis he only has 25 more nights sleeping on my side of the bed!

Mikey B: Love to DNC. Still keeping up with these young thrusters; although I have burnt my finger and sprained a wrist (School boy!!)   When you next speak to Mum, remind her where I am.  Love and miss you. Xxx

From Gonzo: Love to Laura Norder and the felines, the time is flying by now, were just over half way to Cape Horn now and the miles are decreasing all the time. Much love to Father Ray, ‘Lainey, Markus Parkus and Smelganie et al. XXX

From Nick: Desperately in need of a pint of gin & tonic followed by another pint of gin & tonic. Loving it and missing y’all. Xxx

From Brian: My darling Pauline, love you lots and missing all our home comforts.  Morale is high, much to do, going too fast to fish.  Oli, I think you’d like the sailing but the time at sea probably too much for you.  Sun is shining now and it feels great.  Emma, Chris and Mike, hope all with well with you and yours.  Mum, I’m still here grinning from ear-to-ear.  Much love and hugs to you all. xxxx

From Jo R:  Hello!  It is soooo sunny now, had a super time on the foredeck last few watches, pole up, down, sails up down!!  Hope all well at home, pat to meg!!  Making lamb curry for supper tonight! xxx

From Jo A: Dad, I am truly an awful daughter... ‘Happy belated Birthday from 48.58S 135.31W’! Van the Man is proving an excellent sound track to the southern ocean! Mum, you would love the albatrosses; they really are a beautiful sight. Pete, my hat is ace, thanks! Just about surviving 3 hours sleep at a time, you’d be proud! x

From Gareth (chinky): hello Katie bay! Missing you so much now! At least in Afghan we could speak! Baby I think I am turning in to your dad, defiantly want to buy more outdoor clothing! Anyway hope you are doing your work especially your dissertation! Had a real low couple of days but feeling better today! Can’t wait to get home to you! Tell my mum and Emma I miss them! Take care my sexy bum!!xxxxxxx

From Warren (wozza) Hi everybody this is a place of extremes. One minute it’s blowing a gale and peeing it down, next it’s fine and sunny. All is well on board. Crazy morning today after the cold front went through. Gusty conditions and the reefs kept going in and out on our watch, oh for roller reefing!! My watch had the job of taking the pole down and dropping the storm staysail after a night trying to get South with the wind behind. It’s a fine line between heading South and hitting a deep depression (crazy weather!!!) or moving further East towards the High pressure system. Some of the foredeck work is truly exhausting, especially when the water is all around you. Still good fun and certainly a testing place. Sleeping is in 3 hour bursts if your lucky. Anyhow hope life is good at home. Guess my roster for the end of March is out, will have forgotten how to fly by then. Hi to Devon folk, esp Dan, Steve and Max. Hi to Jody in Torquay, keep up the networking. To my sis, yep it smells in here for sure! Hope your exam went well and the small polish family that are living in my room are paying enough rent. Hi to Matt as well, mate this is truly a big boat course and great experience. Thats it ttfn, I will catch the rest on the next blog. Wx

From Taff:  Hello all missing you very much we, are half way to Cape Horn strong winds and hail stones this morning; nice and sunny now but the weather changes every 5 minutes without notice.  Hope all ok your end? Looking forward to Ibiza and the all inclusive! Love to everybody xxxxx.

Disco Blog Tues 09 Feb

And so it begins...... they don’t call it the ‘Roaring Forties’ for nothing.  The day opened with Red Watch, comprising Taff, Chinky and Gaz, getting rather wet as the first cold front moved through.  The Army were sitting off the port side at about 10-15 miles and in and out of sight. Gaz is now fighting fit and his Warrington humour is back on board. He smiled going off watch and headed to his bunk asking the skipper on the way, ‘Why on earth would you do this for a living?’  The sun came out but with that came the wind, steadily building from the south.  White Watch combined forces with Red for the first headsail change.  The larger No.1 Yankee was coming down and No.2 going up.  To add to the challenge the skipper decreed that it would be an ‘In-Line’ change.  In essence this means that both sails are hitched on together and one replaces the other, not easy as the wind went through Force 6 and the first proper ‘goffers’ came over the bow and down the foredeck. Wozza, Mike and Alex manned the pulpit area and got the first good salty soaking.  Jo, Chinky and Gaz manned the halyards while Taff scurried around the foredeck adjusting and trimming the sheets.  All in all a 30 minute exercise and the first real wake up call to reality in these parts.  The wind continued to build, No.3 reef went into the main, the foresail lowered and then raised.  The skipper donned his ‘foulies’ and went up to banter mercilessly Chinky and Gaz on the foredeck while Brian held helm.  Cries of ‘feel the love’ and ‘man up’ came from red-suited-bald-bloke on deck. In all that the wind touched 45 knots and the Glitzy Disco Ball that hung from the Radar has jumped overboard, never to be seen again. ‘Feel the fear’ he shouts with a large grin on his face!!! ‘Welcome Gentleman to the Southern Ocean, remember it’s an image sport.’ Alex the ‘sparky’ has had the toolbox open again. Fixing the minor battle damage he is officially the ‘Boat Handyman’. Meanwhile the Army boat has nudged in front and then off to the starboard side. We are now the most Northerly Boat. Gaz thinks he’s depressed after throwing the rubbish bin overboard and now wants to ‘officially retire’ from this game. Taff is the new Welsh God of Weather. Whenever he’s on watch the wind and rain comes in force, maybe we’ll pop him inside for a while. Chef Jim is back in the galley giving ‘ready steady cook lessons’, Chilli Con Carne for dinner followed by ‘Banoffee’ pie.  More ‘ban’ than ‘offee’ given the number of Bananas we have on board. Once again the galley has been rearranged by ‘Mother Watch’, still no sign of the ‘Phantom Custard’. Nick has just amused the watch by showing them the latest chart, nothing but ocean! So that’s about it for today. Morale is still high and the records keep tumbling. 12.8 knots to Brian on the Helm and 10.7 miles cracked in one hour by Red Watch. The sun dips over the horizon leaving ‘disco’ experiencing her biggest waves to date, a steady 35 knots from the SE.  Hope you’re all well back home, ‘Disco’ signing off.

Disco Blog Thurs 11 Feb

Ladies, gents, boys and girls, greetings from the good ship ‘Disco’.  Well, it’s been an eventful couple of days.  As we left you last the wind was building and we cracked on through the night covering some 70 miles or so to the SE.  Dawn broke and the first bad news of the day; Taff declared that we had run out of bread therefore we were to have toast at breakfast.  More seriously, as the morning progressed, it became evident that we were going to have to turn back to the west to go to the aid of the Army yacht ‘Challenger’.  Blue Watch consisting of Mike “Lee Marvin/Leslie Neilson/Pierce Brosnan’s dad” Beresford, Jase Morley and Ian “Gonzo” Stevenson ably answered the call and turned the boat around to head for Challenger, thus becoming “Baywatch”.  Challenger’s mast track was coming away and we had the best spares available to help them out. In layman’s terms, if the mast track parts company with the mast the main sail cannot be flown properly.  The skipper went up our mast to check the integrity of our rig; all was well although our skipper’s voice sounded like that of an eight year old for a while after due to the tightness of the bosun’s chair rig that hoisted him up the mast. The rendezvous with Challenger proved entertaining; two 50 ton yachts coming together in the Southern Ocean to exchange parts. With Brian helming Disco, Doc Nick tried to hurl our throwing line to Challenger.  It didn’t go very far.  So, we let the Army have a go!  The throwing line duly arrived from Challenger and Wozza passed the ‘tying-a-bowline-under-pressure’ test albeit one of the French variety and a section of new track and a rivet gun were passed yacht-to-yacht.  We then ‘held hands’ with the Army for 18 hours to provide moral support as we waited for the Navy yacht Adventurer to sail the 55 or so miles to our position because they were so far back in the race!  The Navy plan to head south to lower latitudes in the hope of catching more wind had spectacularly failed and this unfortunate rendezvous gave them a rare opportunity to catch up with Disco and Challenger.  When the Navy finally did arrive in the early hours of the morning they decided to park right next to us!  Engine on, full power, get out of this congested area!  Mikey B gave us all a lesson in how to ‘heave to’ properly and held us steady through the night.  Down below with no forward boat speed, it felt like being in a dishwasher. Dawn broke and the harsh reality was that the Army yacht Challenger was going to head west to Wellington for repairs.  Adventurer snuck away whilst Disco won the moral high ground and received three rousing cheers from the Army, which were echoed by Disco.  The 55 mile lead had been given up and we were off again, now a two horse race for ‘Cape Horn’.

A fine day followed; laundry was dried on the windward rail and, having caught up with the Navy, our two yachts stayed pretty much together. White Watch combined with Red for another sail ‘in-line’ racing change; 4 minutes from halyard release to the final crank on the raised sail.  Exhausting! Alex was ‘goffered’ up on the bow while the rest suffered the ‘burning guns’ feeling on the winches.  Although a marathon and not a sprint it’s difficult not to be competitive.  White Watch has resorted to reading up on sail trimming theory in effort to reign the Navy in.  Jo A, it turns out, is a demon cake baker producing banana cakes and pancakes for all.  We thought it was Shrove Tuesday; reality was we were still confused about the passing of the date line.  That evening Red Watch led by Taff took the helm.  With Taff on deck, the inevitable happens; the wind freshens and rain comes.  A damp night passed with the wind from the west, and yes, ‘west is best’ for all those sleeping on the starboard side.  Finally, a night without the boat trying to roll us out of our bunks!  The Navy continued to criss-cross our bows until they finally edged away as generally they were flying a little more sail and had decided to head south.  The bonus about being close together is that the banter flies across the VHF.  The first inter-Service quiz took place with the Navy winning by answering 9/10 of our Harry Potter questions.  We fared dismally answering only 5/10 of their questions on Formula 1.  One up to the Navy, the next quiz is on the 1984 Miners Strike and Lord of the Rings.  Once again that bald bloke in the red suit appeared on the foredeck, his booming voice rallying the troops during the sail change.  The ‘guns’ have started to burn during reefing, anything to take the Navy on at their own game.  Chinky has increased our yacht speed by at least half a knot by eating everything in sight, no marching to be done here!!  Maybe it’s just the cold turkey of giving up the tabs. Once again chef Jim is in the galley creating gastro delights, beef goulash followed by crumble for dinner.

Last night left most somewhat grumpy.  The wind freshened to 35 knots and the sea arrived on the starboard quarter rolling the boat from left to right.  Likened to being in a gimbling dishwasher’ little sleep was had.  With the wind howling through the rigging and the surf up, it was time to catch Brian doing 15 knots down the face of a wave.  Dawn arrived with us to find the skipper and Gonzo in the bilges carrying out repairs to the prop shaft brake.  Any man who doesn’t get seasick down there deserves a medal. Wozza was ‘goffered’ by a wave in the galley, salt water raining in through a partly open hatch whilst Chinky was seen having a nail buffed by the Doctor; quite what that was the cure for nobody knows.  Somehow, we had nudged in front of the Navy overnight, but only by a whisker.  With thousands of miles of open Pacific Ocean, the Navy had managed to get themselves back into our vicinity after a fruitless sojourn down south to find wind.  As they drew ever closer on a port tack they had to give way to calls of ‘Starboard’ over the radio from our bemused skipper.

Jason found his wandering socks and the skipper seems comfortable enough to sit on the toilet in full view thinking through his ‘battle plan’ to make the 3130 miles to the Cape first. Tonight’s quiz involves questions on ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and the “1984 Miners Strike”. Interesting topic set by the Navy. That’s about all from the good ship ‘Disco’; the Navy has gambled by heading south and is now out of sight.  We plan to hold our track, secretly hoping that they will find the eye of the next depression and run out of wind for a while.  Happy Valentines from us all, catch up with you in a few days.

Disco Blog  Mon 15 Feb

Good afternoon from ‘Discoverer’. As we go to print on the blog you will no doubt be getting ready to rise on another delightful February morning. Present position at 0410GMT on Tues 16 Feb has us at 48⁰ 07’40S 149⁰ 53.55W. The rain has eased off and we are making steady progress to the SE at around 9knts. ‘Navy’ are some 60nm to the South and slightly behind as they make small repairs to their luff boxes on their mainsail. Life here has a unique routine of 4 hour shifts for 48 hours followed by 24 hours as ‘mother watch’ looking after the rest of the crew. The short bursts of sleep seem to be getting easier although we have all had some strange dreams, especially Jo A who this morning reported that overnight she had battled out the Wimbledon final with a teaspoon! Morale is high on the ‘Big Brother Disco’ although the recent persistent rain eroded a few smiley faces, albeit only temporarily, even Gaz who has done 2 weeks sailing in his life, NZ to current position, and remains smiling! Some likened life to interrogation. First we sweat, then we get rolled from bulkhead to bulkhead, now everything is damp, still we still smile. Never surrender!! Wozza had a grumpy patch yesterday and started counting down the number of possible log entries to the Cape. He recovered when Skipper announced we shall be have a ‘Pilot and Hostie’ fancy dress party on Saturday. Special guest will be DJ Symes complete with his Ipod and on his 24hr sugar high following pear crumble (yes this man has had many lives!!).  Still we continue to utilise the skills of folk onboard. Bread now has to be baked daily, with chef Jim giving the lessons in the galley eagerly watched by all.  Chinky has side burns appearing and is planning to enter the South American ‘Elvis’ lookalike competition, that’s if he can find the hair wax in the ‘Chinky Admin Vortex’ that is his bunk.  Brian caught a bird today on his fishing line but successfully got the somewhat irate ‘birdy’ back in one piece, well done brain.  Instinctively Alex was standing by with the winch handle, rations are not that low Al!! Our new friend Albert Ross watched the events from his birds-eye view and was especially amused when Chinky was tasked with launching a pot of rotten red cabbage and apple chutney, removing the lid he prepared for a powerful over arm launch, and threw it all over his back, his watchmates and the deck ... just as well it was sweet smelling then!!  Talking of sweet smelling and roses the crew had a romantic Valentines Day, waking up to Valentines Day cards with the inspired poem ‘Waypoints are red, Southern Ocean is blue, Leg 8 is awesome and so are you!!!’, signed the good ship Disco, she is looking after us very well!

The winds are staying fair, so fair in fact that it is sometimes tricky to work out which way is downwind, as discovered by doc Jo when her snowball became a Boomerang!  Taff took it one step further freaking out Mikey B by covering tissue in choc icing and aiming it straight for him!!  Duck!!  That is not all that has been flying around the cockpit, in the last couple of days there have been a couple of hours of good drying weather and so the laundry begins, base layers and pants hoisted all over the place, including Jasons socks!

After his valiant efforts in stopping the engine from catching fire and spending hours in the bilges without a hint of seasickness Engineer Gonzo has transformed the washing up by making a plug for the sink! Not only does this stop the dirty water coming back up but is great for water conservation.  Amazing what a bit of wood and gaffer tape can do!

And so we continue, Jibing our way through the last of the roaring 40s towards the furious 50s, dodging the squalls, or not, chasing the wind, watching the fronts come through, trying to break top speed so far 15 kts, beef stew tonight!!  All the best to you all and will write again soon! xx

Individual Shout Outs

From Gonzo: Love to Laura X, big tin of Tuna to the cats.  Hello to all the boys and girls at CMU, RAF Marham. Hello to Mum, Dad, Mark & Liz, Mel, Phil & Jellitot, Nan, Andrew, Carol & Hannah, Julie, Dave, Rebecca & Rachel.  Hello to Fliss & Pru back in Lynn.

From Brian: Happy Valentines Pauline – love and miss you lots; promise lots of flowers and champagne on my return xxxxx.  Oli, hope you’re looking after mum and Whisper.  Emma, Chris and Mike, love you all so much.  FSC Boys and Manning, keep working hard as someone has to while I’m sailing!

From Nick: Happy Valentines and loads of Love to Adele.  Hope you have a great time at the Wags do.  Big Hi to Ralph, Jo, Harriet and Rory and send love to Mum & Dad. Having a blast out here.

From Mike: Happy Valentines to my darling Helen with loads of love and hugs. We are now in the roaring forties and the power of the ocean is upon us.  Send my love to Toby, Mum and Barrie. Hope Meg & Bruno is looking after you while I am away. Xxx 3100 to the Cape

From Jason: Happy Valentines Joan, hope your new job is going well.  Hi to all of the family.  All is going well on the good ship disco, but I could murder a wee dram!

From Mikey B: Hi Guys, hope you are having a great half-term.  Hope SH dropped off my Valentine Card babe – missing you.  Nick: no Whales yet but lots of Albatross; Chris:  Dolphins a bit shy down here, none yet.  Hope you both looking after Mum.  Love you all Dad xxxx

From James: Helen, thanks for all the presents some of those have come in rather handy, love and kisses to you.  M & C yes it is lumpy down here but I’m staying clipped on.  A big ‘piratey shout-out’ and kisses to little Emily and her keepers Lynne and Paul.  Love also to Paula and Heidi, happy valentines to you all, see you soon. J... out

From Jo A: Would like to thank Jo Doc’s friend Jo in Auckland for taking us to the gardening centre in Auckland; the knee pads are a god send! Thanks Pete for the Valentines Card, hope all is well! To mum and dad – no torpedoes or submarines as yet!! X Scotland for the grand slam!

From Gaz: Apologies for not writing anything before but now I’ve finally found my sea legs I just want to send my love to my mum, dad and brother and say hi to everyone back home and at Waddo.  Having a great time and don’t worry mum, no sign of pirates!!

From Chinky (Gareth): HAPPY VALENTINES DAY KATIE! Sorry I can’t be there. I will make it up to you when I get back “wink, wink”! I’m missing your sexy little arse so much, can’t wait to give it a good spankin! Say hello to mum and the rest of the family. Tell Emma to be good!  Take care baby, I’ll see you soon!!

From Taff: Hope your all ok?  Everything fine here on the ultimate cruise!  Book caravan for Easter at Tantallon?  Love and miss you all xxxxxx.

From Alex: Hi all.  Everything going well and as expected, feels like a long time since seeing you all. Looking forward to catching up on my return.  Happy belated Valentines Toni.

From Jo R:  Hello!  Like Jo said, knee pads are ace, thanks Joey!!  Mum, Dad and Winnie – no whales or dolphins yet but lots of birds, good luck with the exam results Winnie!!   Dad, will call in a couple of days for the code if no luck sending it, thank you for sorting it out!!  Hope all is well, pat to Meg! Lorna, Al, Emma and Adrian, hope you’re having a super time in Zambia and Uganda!!!xx

From Wozza: Hi to everybody in particular Ian, Carey, Anna and Esmy. Hope your all well. Esmy how goes the Chamonix house hunt. Hello again to mum, dad and Sis. Sis the Iphone got trashed but hopefully get you via someone. All those at VS keep up the good work and keep the right hand seat warm, I miss Honkers!! Hi Lucy hope bambino number 3 is going well. Greetings to Mattly, John and Monty in Acton town. How is the cabin crew training going? Catch up with you all in the next blog. The whole adventure is as advertised and certainly a challenge! TTFN Wx

As ever the southern ocean is meeting expectations, twice a day as the met fax spills out from Wellington and there is always another Low Pressure System for the skipper and mates to study. As I try and right this blog, there are china-graph marks on the screen of the lap top of some weather analyses!

Wednesday 11^th AGAIN!! International Date Line crossed- Day 6.

Over the last few days so much has happened, firstly we gained a day when we went across the International Date Line behind the Chatham Islands to the east of New Zealand. We crossed about 0130hrs on Thursday morning which was perfect timing to switch the clocks back and have another Wed 11^TH of February – our very own ‘Ground Hog Day’. With the average progress being slow due to lighter than expected  winds, a day in hand was welcomed. With a little water coming in through the forepeak and super structure on the starboard side of the boat there were a few repairs to do to avoid the White Watch’s cabin becoming a paddling pool. Loud banging on the upper deck, a bit of super flex and Clive, Simon and Steve, the mate, were in their element ramming bits of  wood  into annoying little uninhabited screw holes. Steve’s efforts in securing the leaking  ‘hawsepipe bung’ were most appreciated – particularly when we saw the massive goffer (wave) soak him and those who saw the skipper in the forepeak with hands covered in white cream trying to help were completely bemused!  After this there was no rest for the wicked and whilst at 20 Knots, the tools were out to play with Handy Andy Burgess, who was about to confront the broken spinnaker pole head on. For those of you who haven’t read the last blog, this broke on Tuesday, in light airs after  hoisting the 1.5 oz spinnaker. Andy and his band of merry men (and token girl Seaking Junglie Lou) from the Blue watch, cut a 3ft section off the pole and after several hours of cutting, filing and drilling, the prepared cut off  section was resized to fit inside the sleeve to offer more strength.  If we could only send you the photos and videos!! After the initial Blue watch hit, the spinnaker pole was manhandled down the corridor and up the steps (just the job for a submariner captain who, with reversed cap and steely-eyes was already imagining that he was delivering the killer torpedo to the RAF in our rival yacht Discoverer ). Then, all hands on deck to watch or take hold of it as we tried to pile drive it home into the prepared other half pole.. much to the consternation of Paul, our other submariner who was acting as anchor man at the receiving end. 10 thrusts and a shattered wooden buffer later and success! Union! A few more screws and sweat and at 1800 Handy Andy and his successful team became triumphant - the spinnaker pole,  now effectively the pole for the headsails, was taken up on deck to be secured and ready for poling out.

2 hours later at 2000hrs local, that’s 0900 UTC we received  comms from the Army crewed yacht, Challenger.  Very sadly they had developed a problem with the track that keeps the mainsail on the mast, and for them, until definitive repairs were complete, it was decided that their trip further into the Southern Ocean was over.  Both of the other boats closed from their racing positions (i.e. Adventure had to turn back).  We joined them at first light and following  our Skipper  going aloft to inspect out mast and confirming everything was OK,  we passed some spare track across to Challenger before bidding them safe passage back to Wellington in New Zealand.  Obviously sad to  see them go, we tipped our caps to Challenger’s  Fusilers and then set our sights on what is a two-horse race to the Horn!

Thursday 12^th Feb Day 7 at Sea.

Thursday offered a great day of sailing, where the remaining two boats remained close together, on a parallel course, trying their hardest to cope with the light airs and difficult conditions to gain and maintain the lead. The ‘binos’  were in full use and it wasn’t until later in the day we finally managed  to break free.

 8pm-12am shift-  as the wind began to drop off  from the West, Nikki and Skip made a tactical decision to gybe across the race track behind the stern of Disco lying a few miles off our port beam. This would enable us to try and be poised in position for the NW winds we were expecting to fill in. It wasn’t long before Disco’s Tricolour disappeared over the horizon off our starboard quarter and we were poised ready.  The wind played ball, veered by 45 degrees in 4 hours filling in from the NW we were able to capitalise on this by maintaining a better boat speed.   When comms were made with Disco shortly after midnight, it was evident that by avoiding the gybe they  ended up with the a lower position on the race track, with no wind and had been forced to motor for a few hours (Ha!).  Disco now sits to our starboard side and are having to climb to maintain course.   Adventures crew  are in particularly good spirits at seeing Disco behind and obviously the decision to gybe early and the fanatical attention to trimming has paid off and we now have more height,  better VMG (velocity made good) and have a few hours of motoring in the bank! ‘Game on  Adventurer’!

Friday 12^th, Day 8 at sea

As I type we have a steady 20 knots of NW true building and expecting to rise to 35k later as a result we are heeled  constantly at a steady 20 degrees. Blue watch are on the controls upstairs, in full “trim to win - snooze to loose” mode,  Steve Pointon’s team’s arrival constantly fiddled with outhauls and halyards which helped put more distance  between us and the our rivals in DISCO.

 Moving down through the roaring forties towards the fiercesome fifties,  we haven’t  seen another boat or ship due to us being south of the shipping lanes. That doesn’t seem to bother crew on board ADV, I guess you don’t come down this way unless you are happy with the concept of space. Being able to see Disco again also created an extra air of excitement and competitiveness. Particularly whilst we are in the lead!  Are they shaking a reef out?  Are they sending men forward to dial up the No1? Apart from the fact that we are being buzzed by albatrosses, there is no mainland for about a 1000 miles and we can see the Southern Cross overhead at night, we could almost be racing round the cans in Plymouth. This coupled with some interesting banter between skippers and mates to spice up the day, the ADV crew seem to be on fire to maintain our position on the race track. As I type John, Nick and Clive are in the wet locker with the manuals trying to sort out the new heater which was changed in NZ. With any luck now, as we are on a port tack and water won’t go up the exhaust, we may have a chance of drying out the foulies and boots for the first time. Lunch time at the mo, Red watch are doing a sterling job of cooking up some Vietnamese  noodles and with any luck Laura will make some more chocolate muffins and delicious bread to keep spirits high for the wet crew!  So there is always something to do down here but you can safely say we are living the dream.

...but what is living the dream?....

Well, for a start, after a week at sea, we are all a bit damp. The weather at the moment is not too cold for comfort but the rain comes at least once every watch as a weather front passes over us. Foulies have been tested and the rapidity of “goffers” (getting drenched by a large wave on deck) is increasing and makes sail changing, reefing etc more interesting..and wet. Everyone is getting used to living life on an incline! Cooking, washing, sleeping  and just getting around the boat is an effort and the men, despite resorting to beard growing, have discovered their feminine sides.. by having to sit on the heads (toilet) on occasions as there is a limit to the accuracy of their aiming! The fruit supply, rapidly disappearing, is a continual hazard, suspended over the dining area and prone to disgorge its contents during heavy seas, sending bruised apples and oranges onto those below eating a meal.

The watch system is up and running and the reality of being woken up every 4 hours  to go on watch is finally being realised and is only surpassed by the privilege of being “mother watch” every third day for 24 hrs. Mother watch essentially are there to deliver meals, drinks (“wets”) and to clean up the boat.. and when the need for a sail change occurs, to help the on-watch team on deck. Baking bread has been a new experience for some and the results variable, with Clive winning the trophy so far for the” anchor” that he produced – even the albatross that took it is still “grounded”!  The only bonus of mother watch is the shower – a 2 minute wonder (despite the ability to make water it is still very much at a premium and restricted) that is ecstasy for 30mins before you’re back into the watch on deck and sweating gallons into your old unwashed clothing.  Variety is the spice of life and the pusser (Simon) has done well to get all his favourite things for the trip and in true pussers style is guarding them with his life. We have a 7-day recurring menu in theory but this can be changed as the situation dictates – even more complicated when we have two Wednesdays in a week as we did this week!

Despite most being stretched, and some being put outside their comfort zone,  everyone on board is doing well and squaring up to the challenge  of staying ahead of  Discoverer. The watches are gelling and there is already a degree of good-humoured rivalry at the quality of cooking, sail trimming and speed etc. Our three resident ‘pongoes’ (Army chaps) give as much banter as they get and are now undecided as to whether they are matelot “wan’abees”, matelot “should’abeens” or matelot “gon’abees”. Clive, Mr Innuendo continues to surprise himself by not being seasick whilst adding humour to the show , Frankie enjoys the cooking and most importantly the eating of the novel menus and is one of the powerhouses on the winches, whilst  John, still looking for the Golden Rivet, spends a lot of the time in the engine space as the “engineer”.  All of us, both Navy and Army are united in our desire to take line honours at the Horn from the ‘crabs’ (RAF) and as darkness falls and Discoverer disappears over the horizon behind us, morale is high although we all know that we have a long way to go to the Cape yet and the weather will no doubt throw more at us before we do.  A midday inter-ship Quiz with Disco on the VHF on topics Harry potter and Formula 1 racing included questions such as What team did Enzo Ferrari manage? Who was the first team to field its cars painted entirely in the sponsors colours? You ll be glad to know ADV won the first round!

Saturday 13^th Feb Day 9

Day 1500 miles done so a 1/3 of way to the Horn- well done Red watch for claming the 1500 mile stake. They also got the 500 miler, whilst Blue watch got the 1000 miler. Plenty of those still up for grabs we feel!  Looking like 1^st/ 2^nd of March for rounding the Horn currently. We went through another time zone tonight, so if you are in the UK we are now  11 hours behind  you.

Sunday 14^th   Day 10 Valentines day.

White watch treated us to a fried breakfast a marvellous day of sailing was had with Disco now 60 miles North of us on 47 degrees Lat. Heart shape breads were made and spirits were high as blue skies gave rise to ‘dobe’ drying and some sailing under full main and  the ‘one yankee’ poled out. Clive managed 15.2 Knots on the Helm although the highest is still 19.2 by Dave on White watch. As I type there is some loud laughing in the galley from Red watch preparing a lovely smelling green thai curry, White watch are in their racks resting and Blue watch are togged up trying to keep warm whilst sailing on 20 knots true due East with Steve P on the Helm.

Individual shout outs.

Skip,  everyone’s doing jolly well, food the best I’ve ever had!!

Steve, Hi darling, thanks for the lovely card, hope you have a happy valentine’s day – miss you lots!  xxx

Nikki- Nice to be doing 10 knots SOG and ahead of the RAF J. Japps- the helmet cam is in full use thanks so much and Alia, look after your leg x Pen and Las- most of this blog was written to your awesome playlist xx Fi Dunn, put another flag in for me on the board, I have a feeling this will be my last. Thanks for your text, so good to hear from you, it was one of my last I received. xx Windy thanks for the gloves saving them for the fifties. Coops the inflatable Dan buoy is attached to my life jacket thanks so much catch up soon. Scully … how many valentine cards did you get then!? Xx J Kelly College, sports teams ..lets try and beat West Buckland together this term, the skipper of the RAF boat is an old boy!! I am trying hard this end to keep the Kelly name in tact!

Blue watch:

Steve- Hi Kaz, (happy Valentine’s day darling), Harry, Mum, Dad, Nan, Ant, Kelly, Harry Emily, Doris and all family and friends that are following the blog, love you and miss you loads xxx.  We are currently in the lead as you have probably just read, just staying ahead of the RAF! We have a great crew and morale is high all pulling together with the motto “Trim to win, snooze to loose!” To all on 846 NAS that are following us, we are keeping up the junglie spirit, cuffing it and living the dream!!

Lou- Hi Mam, Dad, and Innis.  Cat the weather down here is like the weather in Norway, cold and wet!!  Mam and Dad The Seasick feeling is wearing off as I am getting used to walking sideways and bouncing around off the walls! Still loving it, see you soon. Happy Valentine’s Day to you know who!! Love you all loads. xx

Andy

Happy Valentines! Miss you all. Loved card. Hope likewise ☺x. On board food good but already looking forward to a good steak in Monte! Sailing’s been great as expected and phots to follow! Hi to all at MDHU Derriford and the Whitty – Angus - the Sealkinz already put to good use!! Hope dad worked out how to get on the website. Love you all lots. xx

Hi everyone.

Paul

Happy valentine’s all, xxx. Ellie enjoy the macheebees. Found what I came for, body just keeping up but I will be walking lob-sided on return. For Sooty had the spinnaker up! Keep well, miss you all.

Red watch:

Simon

Linda, J’espere que tu as passé une bien jour de valentine sans moi. To all my darling girls: I think about you all the time and miss you more than a daily shower! Your photos are up next to my bunk (well a 6’1’’ x 2’ box that I can just fit into……) and i say goodnight to you 3 x daily whilst on 4 hour watch routine. Always trying to picture what you’re up to and hope that school, study, activities etc are all good. When we’re not busy on night watches I look at “Orion” (and the SLS star) and feel that we’re close as I know you too can see him. Southern ocean summer more like a Scottish one than Kiwi – rain, damp, cold etc.  ! Temperature dropped significantly here in last few days and we’re all wrapping up big time for the night watches. I wear the top from Mark/Ann every day but still not cold enough to wear my awesome £20 gillet!  Hope you’re not still having to do too much ice scraping. Vous, les trois me bien manquez. J’attends avec impatience le jour ou je te verrais encore, ce serra juste 30 jours ……Big kisses and hugs Hubby / Pappa XXX

Clive – Day 7 in the big brother house and Clive is going for his 2^nd shower; I now fully understand why the Navy call us pong-goes!!  For wherever the Army goes the pong goes.  To Neil and Andy in the project office, still not been sea sick (yet), I’m guessing by now the temperature here is colder than in the UK, really looking forward to the cold beers in Punta de la sel,    Pinte de le selta,  Poultow de le selnta  Montevideo, cheers for letting me go on this having fun (at the moment, but the sea will get rougher soon) see ya soon J

Big sound out to Francesca, Kyle and Willow Daddy will see you soon / Mum, Dad, Sarah, Simon, Bradley, Harry and Trinity hope you are all well / John still love you mate x / SR Mess – Andy, Glyn, Luke, Digger, Spike, Scotty, Richard, Woody, Westy, Browny, Carol, Karen, Carey, Marie and all the others will see you soon 831

Frankie - One week at sea and the waves are getting bigger and the winds stronger!! A message for Del (please pass on to him if you see this) I would like “x 2 Army V Navy” tickets please!! Big hello to Sacha, Luca and Jessica, thinking of you all the time, Sacha you remember what you said about the trip, loving or hating boats by the end, well I think I have found another expensive hobby!!! Oops!! Un saluto per l’Italia, tutto bene fatto quasi 2000 miglia ancora 2500 per il capo!! Hello to all that are following me on here. Love you bubs!J

Laura – Hi Mum, Dad, Charlotte, Tom and anyone else reading this! The seas are getting bigger now but I’m getting used to the waves so all good. Had to switch from the patches to the sea sickness pills but they are working so feeling great now!! Enjoying it and learning lots, we’re keeping trimming to get extra time the other end and being told an extra half knot is 2 days provides all the motivation we need! Tom, Happy Valentines Day, thank you for the chocolates they are brilliant. Charlotte, those socks are amazing. I cannot convey how brilliant it is to have dry warm toasty feet in bed!! Mum and Dad I’m staying clipped on at all times and decided the big dark blobs in the Southern Ocean are the worst I’ve seen yet, no swimming for me J. Love to everyone xx

White:

Dave: Hey Stinker, got more to tell you today.....after a stormy night the sun came up and we sailed all around the mysterious island, I have searched all my charts and cant find this strange place on any of them.  For most of the time it has been shrouded in mist but occasionally when a gap appears there is nothing to see but dark cliffs and jagged rocks.  Earlier I thought I heard the sound of beating drums being carried on the wind and a strange howling sound that can only have been the wind I hope.  Tomorrow morning I’m taking the little boat with Tim and John to try and find a way in through the rocks…..I’ll let you know what happens next time.  Love and miss you son, Daddy xx

GG, all ok with you?xx I’m wandering how the six nations is going and who was on the signal!!! Hope everything is cool with you, nearly time for home x Love to everyone, getting well south now, wind is good and progress is steady  xx

John  RCIRO, Hello to you all from The South Pacific.  I hope this message finds you all well.  Happy Valentines Day Sweetheart.  I am looking forward to making up for my absence to you on my return.  Start thinking of where we can go for a meal.  Have you seen much of the family?  Charlotte & Isobelle have you been to grandma and granddads lately? I hope there is plenty occurring in grandma’s pond. When I get home can you take me on any new adventures that you have been on with Ruby & Otto.  I cant wait.  I hope you are both enjoying all the parties you have been invited to.  The sailing is going well.  We are currently in the lead though there is still plenty left to do.  I will write again soon.  Love to you all.  Daddy XXX

From the Skipper

We were enjoying some excellent Southern Ocean Conditions one morning, with squalls and sunshine. After a fine Breakfast  of (you guessed it) Porridge I thought I would get my morning dose of Vitamin B. The Watch Leader suggested that we should shake a reef out. What an excellent idea, so the team when up to the mast to start preparing to lines. Arh with a quick look aloft it was soon apparent that there was a little hicup up with our plan. Firstly the sliders that hold the top of the main sail to the mast track had come off, a little strange we thought. Then with more inspection we observed that a section of the mast track had peeled away from the back of the mast. This is quite a fundamental to the everyday operation of the good ship Challenger as this piece of hard wear holds the mainsail to the mast. We took the mainsail down and re attached the sliders that had come off and then started to scratch our heads. With more inspection with the binoculars it was soon apparent that a closer inspection was required. So I donned the man alot gear and took a trip up the mast, firstly letting Disco know on the VHF in case we needed more help. After an interesting trip aloft and getting some interesting bruises, the worst was confirmed. Some of the track had definately come away an would require more attention. So we touched base with Disco and she turned back. Soon after deceided that we should have to get the mast track roughly back in place, as where it had come away from the back of the mast, it was chaffing on the main halyard. Shorly after we put the mainsail back up and hove too. Meanwhile Major Olly King donned the man aloft kit and found the black nasty and went up armed with his camera. Olly managed to give us three new go faster stripes around the mast to attached the damaged track back to the mast and stop it rubbing on the main halyard. Soon Disco appeared on the horizon and advised us that she was carrying the fleet rivet gun and some spare track. Olly had got some excellent shots of Challenger hove too and more importantly the damage to the mast track. That after noon we performed a boat to boat transfer with Disco useing heaving lines and received the spares. Sadly Disco didnt have any rivets. We had contacted Adventure and at the evening Sched she confirmed that she was bearer of the rivets. Between us we decieded that we had to meet up and transfer spares. Meanwhile much head scratching was to be had to how we would actually repair the mast whilst in the rolling swells of the southern hemisphere, bearing in mind the difficulties the rigger had had in the yard when the boat was on the side. So Disco and Challenger had a night hove too in the Southern Ocean!!! At Daybreak Adventure appeared from over the Horizon and she hove to inspect her mast as Disco had done the previous day. Adventure confirmed that their mast was OK as was Disco's. Another perfect Ship to Ship transfer with the throwing line amongst the swells ensured that Challenger essentially had all the bit and bobs to do the repairs.  With the fleet having left Auckland a little behind Shedule Challenger gave both Disco and Adventure 3 cheers for thier support and wished them fair winds and fast sailing as they continued east and we turned west.  Being Hove too we had much time to think about how realistically we could carry out the repairs at sea and concluded that we would have to seek shelter. The nearest piece of land is the Chatham Isles which were about half way between Challenger and New Zealand.  Off we set, but with inspection of the Lonely Planet and some advice from the New Zealand Royal Navy we concluded that perhaps the Chathams was a nice place for a cruise or holiday,  but not really the place to re fuel and re provision a 14 man 20m Yacht, as it has a population of 770.  So we are to continue to Wellington. What do we know about Wellington, well its known as Windy Welly as apparently there are gales there averaging one in three days over the year ,and it is also the Capital of New Zealand. We are making best speed with our 3 reefs in as this is as much mainsail as we can hoist and have had some squalls as well. But we are now proceeding at a good speed useing some of the Queens Finest Diesel. How long will we be in Wellington, long enough to refuel, reprovision and have the mast mended professionally with some of the spares that we being flown in from the UK. After this is all complete we will return to the spot where the fleet hove too and transfered spares and continue our passage against the clock, hopeing to beat Discoverer and Adventures time and hence winning the leg.

Becky 15 February 2010.

Over the last few days ...

Tuesday 9^th  was a frustrating  day but  with a wind veer,  a grand idea was announced by the skipper to  hoist the spinnaker for the first time.  After a text book hoist with the red and blue watches, as with all the best laid plans, this didn’t quite go smoothly, after 20 minutes of crew settling well with some light air trimming, what followed was a spinnaker pole break. And for those who are  a gasp, we  weren’t pushing it too much.. honest, it was only 15 true, the sleeve repair on the pole in NZ from leg 7 break clearly wasn’t built for the loads of even a light breeze on the 1.5 ounce. The spinnaker was retrieved without damage and the pole, unable to fit in the forepeak was lowered safely and stowed to the deck in essentially two pieces.  White sails were dialled up and after a nice cuppa of tea and some light reflection on the afternoons events we trucked along hoping to make up lost ground. After a hearty beef stew created by Frankie,  almost enough to feed a roman empire , Shrove Tuesday was remembered in the southern ocean and pancakes with nutella and jam were served at 10 knots with water coming over the gunnels,  well done red watch!   

Wednesday 10^th 12-4am- Blue Watch have become the trim to win snooze to loose watch. Inching out Outhauls and Halyards to make ADV max out on boat speed, another  0.5 knots is achieved. After all 0.5 knots on 5 weeks at sea equates to two days, with crew knowing this would be the difference between  two runs ashore or  a bus trip straight to the airport the trimming becomes more focused. Meanwhile back in the Nav table, the Sat C flashes a new EGC message to Nikki 2^nd mate who was happy to see the sign of more wind on the way. Averaging 7 knots or more per day may become more of a reality.

 Wednesday morning 8am,-after some great porridge courtesy of  mother red watch we are ready to start to race to the Chatham islands which despite the slow days of late, we are still hoping to tick in the box tonight. Due to change of wind, we leave these to starboard, despite the original plan to leave these to port. With the speedy blue watch back in the driving seat,  Andy Burgess reaches 14.1 boat speed  and water pours in the through the ‘happy hatch’ rear hatch into the cockpit. Clive in the Galley, was in the wrong place, although some would say the right place- courtesy of the southern ocean he no longer needs his mother watch shower. Today Laura, also on mother watch, says she will be attempting to make some bread, but we are confident her baking skills will more than up to scratch and feed the ever hungry troops.

Currently lucky white watch  are in their ‘racks’ getting some shut eye after a very successful watch between 4am and 8am this morning. They waved their magic wand and wind miraculously appeared to build beyond 20 knots apparent, finally the need to place a single reef.  8am-12pm and the Blue watch return to the controls to change down from 1 Yankee to Yankee 2 as the apparent wind continues to rise. Meanwhile Simon on mother, fights a winning wrestle in the forepeak to tidy the collection of sails then heads back to the galley to make an avocado starter for Lunch. Who says a man can’t multitask!!

Thursday 11 th, tomorrow we look forward to going over the International Date Line. A first for many aboard. Although the Date Line technically sits at 180 degrees longitude,  it dog legs over to 172 west to keep the  Chatham Islands East of the Date Line. The date line then cuts back in to 180 degrees further north of here, to ensure Samoa sits on the West side of the line.   For us this means we sailed over 180 degrees a couple of days ago, and we currently have a westerly longitude but are still yet to across the Date Line.   When we go over we will simply have two Thursdays 11^th  in the log !! An extra day will help recover  some mileage from the earlier slower days and help then numbers and means Clive and Simon will have to wait one more day for their Birthdays!!

Individual shout outs.

Skipper.. They’ve all done Jolly well!!

Mates 

Steve

Woodroffe . Happy belated Birthday to Dad and Auntie Di Di. All is good here, aboard the good ship Adventure. The watch system with the mate and skipper is working well.  Big Shout out to all family, especially this time Mummy bear, Pappy, Colin, Timmy, Maddie, Jack and Emma, Simon, Jana and Cyntie. Love you all loads and can’t wait to see you again and my new god daughter Edith and special monster Leo G xxx

Red Watch

Simon

Hi my darling Valentine. Miss you more than fresh fruit! Love to E & E, think about you all the time  – work hard and play hard, i’ll be home soon.    Hi to Cookes, hope all well with work, school, Norsk, Cello & Treelands. Southern Ocean both beautiful and awesome – fresh fish, dolphins and  albatross’s.......  £1.99 gloves performing awesomely in testing conditions!!

Laura: The bread worked!! First attempt a winner so now got to improve on that! Hello to Mum, Dad, and Charlotte miss you all, the seas are getting bigger which is daunting, but amazing to see albatross following the boat in the roaring forties.  Tom, i miss you lots and hope you’re cards keep you smiling, Love you.

Clive just wants to say “what the F$%K”, the waves are massive, the ocean is so black and dark with no reflection, to stare directly into it at 10 knots after slipping on  the fore deck, is the most scary moment of my life to date.  Loving it!! J.  To Kyle and Willow, will be home soon lots of love Daddy x x

Frankie Want  to dedicate this entry solely to my wonderful wife Sacha to wish her a not too busy (with the kids) Valentine’s Day and I will be thinking of you even more if that is possible. Love you Bubsy!!

White

Dave Hey all, getting well south now, plenty of wind and plenty of big ocean!!  Stinker – just passed King Kong Island I think I heard a dinosaur roar.  Hope everyone is good, I’m feeling a million dollars, wish I could share with you all – plenty of dits when I get back xxx Love you all, see you soonest.  Got to go now, back on watch and full foulies required to fend off the southern swell’s – Albatross a plenty keeping us safe. Hey GG xx

John  Love to RCIRO.  I hope you are all well.  The roaring 40’s are living up to their name, its Rock and Roll every day.  Rebecca I love so much and thank you again for this experience.    You all mean so much to me and you are always in my thoughts.  Marion this wildlife is fantastic.  Derek the fishing is good when we are unfortunate to go slow enough.  My love to you all.

Tim  While we’re having an awesome time in the Roaring Forties – getting more exciting by the sail change, I still spend much of my time thinking of Claire, Ed and Louis – love to you all!

Saturday 7^th February.

Even before we had cleared customs, in Auckland 2 crew members (Simon & John) had dressed each other with vegetables to demonstrate their “cabbage head” identity to the Army yacht – something to do with colour of berets apparently!

Following Disco, with Challenger behind, all three challenge boats motored through the Motiuhe Channel into the Hauriki Gulf. By mid afternoon, a high pressure gave rise to 14 knots apparent wind from the East and the race began under full main Yankee 1, and Stay Sail.

Challenger and Disco decided to free off as we stuck inshore BTW, with a 30 degree lift on the Port tack we managed to take the lead. With this and the rising current going in our favour around the Headland of Cape Colville, Adventure were well and truly happy sailors.

After a momentary dropping of the stay sail through the tack to reconnect a hank around the top of the Headland white watch were well and truly in the Groove whilst the rest if the crew enjoyed a comfortable first night in their bunks in the relatively lights airs. Before the night was out the breeze disappeared, and the engine had started. The wind dropped right off the engine had to remain on to maintain an average speed.

It’s Monday now and as I am typing, Andy Burgess is excelling himself yet again. We have Sushi rolls in front of us on the Galley Table,  comprising of Dolphin fish caught off the back rail, served with rice, ginger, wasabi. This is the second  Dolphin fish we have caught. Yesterday, Sunday, we were definitely in touch with nature, Flying Fish, a Dolphin, our first Albatross and the events of Disco catching a “shark” only 200 yards from us made entertainment while the wind was deciding when to kick in. The evening finished with some nice sun downers. The only real events we had were it was too hot to do anything. We fixed the main sail as one batten popped out and a slider came free from the sail and the electronic barometer was re calibrated.

After fighting a 2 knot current around the East Cape the breeze filled in and yet again it was white watch who was on the controls, now known as the lucky watch. At 0200hrs the Yankee, stay sail were up and we were keen to catch Disco who managed to sneak ahead under motor on the inshore track before the wind filled in. 0230 reef 1 was in and by 0300hrs Disco were on the beam and we were looking strong to overtake them whilst they took a more southerly track, we took the speedy SE cutting the mileage. At 1030hrs ADV are 5 miles ahead of Disco, 10 miles ahead of Challenger and a second plate of Sushi is being served. Adventure Out.

Individual shout outs.

Skip

Crew are all doing jolly well!!

Mates

Steve – Hi An, Vicky and Matt, Sarah, Tom and Mavy!  Having loads of fun, hope everything’s fine with you all!  Lots of love xxx

Nikki, It’s time to give!! Please don’t forget my quest to collect 1 pound for every mile raced that’s £8000 for help for Heroes. We up to about 50% online and 60% in total overall, visit  www.justgivingnikkiwoodroffe/

Or just type Just Giving and Nikki Woodroffe into google to be able to donate online! Thank you it WLL make a difference.. as will this trip has done to my life!xx

Red Watch

Simon

To my special girls Estelle and Elizabeth and my darling wife Linda – I think about you all the time. Work hard and play hard – except Linda (don’t work too hard !). You would have loved the sushi – 20min from ocean to plate. Good to be finally underway after the uncertainties in NZ. Miss you all but see you soon.  Thanks to all my friends and relatives in NZ – great to see you all.

Clive

To Francesca, Kyle and Willow.  WOW we have had some big waters, we have a fishing rod attached to the back of the boats and so far have managed to caught 2 fish.  Will see you soon lots of love Daddy x x

Mum and Dad, Sarah, Simon, Bradley, Harry, Trinity and John,  hope you are all well, the seas are treating me well so far with no sea sickness (touch wood) missing you all loads x x

To the mess – not really missing you at all!!  We have managed to have sushi 2 days in a row which is good but would prefer some Special K – soon you all soon, keep smiling

831

Frankie. Hi to all back home, all is well glad to be sailing and away from expensive Auckland!! Luca, Jessica and Sacha thinking of you all the time. Still “Living the Dream”

Laura: Hi everyone. All going well, glad to get sailing and out of Auckland to take on the ocean. Sea legs are starting to work, getting used to being healed over all the time.  Lots of love xxx

White watch

Dave    Hi All! Everything ok this end, tension is building as we leave NZ behind us, missing you all especially you stinky bum!  Be good and concentrate on your hand writing xx, see you very soon xx. GG – keep smiling, soon be home with Baldy, Hel – hope the hand in has all gone ok, Dr Sharp soon!  Tight lines everyone, keep it steady.

John     RCIRO, Hello to you all from the Southern Pacific.  We have found plenty of wind.  I have seen an Albatross, Dolphins and I have caught fish.  So far very exciting.  The Dolphins were at night which was very pretty as they churned up the bio illuminates.  I hope both Charlotte and Isobelle enjoy your friend’s birthday parties.  Love to you all.  Daddy.

Tim Finally seen the back of NZ – more sailing required! Hope all’s well at home – love to you all,

Blue Watch

Steve-  Hi Kaz, Harry and all family and friends that are following us. I am slowly getting the taste for sushi and fresh fish. We now have some wind and are getting down to some sailing, brilliant! Hope all is well back home ta ta for now xx

Paul Hi Gail Jack Ellie  & everyone, my sea legs are working at 30 degrees, on our way to the cape!

Lou Hi Mam, dad and Innis and everyone else that is reading this blog. My sea legs aren’t working too well but I’ll get there. I hope!!!

Day 2.  Our position is 37º23’644S 177º54’056E and we are making 8 knots over the ground, heading 095Mag.  Unfortunately, there is almost no wind whatsoever, so we are having a gentle, if sometimes frustrating, welcome to our leg.  The past few days have been quite frantic at times, so perhaps this calm sea and mild weather will give us all a chance to get our breath back as we ease into the watch system and set the rhythm for the next five weeks.

As part of the maintenance on the boats, it had to be established that there would be sufficient freeboard to allow an adequate safety margin, for where we are going.  To do this we had to measure the boat in various load states, and send the figures back to the UK for the powers that be to do lots of complicated calculations.

To ‘measure the boat in various load states’ involved taking every single bit of kit off   and then measuring how high corners (the freeboard) were above the water.  Then, kit was reloaded in order of priority (obliged to have, need to have, nice to have), with each bit being meticulously weighed and listed, and the freeboard measured at intervals. Of course, no matter how sensibly and logically we went about unloading and loading, the outboard motor needed moving in and out of the forepeak an inordinate number of times.

If the calculations came out our way, we would get the go-ahead for the trip as planned.  If they didn’t, there were a few alternatives, but none of them quite what any of us had wanted, so there was much tension as we waited for information to come in.  On Thursday, we received a request for one final measurement, and horrible recollections of the outboard motor settled in our minds.  But this one was a bit different: in order to simulate the weight of the provisions necessary (bearing in mind that on average 15 people weigh about a ton), both the Army and the Navy had to pile onto the RAF boat, with their weights being added up, and the corners of that boat then measured. 

 It was then announced that the measurements were satisfactory, everybody could feel a wave of relief moving through our group of 41.  We were cleared to go around the Horn.

The total number for all three boats was 41 because unfortunately we lost one member of our crew to personal circumstances at home: we would all like to wish him and his family well. 

Friday was spent provisioning the boat.  This is not as straightforward an operation as one might naively expect.  First, a meal plan has to be worked out, which will allow for 14 people to receive adequate (and preferably varied) nutrition for the duration of the trip.  In designing said meal plan, Pete (the skipper’s mate and purser) had also to factor in the amount of freezer space, fridge space, and storage space in general.  And this would be no easy task, considering that 14 people eating 3 meals a day will take in 42 meals a day in total. This multiplied by 35 days gives 1470 meals  altogether another way of looking at it would be to imagine shopping for yourself (a single person) for 14 months, all at once. 

So we split down into two groups, a shopping party and a loading party.  The shopping party was faced with the logistical difficulty of buying and moving several tons of groceries, while the loading party prepared the goods buy removing extraneous packaging (as all garbage other than totally biodegradable waste like vegetable peelings will be coming to Uruguay with us) and then finding places to fit it all into.  It was a tough end to a tough week, but morale improved somewhat when taken to Hell to get pizzas for supper (having worked long past the closing time of the cookhouse at the naval base…and never fear, Hell is the name of the delightfully branded pizzeria).

At 1000 hours we received our last crew man fresh from the Airport and then it time to slip for the last time from Orams Marine Village and make our way to the Customs pontoon to get final clearance to leave New Zealand.

And then we were off.

We motor-sailed out for a while, before hoisting our No. 1 Yankee and staysail and switching the engine off.  Sadly, the wind later died off, and we have had the engine back on, and the sails down, ever since (but see below)

I have just been interrupted in my writing of this by a very enthusiastic Julian coming bounding down the stairs into the saloon, to herald the arrival of a pod of dolphins along our bow.  Though never one to get worked up about dolphins, I must admit that the experience of sitting up in the pullpit watching these creatures skitter about the boat was quite moving; and it was not just me…Julian kept saying it was the best thing he had ever seen, and Poe was happy to be able to cross one entry off his list of things to see on this trip.  Even Ollie was interested enough to postpone for a few minutes his beloved sleep, sticking his head out of the forepeak hatch to see if they were still there.  And they were: they followed us for hours.

The next few paragraphs should hopefully show what the pattern of life if like on this boat. First, I was cut off mid-sentence during the above paragraph, because the generator was switched off and the laptop battery died.  So, being on mother watch, I went to bed.

But then, we were awoken at 0218 (Day 3) to be told we were needed to assist Red watch with a sail change.  Now, being disoriented on waking at the best of times, and 0218 is most certainly not the best of times to be woken up, and hearing the engine still running, and knowing that there was no wind when going to sleep, I was confused, as I think were the rest of the watch.  It turned out that the wind had picked up considerably, and the No.1 Yankee had been raised but was a little too much canvas to show to that particular wind, so it had to come down and the No. 2 go up.

It was not an easy sail change, but Red watch stoutly spent an hour up front sorting it out, and reefing the main.  Once all of this action was over, it was time for Blue watch to get up top to take over.  Now, Riki (watch leader for Blue) took much relish in pointing out over breakfast (when I have resumed writing this, as the generator is back on) that his watch had overseen the longest distance covered by sail alone so far, at 36NM (an average of 9 knots). 

So, this blog entry was started on Sunday night, with no wind, and a motor crawl away from New Zealand.  It finishes with sails hoisted, a reef in, and the New Zealand courtesy flag stowed down below.  Things can change quickly, and it is with eagerness we wait to see what the next change will be.

From the Skipper.

A long but very worthwhile week was had a Orams, preparing the fleet for the longest Leg of this Exercise.  The support provided by IPT has been fantastic and the boats are in great shape for the rigours of this leg. Thank you. All the teams worked so hard moving about 4.5 tonnes of kit off and back on the boats again.  I would like to thank Roger Saynor of the Royal New Zealand Navy for arranging all the accommodation and meals at the Devonport Naval Base, making some of the simple things in life even more worthwhile! The welcome that we have had in Auckland has been fantastic and think that we were all sorry to leave.  However all the boats has a splendid sail through the Haraki Gulf and past Great Barrier Island before having to motor and hence settle into this mammoth leg.

Disco Blog First Few Days

So, with all the prep done, it was time for the off.  We were finally given the all clear to sail so the 3 yachts cleared customs on Saturday lunchtime and motor-sailed out of Auckland through the outlying islands and were ready for the Southern Ocean and our epic adventure!  We had a reasonable sailing start but were soon all becalmed.  The Royal Navy yacht Adventure immediately started their engine and motored upwind, leaving Disco and Challenger furiously working on sail trimming!  As night came the winds died, the engine was on and we gradually left the islands behind and headed into the deep blue!

The first day was a lovely calm sunny day where everyone had a chance to get their sea-legs, and the biggest danger was sunburn and an excess of morale as with the tunes blasting, shirts off, we all decided this would be an ace trip!  Mother Watch (Blue) made this all the better as we dined like Lords of the Ocean on Fajitas!  The freezer of meat may, however, be completely obsolete as Day 2 heralded Fish 1, a beautiful blue and yellow dolphin fish, chunky enough for a round of sushi 5 mins after catching. Yes!, we do have Wasabi on board, then marinated in soy and ginger it was a glorious starter as White watch rustled up eve meal number 2, under the strict prof chef eye of James who is tutoring each watch!  Alex is now known as the fish killer as he had no hesitation in grabbing a winch handle and giving the poor thing a headache!  The wind picked up soon after and unfortunately stomachs churned rather; on top of this, brand new to the sea Gaz reported he had had the worst night of his life as Red watch were pummelled on the foredeck doing a sail change!  But at least the buddy-buddy system is working as Chinky was ready with the brush and bucket as Gaz lost his spag bol, which made good ground bait for the fish!

At least Gaz aimed, unlike the salty sea dog Doc Nick the second mate, who was taken unawares and exploded apricot compote into wind and onto Chinky, who is having a bad enough time already as a new sailor and also going cold turkey from 30/day to a non smoker.  The result being he is eating his rations and those of all around him, not surprising really as the only pongo on an RAF boat, so tasty food is a revelation to him!  Another casualty was Henry the flying fish, an unlucky chap who in the middle of the massive south Pacific took his last flight as he collided with 50 tonnes of steel, and came off worst.  Red watch do seem to have the bad weather but are in safe hands with Jo A keeping a very steady helm, and loving it!

In true RAF fashion Disco is well victualled and we’re considering leaving a floating food bundle tied to a fender for the Army, Yes, the Army and Navy are behind us, hurrah!  The Army initially took a northern track whereas the Navy bolted south hoping for stronger winds, but were becalmed so lost their lead.  With lots of VHF contact the banter is rife, with so many ‘frequent fliers’ on Disco the forecasting is going well and we’re finding the winds and heading southeast on the Rhumb line.  White ‘Coffee’ watch are getting competitive, not only James and Wozza having a plunger-coffee-maker rivalry, but also the speeds each can get on helm, we’re averaging 9kts/hr but have hit 10.4 (Wozza), and we’re just about to sit down and watch a sail trim video, watch out other yachts!  But soon we’ll release our own video as Mike ‘Spielberg’ Beresford is filming everything, except his own magenta nose and cheeks, yes, he has caught the sun!

On the subject of coffee, the Skipper has a pink mug ...  and a wretched coffee maker, which we’re learning to love!  And refers to the blue man-over-board fender as Helen, his wife!

Night 1, Wozza found that is appeared to be raining indoors as the dorades had been turned around to cool the boat but now were funnelling water down his bunk!  Gonzo keeps us all in a state of terror as wavelets become sea state phenomenal, ‘Close the hatch, close the hatch, goffers everywhere’, so Mother Watch sweat it out down below, and on deck it’s glorious!  A ‘goffer’ is a wall of water coming down the deck, funny if it’s a group goffer, funnier for those watching if it’s an individual goffer!  Like the one that got Nick on the foredeck and inflated his life jacket!

Day 2, shark watch!!!  Brian’s reel spins and as he starts to reel it in a ragged fin appears, clearly this is a fish who has been in some fights, thankfully he drops off the line leaving the lure, not sure any of us fancied landing a shark but Doc Jo was there ready with a small mallet to bash it on the nose – fearless!  Later that day the reel span again and hunter gatherer Brian landed a 30lb tuna – it was that big really – massive, sushi again then the most enormous tuna steaks x30, spare cubed in the freezer for fish pie, and tuna sandwiches the next day, yum! Wozza was devastated, fish-wise he is down 2-0 and later drops Brian’s lure overboard; unintentional he claims, hmmmmm! Chinky was the star of the tuna eating competition that followed. No one could manage to eat their dinner save Chinky who managed not only his own but also Gazza’s . Needless to say he made three trips to the heads today

WO Taff is in charge of discipline, cleanliness and dress standards, needless to say there is now a beard growing competition, Jo and Jo excluded, a bit of a fog down below and Jason the ‘Stinking Bishop’ has been ordered to sit downwind of everyone and air his inner soles daily, but is now making vast quantities of compote as all our soft fruit is rapidly rotting!  The heads routine is simple, flush nothing that has not been through the body, so the snowballs have begun, not a fight, downwind!  Taff’s one-liners, Welsh lessons and menu board keep us all giggling, “we’ve run out of bread so you’ll have to eat toast!”

So here we are, just into the Roaring Forties, dolphins on the bow and an albatross on the stern!  We’re waiting with anticipation for the first depression; we have crossed the Date Line and weren’t really sure what to do, so we’ve just done 2 Sundays, any ideas please let us know!  Morale is high, the wind is good and the swell is building, all is well on the good ship Disco!!

Individual Shout Outs:

From Brian: Congratulations Chris and Heather on the engagement – no pressure Mike and Yaz – Emma, keep looking.  All’s well, the fishing is exciting and despite the loss of my best lure I expect to land something bigger soon, weather fantastic, sailing superb, spirits are high.  Lots of love to you Pauline and Oli, thank you for your patience. xxxx

From Taff:  Missing you all very much Sam keep up with the paper round.  Iwan concentrate on the football, plenty of sliding tackles for Dad.  Amie, keep studying and enjoy the quayside!  Alison love you xx. 

From Gareth (chinky); hello sexy bum, missing you so very much! Was a bit sea sick like you predicted but not too bad now! Say hello to mum and the rest of the family. Tell Emma I saw dolphins! Take baby bum from your very own Asian sensation! xxxxx

From Gonzo: much love to Laura, miss you sweet pea. X. Big shout out to Ali, Rory, Ben & Bess. Hello to all the Stevenson/Garvey clan, Mel, we`ve had an Albatross follow the boat, awesome to see!

From Warren: Hi to mum and dad. Dad I told them that you said a 10000 t ship wasn’t big enough for the passage ahead!! I’m also realising that the ‘one hand for you and one for the boat’ lesson you taught me aged 6 will shortly be in effect. Hello Sis back in Chiswick, good luck with your exam. Smelly? there is a fog cloud developing here!! Please say hi to Ma and Carl next door, tell Ma everybody says I look tired as well, although 4/4 shifts is worse than long haul!! Hello to all at 32Sqn, hope you have some jets to fly and the program is busy. Big shout out to all at Virgin Atlantic, miss the down route beers, fly safe in the ‘red and white funbus’. Catch you all with the next blog when we’ve had our first good rinsing with the Southern Ocean.

From Jason:  A big shout out to Joan and the Llan gang – happy anniversary Julie and Alan.  Missing you all – back to the galley to help Blue Watch cook the evening meal, the competition is fierce!  P.S my feet are not that bad...........

From Nick: Much love as always to Adele and missing Punchy. Thanks to Owen and the Chairman and everyone else for the gifts. I look forward to opening them later. They’ll keep me going over the coming weeks. And to Houghton...stay away from my wife!!

From Alex: Hello and love to the family. Miss my rabbit, hugs and squeezes to all J  Having a great time, just too much thinking time can be bad for the wallet on return... Hope the wedding plans are progressing Harry. Hi to all the PH’ers, I know you are always concerned for my welfare but as always I’m doing ok!

From Jo A: Hello and love to Pete, Mum, Dad, Jeff and Nicola and all at the ARCC! Enjoying some awesome helming! More to follow... xxx

From Jo R:  Mum Dad and Winnie – having a super sail, yes, clipped on!!  Galaxy going down well! Happy Birthday Winnie, hope you have a great day!! Joey, so super to see you in Auckland, best fish and chips beach picnic ever, thank you!  Kiran, hope all well with the champagne!!xx

From Mike: Hi darling as you see the crew a gelling well and the banter is all positive. Please say hi to Toby and my mum for me. It seems like only yesterday i was in the southern ocean. All going well down here with steady winds and seas, long my that remain. I miss talking to you, hope your cold has fizzled out and you are bouncing again. All my love and huge hugs Xxxx

The crew of were meeted and greeted by Lt Cdr Roger Saynor (MBE) from the RNZN at Auckland airport. All three crews were transported to the Devonport Navy Barracks and given a brief by OIC JSASTC Nick Trundle in typical southern Hemisphere style, by the swimming pool and in the sunshine. The crews then had chance to meet their individual skipper and see what the programme over the following few days entailed.

A day of rest for the incoming crew of  Leg 8 was followed by the old skippers and mates departing to rejoin the refit team in Orams yard to cut the new battens for all three mains and refit the luff boxes so in short, an afternoon of playing with anti corrosive ‘yellow stuff’, hacksaws and different size allen keys, whilst the jet lagged and climate shocked crew caught up on some rest. 

On Saturday morning, the Afterguard for each yacht which included  outgoing Skippers, Mates and the 3 watch leaders departed after breakfast from the barracks in the famous ‘love buses’ hired especially for our troops to go from base to boat each day. This is about a 15k drive, past Bayswater were Sir Peter Blake grew up and first learnt to sail and over the harbour bridge and into the edge of town, to Orams yard where the boats were situated for their refit. The remainder of the crew rejoined the boats in the afternoon for a session of familarisation to the boat, including sorting out the watch teams and berths, foulies, lifejackets and a tour of the upper and lower deck.  The main sail and the trysail were checked and hoisted successfully as sections of their respective tracks had been replaced during the refit.

On Sunday, compass swings were performed in the bay for all three boats and there was an element of excitement when the reigns were released and crew on Adventure was tasked with hoisting the mainsail, and performing some reefing drills along the way. The Yankee 2 was also hoisted and then re-packed.  Adventure crews listened carefully to their watch leaders as they were tasked with taking the lead for the drills. Back alongside, well done Nick for parking stern to between the most two expensive boats in the marina, if not Auckland, Aquila and Drum beat, one if which kindly created a large wind shadow to aid the manoeuvre. Once along side the headsail was re-hoisted for the benefit of our stray crew Clive Cooper,  who says he was abandoned, but truth be known he was shopping and got carried away doing something for someone else…no names… ah bless…. Discoverer doing sail drills along side, were the lucky winners of Clive’s company for the afternoon, but then the tables were turned as when Clive returned to Adventure and Nick Carter’s secret  winning Sydney Hobart sail manoeuvres were out of the bag for all of Adventure to enjoy…good tactics Clive. J A delightful crew meal at the waterfront, in Viaduct Harbour including spectacular fireworks, followed.

On Monday the crew were given the day off to enjoy some Auckland festivities. The National Maritime museum, the Seafood festival and Florence and the machine were all enjoyed by the crew.

On Tuesday, the crew were tasked with removing every item from the boat in order for measurements to be taken for some weight calculations, concerning load lines. Items were removed ,placed on the nearby pontoons, statistics taken, coded items were weighed and stowed and more stats taken,  all remaining kit was weighed and  stowed… you get the picture!! A particularly busy and tiring day, even the pontoons were glad it was over.

Today is Wednesday, a slightly sunnier day after a morning putting everything back in its’ place after yesterday’s chaos, followed by a session of mast climbing for essential crew photos. There is now a big sense of expectation as the final preparations for departure are being finalised.  As I type, 2 electricians and a mechanical engineer are fixing emergency lights, Clive and John are sewing the sponsor flags, Tim and Dave are starting to fix the forepeak ladder and D rings,  Laura is being creative with some netting in the galley for good stowage,  Steve is sorting his admin out, Andy is changing bulbs in torches, as every good doc does,  Frankie is chasing the gas contractor and I’m trying to do some Navigation to get us out to the start line which is 42 miles from here off the Coromandel Headland for the start on Saturday and the Skipper is counting his money ready for buying the provisions for1680 man meals on Friday!!

This will be our last shout before we head out to sea, so from all on Adventure, we send our best.

Nikki  (2^nd Mate)

Individual shout outs.

Mates

Nikki- To Suzi and Nick Jones, my dear friends, I am so so proud of you forgiving birth to Charles William Jones, born on the 8^th January. Please please wait until I get home for the christening… Lots of love to you all…  All my love to my dear family, and cool, loving supportive friends. Thank you for all the lovely emails/texts. Mum Tonga sounds great!!x

Red Watch

Simon…big hello to all back home…

Clive Daddy says hello to Kyle and Willow loads of love and kisses.

Frankie- Big shout out to all, Sacha, Luca, Jessica, all at 65 Fd Sp Sqn and all that are following me on here.  Should have left today but decided to get a bit more of Auckland!! Un saluto a mamma, papa’ e tutti in Italia. Ciao.

Laura- Hello Tom, Mum, Dad and Charlotte. The tan is coming along ;-) but Looking forward to the real adventure starting in a few days. Lots of love from the other side of the world xxxx

White watch

Dave    Hello little fella, be good and look out for your post card, love you Daddy xx

John     A big hello to RCIRO. Love to you all from Auckland.  See you all soon Love Daddy.

Tim  Hi all – we’ll soon be at sea! Lots of love.

Blue Watch

Steve- hi kaz and harry hope all is well back home, having a great time out here. Look forward to getting out to sea now and get going. Love you x x x

Paul hi all at home and the Ermington massive, missing you all. Sailing Saturday.

Lou

Andy Big Hello to all at home

After many, many months of preparation, the Army crew, are now in Auckland.   The majority of the team are are from the Second Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.  For most of the volunteers, we first heard about Exercise Transglobe when the Fusilliers were in Helmand Province in Afghanistan. News came over the Battle group that there were volunteers being sought for a for a six week sailing expedition.  Names were taken, and nothing much more was said until we returned to the UK. Soon a message came through that there would be a training/selection week in early November, so that potential crew and sailing could be acquainted with one another and decisions made accordingly.

During the Novemeber training sail, a group of us spent a week sailing around the Solent and across the Channel. Being November conditions were rather taxing (winds over 40 knots and a sea state to match), especially given that it was a first time for many of us.  A tentative crew list was drawn up, and preparations went forward.  Two additional crew members came at a later date, Sgt. Mole (and his medical expertise) and Fus. Brown, who found out later that he has been 'lent' to the RAF to fill a space on their boat.

In late January we made it to Gosport, where we had a couple of days of briefings, kit issue, and a sea survival course. This involved jumping into the Solent in January to practice moving about in lifejackets and climbing into life rafts. This exercise was viewed initially with some trepidation but which turned out to be good fun, and something of a comfort to have completed.  And then the flight to New Zealand...eleven hours to Hong Kong followed on by another eleven hour flight to Auckland.

My first impression of New Zealand from the plane was of a country of heart-rending beauty...jagged peaks of the lushest green torn apart by creeks and lagoons of water so crystalline that one could see, even from 3000m, schools of fish wending their way below the surface.  The humidity at the airport was surprising, especially after the sterile, air-conditioned climate in a pressurised aircraft cabin...of course, the irony has not gone unnoticed of a group of people fresh from one of the hottest, driest environments on Earth volunteering to go and be cold and wet for six weeks without relent.  For while many at work had expressed their jealousy of us going on this trip, and they have every right to be jealous, for it will undoubtedly be an adventure that will be remembered for the rest of our lives. Some seemed to be under the impression that it would like a six weeks' jolly around the Caribbean or a booze cruise across the Channel.  Nothing could be further from the truth: realistically, and I think it is only gradually coming to be fully realised, this is going to be a marathon, a six week test of stamina, determination and even interpersonal skills.  But this is precisely why the Armed Forces engage in these exercises.

On arrival in Auckland we were informed that the boats were on hard standing for 'MOTs', probably at an appropriate time given that this is the longest leg, and perhaps the one with the most potential for things to go wrong.  Of course, there was work to be done, and so when we got to the boat on Saturday there were still people working on Challenger.  Sunday was our first day on the water, and in typical fashion for the British Army it rained, even though the previous two days had been hot and sunny.  We took a master mariner out to swing our new compass, and then sailed about practising tacking drills and so forth.