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.