Lanzarote Information

For those families and friends back at home who were out of communication with the crew of the Army yacht the Challenger, here’s their daily blog including photos and some really personal messages during the trip from Gosport to Lanzarote. Read about losing their main sail in force 8 winds, diving to repair a fouled prop, battle of the ipods and near misses with the Pride of Bilbao ferry & coalition aircraft carrier!

Challenger’s Daily Blog – Day 1

As dawn broke 42 Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen did convene aboard their trusty vessels to compete in the prestigious Exercise Transglobe. Following a hearty feast with their nearest and dearest, at the local hostelry known simply as Tiger Tiger and a moving speech by the 2^nd Sea Lord ( with musical accompaniment) final farewells were made and the three trusty vessels proceeded, in file, to the unknown waters just off Southsea Castle.

At 13:00 a defending crescendo, signified the start of the race with the Navy maintaining their lead as head of the procession, until the mighty Yacht Challenger, crewed by the finest Army in the world, took their yacht out of reverse and proceeded to close on the Navy. Due to our intense concentration nothing can be reported about Discoverer and her intrepid explorers.

Recognising the lengthy journey ahead, Choir practise was instigated and three members immediately signed up. A disappointing uptake as Discoverer already has a choir of nine!!

Green and Blue Watch, under the watchful eye of Skipper and his Mate have safely navigated the dangerous waters of the Solent and are ensuring Challenger is leading the way. Red watch are efficiently supporting this effort, with a constant stream of brews, crème eggs (courtesy of Skip’s Mum) and chicken risotto.

As dawn broke on the morning of day 2, the 42 intrepid explorers did convene aboard their trusty vessels approximately 30 miles west of Guernsey. Discoverer still has a choir of nine; however the Challenger crew, not to be out done, has increased its choir to 5.

The courageous crew of Challenger, following some early morning PT (sail changes) did feast mightily on Alpen and bacon sandwiches. As the last bowl of Alpen was eagerly devoured, the good ship Discoverer hoved into view and a chorus from their choir was heard across the misty open sea.

Challenger’s Daily Blog – Day 2

Day 2 with the coast of England firmly behind us, the crew of Challenger have continued to forge ahead into the swell that surrounds the northern coast of France. With the wind lightening slightly, the crew increased the canvas only to be hit by stronger winds. Several reefs later, the boat seemed balanced and increased her speed to an occasional 11 knots.

Only a few miles separated Challenger from Adventure (The Navy) after over twenty four hours of sailing while Discoverer fell further behind. The will for competition being as high as it always will be between the services!

Green watch (Paul, Bob, Si and Dale) have moved to the duties of Mother watch and prepared a feast of Chicken Fahitas for Blue (Dave, Boyd, Ian and Rob) and Red (Carl, Ernie, Eddie and Jacko) watches. Blue and Red saw the night through at the helm with Blue being soaked on the death watch of 12 til 4. As the boat enters the Bay of Biscay everyone is preparing for the challenging nights that lie ahead.

The sky is now cloudless, but the relentless swell makes life on board a fight to survive. The continual motion of the boat remains a challenge for those whose stomachs are less used to it, but the number of cases is thankfully lowering and some of the crew are now able to talk to each other rather than shout down the heads!

Green watch are going off mother watch and are about to go into the normal pattern. Blue watch are soon to be below and working in the Galley. With Boyd and Ian’s last attempt at cooking, the crew waits with baited breath for the culinary genius expected this tea time!

Challenger’s crew wish everyone reading the Blog the very best and thank everyone for their interest in Transglobe.

Challenger’s Daily Blog – Day 3

We were in hot pursuit through the night, motor sailing almost dead to wind trying to join with the other two yachts to check everyone’s state. At approximately 0530 in the morning we crossed paths with the Pride of Bilbao en route to Portsmouth, fortunately the only thing disturbed was the skippers sleep, no incident to report as we steered well clear.

After a quick check round deck at first light everyone was still aboard as were all the fixtures and fittings.

With the full time choir still in good voice, and many comments about never going sailing again, and why would you sail to Lanzarote when you can quite easily fly? Again morning exercise consisted of reefs in, reefs out, fore sails up, fore sails down.

Shortly after lunch an unnamed member of red watch had a fearsome encounter with port aft cabin door, needless to say the door came off worse.

With the wind dropping off towards early evening we dropped sails and motored into the coming night, at around eight the wind got up again so sails back up as the wind shifted in our favour westward.

Bring on day 4.

Challenger’s Daily Blog – Day 4

To say the crew of Challenger had a testing day would be a bit of an understatement. As the all male crew were to discover the only temperamental female they brought with them was actually the boat.

The sea and weather was not on our side with many of choir still practicing on deck and below.

The morning saw the first of the technical problems of the day with the fuel pump playing tricks. This was to be just the beginning as lunchtime proved far more troublesome, we choose to ‘hove to’ and drop the stay sail and drop in a reef. During this peaceful time the main sail blew out towards the top showing some problems with the luff box main car sliders. With the main flaked on the boom and the storm try sail up we set off again with the wind blowing F6-7 gusting 8. (nice!!!!)

After dinner, crew morale was lifted on the first sight of dolphins jumping in the bow wave. To quote the log ‘this is adventure training’.

Challenger’s Daily Blog – Day 5

After loosing the main sail on day five it started to look like Challenger was going to have to put in to Spain for repairs loosing valuable time on the journey south. The rigging of the Storm Sail in force 8 winds had taken its toll on the crew and it looked like a solution might not be possible in the prevailing conditions. The Storm continued through the night with Red and Green watch helmsmen having to smash the boat through a 6 metre swell in total darkness. Crew above and below decks suffered a sleepless night as the waves crashed and broke over Challenger’s decks. Dolphins occasionally provided a welcome sight as they patrolled around a struggling boat and a nervous crew.

As the night wore on the wind dropped and the swell gradually lessened. When dawn broke, a fresh look was taken at the main sail and the skipper Glyn decided that a repair might be possible. Challenger was pointed so the wind was on her stern, and work began to get the main off the mast and repaired before she drifted too far East under the tide. The crew struggled to get the main down onto the deck and then set about repairing the fixings that hold the Main to the mast. Anyone not involved in that task set about the running repairs to Challenger. With a crew full of REME Engineers it was something of a busman’s holiday! After two and half hours of work, the main was hoisted and the repair tested. Success! Before too long the number 1 Yankee foresail was hoisted and Challenger was able to continue South. The whole job had taken place 250 miles from the nearest coast, in one of the most notorious areas of the Atlantic Ocean.

With Challenger once again under way, the crew were almost immediately rewarded by a display of a school of 8-10 Dolphins leaping out of the water around the bow as the waves gave way to 9 knots of southerly travel. A sight and experience none of us will ever forget.

NOTES HOME:

Eddie

Hi everyone. Missing you all. Can’t wait to come home and see you. Won’t be long until I get to see you Claire. Love you loads.

Kev

Sea sickness is the best diet ever….fantastic!

Julia – hope the new job is going well.

Ruth – Enjoy your stay at Bekkies.

Joseph – hope ‘caps on’ parade goes well.

Lucy – Woof.

Missing you all, speak soon. Love Kev

Glyn

Hi to everyone that knows me. And you know who you are.

Dale

Hi everyone. Hope every thing is ok. Missing you loads. Also, to my beautiful girlfriend Kate: I miss you so much baby. Can’t wait to see you. Not long now. Speak soon. Love you.

Sy

Hi Kerry, Ce’fur and Mother. I’ll never understand why anyone runs off to sea! Finally found my sea leg, and it’s in the locker, so things are good. I miss you all so very much and am looking forward to being back. Love you always.

David C

Hi Lo, Henry and Tom. Great so far. Bay of Biscay was a bit rough and exciting but now much calmer. Seen Dolphins Tom! Hope you got to Bulgaria fine. Thinking of you. Love David.

Boyd

Hi Sharon, Dani and Jack. Missing you all loads. Just passed through the Bay of Biscay in a force 7-8 (interesting!!). Haven’t felt sick yet…yeah! Looking forward to Turkey. Miss you Love Boyd. Big Kisses to you all. Don’t let the bed bugs bite xxx

Rob

Hi Mother, Daz, Dean and Kyran. Hope things are going fine for you guys and the pups aren’t running you ragged. I’m having a fantastic time here. Just crossed the Bay of Biscay in gale force winds. I was sea sick for the first time ever. Well, onto Portugal now. See you guys when I get back.

Ian

Hi everyone. Everything is going OK here and I hope you are all well. Finally found my sea legs after a bit of vomit. Well….actually a lot to be honest!! Having a really good time and enjoying every moment so I’ll tell you about it when I get back. Take care x

Paul

Hello Shell and Girls; Lisa, Jase and boys. I hope you are all well. Thanks for coming to see me off. It was great to see you all. I hope the driving is going well Kelly. Keep up with the homework Kirsty. Keep an eye on Beau for me Dan. I love you Shell and think of you all every day. xxxx

Challenger’s Daily Log – Day 6

After losing approximately 7 hours sailing time due to the trials and tribulations of the mainsail failure, the Challenger yacht had a more successful night and managed to regain approximately 8 miles on Discoverer and Adventurer. Much of this success must be attributed to the inspiration of one of the Blue watch crew who invented a new method of navigation, namely ‘follow that cloud’. This was closely followed by ‘navigation by dolphin’ and ‘navigation by the waves’. The remainder of the Challenger crew were astonished and were amazed that no-one in the history of nautical navigation had previously thought of this!! (New bestseller in the pipeline – Ian Hodgkiss, 20 Hot New Ways To Navigate - it’s got to be a winner)

With the Bay of Biscay now firmly behind us and the sun making an all too rare appearance the morale of the crew rocketed and sun tan lotion was broken out. Unfortunately this was not to last as the rain clouds descended again and another F5 – 6 squall blew in and out came the oilskins yet again. All watches had another rough night with Green watch suffering below deck and Red and Blue Watch’s suffering the worst of the weather and the sail changes above decks.

The on board entertainment has divided the crew and a full blown ‘battle of the ipods’ has broken out. Apparently size isn’t relative as the Boss who is the biggest, both by rank and size has the smallest one! (of course I’m talking about his ipod shuffle) The choice of music has ranged from electronic drum and bass for the kids to AC/DC and Genesis for the more mature members of the crew, a compromise is yet to be reached, but one thing is for certain, the younger members definitely didn’t appreciate Jim Reeves.

The Challenger crew are in excellent spirits and now that the yacht is fully repaired are relishing the challenge of catching the other two crews. We wish everyone back at home our very best and thank you for your continued support.

Challenger’s Daily Blog – Day 7

As dawn broke upon the mighty Challengers bow, the crew of salty seamen set about setting a goose wing, an ideal method of sailing down wind. All was well for the 14 chosen men aboard the pride of the British Army “Challenger”. Steaming along at 10 Kts or more, the skipper informed the exhausted watch that the weather was closing in.

With 30 kts of wind on its way the skipper made the call sail change, the goose wing must come down, sail changed and then reset. The weather beaten faces of red watch dropped as the gruelling task ahead became apparent. Taking the goose wing down was an arduous challenge to say the least and another watch of men came forth to lend their hands. The goose wing was almost completely down and the new sail was raised. It was then that the suspicion that Neptune had a grudge for the crew off Challenger was confirmed.

A fouled prop rendered the engine unusable. This situation needed an immediate resolution. The sails were dropped and “Wee man” volunteered to swim beneath the keel of the awesome vessel to untangle the problem. Another mankini clad volunteer, who can’t be named, donned black nasty covered goggles and swam beneath the water coming back with the idea to cut through the rope to release it. The job was nearly finished when the swimming instructor (who had kept very quiet until now), decided that he would sneak in to claim the glory. Dressed as a bad impression of Bruno, in the skimpiest swim wear imaginable he dived in the water unaware of the tiny gold fish that lurked beneath. When he did notice the stingray he was sharing the bath with the Steve Irwin impressions came to a swift halt and he leaped from the water. The job was done and we could finally set sail for Lanzarote.

There was a close encounter in the early hours with a coalition aircraft carrier. Challenger and her magnificent crew, though out numbered played chicken with the US navy, needless to say the yanks bottled it and ran with there tails between their legs . To mark another great victory the hardy men of Challenger had a celebratory full English fried breakfast.

Challenger’s Daily Blog – Day 8

As Challenger edged her way down the Portuguese coast the weather continued to blow a steady 22-28 Knots. With the Foresail goose winged out behind a single reefed main, she reached a maximum of 13.7 knots under the guidance of Bob on Green watch, decreasing that difference between her and Discoverer. The crew have started to dare to believe that after all the problems, Challenger has it in her to catch the other boats.

A rigging mistake on a Gybe with a poled out foresail saw further delays forced on the boat. The crew, who had previously been enjoying the sun, raced forwards onto the foredeck in considerable waves to untangle the mess. Waves smashed into the bow soaking all that had gone up. Thankfully the problem was cleared in a relatively short time, but forearms burned from the effort and the soaked crew took breath in the cockpit after the event.

The crew all remain in good spirits. Bob’s mood swings as a result of his PMT (pre Martini Tension) continue to dog his overall performance. But this has not affected his overall ability to smile through just about anything.

Dale has finally got a smile on his face now that talk has begun about the final destination. We could be there in a couple of days.

Sy, our “monoped”, has proved that if you give a one legged man who is on the helm a brew, he becomes a one legged one armed man who must steer with his teeth. A mistake none of us will be making again!

Dave’s diet is finally having its toll on the ‘atmosphere’ in the boat. The fans simply can’t cope and the whole crew is of the opinion that he must be missing LO’s cooking.

Ernie’s vision continues to be obscured by his oversized cup. So much so that his helming resulted in an unexpected wake up call for the whole crew at 0200 last night.

Kev’s celestial navigation with a sextant each morning has finally managed to place us ‘somewhere’ in the northern hemisphere.

Rob turned 21 yesterday and got a cake for his birthday. (A bit crumbly mind you). Everyone sang happy birthday at the top of their voices but it was fruitless. Out here, no one can hear you scream!

Boyd was kicked in the head by Sy. Well, technically, as Sy wasn’t actually attached to the leg at the time.

Carl continues to spend his down time taking part in inappropriate activity. Come on Carl, only a couple of days to go.

Ian (the Oik!) has managed to pick up a nasty rash. No-one is admitting liability but the washing up liquid carries a “risk of irritation” on the label. Soap next time matey!

Jacko continues to point at the back of passing ships with his hand asking “what does that this actually do?”. We mean point the boat Jacko!

Ernie can cook. Though we’re not sure what the effect has been on the crew! (see comments on David).

Paul has been pole dancing after diving under the boat in slinky swimwear. Bob took some photos but they seem to have gone missing (see comments on Carl).

Glyns dislike of Haribo seems to be waning. We all knew there was a cuddly teddy bear in there somewhere.

Personals

For Wilson Cowan – A once in a lifetime experience! Not recommended for your cruise next year, although there are regular showers – usually over the side. All the best – hope all well.

To Shell, Girls and Beau – I hope you are all well! Not long now and I’ll be in range of land. Last we saw was the coast of northern France! Give my love to everyone. Looking forward to getting home to you all.

Hi Kerry – Hope you are being looked after ok by Ce’fur and that she isn’t being as demanding as she is with me. I’m having technology withdrawal, no phone, laptop etc; I’m actually lost. Really missing you and looking forward to being back. Love you XxX

Challenger’s Daily Blog – Day 9

With less than 200 Nm to Lanzarote, the occasional ‘wiff’ of sangria, paella and the sound of ‘The Macarena’ could be heard by those on the night shift – they claim!!!

Actually it was Rock Watch (Red Watch), led by their intrepid leader Carl Ingham, who made the claim. But having devoured 3 tubs of extra strong Haribo dummies and being as ‘high as kites’ on E numbers, and blasting out Meat Loaf’s Bat out of Hell at 0130 in the morning, the detective in me senses they were making it up.

Yesterday was relatively uneventful in terms of a typical day on Challenger. We headed further South with a couple of gybes so that Kev could take the helm and create a spout of sea water and land it in the cockpit just to liven things up. The gybe this morning was more exciting. Jacko decided the quickest way to drop the spinnaker pole was to just let go of everything and catch it with his shoulder. Being a solid little chap there was no harm done. Not to him anyway.

As it was Sunday, our top chef Boyd Cowan, who being a real traditionalist made a cracking turkey Sunday supper. To top this, whether it was 40 degrees or not, we were having a good hearty bowl of porridge this morning to ‘get some glow into ye’.

The ships talk is all about the lovely restaurants, Spanish traditional dancing and San Miguel – a small pottery near Porta Calero where we can all buy some nice presents for our loved ones – NOT!!!

With fair winds we should be in Lanzarote sometime tomorrow. We’ll let you know on the next Blog. Over and out.

Other related posts:
Transglobe British Forces Arrive in Lanzarote

British Services Transglobe Expedition

Adventure, The Navy's Blog

Discoverer, The RAF's Blog