What follows is a blog that has only just made it back from the boat. It is from Day 13, so before the boat reached the Azores. There are some wonderful insights into the friendships that can develop on an Atlantic crossing and what causes them to come about.
Atlantic Ocean crossing
Day Blog 13 20/01/2018
Good Morning
The wind has picked up as predicted, it is currently fluctuating between 20 to 30knts. We are therefore tanking along at 10knts on a beam reach and making excellent progress towards Horta, ETA mid-morning tomorrow. The last 12 hours have seen us rack up 115nm in the right direction, mainly. Helmsmanship has been tested in these conditions and we have had varying degrees of success. It has however been a good indication of what we can expect on the next leg and everyone is getting a chance to practice before it gets too rough. Although spirits are high and there is an increased level of excitement, I think everyone will be pleased to arrive tomorrow morning. A hot shower, a level meal, everyday objects that are static and of course the obligatory beer at Pete’s bar are major topics of conversation. So all being well our next mid-day position report will be from Horta Marina. Speak to you soon.
Lots of Love Nick X
Mate
Update from Alex – Sailing Dutchman and Jamaican phosphorescence madness
As Nick said above, we are absolutely stonking along at the moment. At night, the sound of the water and the wind in the rigging as teaming phosphorescence comes flying past the boat, definitely makes for some exciting and challenging sailing. We had a school of dolphins join us at 4.30am just as the first light was breaking, dancing in and out of the Atlantic rollers. They were very much dark shapes coming and going in our stern wake.
An update on Ben’s bread – all is well in the Challenger house and a happy equilibrium found when Ben’s batch came out to perfection.
Again we’ve experienced yet more encounters with boats. Neil reckons it’s because we’ve taken a much more northern route this time as he’s never seen so many before. We had a what we reckon was a Dutch Open 60 cross our bow only 300m ahead yesterday, called Oz. The skipper contacted us over VHF wondering what weather we knew that he didn’t as he spotted our luminous orange storm sail. We predicted this might happen! It will be good to catch up with them in Horta. We were sad to find out that they were Dutch though as we were testing out our Australian expressions from ‘you flaming galah’ and ‘spotty dog’ (had to use a Sparky expression – my new brother in law).
Another moment of madness occurred as we came off our 11pm watch last night as we decided that phosphorescence is most definitely Jamaican. This conversation got slightly out of hand and by the end, we had a phosphorescence dance, a number of Bob Marley adapted songs and expressions such as ‘I iz phorescing, see my sparkle!’ – the bottom line of this all, we most definitely have been at sea too long and need some land air and to stand on solid ground again!
I am now tempted to join the Falmouth/Weymouth to Portsmouth leg as the final hurrah. Watch this space!
Nigel continues with his spontaneous lunging though his is more sitting on people unexpectedly. I was greeted by a looming backside heading for the leeward side as he climbed up onto deck for his morning shift. Poor Chris T was desperately trying to hang onto him so I didn’t get a full bum in face moment. The incident was eventually averted as I managed to guide him across.
Look forward to hearing from you all and I hope all is well. Big kisses as always xxx
Hey Lesley,
Better get this in before we made land and hit the bar. Love you lots and lots and lots… etc.
Trust
So today when we are due to make landfall I’ve been thinking about the trust that this crew has had in each other from the very start.
Even though there is a healthy rivalry and different character to each watch, that while I was laying in my bunk I got to thinking about how each half of the crew trusts the other half to keep the boat running and going in the right direction, and this has been the case now for 2 weeks. The trust comes in various ways and flavours, we trust that Neil and Nick are going to get us to where we want to and where they have planned safely and that the boat will make it with all crew alive, this means marshalling all the resources on board, fuel, water, food, along with putting in place a structure simple and fair for everyone to follow, so making sure that the watches prepare food at the end of the daytime watches, and the simple list of other jobs that need to be done on a regular basis to make that voyage a healthy one, heads cleaned twice a day, bilges pumped, day tank filled. It’s all these little details that have to be done.
Then there is the trust that comes between members of our own watch, keeping an eye out for each other, making sure we are not over tired, making a brew. Knowing peoples favourite mug, and what they have in it. It’s also making sure everyone feels valued, they get to do what’s needed, and if they are weak or strong in certain areas, helping each other improve and get stronger.
And of course there is trusting ourselves to do the right thing even when the going gets tough and being there for other people and not being afraid to lean on them when you’re struggling.
So as we near the end of this first leg, there seem to be lots of feeling bubbling up amongst the crew. There is excitement on reaching land, the anticipation of having more space for ourselves, oh and beer, maybe patience is getting a little shorter, are we already transitioning back to land time rather than boat time? These last 2 to 3 watches have a distinctly different feeling about them.
So in about 10 hours we will have sailed an ocean, will that make me an ocean sailor? I don’t think so. I think it takes more than one crossing to be comfortable calling yourself an ocean sailor. Will it have changed the way I think about sailing and what I can achieve on my own boat and how I go about it? Possibly, you always learn something new with everyone you sail with, sometimes it’s something technical, sometimes it how to do something, sometimes it’s that you may/may not want to sail with that person again. Will I do another Ocean crossing, well we still have to get back from the Azores to England or as tony calls it across the “Bay of Scary Biscuits”, and I’ll let you know then, but what I can say is that I’m looking forward to dodging some sandbanks and following buoys and fairways on the east coast this summer. This Ocean sailing is another ball game, both physically, mentally and logistically and it takes a certain sort of person to not just do it, but enjoy it as well.
So as of tomorrow most loved ones will likely be contacted directly as we all huddle round a Wi-Fi access point with pint in hand, so I will be unlikely to be ranting and roaring for a couple of days until we set of again, aiming in the general direction of Ushant where we turn right.
Budgie.
Heart felt Reflexions from the Skipper
As I sit at the chart table making final preparations for our entry in to Horta on the Island of Faial in the Azores I am moved to reflect on the last 2 weeks.
On the 4th of January 2018 11 strangers turned up to board Challenger 2 in Antigua, each one with their very own reason / motivation to cross the Atlantic Ocean on a sailing boat in January, I won’t speculate as to the individual motivation as it seems to be a peculiar human thing to want, may be need to step outside your comfort zone at least a once in a lifetime. Once that step has been made a truly rich and satisfying experience awaits. This voyage has been no different in many respects to other similar voyages we have run over the years, the uniqueness comes from the crew, the vast swath of life experience they bring to the boat, each one with his or her particular talent that when brought together with makes a boat on an ocean a truly wonderful place to be.
Back to the Voyage itself, we left Antigua on a sunny Sunday afternoon after having had, a very hearty breakfast, as we pushed out of the harbour, the excitement and anticipation was quite intense, it was about now when we encountered our first Caribbean squall …. It P****ed down for some 30 mins, the cooling effect was very welcome. Sails were hoisted we rounded the bottom of the island set a northerly course… next stop Horta aprox 2500 Nautical miles away 14 days away. We soon settled in to our watch patterns with daily life carrying on as acquaintances slowly turned into friendship As has been well said above trust is a big thing when in a small boat in a big ocean, that trust in one another is quite simply essential as without it we cannot function as a team or sail oceans.
I have had many crews of many different people on many voyages but very rarely have I had one that is so together, happy, bonkers and yes great fun to be around.
So as I sit here at 01.15 (05.15 BST) on Sunday 21 January 2018 I have a very large inner smile, as I know that every one of our crew have achieved not only an Atlantic crossing (in January) they have done so with such courage (yes I do mean courage) humour and humility that it is truly humbling and a very real pleasure to be their skipper.
Ps As I finish this collection of random thoughts Tea is being made and I hear a voice on deck saying ‘yes I can do that for you’ …. Enough said
Neil Proud skipper of Challenger 2
