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BT Global Challenge Update No 1.
It is hard to believe that 16 months have past since I first applied for a
place on the BT Global Challenge.
A year has past since I was interviewed by Chay Blyth and 10 months since I
first stepped foot on a Challenge yacht and headed out to sea and became very
seasick and wondered about my sanity.
During the 10 months I have completed two induction training sails, two
continuation training sails and a assessment training sail the last involving
a 4 mile run followed by a swim in the sea before breakfast. However to make
up for this we headed a 6 yacht convoy up the Thames river to St Katharine's
in London at the end of the course and positioned the yacht under a floodlit
Tower bridge at 6.00am on a clear Wednesday morning for the TV and press to
take publicity pictures.
I have also been out crewing in the Solent (Southampton water) on a couple of
Corporate hospitality days which although great fun are very tiring due to
there only being four crew on board including the skipper. The idea is to get
the guest involved in sailing the yacht which can be achieved to various
levels of success.
I also took part in a eight yacht Corporate Hospitality race in the Solent
one Saturday with each yacht having a different hotel chains represented on
it.
The morning was taken up with showing the guest how to safely tack the yacht
etc. etc. with the afternoon race in the Solent finishing with a beat back up
Southampton water.
I crewed on Nuclear Electric with the Mariot Hotel chain and after crossing
the start line in second place we soon took first place and were only
challenged in the final few miles by Coopers. A tacking dual with Coopers up
to the finish line saw them take the tactical advantage and loose it a couple
of times before we crossed the line about 30 seconds in front. Having been in
the lead for a large majority of the race we were not going to give up without
a fight. After tacking a 67 foot Steel yacht 20 or so times during the final
run up the Solent the finish could not have come quick enough.
My final sail on a Challenge yacht this year was a little race that was
organised to return nine of the race yachts from St Katharine's London where
they were on display to Plymouth for a winter refit.
We left St Katharine's at about 11.30 on Sunday 2nd October and motored under
Tower Bridge before turning around setting the sails and sailing back under
Tower bridge and down the Thames. Having sailed up the Thames a few days
earlier in darkness it was nice to sail down in daylight although the Thames
Flood barrier and the bridges were not quite as spectacular.
It was a gentle run down the Thames before we anchored up for night in the
Meadway as the race would not start until early Monday morning.
The race was due to start off Margate at 6am Monday morning so we would have
to leave our moorings by 2.00am. Unfortunately our yacht (Commercial Union)
was a little late to the start as we had to drop the 1st mate off on our way
to the start due to a Domestic crisis. We were still raising our sails when
the rest of the fleet crossed the start line and we never completely
recovered.
During one of our exceptionally bad sail changes during the night we managed
to drop a majority of our number one Yankee over the side which acted as a
great anchor and took some effort to get back on board.
After about 27 hours of racing and 190 miles the whole fleet crossed the
finish line (Plymouth breakwater) within 25 minutes of each other and we
managed to finish 8th picking up a place. A four hour run when the boat speed
rarely fell below 10 knots (12.5 SOG) as well as recording a fleet high of
11.9 knots made up for finishing one from last.
This really brought home how close the actual race around the world will be
and the extra effort and luck that will be required to ensure a leg or overall
win.
Even with two years still to go before the start BT the title sponsor has
started to give the event momentum and I wonder what the final few months
before the start in September 1996 are going to be like as it already becoming
hectic at times.
Sponsors from other countries are being looked for and I believe a American
company is on the verge of signing a sponsorship deal. The American crew
volunteers are being interviewed at the moment and they will be flying over to
the U.K. to start their training during the winter.
I also believe the yacht Heath Insured is the Boston area at the moment on
publicity duty.
When I originally signed up I thought the 10 month race was what it was all
about but as the months have gone by I have begun to realise that the three
years training, Crew and publicity events leading up to the start are becoming
as much fun and is as important as the race itself.
But I think the greatest and best surprise so far is how well a large
majority of the crew volunteers get on. Considering the very wide range of
ages, backgrounds and professions everyone seems to get on so well and a real
family atmosphere exist around the whole event. This may change when we are
divided into our 15 crews and we start to compete against each other but I
still believe the friendly atmosphere will remain.
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| NOVEMBER 1994 UPDATE.
On the 15th November the start date for the BT Global Challenge was
officially announced as the 29th September 1996.
The final route will not visit Hobart after Rio de Janeiro but Wellington New
Zealand.
The race route and timetable is:-
Start: Southampton 29th September 1996
Leg 1
Southampton - Rio de Janeiro.
Distance 5,000 miles
Leg 2 Rio de Janeiro - (Cape Horn) - Wellington New Zealand.
Start Mid November 1996.
Distance 7,000 miles.
Time 40 days or so.
Leg 3 Wellington - Sydney.
Start Beginning February 1997.
Distance 1,250 miles.
Time about one week.
Leg 4 Sydney - Cape Town.
Start 2nd March 1997.
Distance 6,300 miles.
Time 40 days or so.
Leg 5 Cape Town - Boston.
Start
Distance 7,000 miles.
Time 30-35 days.
Leg 6 Boston - Southampton (Finish)
Start 29th June 1997.
Distance 3,000 miles
Time 14-18 days.
For those who will be following the race (Is anyone reading this) two PR
"Corridors" have been created during the first leg.
- First is called the Lisbon Corridor when Competitors must sail east of a
line between Berlenga Light (39.25N, 9.30W) and (38.40N, 9.40W).
The corridor is 45 miles long and is about 4 days out of Southampton.
- Second is between Tenerife and Las Palmas in the Canaries about 10 days
after the start.
Another Yacht sponsor was also been announced.
Courtaulds/International.
Leading manufacture of Yacht paints etc.
The Courtaulds/International yacht will be outside Earls court
during the London Boat show in January 1995.
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| If you haven't been watching, Paul Stephens has made it half way around the
world on Ocean Rover. The boat is a solid mid-pack boat. I just got
this the other day. Looks like our boy got knocked out of a leg
from a bizzare accident.
john
From: Unknown[SMTP:Unknown]
Sent: Friday, March 07, 1997 9:50 AM
Subject: Down but not Out.
Leg 3 and 4 of the BT Global Challenge.
There is always an excise but due to an unfortunate accident (which some of
you have read about in the press) this update is being typed very slowly left
handed and from Dec Park while Ocean Rover heads for the Southern Ocean and
Cape Town so do not expect a best seller.
Wellington Stop-over
After arriving in Wellington the first few days were spent investigating the
local bars and practising the art of falling over on dry land.
Then the hard work began with the yachts undergoing a complete overhaul which
included removing the mast and then lifting the yachts out of the water for
the hulls to be inspected.
We were pretty confident that we had dealt with all our rigging problems at
sea but when the mast was removed and the wire rigging checked it was found
our forestay had started to break again and one more storm could have caused
us a few problems !!!.
The hull was also dished in around the bow area where we had fallen off a few
large waves (30-50 feet). We were not the worst example as a number of the
yachts had lost large patches of filler and were looking very sorry for
themselves.
After a long break which included white water rafting and sledging, black
water rafting, swimming with dolphins, jet boating and skydiving from 9,000
feet we were all looking forward to getting back to sea. Although Ocean Rover
was still a crew member short with the crew waiting to find out who would be
joining us for the leg to Sydney.
Then 6 days before we were due to leave the announcement was made Prince
Micheal of Kent was to join us.
We had met the Prince (or Mike to his friends (only joking Sir)) a couple of
times and had known if everything could be organised he wanted to join us but
even so we were surprised when the announcement was made.
The start day arrived with the usual BT start weather of rain and strong
winds but thankfully by the actual start time the rain had stopped although
the wind did hold.
I lot of the crews were sorry to leave Wellington (myself included) as we had
made many friends and enjoyed our time in New Zealand immensely.
Wellington - Sydney.
To make the start a little more interesting and to give everyone on shore a
good view of the start the fleet would race back towards the shore line of
Wellington rounding two buoys in the harbour before completing a zigzag course
out into Cook Straight and then out into the Tasmin sea.
With such a short time at sea the yacht was made as light as possible with
only seven days food being taken and very few clothes being allowed on board.
We were allowed one set of sailing cloths, One pair of shorts and a two
T-shirts.
We were to spend 8 days at sea so the last days meals were very interesting
with the cooks being very inventive with the scraps they could find.
The first couple of days were a little bumpy which helped to remind us of
what we had been missing while ashore and got us back into the groove quickly.
On the third day out I had recovered enough from my sea sickness to take my
turn on mother and prepare the evening meal. With the help of Lyn from my
watch we produced what we thought was an excellent Tuna bake and presented it
for consumption by the crew. The most complementary comment we got was from
Prince Micheal who said it was "Unusual".
The wind had now moved round and the spinnaker or kit was deployed for the
first time on this leg. The beast as it is named (our middle weight kit) due
to its shape after so many repairs was helping us to make good speed with
myself at the helm when bang. The kit ripped across the top down both sides
and fell under the bow where yours truly sailed over it putting another hole
in it.
It took us about 15 minutes to recover the kit hoist another one and head off
again. I had joined the kit shredders club which according to the crew was
long overdue as I had broached the yacht twice under spinnaker on earlier legs
of the race and got away without damaging the spinnakers both times.
The winds became very light as we approached Sydney which bunched the whole
fleet up. We had been in sight of between 6 and 8 yachts for the last 48 hours
and led a group of 4 yachts up to the finish line under Sydney harbour bridge.
All 14 yachts finished within six hours of each other with two groups of four
yachts finishing within minutes of each other after 8 days of racing.
THE STOP-OVER !!!!!.
After two days of working on the yacht and a day corporate sailing I had my
first day off in Sydney. I spent the morning looking around the Maritime
museum before heading for the town centre. But on the way I passed the Sydney
aquarium and decided to spend a couple hours looking around.
My visit lasted about 5 minutes from when I passed through the doors.
I was in the process of turning around to look at the first tank of sharks
when the glass in the tank shattered depositing 12,000 Ltrs of water a few
small sharks and broken glass everywhere.
The force of the water knocked me over and at some point a piece of glass
lacerated my right arm cutting the muscles that provide movement to the
fingers and wrist.
After being taken to hospital I underwent surgery to the injury and hopefully
I should make a full recovery in time.
Unfortunately though I have been forced to miss the 4th leg of the race from
Sydney to Cape Town waving goodbye to the yacht and crew last Sunday and my
dream/adventure/challenge of circumnavigating the world the wrong way has been
lost.
If all goes well I will rejoin the yacht in Cape Town for the last two legs
but there will be gap in the log book.
It will a few weeks before we know for definite if I will make Cape Town but
the odds at the moment are in my favour as long as I do what I told my the
doctors for once in my life.
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