Conference marvin::uk_sailing

			BT Global Challenge Legs 1 2.

 
 I will do my best over the next few pages to try and convey some of the 
memorable experiences of the the first two legs of the BT Global Challenge on 
the yacht Ocean Rover.
 After 4 months without having to put finger to keyboard this maybe a little 
difficult but her goes.

 Festival Week (Start Week).

 After 3 years of training the race week had arrived and Southampton was alive 
with the race preparations. Ocean Village had been turned into a race village 
with beer tents dancing girls and of course the crews and yachts.
 The week started with a sail past of the Southampton boat show followed by a 
spectacular arrival of the yachts into Ocean Village. With a dark sky and 
thousands of spectators lining the marina each yacht was called into its berth 
for the week with spot lights picking the yacht out as it came in. 
 I think this is when a majority of the crews suddenly realised the race was 
5going to happen and very soon and that the race really was going to attract the 
attention of the media and public around the world.

 The week past with a few tempers being lost as the crews became tense and tired 
of the constant interruptions by the media and well wishes.

 During the week I had arranged to give a talk to a few children at a primary 
school I had attended many years ago. When I arrived the few children turned 
into the whole school. But after a wobbly start (Terrified springs to mind) it 
turned into a very enjoyable one and half hours and I have been invited back 
after the race.

 On the Friday we had a surprise visitor when Price Michel of Kent turned up to 
meet the Skippers and spent a couple of hours on Ocean Rover taking to the crew 
about the race (He Had even done his homework knowing our names and our 
interest) we invited him to join us on one of legs but he changed the subject 
quickly.

 Leg 1 Southampton to Rio.

 To my surprise I slept very well the night before the race (A Couple of pints 
in the bar before going to bed may have helped) but was awoken by the alarm call 
at 6.30 am and the driving rain on the window of the hotel room.
 We all met at the yacht about 8.00am when most of the goodbyes had been 
complete and the mood on board was very quite. Every one kept themselves to 
themselves and I think most of us tried not to make eye contact with family and 
friends for fear of showing how we really felt. 
 We finally left the marina with thousands of well wishers cheering each yacht 
out in turn and not a dry eye on the yachts themselves.
 Mother nature had decided to make things difficult for us as well with a full 
blown storm raging in the Solent.
 The storm at least kept the number of spectator craft to minimum as the 
conditions were to severe for a lot of the spectator craft to venture out.

 

The actual start was a bit of a none event for the crews due to the conditions 
we did not hear the start gun and the only way we were sure the race had started 
was by listening to the VHF radio. Being the mainsheet trimmer I had little time 
to look around, only occasionally being able to snatch a quick glance over the 
windward rail to see where we were and look for friends on spectator boats.

 The first few days disappeared into a haze of seasickness and bad weather as 
the fleet made their way across to France and down the coast.
 We then reached the Bay of Biscay which lived up to its reputation of strong 
winds and confused seas. With the wind behind we changed from our middle weight 
spinnaker (Kit) to our heavy Kit as night fell and proceeded to have a ride any 
funfair would be proud of. Being one of the key helmsmen and one of only three 
on board who could steer the yacht under spinnaker in such conditions  I had 
little sleep that night or the following day but enjoyed the thrilling time 
helming the yacht through such conditions. About half way through the night the 
conditions got so bad if we could have got the spinnaker down we would have as 
we had 20-30 foot waves with the wind reading 35-40 across the deck. These were 
the most satisfying few hours on the helm I have had to date as the yacht seemed 
to dance across and through the waves while the world seemed to be going mad 
around us.

 This was to be our last storm of the leg and we settled down to long hot days 
under spinnaker with Dolphins and Whales escorting us on our way.

 The Doldrums appeared over the horizon after a couple of weeks and stopped us 
dead for 6 hours as we entered the area and another 3 hours as we left but 
otherwise we sailed through this area of very unpredictable winds.
it was while in this area we spotted another BT yacht (The first for a couple of 
weeks) 3Com and in the middle of the ocean we had exchanged water bombs before 
going our own way.

 Our next target was the equator when we all had to take part in the crossing 
the equator ritual. Lots of horrible gunk (the previous two days food left overs 
with cold custard and tea used to mix it all up) being poured over you with a 
taster to cleanse your soul. This would not have been to bad except out 
generator broke during the ceremony and we had no water to shower in for a day 
and very little drinking water as the water maker runs of the generator.

 Then one sunny afternoon we were making about 11 knots towards Rio when there 
was a very load bang and the yacht slowed down very quickly to 4 knots and the 
yacht had no steering. The skipper was called on deck and he proceeded to pull 
the steering from one to the other trying to clear what ever had wrapped itself 
around the rudder. But after five minutes the order was given to take all the 
sails down as two of the crew would have to dive under the yacht to find out 
what damage had been done and if anything was stuck under the yacht.
 As we slowed down and took the sails down there was a large splash from behind 
the yacht and a very P****d off shark appeared from under the yacht with a big 
health problem. The yacht is 17 feet wide and the shark was very similar in 
size. The steering returned and the yacht picked up speed again.
 Ten minutes latter a number of Sharks were seen swimming back towards their 
friend (Dinners ready) and a few minutes after that hundreds of Dolphins\ 
surrounded the yacht taking turns to play in the bow wave. You were left with a 
feeling that the visit from the Dolphins was not unconnected with us giving a 
Shark a very bad headache.

 Life on board continued with the watch changes every few hours and the 
positions of other yachts being monitored and every mile gained being met with 
cheers and every mile lost being investigated.
 With the yachts being so evenly matched it was difficult to figure out how the 
vital few miles required to catch the yacht in front are going to come from.

 At one stage we were in 3rd position but a couple of tactical mistakes had 
dropped us to 8th place where we would stay until one mile from the finish.

 As we approached the Brazilian coast we came across 5 Whales playing in the 
distance and as we approached they did not move and carried on playing until we 
had to take avoiding action to miss them. One Whale about 50-60 feet in length 
was on its back waving its flippers at us as it passed within ten feet down the 
side of the yacht. It then gently rolled over and swan under the yacht and into 
the distance.

 As we approached Rio reports of little wind at the finish were filtering 
through so when we arrived within a few miles of Rio and stopped we were not 
surprised. We rounded the final marker buoy off Rio with Heath Insured 2 50 
meters behind us and as we headed into the coast for wind they stayed out.
 The wind came in from the sea so what was a 50 meter advantage turned into a 2 
hour loss as we slowly drifted back and forth  in the tide coming very close to 
the beach on occasions.

 So we finally finished 9th which was a little disappointing after our earlier 
position but 9th is better than last and we were still in the hunt.


 Leg 2 Rio - Wellington.

 After 3 weeks in Rio everyone could not wait to get to sea and take on the 
Southern Ocean and of course Cape Horn.

 The morning of the start was overcast with no wind so when the start gun fired 
all 14 yachts slowly drifted over the line with the tide. After 3 hours we 
finally rounded the buoy at the far end of the beach and could head out to sea.
 All 14 yachts stayed within sight of each other for a couple a days with Ocean 
Rover in the middle of the fleet well placed to cover any moves by the leaders. 
Unfortunately during the night there was a miss communication on the yacht and 
we headed off in the wrong direction for 8 hours and lost 60 miles to the rest 
of the fleet.
 We were in last place and a long way behind the next yacht.

 Moral on the yacht never fell as the reason for our position was known and it 
would not happen again so we set to the task of recovering our position. We 
stayed in last place for 10 days and we approached Cape Horn. The weather was 
changing so we went 60 miles off Cape Horn and picked up a few places.
 After all the horror stories about Cape Horn the rounding past off with little 
fuss. Yes we were in a storm but it was not a bad one and as we could not see 
the horn so the rounding was only confirmed by the GPS at 03.17 in the morning 
by the navigator.

 We then made our second tactical error when we did not head south quick enough 
and lost another 80 miles to the fleet. By going south you sail a shorter course  
but you have top pick the correct weather  system to take you down and bring you 
back two weeks later. We missed the weather system and stayed north to long.

 By now the yacht was continually being circled by very large Albatross or 
Alberts as we nicked named them.

 It was about 25 days into this leg when rigging problems began to surface and 
the yacht Concert lost her mast. About half the fleet had problems and Ocean 
Rover was to suffer as well. During one of Rig checks we discovered 4 strand of 
our Forstay had broken (out of 16) so in the middle of the southern Ocean we had 
to take down our Forstay and repair it. This took several hours and heroics by  
a number of the fordeck crew and rigger. When the repair had been completed we 
hoisted the sails again and turned the yacht around and back on course. During 
the repairs we had been heading downwind and in the wrong direction so we had 
lost another 60 miles.

 After all of the above the Southern Ocean was beginning to loose its appeal and 
we started to count down the days to Christmas and our Arrival in Wellington.

 We celebrated Christmas with present and a traditional Christmas lunch of 
Turkey Roast Potatoes, Peas, Carrots, Christmas Pud the lot.

 
With only two hundred miles to go to the Finnish a weather warning was received.
Typhoon "Furgus" or Fergie as we nick named it was heading towards us with 60-70 
mile an hours winds and Phenomenal seas. No one board (Even the Skipper) had 
seen such a weather forecast before so we had to look up what Phenomenal seas 
meant. When the correct reference book was found the word s**t was heard to come 
from the skippers cabin and when he returned we discovered the Phenomenal seas 
were 14 meter and over waves.
 When Fugie did arrive the winds were so strong we ended up sailing with only 
our smallest headsail and main sail with 60-70 foot waves hitting and landing on 
the yacht. We were laid flat on our side twice and pushed sideways 50 meters 
once.
 15 hours of very interesting weather and the wind disappeared the seas became 
flat and we were becalmed. This only lasted a few hours before the wind returned 
and we crossed the finish line at 4.30 am on the 2nd January 1997.

 It is still hard to believe we have sailed half way around the world and spent  
a total of nearly 70 days at sea. 
 70 days with only the same 13 people for company in a very confined space 
eating powdered food and wearing a majority of the time wet cloths and sleeping 
in a damp sleeping bag.

 We have experienced real highs and lows which have required every crew to dig 
deep into their reserves to keep going but when it all works and something goes 
right it is worth it.

From the Daily Mail today;

Paul Stephens charted dangerous wates to reach the halfway point 
of the BT Global Challenge yatch race.

But he was totally unprepaired for the ordeal which put him out
of the contest... a shark attack on dry land.

During a stop in Sydney the 34-year-old  Reading accountant was 
visiting the aquarium in Darling Harbour, home to a group of 6ft
reef sharks. "There was this crakcing sound, people were screaming
and water was everywhere." he said.

"One of the tanks had shattered and glass and reef sharks were flying
all around. As I picked my self up I thought, 'sharks! I've got to get 
out of here!' The I realised I was bleeding profusely from my arm.
A shard of glass had gashed him, damaging muscles and disabling his hand.
In hospital he was stiched, put in plaster - and told he cannot continue
his voyage on the Ocean Rover, for which he pain �20,000. 

Expertsbelieve the sharks' thrashing about caused the tank to burst.

Mr. Stephens hopes to rejoin the crew for the final two legs of the
race, from Cape Town to Boston and then back to Southampton.