ARC 2016 – Prepping Challenger 3 in Las Palmas

Here is the first in a regular series of blogs from the crew of Challenger 3 as they race in ARC Rally 2016

Friday 18th November

The pontoons of Las Palmas Marina have been a hive of activity this week as crews rush around to complete the final boat preparations before venturing across the Atlantic Ocean.

Shimmering sunshine has bathed boats and crews alike, making labour intensive jobs a hot and sweaty affair! Crew bonding has commenced!

Gangs of excited sailors drifted aboard throughout yesterday after plane journeys, and a chilled out evening of beers, storytelling and bristling enthusiasm filled Challenger 3 – For those of us that have been aboard fixing, planning and prepping the arrival of the rest of the crew was a welcome step up in crew morale.. It really feels like we are about to depart on an adventure now!

Earlier in the week saw Ricky, the Skipper, and Kirstie, the Mate with their heads firmly buried in the engine bay. After a day of problem solving, grease, oil and wires everything began to run smoothly.

More impressively, Andrew, one of the Watch Leaders and Radio Extraordinaire was tasked to solve the mysterious Sat-C communications problem. With the pressure of the whole crossing depending on the outcome of his findings and fixings, a sweaty and tireless 4 days of work was rewarded with a working system! Big sighs of relief and big commendations!

Every spare inch of the boat is now stored high with food provisions, boat parts and kit (and people!). The freezer looks like an abattoir, there’s a leg of Pork hanging in the sail locker and later today there will be a supermarket’s worth of fruit and veg arriving, including a huge hand of unripened bananas.

It’s a lot of weight to race with… to add to this a mistake on our milk order has left us with a quarter of a tonne of long-life milk. That’s a lot of porridge and milkshake to get through!

Currently all sails are being checked, repaired and repacked on the pontoon. The jobs list is slowly decreasing, but as ever, on boats there is never enough time to complete them all.

Best get back to it!

Kirstie, Mate

Posted by: First Class Sailing