Challenger 2 pulls out of ARC Rally

The FCS crew on Challenger 2 were racing to St Lucia in the ARC Rally. Things were going well until a problem with the rigging meant a repair was needed before carrying on. Although most things can be fixed at sea, the skipper and crew decided that safety came first and proper repairs were required.

As you will read in Skipper Ricky and crew member Julian’s excellent reports below the news is disappointing, but taken well by everyone on board…

Three tiny wires stop our race…

There are a lot of important components which go to make up our 72 foot 47 ton steel race yacht. They all interconnect and play their part in forming our safe home which we race hard through tough conditions of pounding waves and howling winds.

Yesterday we had two failures. The gas regulator feeding propane to our cooker failed and disrupted the cooking of our Chicken Fajita dinner.

This was a problem we could deal with at sea. We carry lots of spares and after consulting our Ocean Spares Inventory spreadsheet which records the location and details of all the spares on board, we were able to retrieve the spare Gas Regulator and simply resolve the problem. Chicken Fajita cooking could resume and life was good again.

The other failure of the day was more of an issue…

The mast of our Challenge yacht is held upright with a number of steel cables – the stays. These cables are made up of twisted smaller wires.

The mast is a hollow Aluminium tube and while strong, is only strong enough to withstand the tremendous forces involved when the yacht is powered up in heavy seas and strong winds when it is held down in compression by the tension of the stays.

Daily Checks and an Eagle Eye

In checking the deck equipment, rope, sails and rigging yesterday, we noticed that three strands of one of the stays (Starboard Lower Diagonal) had broken. We carry a lot of spares on board but not rolls of rigging wire – that would be impractical. I was able to effect an additional brace to the mast, using a piece of spectra rope. This is specialist rope which has an equivalent breaking strain of steel.

Although this is helping with the stability of the mast, specialist riggers have decided that the nature of the failure of the rigging wire, three adjacent strands, makes it no longer safe for us to continue racing and subjecting our seemingly indestructible vessel to forces which could see a mast failure. Three little strands of wire have stopped us racing.
So late yesterday afternoon after considering various options and consulting with the boat owners, Tall Ships, we have diverted to the Cape Verde Islands, 500Nm to the South.

We are motoring without sails up to ensure we don’t stress the mast. We should reach the island of Ilha de Sao Vicente and the port of Mindelo on Saturday night (the 25th). The hope is that we can get the Diagonal repaired or replaced and be out at sea again by Monday the 27th.

If all goes to plan then we are looking at a twelve day crossing to St Lucia, arriving sometime near the 8th of December, where we will be able to tell tales of heroism at sea, narrowly averting disaster and reminisce on a good crossing but sadly not of a successful race. Our race is over because of three little wires…

Ricky (Skipper, Challenger 2)

The Events From The Perspective of a Crew Member

A disaster struck us today late afternoon. We lost the shroud on the starboard side sometime in the last few hours. In simple terms this bit of kit is essential to the stability of the mast
(lower diagonal shroud) and without it we run a high risk of losing the mast… and comes with that a whole host of unimaginable things.

The start of the ARC Rally

(Note from Skipper : No part of the rigging was lost. Three strands of the 19 strands of wire which make up the Starboard diagonal have broken. This was noticed by crew member Michael whilst we were trimming the sails and generally checking the boat as part of the afternoon deck check. The failure of the rigging wire has been deemed serious enough to stop us from racing.)

We have been forced to divert to Cape Verde to get the mast fixed. This adds several days to the trip, and of course we are no longer in the race, as the engine is now on. We are however undeterred and will complete the task we set ourselves… to cross the Atlantic!

The good news is everyone is totally fine! The bad news is that the engine makes a right old racket (no sleep for us for a few days) and the really old bad jokes have begun in earnest..

Arnie and I fed the troops Fajitas which went down pretty well although you do need a beer with fajitas…and we are a dry boat….but Cape Verde is only 2 days away!

Oh, and Madeleine, everyone says thanks for the cake! Yummy!!

Julian

Posted by: First Class Sailing