Crew prepare to eat own body weight in Spag Bol

1,572 views | January 9th, 2020

The first update from Challenger 2, as they sail across the pond, is in!

Everyone seems to be settling in to the watch system.

Here is a word from crew member Nick.

Challenger 2 left Antigua on Tuesday, bound for Portsmouth via the Azores.

Sailing along

So after leaving beautiful Antigua watch systems are progressing in relaxed fashions as the crew gets to know each other’s back stories, sort out the array of technology to take memorable photos, and get used to sleeping in bunks that are like sleeping in warm bath , so hot is it below decks.

Bodily functions have also featured large in our early days with epic journeys to and from the Heads by those most affected by seasickness although the sidedeck also saw some action.

Credit to today’s Mother Crew for slaving in very hot conditions to deliver great food – the crew is in high spirits! Things that have broken due to our clumsy movements are getting fixed and a number of modifications made to the boat – a water holder for the helmsman and a safety net for Wilson our imaginary friend in the shape of a football.

More wind and rougher seas are predicted so future blogs may be shorter!

Nick

Captain’s Log from Skipper Sue

Wednesday 8th Jan

All well on board, we had a squally patch through the night, wind gusting up to 30kts and we dropped the staysail & put a 2^nd reef in to keep things comfortable on a close reach. There had been a bit of seasickness but the victims are mostly cheerful. The plan is to try and get a bit east of north whilst the winds are easterly and fairly light. I am expecting the wind to build to 20 – 25kts true before the weekend and back into the NE so at that point we will bear a way & head north to keep things as comfortable as we can. We started the mother watch at 0900 Matt & Andrew have made a great start.

Thursday 9th Jan

Time : 12:00 GMT (0900 Boat Time)
Position : 22.34’N 60.35’ W
Destination : Horta, Azores
ETA : 21^st Jan
Sailplan : 2 reefs, yankee 2 & storm stay

Apparent wind: 20kts

SOG 9kts
Fuel : 3 full, 1 in use
Water : 3 full, 1 in use & filling from watermaker
Gas : 3 full, 1 in use, 1 empty

Today on Challenger 2

All is well on Challenger 2 this morning after a fairly quiet afternoon & night. The greenies are recovering and life is settling into the steady eat, sleep, watch routine. I think all appreciate the advantages of a three watch system. We have continued to make good progress north and during this afternoon’s expected lull will prepare for a couple of days of beating into stronger winds. The storm stay is already on & we’ll change down to the Y3 and set up reef 3 before nightfall. Hopefully we will be able to continue to close reach, although that might take us a bit west of north but will get us through the windy stuff sooner.

The plan is to eat our own body weight in spag bol today as the mums will have a much more challenging time keeping us fed over the weekend. The watermaker is now running and yesterday’s mums enjoyed a shower after a hot day in the galley.