Sailing News

Tuesday 10 December Becs and I are back on MF watch today, having taken over from the chuckle brothers Jim and Jason.  Personally I don’t get why they have a problem with getting up at 5.30 having been sailing half the night to cook a bunch of smelly crewmates breakfast Land ahoy! Sat here about… Read more

What a shower! Avid readers may be interested in the process of showering on the good ship Challenger 2 .  Our water production capacity allows for a shower every other day provided we all use minimum water. As we are very warm below deck and subject to random dowsing with sea water whilst on deck… Read more

Ode to my Mum from Mothers Watch It was just past midnight when I glanced at our logbook before tucking into my bunk and noted that we had sailed 2,080 nautical miles with only 892 miles till the finish in St Lucia. I left word with the crew on watch to be woken promptly at… Read more

Thursday 28th November – Day 5 – Hook, line and sinker Just coming off the night watch and reflecting on the journey so far and the last 24 hours.  It has been great to get to know the rest of the crew and share stories about our lives and to get a sense of why we… Read more

  We’ve just received word back from our boat Challenger 2 currently crossing the Atlantic in the ARC Rally 2019 and you can read all about the progress and some of the more information on the day to day running of the boat. Mates Blog After a fast and rolly blast south from the Canary… Read more

A day into the ARC 2019 and all is well. Challenger 2 got off to a flying start and everyone has settled in well. Below we have a pre-race word from crew member Becs and our first message back from skipper Ricky and 1st mate Kirstie.  We hope to get a blog from the crew… Read more

Hurricane Pablo started off as an innocuous looking low pressure system on 23 October that no one was paying much attention to. As this system began to develop, our annual voyage from Portsmouth to the Canaries was looking to cross the Bay of Biscay. The plan was to cross ahead of the incoming system, but as… Read more

Passing through the Gates of Hercules From ancient mythology through to the Romans (perhaps even later) the Gates of Hercules held a special place in the folklore of seafarers. They were the place beyond which unknown hazards lay and monsters awaited. Today we passed outside rather than through the Gates, which we now know as… Read more

Champagne sailing Many sailors would probably say their very best experience on the water is sailing fast, downwind, with the headsail poled out surfing down the waves, in bright sunshine. Without doubt a fair definition of champagne sailing. Today, after more than a week of hard sailing, with the wind on our nose, past France,… Read more