Sailing News

All the latest news from the world of sailing and stories from experienced sailors.

Only a day away With the crew of Challenger 2 around a day from the finish line today their thoughts are turning to being back on dry land, seeing loved ones and of course sampling some of the local rum! We wish them good luck for the final few miles of an epic trip and Read more

ARC Rally 2019 – St Lucia here we come!

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

ARC 2019 – DAY 16 – More stories from the Motherwatch

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

ARC 2019 – DAY 15 – Challenger 2 then surfs down into the wild foam and spray

Jim’s Blog – 2243 Nautical miles covered, computer says 740 Nm to go There’s been a perceptible change in the mood aboard Challenger 2 today, at least from my perspective and I think it’s shared by others. It seemed that after the half-way party (of which more later) which was excellent and a great release, the Read more

ARC 2019 – DAY 14 – What winds me up – penguins!

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

Butterflies mid Atlantic – well, just one actually – A First Class Sailing Blog

Whilst watching a pod of fin whales the crew of Challenger 2 were treated to something else, also rather special. N 20.36.88   W035.14.345 We are scooting along at a decent rate of knots and it feels a bit odd to think we are almost half way across the Atlantic.  There’s been a lot of chatter Read more

ARC 2019 – Day 5 – Dorado fishing quotas not yet breached

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

Wednesday 27th, Day 4, Challenger 2 in quiet waters

  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

ARC Rally Day 2 – Dancing Torpedoes

ARC Rally 2019 Monday 25th – the crew on board Challenger 2 are now well underway. Here’s an account of the first 24 hours from crew member Gary. To blow or not to blow out the spinnaker We just finished our first 24 hours of the ARC Rally, completing 195 nautical miles on a single Read more

ARC 2019 – Challenger 2 off to a flying start from the Canaries

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