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Offshore Sailing, 'Transglobe Leg 9', Uruguay, Brazil, Antigua, Mar 2010, ID 950

CV HQ RA

I was assigned a vacancy as crew on ADVENTURE, the Royal Navy boat of Transglobe Leg 9. I was to sail from Montevideo to Antigua, a distance of over 5000nm, in 5 weeks. We assembled at Gosport and, after kit issues and briefings, we flew, via Madrid, to Montevideo.

The total compliment was 14 people, so less the skipper and first mate, we broke down to 3 watches of 4 people. One watch was assigned Mother watch for 24 hrs; this watch cleaned cooked and odd-jobbed and got a long sleep at night, the other 2 watches shared 4 hours ‘On’ and 4 hours ‘Off’, so the routine became 2 days of ‘4-On-4-off’ followed by 1 day of Mother then repeat - for 5 weeks.

We took a few days to get the boat ready and then we set sail to the sound blasting of horns and claxons from the boats all around the marina. We had to make at least 7 knots to keep to the schedule and as we were sailing against the prevailing current and wind we relied heavily on the engine, only sailing when we could keep our course and make more than 7 knots. This meant our first and only landfall before Antigua would be Salvador in Brazil to refuel.

It took a few days for the crew to finds its ‘sea-legs’ with more than half laid low with seasickness. However, for me things got worse; I remained dehydrated and lost my appetite and found sleeping difficult as the cabins were getting to 37F. It was soon clear I was suffering from dehydration and heat exhaustion and following a satellite call to the UK and medical advice, the skipper decided I should be dropped at Salvador, the planned fuel stop, as he knew that to continue beyond Salvador risked the entire voyage as a special detour would be needed if my condition worsened.

At Salvador I said my farewells to my crew-mates and went ashore. 

I found the experience challenging and rewarding, and acknowledge that my capacity for physical endurance has diminished in recent years. The sailing was great and I extended my knowledge and skills, particularly astro-navigation which was wonderful under tropical skies. I now have over 2000nm and 24 night hours logged and look forward to passing my Day Skipper qualification.

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Transglobe Leg 9/Feeling fine Transglobe Leg 9/Red watch 1