As we made our way out of St Lucia’s Hewanorra Airport, Sapper Dan Allen casually mentioned to the crew that he had been born on the island but had not returned since leaving for the UK as a child. He told us that he was looking forward to seeing the Caribbean and in particular the island that his mother came from. Over the next two weeks the crew of HMSTC Discovery would explore much of that corner of the Caribbean Sea and Sapper Allen would get to see not only St Lucia but his father’s home island of Montserrat and its highly active volcano!
Leg 8 of this year’s exercise was allocated to 217 Field Squadron (Explosive Ordnance Disposal), Royal Engineers and so the 14 person crew was almost entirely made up of Reservists with little or no sailing experience. Over the two weeks, the crew, working with a qualified skipper and watch-leaders, had to learn to sail and operate a highly complex ocean yacht while working in shifts, through the night, in rough seas and a hot and humid climate that made working below decks a trial for those engaged in chef or mechanic duties. This may not have been what they all imagined when they signed up for two weeks of winter sun but they threw themselves at the challenge of learning this craft with enthusiasm.
The route that ‘Discovery’ took during our expedition was largely picked by the crew, supplemented with the skipper’s local knowledge. The first voyages were short training ones and allowed us to explore the coast of St Lucia before heading south to the beautiful islands of Bequia and Union. We also managed a stop at the turtle reserve on Tobago Cays and to enjoy the jazz festival on Mustique as neighbours to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
As the crews’ skill level grew, the new sailors took on more and more responsibility. Sapper ‘Granty’ Grant became known as the wheel hog as his natural talent for steering this 50 tonne boat became apparent, Sgt Alex Nell showed that his hard won (on a VW Camper van) mechanical knowledge would be useful as the aging vessel needed a lot of TLC to keep her in full operating condition and Sapper Matt Shaw proved that his window cleaner’s head for hights still held true when he had to fix the instruments at the top of the 30 metre mast. Despite their age these boats are as tough as a tank and ideally suited for adventurous sail training - they demand respect, team work, physical fitness and a degree of skill to sail them – some of the sails are a four-man lift just to get them out of the locker!
From Union Island we headed north again and by sailing through the night and well into the next day we made our way all the way to the French islands of Illes des Saints. Each group of islands has its own distinctive atmosphere and ‘The Saints’ are very French indeed. After croissant and coffee stops we headed north again to visit the volcano devastated island of Montserrat, our local guide showed us an amazing island of two halves, one including the destroyed capital of Plymouth and the other a verdant idyll. As we sailed south again we managed to spend a day exploring the stunning island of Dominica in the company of the irrepressible Seacat, a man with a true passion for his island and it’s wildlife. That was a theme with all the sailors and islanders we met. After an expedition in which we saw dolphins at sunrise, swam with turtles, ate grapefruit off the tree and watched huge lightning storms strike the ocean all around us we all felt as though we had learned a huge amount about ourselves, our Squadron colleagues and the lands and sea that we visited. It can be a hackneyed phrase but I am certain that this was a trip of a lifetime for us all.
Ex Caribbean Wings is an annual exercise orchestrated by the Joint Services Adventurous Sail Training Centre (JSASTC). The crews for the yacht come from all three services, both Regular and Reserve, and change every two weeks allowing several hundred service men and women each year to experience the challenges of offshore sailing in an exotic and demanding environment. Details of JSASTC expeditions and sailing courses can be found by putting ‘JSASTC’ into your search engine.
