Sat 22 Nov, 19:28 News - West is Best

49 54 n
004 44.4444W
1810z

Since our last blog we eventually arrived in Plymouth after a long drag across the channel from Alderney. It was a long beat. Tiring and wet… and not in a good way. I cannot write who was on the helm because they want their identity protected… however, they did manage to tack through over 180 degrees… without noticing and happily trot away South… Alice who was watch leading, neglected to notice this wee mistake… resulting in the distance to Plymouth Breakwater increasing from 14.9nm to 23.6nm… Skills!

A careful and diligent pilotage plan saw us into Plymouth Yacht Haven safely. A highly efficient boat close down followed… everyone pitched in and it was done in record time. Everyone took to their pits (at around 0600) and had a few hours’ kip. 1030 was the objective wake up time. It was difficult! But we got to shower so that was the motivation. A good few hours was dedicated to the yacht getting some jobs done; before a few hours down time to relax and catch up with sleep.

Today started well, few jobs finished off, lunch was had and dinner cooked, before we set off to sea. After leaving we wrote a masterpiece of a song… details to follow once it has been tamed for public consumption. Currently we are playing a game of dodge the trawler; which we are winning! Just finished packing the kite… hoping to send it before the voyage is over.

The plan is as follows… we are going left. Having weighed up our options and utilising our new found weather knowledge we all agreed that [heading] west was best. We are just going to sail and have some fun in the big big water. We will turn back in time to make it home.

The song… (Can you guess the tune?)

Hello Pain, my old friend
You’ve come to screw with me again
My sleeping bag was sooooo warm and comfy
Now I’m out here in the cold North Sea [ed!]
And the wind chill factor would cut you to the fecking bone
So; we moan
This is an ode to Pain…

More to follow if you are good.


Captain’s Log

All is well aboard TGS Challenger II. Trotting off west for a few days blast, before a big ole wind shift and a flight back towards Ireland. Expecting a mixed bag of weather over coming days… a running theme of Baltic cold seems to be the case with the Northerly breeze set that we are currently experiencing… and of course that it is winter.

More exciting news to follow… watch this space.