Log Entry No 1 - 22nd Oct 07. (Discoverer)

FROM THE CAPTAINS CABIN

From the plane window Salvador looks like a South American paradise city with the buildings perched on the top of steep hillocks, with lush foliage tripping down the side to empty green valley bottoms. There appeared to be hundreds of these small hilltop communities separated into small villages.

Lionel on main, Dan on preventor, Jamie on helm.

NAV CHECK

The reality on the ground was not quite so picturesque with dirty, decrepit buildings threatening to topple down to the roads below to add to the manic chaos that is driving in Salvador. Having recovered from the white knuckled ride the crew got down to the business of prepping the yacht.

Lucy internally recruiting for the Joint Helicopter Support Unit.

Whilst preparing to leave on Sunday morning, a yacht entering the harbour gave an excellent demonstration of how not to come alongside as it dinked into 3-4 other motor boats before coming to a standstill. After we had assisted them to come alongside, the discoverer slightly more gracefully slipped its lines and headed out into the bay. Sail Training started in earnest with hoisting, reefing, tacking, gybing, and man-over-board practice. With numerous members of the crew finding their sea legs the additional fish food attracted some dolphins who gave a short but impressive display before leaving us, no doubt concerned not to get covered by the crews offerings. Everyone is pleased to be under way and spirits are high with speed through the water at a good 9 knots.

LEADERSHIP TRAINING

Leadership training started with the first of what will be a series of lecturettes - the first on the subject of Leadership by Richard Hoy, postponed due to sail training.

FROM THE CREWS QUARTERS

Since arriving at Salvador we stayed close to the marina and have not really had the opportunity to roam around the city, many of the areas are run down and don’t look particularly friendly with many shanty looking villages spread around the hills and the main centre not looking much better. However we did journey out to the local shopping centre in order to purchase necessary supplies for the journey down to Rio De Janeiro.

Friday was spent preparing the yacht, completing all the necessary jobs ready to leave on Sunday. This involved various tasks spread out between everyone ranging from sorting out all the remaining food from the previous leg and organising what stocks we needed to buy, to fixing the throttle lever.

Saturday was spent teaching the crew the basic fundamental aspects of the yacht and covering all the mandatory safety points. Everyone seems to be looking forward to the practical side of this and getting to grips with sailing the yacht.

Knowone within the ARTD crew had sailed before, therefore, there was an air of excitement and trepidation among the crew as the yacht slipped its lines and left the marina. Over the last few days we had started to think of discoverer as home, getting her ship shape in preparation for are journey. There was certainly a lot to take on board, excuse the pun, but with so many lines terms and phrases to become familiar with, it really is a foreign environment that we will hopefully settle into quickly once we have found our sea legs. We are really enjoying helming and Lucy has already clocked up 10.5 knots, this may not seem very fast but its certainly better than the 6 knots planning speed. Despite the sea sickness and a lot of information to digest we are all enjoying the sailing, and certainly more up on deck than down below where the heat and the rocking motion turns you green quicker than you can apply cam-cream. This is especially an issue for the mother watch slaving in the galley, the kitchen to you land lovers, where the added nausea of dressing in waterproof saltpetre’s and boots to protect us from burns does not prevent us from melting in the heat.