Log Entry No 2 - 27th Oct 07. (Discoverer)

FROM THE CAPTAINS CABIN

Three days at sea and spirits are still high. With regular sightings of whales, fishing boats, container ships gas rigs and changes in sail configurations to try and catch what little wind there has been, the watches have been kept relatively busy and interested. ‘Relatively’ in a watch of 6 hours you may see a whale, two cargo vessels, a fishing boat at close quarters complete with crew on the radio, and complete one or two sail changes.

Lionel getting stuck in on Discoverer.

NAV CHECK

This is the reality of ocean sailing with passages of several hundred or thousand miles to cover, with a couple of hundred miles between waypoints. The fact that we are relatively close to the coast at 50 nautical miles means that there is more traffic than we could expect to see once we leave Rio for the Falklands. One of the great challenges is to maintain interest so that the crew are ready to react when required, and to prevent boredom setting in. With a number of intentional activities such as the lecturettes and some unintentional ones such as having to bleed the engine as the watch have forgotten to pump fuel through, 6 hours on watch can soon fly by.

Besty 'Who said sailing is a swan'.

The lecture circuit has included 3 lecturettes on ‘Leadership’ by Richard, ‘what the TA can offer the Regular Army’ by Steve and ‘the Joint Helicopter Support Unit’ (a complete recruitment plug) by Lucy, all very apt. The crew are working well as a team with Tony even offering to hand wash Chris’s smalls so he could get some sleep, selflessness to the extreme and very impressive, yet slightly worrying. The first command task was inadvertently set this morning as Discoverer was caught in a poorly marked fishing line. Communication, logical thinking and some good team work finally saw us free after a detour of several miles to box around the obstacle.

Unfortunately the wind has not remained favourable and liberal use of the engine has been required to maintain a reasonable boat speed. All would agree that it is far more pleasant without the constant ‘chchchchch’ noise of the engine that adds to the heat below deck that is typically tropical- sticky and warm. Moral has been increased with showers every 3 days on a rota system, so at least 5 of us smell fresh each day, and the food has remained excellent despite being prepared in stifling conditions. Sailing clothes manufacturers could do well to add a new breathability test for their materials by seeing how they fare in tropical conditions below deck, in front of a large 4 ring hob. Initial tests so far on Discoverer, have met with disappointment, but maybe it is the added rubber boots that make it so hot for the mother watch.

However in true soldier style the discomfort is not met with complaint but with grit and good humour. With everyone settled into the watch routine and the final case of sea sickness overcome the crew have adjusted well to their new constantly moving, hot sticky environment. Hopefully we will have reached Rio, and even moved on again by the time of the next blog; so to find out about the sights of Rio de Janeiro, and the excitement of heading for the Falklands with cooler weather and larger seas, log on next Monday.

FROM THE CREWS QUARTERS

Pte Lionel O’Connor:

Lionel pparticipating during a sail change.

I can’t wait to try out my new sports knee on the boat! That was one of my thoughts at 0330am Friday morning 17th October, another was…go back to sleep! Neal (WO1 Neal George) and I flew out to Portugal from Heathrow at about 0630. Once getting on the plane from Portugal to Salvador…I knew it would be interesting when the stewardess decided to have a conversation with me in Portuguese. I don’t know what she was on about and she probably has no clue that I had no idea what she was on about, I was too tired to try and communicate and I got to my seat…so we were both happy in the end.

Once arriving in Salvador, Neal had to go and withdraw some money for the taxi ride to our destination…the ‘Bahia Marina’. I decided to wait for him just outside the airport. Before I even realised where the exit was, I was met by some young, helpful men who offered to take our luggage to ‘taxi’ (the only English word spoken by the young lads at this point). I didn’t like this very much because they started gathering around me until a police officer joined the scene. They then seemed to have a plane to catch and thinned out very quickly. One lad stayed with me after exchanging a few words with the cop. By the time Neal came out all our luggage was in the taxi ready to go. It wasn’t until we were both in the taxi that the next bit of English came out …’money’. Neither of us had anything besides the taxi fair which was unfortunate for him. He understood ‘no money’. If the cop had not of been there I’m sure we would be wondering around the boat naked right now. Who says the police aren’t there when you need them.

We set sail on Sunday. I now know how sardines feel. Luckily for me I’ve got more room than the rest of the crew(except of course for the Skipper and Skippers 1st mate in the Queens quarters at the back of our luxurious sailing boat…which at the moment is running on fuel due to no winds). Must be really uncomfortable for the rest of the crew…I mean it’s not like they can store away a leg and have more room, is it?. As far as sea sickness goes...all I had to do was put on my sea-leg (actually a xt9 sports knee) and I was away. I kind of felt sorry for the crew members that found a favourite spot on the side of the boat to shout at ‘RAULF’ (whoever he was, poor fella) Clear; Loud; As an order; with Pauses. But then disaster struck! and all sympathy went AWOL!. Chris and I were on mother watch and it was our turn to cook for the crew, steak, jacket potatoes and beans. Just think about this, for one second probably one of the hardest meals to cook at sea…. All I’m going to say is…school-boy error! Live and learn. At least we got there in the end. Everyone seemed happy enough…weather it was because they were hungry or actually enjoyed it…I will never know.

There have been whales, dolphins, oil and gas rigs, fisherman boats, cargo ships and lots of shooting stars at night…you know…the usual. I haven’t found anything to be highly demanding or too difficult as of yet...besides missing my girlfriend. So far everyone is getting on well, thankfully, and it seems like we’ve got a good crew. I’m expecting things to get much more difficult the closer we get to the Falklands and the seas start to stack up. No…it’s not easy being on here…but I didn’t come for a holiday.