Log Entry No 3 - 29th Oct 07. (Discoverer)

FROM THE CAPTAINS CABIN

As predicted in the last log we are now heading south towards the Falkland Islands having stopped off at  Rio de Janeiro to refuel on diesel, food and a bit of morale in the form of a huge traditional Brazilian BBQ in an amazing restaurant.

Discoverer reaching 6.7 Knots.

NAV CHECK

The night of the 24th - 25th October gave us a fantastic sail in towards the coast before the winds dropped off and the mist and rain closed in as daylight broke. As the chart plotter showed us crawling in to the coast, eyes strained through the fog to catch a first glimpse of the famous Sugar Loaf Mountain and Statue of Christ. It was certainly not the picture of Rio that we had all imagined and the Scottish Tourist Board may be happy to read how similar the Western Isles can look to the Rio coastline in
the rain!

Time to relax and enjoy the sun.

However, spirits were not dampened with the promise of a shower that was not subject to water rationing, nor from the sky, contact to the human world outside of Discoverer with text messages and a fine meal not cooked by a boiling mother watch. Well we got all 3 and more with the help of Duncan who works for the British Consulate in Rio, who very kindly organised everything for us including food shopping, clearance from Brazil, and even our washing. Having administrated the boat and ourselves we had 3 hours to explore the highlights of Rio on Friday before we set out for our leg south to the Falklands. It seemed appropriate that having arrived in rain the weather should close in again on Friday night as we left the last land sight for the next 12-14 days.

The progress under sail has been frustrating since Friday night with maybe a couple of hours of good wind between midnight and 3-4 in the morning before it drops off again, leading to the necessity to motor sail. With us passing through a large High sitting off the east coast of Brazil we could not have expected any less but it does little to ease the frustration. We are hoping that we may get more wind from a low front that should start to form on Monday or Tuesday; hope springs eternal. At least we are gaining some assistance from the Brazilian Current that heads SW down the coast at up to 2 knots an hour. Away from the coast we have not seen another vessel for near on 24 hours, with the only other sign of life being in the form of a baby whale that circled the yacht before inspecting our keel as she dived underneath, and an albatross that impressed us all as it glided just inches above the wavelets.

Gaz finding whipping very therapeutic.

Other entertainment has come from more lecturettes on the highlights of Newcastle by Tony and the Royal Engineers by Dan. Leadership will be tested tomorrow as the 2 watch leaders have a day off on mother watch and the remainder of the watches will have new watch leaders appointed for the day; I am sure they will cope admirably as the skills have been well honed over the last week and the watches operate well as teams. The crew of Discoverer have also been carrying out a number of maintenance tasks during the calm with today being a W Day with winches, windlasses and whipping all being covered. Ironically despite the current calm further sail training has also taken place with the preparations to be carried out for storm conditions being taught by the first mate.

FROM THE CREWS QUARTERS

Air Trooper Chris Irwin AAC

We stopped off at Rio de Janeiro on the 25th October for the night on route to the Falklands. We were relieved to be on dry land for the night and not having to cook a meal on a rocking, red hot boat and to have a decent shower as we were only allowed one every third day.  That evening we all went for a meal which served every type of fish possible.  After a good nights sleep, we all had breakfast on the boat and then half of the crew went in to town shopping while the remainder stayed on board to carryout essential maintenance and cleaning. Once everyone was back on board we had lunch before being allowed 2-3 hours to explore Rio, this wasn’t long enough in order to take in all of the sights that Rio had to offer, as its a huge place with loads to see. We had to be back on the boat by 1730hrs in order to take on board fuel, before setting sail.

There hasn’t been any decent wind since we left Rio, so we’ve been motoring along the eastern seaboard of South America, which isn’t as enjoyable as when the yacht is under sail.  I’m enjoying it more now than I was when we first set sail from Salvador as I was sea sick for the first two days. This is a new experience for me as this is the first time that I’ve ever sailed or even travelled outside Europe. I’m enjoying the trip at the moment, but it can get quite frustrating at time’s continually raising and lowering the sails all day long under the hot sun. The wildlife has been sporadic since leaving Rio de Janeiro, some of the lads have seen a shark about 20 feet from the boat and then we saw in the distance about five sharks foraging in a circle.  This morning a baby whale circled the boat for about 10 minutes, I was disappointed to have missed this opportunity as I was asleep after a gruelling night on watch. Its hard work at times, but overall the sailing is enjoyable, I’m making the most of the experience as it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.