Log Entry No 5 - 14th May 08. (Discoverer)

FROM THE CAPTAINS CABIN

NAV CHECK

Yesterday was a perfect sailing day; sun and a good NE wind taking Disco towards Antigua at a good speed. The weather was far more conducive for a novice crew and more like the weather the crew had been promised for their Caribbean cruise! The night started well but went down hill rapidly after midnight. Torrential rain and strong winds provided a challenging and frankly a quite dangerous night for the crew. Working on the foredeck has been a character building experience for some, to think volunteers for ocean passages with Challenge Business had a thorough training package prior to embarking on any passage.

The majority of Disco’s crew training has been on the job with the whole spectrum of weather being thrown at them. The weather system we were in finally passed us at 0800 this morning 14 May. Though overcast the wind is back in the NE and we are making progress towards Farmouth, Antigua. Some crew members are feeling the effect of last nights weather and are feeling sea sick, hopefully this will pass. The crew have done well over the last 24 hours and are hoping that any bad weather is behind them!!!!!

FROM THE CREW QUARTERS:

This is Danny from the RLC and I am in blue watch. Iain and I are both from the RLC, and I might add we were the only people on the boat not to get sea sick. Hu raa! I have never been sailing before in my whole life and I didn’t have any idea what kind of conditions or dramas that might come my way. We set sail on the 28th April at midday and straight from the start it was obvious to me that the wind would be our Achilles heel on this trip.

We had torrential weather for the first two days which was followed by beautiful, yet scorching weather. But unfortunately with all the beautiful weather there wasn’t any wind to go with it, and therefore we have been motoring for a long while to make matters worse a part of the engine broke which forced us to dock in Salvador. It was a nice change from the open seas but everyone was spinning around with land sickness so I wonder how bad it will be once we get to Antigua.

Anyway we set sail from Salvador in the afternoon and there was still no wind! We saw some wildlife, pods of dolphins were swimming at the bow of the yacht. Eventually after 14 days of no wind we have finally reached the north east trade winds. Last night I think that we had every type of weather under the sun except for snow and ice! Hopefully we will arrive sometime around the 21st May.