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Challenger 3 - Squalls, sunshine and fish



DAY 7


Still more rain but this time it come with wind in the form of a squall so we had to run down wind with it by the time we finished are 6 hrs watch the rain had just about stopped to leave a clear night.


The night watch has been uneventful apart from hitting the 1st 1000mile mark!! We are beating with full main yankee 2 and stay sail still no trade winds lets hope they are near?! The crew are all a little bit happier this morning as the sun is out and we can have some hatches open as well and start to dry every thing out after all the rain we have had. The crew have been doing a great job of keeping the boat clean and turning out some great meals in the tricky conditions with the boat at about 30 deg it makes life a little bit hard.

I hope this weekend has been good for all at home?

There has still been no fish!!!!!

Darren – Mate


Day 8

Instead of sticking to the norm,
Today’s blog’s in limerick form.
I’m taking my time,
With finding the rhyme,
But at least we’re not caught in a storm!

The watch leader’s writing this blog,
In English as well as in frog.
The crew were frustrated,
And him they berated,
For playing the game ‘Land of Ogg’.

The word games are now really flowing,
With no sign of a let-up soon showing.
They keep night watch fun,
While we’re out of the sun,
At least ‘til we get where we’re going.

This morning the sun’s shining brightly,
The crew were all feeling quite sprightly.
We got out of bed,
To winds from ahead,
So we wound in the sheets pretty tightly.

At dawn we sang a happy song,
In five languages, most of them wrong.
Now we’re teaching the crew,
How to sing like we do.
But I bet it won’t last very long!

The skipper said “oh what the heck!
My crew are a pain in the neck."
He wanted some munch,
And went to make lunch,
So that he could get off the deck.

Our provisions are nearly all gone,
And the rest have some mould growing on.
For the rest of the day,
J’écris en français,
Et nous mangeant à tout le jambon.


Ce matin le soleil frappa nos visages,
Et soudain l’équipage changea le langage,
De l’anglais a français,
Tu pense : ‘Qu’est-ce que c’est ?’
Hélas on droit tournée le page.


« On a péché un poisson ! » Alex hurla,
Non ! Fausse alarme, c’était un rat.
De retour au grand voyage
Nous mangeâmes tout le fromage
C’est le fin jusqu'à demain, et voila !

Written by Rupert (watch leader) and multilingual Henry.

Day 9

Very happy birthday Amy from a presently non granddad Grumps!!!
Greetings from Challenger 3 on this bright sunny day.

Monday afternoon saw the last of our fresh meat for tea, fortunately the local denizens of the deep had heard of our plight and two Dorado’s selflessly sacrificed themselves for our delectation. And a very nice starter they made for tea. Also the crew had a chance to swim in the ocean, didn’t seem to spend much time in the water though. I am reliably informed that the water was lovely and warm but scary (think Jaws!!!) especially after the recent sacrifice.

The fishermen onboard are trying to repeat their feat again this Tuesday morning and catch some more fish but not much luck at present.

The crew are presently enjoying a pleasant downwind sail under spinnaker at about 4 ½ to 5 knots. Body bronzing is becoming the local pastime.

600 miles to halfway point and a party??

Les Hudson (aka Uncle Albert)





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