After starting off being Mother Hen, we have completed out first round of watches.  We took over and were soon drenched with a continual heavy rainstorm.  We learnt what was waterproof. (Generally nothing – everything was wet through).  Our next watch was better with a sky full of stars and a strong wind. We were entertained with shooting stars and sailing towards the Plough (Big Dipper). Peter had a huge grin on his face when on the wheel: he was in his element. 

Our final stint was done in sunshine with smiles appearing and the yacht starting to look like a clothesline with all the kit being dried out.

A rare picture of Anne (because she is generally so busy on other tasks to be available for phots!) – taken at a distance, as she didn’t have time to fix her hair for the shot.

[She is also in the rain shot (blue hat) but too busy to pose for long!]  

Now on day four and getting into routine: I have just come off my watch with bright sunshine and good visibility. We have been hammered with weather and rain on a few of the watches we have done and were totally soaked yesterday. Getting up in the middle of the night with the boat bouncing around, fighting into my wellies, emerging into the pitch dark with the boat heeled over and steering by the stars and compass for the first time was pushing the limits of my nerves out there. My living space onboard is tiny, cant even turn over and hardly space for a few messages!   Looking forward to the rest of the trip and updating the rest of the blog in due course.

[Captain Affleck has a lot to answer for!! – will also give you an update on the missing car in later blogs!!]  [Allan Macdonald, 52 SQN - 32 Sigs]

We finally managed to sail the yacht past Ireland, struggling with an ever changing wind direction and monsoon rains. As mentioned the only thing we know is still definitely waterproof is our skin, as our “oilies” were soon engulfed. Night navigating was a lot of fun taking in the stars, the plough guiding us towards our final destination. [Neil Hewitt, 49 Sqn - 34 Sigs].   

Skipper scaring the crew after reading the weather forecast for the expedition.