Consolidation Sail, 7-12 May 2003

Wednesday, 7 May 2003 - Monday, 12 May 2003

I arrived at Ocean Village late on Wednesday, 7 May 2003, to discover that the training would take place on board the prototype 72' yacht, Challenge Business #36. As the original model for the yachts designed for the previous Global Challenge race, I was keen to see how it would differ from the newer racing yachts.

All in all our modest crew included Abi (an extraordinary young woman training for the race who is deaf), David, Graham, Hugh, Laura, Naomi, and Rob, with ex-Global Challenge 2000/1 skipper Andy Dare. There is no 'mate' on the consolidation sail, as we are given more responsibility for sailing the yacht ourselves, taking it in turn to be watch leader.

Thursday started with the customary early morning run, followed by circuit training exercises around the park - I feel that there is still room for improvement where my fitness level is concerned, and know that many more hours need to be spent in the gym before the race gets underway!

We completed a rigorous safety checklist, cleaned and prepared the yacht, and then motored out to the Hamble to top up the diesel tanks. We were going to take the yacht to Plymouth for maintenance work to be carried out, so left Southampton fairly early to make our way towards Weymouth for the first night.

On our way we practised tacking, changing the headsails, reefing, and man overboard (MOB) drills, each taking turns at leading our watch group through the activities. After arriving at Weymouth, we had dinner and a couple of the crew gave talks on weather and MOB/abandon ship.

Friday brought another beautifully calm sunny day, and we sailed further westward along the south coast to Brixham, a historic fishing town in South Devon, surrounded by rows of picturesque fishermen's cottages. During the evening I gave an impromptu presentation to the remainder of the crew on fire and flooding (subject picked by the skipper shortly beforehand) and, although a little anxious at first, was surprised at the knowledge I had picked up on the topic along the way.

On Saturday we sailed to Dartmouth, which took longer than expected as the tide was against us for much of the time. When our spinnaker hoist went a bit wrong we had to drop the sail; however attempting to pull it back onto the yacht was proving very difficult so we just let the sheets, guys and halyard go, leaving the enormous spinnaker billowing in the distance - an awesome sight! Unfortunately the sail was still attached to the yacht through the mast and at the snake pit, where the halyard had caught in the jammer, and we had to cut the rope so it could be freed from the boat.

Quickly a 'spinnaker overboard' drill was sprung into action and we carefully circled round to collect the sail, which resembled a giant jellyfish with its many ropes hanging down like tentacles in the sea, and hauled it back on board.

Our final day's sailing to Plymouth involved something called a 'cans challenge', where we would sail the yacht and earn points for every exercise that we could perform. This gave us a goal to aim for and added a bit more urgency to the sailing, so we worked as quickly as possible to hoist and lower the trysail (a smaller, bright orange sail used in place of the mainsail in severe weather), put in and shake out reefs on the mainsail, raised all the headsails, used the emergency tiller, and practised the MOB drill!

Somewhat worn out from the day's activities, we sailed into Plymouth and dropped the mainsail for one last time, just as a large pod of dolphins dived out the water alongside the yacht for a breath-taking finish.

Having completed the consolidation training sail, I feel that my seamanship and confidence on the yacht has improved considerably and I'm looking forward even more to taking part in the World's Toughest Yacht Race. The consolidation sail is the final training before the crew announcement (where CVs are placed into their teams at the London Boat Show in January 2004), so it feels strange and exciting now that that will be my next event to look forward to in the Global Challenge calendar!

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Development Training
April 2003

Continuation Training
November 2002

Challenge Regatta
July 2002

Continuation
Training
February 2002

Induction Training December 2001

Race Finish
June 2001