Exercise TRANSGLOBE - Leg 4 Preview
by Peta Stuart-Hunt 29 Sep 2009 10:46 BST
Leg 4: Cape Town - Perth 5,000nm
A 21-year old RAF Officer Cadet student, Gemma Lamont, who hails from Scotland, has done ‘a bit of dinghy sailing and some yachting’ during her service with the RAF, but nothing remotely significant compared to her latest sailing challenge on Exercise TRANSGLOBE. Gemma has signed up as crew on board the RAF yacht, HMSTV Discoverer, to sail one of the longest legs during TRANSGLOBE, from Cape Town to Perth, a distance of 5,000nm, scheduled to depart Cape Town on 5th October.
Gemma (or ‘Wee Gemz’ as she is also known) needn’t worry though. She is in excellent and very experienced hands as one of her fellow crew members is retired Air Marshal Sir Graham Anthony ‘Dusty’ Miller KBE who is now a member of the Volunteer Reserves. Another is Sqn Ldr Neil Cottrell, the TRANSGLOBE Project Officer and the mastermind behind this extraordinary adventure training exercise as well as being Discoverer’s 1st Mate on this leg. Dusty Miller, who lives with his family in Cheltenham, has already sailed over 5,000nm and completed 16 service expeditions during the course of his 41 years service in the RAF.
Meanwhile, over on the Navy boat, HMSTV Adventure, Lt Vivienne Masson (aged 27) will be hoping that her three yacht delivery trips across the Med will stand her in good stead for the long passage ahead. Viv was educated in Cheltenham followed by three years at TS Legion with Cheltenham Sea Cadets and five years at HMS Vivid (Plymouth Royal Naval Reserves). She is based at HMS Heron, Yeovilton. Adventure’s skipper is a member of the Joint Services Adventurous Sail Training Centre (JSASTC) staff and the majority of the crew are Royal Marines from 45 Commando who have recently returned from Operations in Afghanistan.
The crew for the Army yacht HMSTV Challenger are all from the Royal Logistic Corps and were lucky enough to be selected from a large number of Corps applications. JSASTC staff skipper Mike Symes is in command and this is his 2nd Leg of TRANSGLOBE having been the RN yacht’s skipper on Leg 1. He will be ably supported by Captain Austin Prendiville as the 1st Mate. Austin is a qualified Yacht Master Offshore and an accomplished sailor working to achieve his YM Ocean qualification on this passage.
Tackling the Roaring Forties... twice!
The three sets of crew board their respective yachts at Cape Town’s Royal Cape Yacht Club for a period of training and boat preparation prior to the start day on 5th October, skippers and weather permitting. Cape Town is 33º 57’ South of the Equator, very nearly at the bottom limit of the Southern Horse Latitudes. The Great Circle route to Perth will take them down as far as 50º South, involving a double crossing of the notorious Roaring Forties where the Southern Ocean Lows dominate the weather patterns. Combined with the sea swell that circumnavigates the higher Southern latitudes, and uninterrupted by major land masses, they can expect a mix of challenging and exhilarating conditions.
Their route starts with a departure from the shelter of Table Bay, South of Robben Island and round to the start gate which is a line due South of the Cape of Good Hope. Heading South East approximately 80 miles , they will pass offshore of the most Southerly point of Africa, Cape Agulhas at 39º 49‘ 57’’, which is also recognised as the point where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean and two great ocean currents mix with capricious eddies and variable salinity.
Perth will be nearly 5,000nm away and the passage will take 30 to 35 days to complete. The crews will have stocked up with over 5 weeks of provisions that will fill every nook and cranny below decks.
Kerguelen Island is half way point
The halfway point is marked by the rugged outcrop of rock that rises to nearly 6,000ft known as Kerguelen (or Desolation) Island, part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands. Situated at 49º 15‘ South, 069º 35‘ East, the island stands as a waypoint for the most Southerly point of the route as a limit of no further than 50º South has been imposed for this passage. After Kerguelen, the crews will turn Northwards towards Perth and the welcoming hospitality of the Freemantle Sailing Club in mid November.
The 13-leg Exercise TRANSGLOBE is a major Tri-Service Adventurous Sail Training Exercise open to all UK service personnel, Regular and Reserve. The guys and girls who have signed up for TRANSGLOBE are experiencing the extremes of ocean crossings from the heat of the Tropics to the extreme cold of the Southern Ocean. TRANSGLOBE is certainly testing both physical and mental stamina whilst building confidence in their own capabilities as well as those of their fellow crew members.
Tracking and position reports as well as more details about Exercise TRANSGLOBE are on the official website at www.exercisetransglobe.com