Exercise TRANSGLOBE - Leg 8 Preview

The Big One beckons – the deep Southern Ocean and Cape Horn

The Challenge 67s have just undergone a routine maintenance programme in Auckland in preparation for this monster of a leg

Three new crews are preparing for the start of Leg 8 of Exercise TRANSGLOBE from Auckland, New Zealand although, right now, they’re at Project HQ at Fort Blockhouse in Gosport, Hampshire. The challenge that lies ahead in this next stage of the largest-ever adventurous training exercise ever mounted by Britain’s forces, namely taking on the Southern Ocean and rounding Cape Horn, demands that all participants have completed the RYA Sea Survival Course held at the Joint Services Sail Training Centre (JSASTC) in Gosport. Amongst those going through the training are members of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers recently returned from operations in Afghanistan*.

Forty servicemen and women will depart the UK from Heathrow tomorrow, Wednesday the 27th January, and arrive in Auckland, New Zealand, via Hong Kong, early on Friday 29th January. They will then meet up with their respective skippers on board the yachts in Auckland harbour for a scheduled start on 3rd February. The yachts, three 67 ft steel-hulled former British Steel Challenge boats, will be fresh out of a two-week maintenance period that included a full hull and rigging inspection under the watchful eyes of the Naval overseer and the boss of JSASTC, Nick Trundle and the JSASTC Fleet Operations Manager, Vaughan Marsh. Nick has a particular interest in the depth of this routine maintenance as he is skipper of Adventure, the Royal Navy yacht for this Leg.

The challenges include up to 45 days at sea + good judgement on the weather & provisioning! The total nautical mileage for this section is 6,300, the longest of the Exercise and requiring a possible 45 days at sea for the crews, some of whom are novice sailors. It is hoped that the yachts will average 7 knots and take only 38 days to round Cape Horn and travel up the East coast of South America but the crews will have to buy and store sufficient provisions to last for the full 45 days as winds in the South Atlantic are notoriously unreliable. The final destination is Punta del Este in Uruguay, situated at the northern entry to the River Plate.

Owing to the particular challenges of this stage of the Exercise, all skippers have been given specific instructions about the route to take to pass Cape Horn. They are not permitted to sail further south than 51°S until East of 105°W, then no further South than 54°S until east of 95°W, then no further South than 56°S until east of 80°W and then no further south than 57°30’S. Yachts are to sail no closer than 3nm of Cape Horn.

Weather will play a major factor in the tactics used by the three crews. They have access to the US UGRIB weather site to download weather predictions and will also receive messages from ground stations via the SATC system. Nevertheless, they will be expecting high winds, predominately from the West and mountainous seas. All will be aware of Adventure’s knockdown during Leg 4 and will be taking all steps to avoid a repeat.

The Crews

For the Royal Navy on Adventure, the skipper Nick Trundle has a very strong team that includes four Yachtmasters, one Coastal and three Day Skippers. One of the Yachtmasters, Nikki Woodroffe, will be on her second consecutive leg of TRANSGLOBE having sailed from Hobart to Auckland as 1st Mate on Leg 7. Nikki is a Lieutenant in the RN Reserves and is a teacher and CCF instructor at Kelly College, Devon. Laura Cambrook is a sailing novice but has a strong sense of adventure. As a Lieutenant in the Fleet Air Arm, she is between courses to become a fully trained Observer on the Lynx helicopter.

Onboard Challenger the Army yacht, JSASTC staff skipper Becky Walford will have charge of a crew from the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. Becky is fresh from her success in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race as the skipper of Discoverer the RAF yacht that won the Oggin Trophy presented to the first Armed Forces entry and as the first female skipper to cross the finish line. Her crew includes personnel only recently returned from operations in Afghanistan and she is skippering an all-male team. When asked why these soldiers want to climb on board a yacht and sail the toughest leg of TRANSGLOBE, the Regiment’s Press Officer, Captain Dan Wright, explained that this voyage is looked upon as a reward after such an intensive tour of duty. “The Fusiliers have really been in the thick of it and the Battalion has lost some men. The guys really need this.”

On the RAF yacht Discoverer is skipper Mike Symes from JSASTC who completed Leg 4 as skipper of the Army yacht. This time he has an RAF crew including three Yachtmasters, two Coastal and two Day Skippers. Dr Nick Carter is another member of the winning RAF crew in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race who is returning to the Exercise to face the challenge of the Southern Ocean. The two Coastal skippers are Flight Lieutenants Jo Rimmer and Jo Anderson both of whom are looking forward to sailing around the Horn. Jo Rimmer is a Doctor and Jo Anderson is a qualified physiotherapist but works in the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Cell at RAF Kinloss as a controller.