Page 39 - Bugle Autumn 2023

6 RIFLES
CARIBBEAN EXPRESS LEG 13
In April five members of 6 RIFLES gathered to embark upon an 18-day Adventurous Training expedition. Their destination was Antigua where they were introduced to HMSTC Discoverer of Hornet, a 23-year-old Challenger 72 sailing yacht operated by the Joint Services Adventure Sail Training Centre (JSASTC).
On the itinerary was a short hop from Antigua to Anguilla, a long slog from there to the Bahamas and then a simple day-and-a- half’s sail across the Florida Straits to Cape Canaveral. Contrary to the expectations of some, the trip was to prove much more action packed than many imagined. With squalls, storms, thunder, lightning, barracuda, whales and a surprising lack of seasickness, the 18-day expedition including a non-stop, week- long, 800-mile sail across the North Caribbean was by no means uneventful and a long way from the lazy beach holiday their families no doubt had in mind.
The first leg passed with relative ease,
but the next, was not quite so straight forward. After what felt like an eternity maintaining a constant course of 310 degrees punctuated only by seeing a pod of eight
or so pilot whales swimming in the other direction, Discoverer and her crew eased
to an anchorage at Cat Island, one of the
most southerly of the Bahamas. While the skipper went ashore to clear customs, a rather ingenious rope swing was fashioned from a
TRX and one of the spinnaker halliards which kept all adequately entertained during the four hour wait to be able to legally go ashore.
Much like a week earlier in Anguilla, the shore leave didn’t last long and before dusk the 52-ton Discoverer was under full sails and steaming her way onwards – this time to Nassau.
Just before sunset, there was a strong jerk on the handline being trailed behind the boat. Once reeled in, it turned out to be a barracuda. With vicious-looking teeth curved backwards to grip and never let go and dark eyes that seemed full of hate, the fish looked well deserving of its fearsome reputation. It did it taste extremely good when cooked with plenty of garlic and oil.
In Nassau, a short time was afforded to the crew to explore the former pirate haven. Half of us went off to marvel at the old town with its rum distilleries and pirate museums, while the other half crossed the harbour bridge to explore one of the world’s top hotel resorts.
As was becoming a well practiced tradition, before nightfall, the mooring lines were slipped and Discoverer once again glided out into the Atlantic towards Florida. On paper, the final leg of the journey seemed the simplest. It was
a quick and easy two nights at sea with the current behind us, pushing us north towards the famous home of NASA’s rocket launchpads. If only it were so...
As the sun went down on our final full
the crew braved the weather and, dodging cruise ships left and right, escaped and resumed their course. Needless to say,
all were rather glad to reach solid ground in Florida...
night at sea, the crew on watch spotted
that a section of the track, which attaches
the mainsail to the mast and allows it to
be hoisted up and down, had broken away. The roughly foot-long gap looked innocent enough but, heading into a night at sea, the sail needed to be partly dropped to reduce
the chances of getting into difficulty in strong winds overnight. As the sail dropped down however, suddenly the two loose fastening points became six as the runners came off the track. The sail would have to come fully down. In normal conditions, this would have been simple enough, although complicated by the disconnection between the sail and the mast. However, just off the starboard bow, a storm was fast approaching. The crew hastened to drop the sail but before long, found themselves in a torrential downpour, with twenty knot winds were throwing the loose half-ton
sail from one side of the boat to the other without the mast to hold it steady. To top it off, lightning was striking all around the vessel – at times less than 150m away.
After a tremendous battle, the sail was hogtied to the boom and all that was left, was to motor out from the eye of the storm. While easier said than done, the crew braved the weather and, dodging cruise ships left and right, escaped and resumed their course. Needless to say, all were rather glad to reach solid ground in Florida...
RIFLES The Bugle 39