Page 116 - AGC-Journal-2016

AGC JOURNAL 2016
Transglobe
Leg 9
By Corporal Dawn Gibbs
I was offered leg 9 of Exercise
Transglobe which began in
April in Montevideo, Uruguay
and ended five weeks later in
St Lucia. Kit lists were issued
and checking the weather
forecast for this period
indicated it would be good.
Packing for adventurous
training on a boat requires
lots of thought, as space is
very limited. All personal
equipment has to fit into one
curver box 35 cm x 30 cm x 22
cm). Not much space for 36
days.
Curver box for kit
Meeting The Crew
Thirty crew members for the two yachts
eventually met in Gosport on Friday
15th April 2016 for briefing. By Saturday
lunchtime we were all ready to leave
Gosport and begin our journey. I was on
board the Discoverer and Major Bruce
Spence was the other AGC crew member.
The other members were from The
Royal Logistic Corps, one from the Royal
Engineers and Becky Walford (Skipper)
who was a Civil Servant.
*2016 J Layout.indd 116
Bad Weather
Our first full morning began amazingly
with the sighting of three Orca and very
good weather. However, this was not to
last and by mid afternoon the weather
turned. Sails were reefed and dropped
as waves crashed over the boat and half
the crew were sea sick. A skeleton crew
soldiered on as the weather did not abate
for almost five days, though people began
to find their sea legs. During this period
we witnessed fantastic lightning displays
in the evenings and strange cigar shaped
clouds in the day.
Jan Jakusz and Alexander Petheridge with a blue fin tuna Dolphin in the South Atlantic Ocean
they caught
Uruguay to Salvador
We arrived in Uruguay without any
incidents though when we reached the Weather Improves
harbour it began to rain. This was not
forecast and it continued to do so for much As the weather improved and we were able
of the four days spent there prepping the to navigate downstairs without collecting
boat, familiarising ourselves with ropes too many bruises it was decided to hold a
and sails, grocery shopping for three weeks general knowledge quiz between the two
and also doing rescue drills. boats. The Discoverer began by setting 20
questions one night and the Adventure
We left Uruguay on the afternoon of 21 set them the following evening. I believe
April 2016 and began our first long leg of we managed four rounds and it was
offshore sailing. We were assigned into one interesting to see what general knowledge
of three watches, white, red or blue. Each
watch consisted of four people, a watch
leader, a day skipper, a competent crew
member and a novice. Over a three day
period two watches alternated the sailing
of the boat whilst the third watch carried
out the cooking and cleaning and being
on hand if the other two watches needed
support up deck.
Final days. Left to right: David Hounsome, Jan Jakusz, Harry
Hartnett, Charlotte Miller, Alexa Petheridge, Alexander Petheridge,
Dawn Gibbs and Martin Collinson
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