Leadership Crew log

Friday 30^th May to  Saturday 31 of May

Yesterday we arrived on board Challenger 2 at one o’clock. We were given a quick briefing on health and safety before casting off at 40 minutes past the hour bound for Falmouth. This was to meet the tide deadline. Once we were under way we were given further information on where we were going and split into watches. With that done we raised the main plus the headsails and with help from the engine moved off towards Falmouth to make sure we arrived in Falmouth as scheduled to do this we did a night sail where the two watches took it in turns to do 4-hour watches throughout the night.

Once morning had broken, we put the Yankee 2 and stay sail down and continued on with engine power. To pass the time we went over our knots this included: a bow line, round turn and two half hitches, clove and rolling hitch, a figure of eight, admiral stopper knot and a single and double sheet bend.

After lunch, some keen person decided we should do a headsail change. We followed that up with a bit of chilling on deck as we finish up our final 20 miles or so.

as we write this we are still on passage  and due in at 7.​

1/6/25

At the crack of dawn, a few Godless heathens decided to swim. To support this decision, they were sure to switch the heads to the greywater tank, as opposed to the sea, in order to avoid swimming with the crew’s morning deposits.

Breakfast was some lovely, delicious pancakes cooked by the one and only Eli, we then created the meal plan up until Thursday, at which point we hope to be in Dublin and will be able to restock. We then made a list off all the activities we wanted to do over the course of this trip, and decided to split into two groups, one started with motoring the dinghy, led by Rob (unfortunately, the motor died halfway through and the second group had to row back) and the other did a full, deep engine check led by Martin, we then swapped so everyone did everything.

By this point, it was lunch time, and the planned quesadillas would have taken much too long, so we had pasta instead with a variety of different toppings. While port watch were washing up, we starboarders were able to take the dinghy into Falmouth, rowed by our lovely watch leader Freddie. We were later joined by everyone else, and were led on a long, winding, hillful walk by our other watch leader Jessie; halfway through we got ice creams which were very good.

Once we had returned to town, we were then allowed to split up and explore as we wanted for the next 1 ½. However, because it was Sunday and we had just taken a two hour walk, the majority of the shops were closed, leaving very little choice for where to go.

Once we had finished exploring, port watch left in the dinghy first to begin dinner, the engine once again died and they had to row back; it was very funny. Dinner was bangers and mash, with the scrumptious mash provided by starboards Lara, and the entertainment of John struggling to cut broccoli.

Next, we plan to start passage planning our voyage to Dublin; God help us.

Blog…   from 2-3/6/2025

Our passage from Falmouth to Dublin and more!!!!

We started Monday off with pastries and then we pootled out of Falmouth where there was very little wind. Later we would realise what a dream the boredom of slow speed and calm seas in comparison to our evening panics.

As we motored round lands end, the wind started filling in as the darkness of the night descended. As well as lots and lots of wind (40kts ish) we were also greeted by the Irish sea with buckets of rain. Our evening watches were comprised of sleeping where we could, trying to steer straight and getting completely soaked.

As the sun came up, the wind began dying and we all breathed a sigh of relief. We arrived into Dun Laoghaire, then parked in the marina very smoothly, thanks to our skilled skipper, then we all had a good night’s sleep.

On Wednesday we spent the morning doing menu planning, safety briefings and then some shopping! Then we had a nice lunch of filled pasta with tomato sauce. We then spent the afternoon exploring the great city of Dublin, the art galleries (mazes), parks and good ice cream. We had some great fajitas for dinner followed by a shower and bed for our early start ahead.

We woke up at 5:30, starting our sail to the Isle of Man. Unfortunately, there was not a whole lot of wind, so we did some pole climbs, nav work and knot tying! Woo!