Here are the web reports posted on the Jubilee Sailing Trust website that me and my watch wrote about our experiences. There are a few from the permanent crew as I feel they give a good picture of how different our voyage was to normal JST voyages. Happy reading! Under each report in bold is the name of the author, so if you just want to read mine then scroll down and look for Sarah in Aft Port Watch.
18th - 20th July 2008
Finally the time is nearly upon us when voyage LN 700 - the all girls team for the Tall Ships Race 2008 - come together to sail from Liverpool to Malloy. Forty girl guides and their leaders, having gone through a national selection process, have arrived on the Lord Nelson to undertake the first leg of the race. Of course it wasn't ever going to be a quiet affair. The day before the girls joined the ship, HRH Prince Andrew attended a reception on board Lord Nelson where he had the opportunity to meet some of the other ships Captains, alongside our own Captain Clare Cupples, JST Chairman Tom Stewart and CEO Amanda Butcher. The Tall Ships weekend here in Liverpool has attracted a lot of attention and innumerable visitors, reporters, journalists (and some Mum's and Dad's!) have been around to hear about the ships and to learn of our unique voyage - the first all female crew, (including the permanent crew), and the unique opportunity the Lord Nelson provides in enabling people of all abilities to sail together.
Before joining the ship, the Girl Guides all turned out in their new pink JST/Girl Guide shirts to represent the Lord Nelson in the crew parade - what a sight! In a sea of pink they could hardly be missed and many photo opportunities were taken up. Then they arrived on board the ship, to find their bunks and meet the rest of the crew and learn about some of the safety aspects for the night ahead, before heading off to the crew party.
The ship opened again on Sunday to members of the public who the Guides helped to show round, whilst others unpacked and helped get the ship ready.
The afternoon saw the official voyage welcome and introductions to the permanent crew with safety briefings and drills taking place too. Then Captain Clare briefed the new crew on the plans for the coming voyage not least of all, being that the next day was to start with us having the ship ready to be off the berth by 0600hrs, meaning an early call at 0500hrs!
Update By: Rachel MP LN
20th July 2008
The long wait was over as 40 members of Girl Guides UK (GG UK) gathered for the crew parade. The pink shirts and neckers of the first all female crew were worn in pride with the full intention of winning the race. On arrival at the dock, the GG UK sail was flying high and caused a bit of a lump in the throat, as we looked on with pride. Parched and famished we listened to the initial safety briefing before being dismissed for the crew party, although under strict instructions to be back on board by 2300hrs. Despite the short party time, contact was made between the different ship crews, especially on the dance floor, including the (temporary) acquisition of sailors' hats!! As Girl Guides we arrived just in time and reported for harbour watch, which for us was midnight to four am!
Update By: Rachel MP LN
21-22nd July 2008
After waving to lots of family, friends & randomers in the crew parade we finally hit open sea & turned off the engines! We had to wake at 4.45am to leave Wellington dock at 6am, a taste of things to come! We travelled through the lock. Good steering Tamsin , what a tight squeeze. Unfortunately this coincided with the onset of seasickness for several people… luckily all vomiting took place over the side or into the heads so no extra cleaning required. Including Chloe’s matching pink sick (either coconut fudge or black current squash).
Our time on the Mersey. A brave male pilot boarded the ship to guide us during the parade of sail. Katie a teacher in Liverpool was given an opportunity of a lifetime to steer the ship along the Mersey during the parade of sail. ‘I felt like a VIP. Millions of spectators, cameras flashing and TV crews Victoria Beckham eat your heart out ha,ha!!!’
The parade was so much fun. Every ship supplied entertainment. Although we were obviously the stars of the show. We were heard from the river banks and our pink Mexican wave was legendary. We attracted the attention of a smaller passing vessel who tried to steal our thunder by launching water bombs at us. A few soggy crew , just wait till we meet them in Norway………to be continued!!!
By the way Captain Clare is showing herself as a bit of a whiz at cloud spotting. She has informed us that cumulus clouds apparently weigh the equivalent of 80 elephants !!!!! WOW how fascinating Dave x
We passed the isle of man during the night, & by morning Ireland was visible. So we are well on our way to being in the race start position for 3pm, off the coast of Northern Ireland. The wind was getting up in the right direction , so after a tacking and wearing briefing, we did some tacking practice this morning (unsuccessfully), at least we had a workout.(Thanks for that Captain!) Lots of laugher as the captain announced that the purser and engineers were in charge of the Spanking at the rear end (disappointment when they realised that she meant the sails). Mir passed us mid afternoon pretty close, making a wonderful photo opportunity amongst jellyfish spotting & lots of hauling on ropes. Wind now dropped so the engines are going on again.
We know that the race hasn’t started yet but we took great pleasure in over taking Mir in the early evening.
Aft Port (Helen W/L, Katie, Abi B, Abi G, Sarah, Sally, Anneabell, Pippa, Alison and Izzy)
24th July 2008
STOP PRESS: Latest race new 0930hrs: We are 16th overnight in our Class and
27th overall out of 53.
True to form, the Guiders UK have been entertaining us, not only during the parade of sail on the River Mersey, cheering and waving everyone on but also on watch and during happy hour. For example and for those who wish to join in at home.....to the tune of 'she'll be coming round the mountain'! One, Two, Three....
Can a woman sail a Tall ship? Yes she can! (Yes she can!)
Can a woman be a Captain? Yes she can! (Yes she can!)
Can she be 1st Mate on Nelson
Engineer, Cook, Purser, Bosun?
Can she lead us o'er the ocean?
Yes she can! (Yes she can!)
Just you wait until we're older
Then you'll see (then you'll see)
We'll be women in tomorrow's history (history)
As we grow up through the years
We'll sing out loud and clear
Can we start the process here?
Yes we can! (Yes we can!)
Many other renditions have been created for this voyage including 'I'm alive, alert, awake, enthusiastic' (to the tune of 'If you're happy and you know it') but judging by some of the faces on rising this morning I think a little poetic licence has been taken!! There have been many moments of helpless laughter(apparently Chief Engineer Jenny can laugh louder than the engines!) particularly when Catherine went rushing round the lower decks to make sure everyone had their 'loin' cloths up! Once assured that lee cloths were in place and no one was in danger of rolling out of their bunks, she promptly followed this by an impromptu can-can and splits - it's becoming a very entertaining voyage to say the least!
Update By: Rachel MP LN
Had to wake up at 7 30 am to go and have a delicious breakfast of Sausages, egg and cooked cherry tomatoes. The I had watch duty from 8 am to 12 mid day. Happy Hour one of our jobs to day was to scrub the deck witch was great fun all of us working as a team, I got the exciting job of using the hose to wash down all the decks.
After happy our we had a good earned break of smoko, the Second mate then announced that she was doing a talk about the weather in the lower mess, she explained that we were going to have to get quite close to the island of Skye to leave us enough room to the east to sail the ship and turn in light winds, unfotchanly the tide took us a little bit close to land and we could see the rocks close by within three cables away!! The captain and crew worked really hard to try and turn the ship back around but we were forced to use the engines to stop us going aground. (Asgard ii is still be hind us)
What you would be glad to here is that we have had no episode of sea sickness today we are all well!!!! (Touch wood)
Suddenly our off nowhere we saw what we thought was a white sting ray, but only to realise it was a fin of a minky whale, for two hours it was showing off to all of us on board by surfacing and circling around the boat. (Many of have photos of the beautiful sighting)
Had a lovely dinner of roast chicken with new potatoes and sweed and pudding was Apple straddle with vanilla ice-cream!!!!!!!!!
I am now heading up to the bride for my 20 00 hr watch till 00 00
Written by Izzi Allies on behalf of her watch AFT PORT
25th July 2008
The first call of the day was for the lovely 12-4am watch, in which we appeared very blurry eyed and full of enthusiasm (he he). Not long after Abi B took control of the helm did the naughty wind fairy take away our wind and began to drag us backwards. Sarah’s theory of negative wind states that; ‘if the wind indicator drops below 0 knots negative wind will be achieved and a vacuum will form and suck us backwards!’ (Gully, 2008).
Following the appearance of the naughty wind fairy we had to hand (take in) her ally the naughty spanker. But through the amazing determination and skill of Abi B we were able to only do a few pirouettes and get back on course. This repeated ballet practice confused poor Sarah as she pointed out the same tanker 5 times to the rest of the watches amusement. A wonderful packet of refreshers kept us all going through the 4 hour shift along with a packet of biscuits and some leftovers.
Finally at 4am we were relieved by Team Zoe and skulked off to our bunks for 3 hours sleep before Wendy’s wonderful breakfast of bacon, gooey poached egg (very impressive for 50 people) and hash browns. Speedily followed by another HAPPY HOUR in which we scrubbed every bit of rust from the deck of the ship and got very wet by the hose (at the hands of Sarah). Our usual afternoon of napping and eating proceeded before being “rudely” disturbed to get ready for our watch at 4pm.
Again the naughty wind fairy had been having fun and all we could do was sit in the helm and enjoy the sun and scenery whilst making sundial for one of our daily challenges, even the porpoises graced us with their presence. A couple of girls tried their hand at fishing with a really basic line and managed to catch 2 mackerel and an odd looking fish we could not recognise. Aft port watch then enjoyed a short lesson in navigation and international flags signs (all memorised by our First Mate Jean, well done!). We also had a go at using a sextant to work out our position.
After enjoying our lovely dinner we went out on deck to play cards (Go Fish!) before handing (taking in) all of the sails for the night as the naughty wind fairy seems to have invited all of her friends for a party around our lovely ship L.
Our next watch is from 4 till 8am and we are off to bed now for a few hours kip. We hope you are all enjoying reading about our adventures at sea on the Lord Nelson. Please all wish for wind and cross your entire body that the naughty wind fairy will go and pick on some other poor vessel.
Sarah and Abi B, on behalf of Aft Port.
and now from the engineers...
It's been a mixed bag for the engineers today, which is situation normal on tall shiups. Personnallly I started my day on a high when I saw the chart that we were nearly passing my home land of Fair Isle. The working day is now over and wehave moved a little bit sideways an a little bit suth on the chart. For a engineer this is frustrating as we're usually here to make the ship move. However, we're aware that there are others who are actually trying to make the ship move, and for them it's even more frustrating, so we just get on with the job and take it al lightly.
The job today has consisted of freeing up the helmsmans chair on the open bridge (it now slides), removing, overhauling and testing a float switch from the black water (raw sewage) tank, flushing through and cleaning strainers in the grey water (sinks and showers) tank, testing the motor on the galley dumb waiter and changing the oil in the port generator (Editor's note. The engineers are obviously trying to justify their existenence while we're sailing)
After morning smoko I gave a talk to the crew about the ships systems and the four-stroke cycle. They seemed pretty clued up abvout it all and were very receptive: as a result we have a few hoping for a tour of the engine room, when time permits. Jenny has offered to do the tour as she's hoping the girls will smell better than the grey or black water systems.
The third member of the engineering team, Charlie, only mangfed to turn to from his it today after afternoon smoko. He wheezed and peched for a bit while we all 3 tackled the stbd sea strained before going back down to join the beer and cider in the after pumproom. He doesn't mess around with waiting for it to get from the store to the fridge, our Charlie. He is hgowever a valued and cherished member of the team so he gets away with these little lapses.
Rachel the engineer PS Charlie is our very valued vax, the aquatic version of Henry the Hoover
Update By: Our Engineers
25th July 2008
Our watch (Aft Port) was up on the bridge from 2000 hr till 0000 hr. After the interesting weather talk from Ali (Second Mate) we understood a bit more about what was going on. However, watch leader Helen had missed the talk and so there was a bit of confusion over keeping close to Skye. After a moment of hesitation she replied “but the sky is all around us!!!” We let her off with this one due to lack of sleep.
In a desperate attempt to make some progress (meaning going forwards instead of backwards) the watch, along with a few helpers which were down in the bar, managed to haul some sails. Despite our best efforts, the wind gods were not on our side and so we remained fairly stationary.
However, spirits up on the bridge remained high. The logs were efficiently being done and the lookouts were being very cautious of naughty lobster pots as well as other vessels. Maybe it was due to tiredness, but there was further confusion later on. A very worried Abi G called Helen regarding a big red light off the starboard side on the horizon as she was worried about a collision – we seemed to be heading straight for it! Helen came rushing over and managed to resolve the problem, by informing Abi “don’t worry, that’s the moon!” She tried to recover from the embarrassment by justifying it by saying “it was dead big and close though!” Ali who was helming at the time assured Abi that she would try her best efforts to avoid the moon!!
Today on board the ship we’ve had a special celebration…. it’s Charlotte Cooper’s 18th Birthday! Cookie made a lush chocolate cake which we all devoured at morning Smoko! Happy Birthday Coops!!
We were back on watch at 1200, ready to tackle the most difficult part of our voyage so far – getting through the narrow and rocky section between the outer and inner Hebrides. This is where Aft Port proved themselves, and learnt that we have the best helm in all the land…. Abi G! She kept the straightest wake we’ve seen and steered us through the tricky straight so well we even got a “brilliant, well done” and “thankyou” from Captain Clare (apparently they don’t get handed out too lightly – well done Abi, you’ve saved the day! Much like Batman, don’t you think Dave?)
After picking up speed to almost 10 knots, we overtook the Mexican ship, who had gotten stuck because of lack of wind - apparently the wind gods don’t favour smart white uniforms!! But the glorious progress wasn’t to last and the end of our watch saw us back on the slow-go, praying to the SE wind gods to help us on again! No response as of yet, we’ll keep trying!
Sally and Abi G, on behalf of Aft Port.
28 July 2008
It was 6.40am and all were sleeping in the peaceful silence and gentle rocking. The only sound to be heard was the subtle tones of the almighty fog horn... Hoooooooonk, Honk Honk was the sound that signified we were sailing through thick fog. The watertight doors had to be closed splitting the lower deck into 3 compartments requiring a lot of stair usage to travel through Nellie's belly. As the first watch on duty we had to be up for an early breakfast of dippy eggs and soldiers and bacon YUM. Unsurprisingly the naughty wind fairy had put a lot of pressure on the naughty spanker to misbehave and our first task was to hand (take in) the spanker to prevent us from elegantly pirouetting again during morning ballet practice. Then an amazing thing happened: the naughty wind fairy got really bored of pestering us and decided to go and bother someone else (we believe that she can be found bugging captain hook). To add to our excitement we spotted minke whale, bottle nosed dolphins and porpoises. By the end of our first watch we reached record breaking speeds of 4.7 knots and covered 11 miles YEY! Throughout the day the majority of the crew have been busy knitting squares for the Oxfam blanket, its like a mini production line! The squares are going off to Oxfam to create a giant blanket which will be presented to the government as part of a demonstration. Each square will represent a maternal death in the third world due to inadequate obstetric care. Join in at home and get knitting 9 inch squares. We have also been practicing our Norwegian for when we finally get to Maloy. We have leant how to say Takk (thank you), Vaer sa snill (please), ol (beer), dametoalett (ladies toilet) and Ja (yes).
Update By: Abi B and Sarah G on behalf of Aft Port watch
28th July 2008
Well it was always going to be an adventure! Forty guiders, clad in pink drill shirts, neckers and huge smiles, out on the open seas to man the 'first all female crew' in the Tall Ships race 2008. They represented the JST & GGUK in the crew parade in Liverpool with pride and soon got to meet some of the crew members from the other ships. All the ships looked glorious with their dress flags on display and seemed to bring Liverpool and its surrounding areas to a halt. The crowds stood several people deep and extended right along the Mersey for the parade of sail - a spectacular sight. And so it was that 40 women all with the Girl Guiders UK in common (except the permanent crew who all had tales of not making it past Brownies, if at all!) boarded the Lord Nelson to settle in for the coming fifteen days. The JST had taken great pains to ensure that the girls complement would be made up of female deck officers, bosun, engineers, medical purser, cook and the Lord Nelson's own Captain Clare.
We set out for a sedate sail/motor to Northern Ireland, anchoring off Port Stewart and the race start point - in which time the guiders had the chance to learn the ropes, brace yards and set sails and something of the ships routine - this was not all plain sailing (whoever called it 'plain'?). We have had a number of nights where the fog has enveloped us and the watertight doors have had to be closed. One guider did her evening round to check all the girls 'loin' cloths (lee cloths) were up! There were some mornings were the 'alive, alert, awake, enthusiastic' song seemed to be accompanied by something of an apparition but the watches soon got used to the early mornings and the luxury of lying in until 0730hrs and quiet time during the afternoons. On race day, the Lord Nelson was amongst the Class A ships and was one of the first to make it across the start line - with the familiar voice of Steve Higgs (Mate on JST's Tenacious) coming over the radio periodically to keep us updated on our position. We kept the company of several ships, who in full sail meant many spectacular photo opportunities too. We really did feel very lucky to be amongst them. We were also able to get a close sighting of a minke whale and several dolphins, gannets, skua's, and kittiwakes who seemed to enjoy our company, possibly bemused by the vision of so many girls at sea! Two mackerel were also caught off the stern platform and cookie Wendy duly cooked them for breakfast for the happy fisherwomen. The guiders have also been treated to talks on weather, engineering, and a most eagerly awaited one on buoys - well in fact it was buoyage - but hey, who was going to spoil the fun?!
There were many other rare scenes on board during the voyage including the mass waxing of legs and eyebrows in the bar one evening - which was suddenly interrupted by the 'all hands' cry and from which there emerged some rather surprised(!) looking individuals declaring ' but I've only had one eyebrow done!' Each evening there has been a growing collection of duvets in the bar with their respective pajama -clad owners complete with 'ted' - all for the bedtime story read to us by chief engineer Jenny.
From our start point off the coast of Northern Ireland, we have sailed up the Sea of Hebrides between the Outer and Inner Hebrides, on up the Minch and across the top of Orkney. We sailed a further 120miles to the north of Shetland and the Faeroe Islands and are now heading in an easterly direction towards our destination of Maloy in Norway.
Rachel Medical purser
29th July 2008
Yay the wind has got its hat on! and we're stonking along at an impressive 7.4 knots with 25knots of wind!!!
Todays challenge was to make somthing shine so everyone donned there rubber gloves and brasso (except the helms woman thank goodness) and brassoed the bridge properly (following feeble attepts by the previouse watch!!!!!
We had great news on the sailing front we are now navigating from a chart with norway on!!!(although we ar currently heading towards polar bear land!!!(very exciting but not that useful!!))
fantastic news today on the racing front now the end of the race as been brought forwards to 1300 hours on wednesday!!! this means we wont need to retire from the race as we can still get to norway in time using the engines and still have a fighting chance at beating the boy in the mexican navey(he he he)sally showed her flixibility with some ... interesting (?!) moves onthe stairs!
30th July aft port 0000-0400 watch when we emerged from our cozy beds(some more successfull than others (following abi B's 3 attempts)) we all made it up on deck to be greated by the roughest sea we'd seen this trip!!! the wave marcine, wilfrid had been working overtime to give us a bit of excitment for our last day of sailing with swells of 3 meters(or thats what it felt like!). Just to mke our lives a bit more excitingwe unfurled both royals (good bungy jupping everyone!) whast being securly strapped on to avoid any loan swimmers(brrrr). following this exciting escipade we then had to set the flying jib which involved repeated soakings to the heave hoing crew (boho:-() watch then finished when pip (and the rest of the watch not just me) finally got her hands on her first chocolate hob nob on the voyage(yahoo!) abi b also demonstrated her belly daning again aft port then had a lovely undesterbed sleep until breakfast while the rest of the crew weared without us (thanks guys!!!)we are now motering as the race has finished! and we want to get to maloy in time t sleep before all the celebrations beguin!!!
Update By: by pip and abi b xxx on behalf of Aft port
Big efforts from all the crew to conserve fresh water, but we have finally had to start making our own. Without such unfavorable winds round the Western Isles, we might have managed, but everyone is looking forward to getting clean before stepping ashore once more. As we are finally north of the Shetlands, it feels like Norway may be getting nearer. Sail power is working after all. I have spent my day with Hector, our little sewage plant. It had a bit of an electrical problem. I had expected a few more problems, but the bacteria in the tank are munching away happily enough. Rachel had an apprentice to help her in the morning, but I don't think the career choice caught on.
Meanwhile, in the bar, the other major responsibility for the engineers, rather than drinking a glass of wine, everyone awaits a very early reading of a bedtime story. I guess I'd better go and find the book.
Update By: Jenny- Engineer
Message From the Captain
On day 11 of our totally different JST voyage and with the race due to finish at 1300 BST today I thought I'd take this opportunity to reflect on the voyage so far and to attempt to straighten the record.
Race wise I would be feeling we have had a Jonah (or at least his sister) on board if it hadn't been for the fact that Pelican and Cuauhtemoc have managed to find the same wind holes as us, at least it appears we won't actually be last. Ships company wise I have nothing but praise for my fellow ship mates. The enthusiasm and cheerfulness, even under the most depressing of circumstances i.e. flat calms and fog has been truly amazing. I will admit to having been slightly apprehensive about a ship full of women (the last time I experienced anything like it was 30 years ago at boarding school, a time I look back on with absolutely no fond memories at all)
There have however been strange sights on board, knitting in the bar and on the deck in the (occasional) sunshine, C/Es reading penny romances to an avid nightly audience of those about to turn in before their night watches, singing in the most random of places including the main tops and a continual stream of folks volunteering to clean and help in the galley.
Ship-wise, Lord Nelson has never looked cleaner or gleamed more and the dress flags which are a good vintage and got a hammering in Liverpool when the wind blew have been completely re-vamped so that we can again fly them with pride.
All in all I think all have done well.
Would I want to do it again? Don't tell anyone but I rather think the answer is "yes".
Update By: Captain Clare
3rd August 2008 - The final Report
And so here ends the tale..............
We have just waved off the first 5 crew on the bus to Oslo with a lot of singing and tears! The rest of us will follow tomorrow. It always amazes us how close a group of people can become in a short space of time and we have to admit that we have never seen such a case before where people have bonded so much. It is fantastic that we have all had the opportunity to do such a trip, and while the sailing has not always been what we have wanted, the experience has been a very personal one for all involved.
and now for the final flourish................
The last few days have been spent in Maloy enjoying various activities that the town have put on. We entered the football tournament which provided amusement. Our opposition was the Mexican Navy (the Brazilian navy chickened out - scared at the thought of getting beaten we hope!). The Mexican goalkeeper appeared so worried about a possible goal that he sat down in the goal mouth and took his gloves off! You may guess the level of competition when the Mexicans were told in the second half that they were only allowed to score with their heads. In the end the score was still 7 - 3 (to the Mexicans!) - but we were proud of our team.
Assisted climbs took place yesterday morning at the fore mast. This opportunity enabled EVERYONE, including those with physical disabilities, to climb the mast and enjoy the magnificent views from the platform. Having been on the hoisting team on the ground I must say it was one of the highlights of my trip. It was an honour to be a part of these mountain top moments and we were all so proud of all attempts. The mast climb has been the biggest challenge for a lot of our crew and I think these guys have been looking forward to it throughout the whole voyage. Abi Bubb (Aft Port) was the first up (accompanied throughout by the biggest smile I have EVER seen) and we really thought we were going to have to hoist up a duvet, pillow and supper for her and Hannah, as they were loving it up there so much! Abi even made it into the papers and had several interviews, leading to her climbing up again! She is now black and blue with bruises, and we have to keep a close eye on her incase she were to try escape to the crows' nest once more! A big thank you goes out to the Bosun, Cas, who must have climbed the mast at least 30 times!
In glorious sunshine yesterday we had the crew parade. Clearly, we were all dressed in pink and sang our "Pink Pyjamas Song" (all will be revealed when we return home.) We were the second crew in the parade with the crew of 'Royalist' behind us. A lot of competition on singing ensued and various renditions of the conga were held entertaining the crowds. We had the presentation to follow the parade. We were very proud that Lord Nelson and our wonderful crew won the most "prestigious" award - the cook longest at sea (that may tell you a bit about our voyage.)
Eight of our crew went on the pull with Roald Admundsen. After two weeks without men, it was amusing to see us try to pull away from them - you may have guessed by now that we are talking about the tug of war competition. After overcoming our initial fear of the sheer size of the naval monsters before us, we took our positions to great encouragement from the crowd. Obviously, once again, we HAD to let the men win due to the humiliation they would face - but we did put up a good fight lasting a dramatic 14 whole seconds!!!
Today eight of our crew members (4 with physical disabilities) were flown in a helicopter to the top of a nearby mountain to join a hike expedition and the Mexicans once again. The rapidly descending fog almost left our girls stranded while they were planning a rescue party down at the bottom. Luckily the fog cleared and they returned to sea level. I think it's fair to say that they haven't stopped talking about it for the rest of the day and the rest of us are thoroughly jealous.
Another activity which stands out is the Pallet Running. This consists of a string of pallets linked together across the water over which contestants must run! The girls who took part were Millie, Laura and Lydia S and they all returned to the boat dripping wet. The fastest time was 38 seconds but the Lord Nelson Olympic Team did it in an impressive 4 minutes (approximate rounding!) You may see a common theme running throughout these tournaments!!!
The crew party was situated in the most mind-blowing location! As we walked to the top of the hill we looked out across the valley - the stunning natural beauty cannot really be described in words. There was a stage with live music playing throughout the evening. Along the water edge were rocks perfect for sitting on and admiring the surroundings. There were plenty of men in uniform too - a highlight for many!
Just time to tell you about our last challenge on ship - the prestigious 1st Lord Nelson Egg Challenge. Each watch was given the task to find a way to protect their precious egg from the perils of being dropped from the fore mast at high speed as the launcher tried to throw the package as far as possible to the stern, where the rest of the crew were waiting in anticipation. We constructed a zorb style thing with suspension, etc. with a pirate style decorated egg which we decided to call Sparrow (Robin isn't a very piratey name!!! Eh Dave?) The egg, covered in many layers was disguised as a baby which watch leader Helen was absolutely petrified, knees trembling, hot sweats, the lot! (only kidding) But she was very scared about throwing our Aft Port Baby - some of the watch had an emotional attachment and were becoming freakily broody over an egg! Well done to Forward Port for safely protecting their egg - Egwina the Egganaught was the only one not to crack! Forward Starboard won best presentation for Sarah and Liz's amazing performance (including fancy dress!) and the humble Aft Port took the prize for the longest distance travelled - well done Helen for the perfect throw and to Abi G for the best decorated egg in our opinion (poor little sparrow)! Not bad for a design concocted during 4am-watch madness (the MC Hammer dance practice took a back seat for the night).
Given this is our final blog, we would all like to take the opportunity to thank all, including all parents and family, friends, JST, and particularly all our sponsors in enabling us to do this. It has been amazing (how many times can we say this!) and we are really very grateful! It says something about the voyage and Nellie that many want to come back!
So here we sign off. See you all back in the UK!
Aft Port signing out - WL Helen, Abi G, Abi B, Katie (hello Drew), Sarah, Sally, Pip, Anneabell, Izzi and Ali in absence.
We love you Nelson, we do. We love you Nelson, we do........
Update By: Aft Port