Finally the team’s all together!
Our stragglers arrived this evening (21 Jan) after another epic, 22 hour flight courtesy of the RAF. The weather in the Falklands has been beautiful today with several of the team suffering unexpected sunburn despite liberal suncream use! We took full advantage of the good weather to literally “learn the ropes” on the upper deck, hoisting sails and learning to “pole out”: use a huge, moveable pole to keep the sails in the right place. Our resident diver Kris was unable to resist the call of the sea: carefully supervised by our skipper Stephen, he jumped in with both feet (and a SCUBA set!) to inspect the hull and propeller.
Kris being in the water presented our first unusual photo opportunity with our associated charity’s symbolic baton www.thebaton.co.uk Previously the handle of a battlefield stretcher, this baton has travelled all over the world with various members of the military on expeditions around the world. Its latest adventure has just begun.
In an unexpectedly glamourous twist, Her Royal Highness Princess Anne came out of her way to wish us well!
Tomorrow we say farewell to Caroline, a French lady who’s travelling the world and for the last few days has been helping us move onboard with excellent cooking and help turning off lights, which some of the team seem to struggle with! As the sun sets tonight over the yacht, the crew eagerly await the detailed weather reports from our expert weatherman (think a poor man’s Michael Fish) for a weather window to open to allow us to sail south.