Leg 4 Update, Belfast, 14/15th August 2009, final blog.

14th August

What a day, after breakfast some of the crew went on a tour and talk to the shipyard where Titanic was built. We saw the room where the plans were drawn up and then went out to see the slipway where she was built and launched.

After lunch a live telephone link with the space station had been organized and Bryn, Toyin and Luke were able to talk directly with the Astronauts and ask them questions like “is motion sickness in space the same as on sea”. The answer is that people who get seasick do not always get spacesick.

Then it was time to prepare for the crew parade. This was an extremely noisy and boisterous event through the streets of Belfast culminating in the prize giving ceremony.
We won 1st in class for our leg, 1st in class overall for all the legs and a certificate to show that Rona 2 had participated in legs of the race. A fantastic result and one that the Project should be proud of.

The award ceremony was followed by the crew party, this was for all the crews of the ships. Eventually everyone stopped partying and went to bed ready for the final day.

What a day! Titanic tour, live conversation with the space centre and 2 1st prize awards.

15th August, last day

Everybody was up early to clean, complete final packing and say goodbyes.
The minibus arrived and by 1030 we were on our way to the airport saying goodbye to our home and protector for the last 4 weeks, Rona 2.

To sum up this has been a most fantastic experience:-

A crew that have been the best
We have coped with every sort of weather the North Atlantic can throw at us except Sun.
The most wonderful experiences on land and water.
Many new friendships made.
And to top it all we won!!

I feel that I have been privileged to have sailed with such a fantastic team and can only wish everyone fair winds and success in their futures.

Chris Matthews,
Skipper Rona 2.

Leg 4 update,13th August 2009

Leg 4 Update, Belfast, 13th August 2009

After a partying on Merrilyn red watch pulled off an amazing breakfast in
the space of only 10 minutes. Our taste buds were blessed with a beautiful
combination of fried eggs, beans and pork burgers (may contain meat).

This gave us the energy to complete the day's tasks. Because most of the
hard work was done yesterday there wasn't too much to do other than some
light cleaning of the heads and the galley. While mother watch was clearing
things away below, blue and white were clearing the deck and re-attaching
the main, which had been taken off to be repaired.

On completion of the chores of the day it was time to have some fun. Those
of us who wanted went bowling at the leisure complex right by our birth. It
was an exciting game, which ended in a nail-biting battle between Paul
Steptoe and the skipper. Paul was quite far ahead, which meant that Chris
required 3 strikes in a row. Amazingly the skipper got 2 and unfortunately
only 9 on the third bowl, which was a great achievement, but not quite
enough to clinch the victory.

At 12 o'clock the five-a-side football matches were on the schedule. A
minibus was waiting for the eager Rona 2 football players. When we arrived
and had overcome the initial organizational issues players were shuffled up
and a few friendly matches with mixed teams were played. The Capitan Miranda
boys were on form in their crew football kit scoring most of the goals.
David and Marcelo from Capitan Miranda and Molly and Eloise from New Moon
were particularly good.

In addition to the sporting activities of the day, crew members were making
trips to Primark in the city centre to get kitted out for our party.
Boys with Primark bags filled to the brim with bright 80s gym clothes came
back throughout the day.

There is a lot of excitement amongst crew members about the party, with the
skipper acquiring an Irish Folk band with the help of our liaison officer
Joanne and a sound system for the music from Matt's laptop being hired from
a local shop.Refreshments being 'wheelbarrowed' in and invitations being
handed out. A proud red-watch moment was the trade of two party invites for
a few crates of Lucozade from some attractive promotion girls who were
handing out Lucozade to the public.

As the day progressed the crowd increased greatly (perhaps to the expected
400.000) There were also many tours of Rona 2 to visitors who were keen to
see what life was like on the boat. It is also always amazing to hear
stories of people who have read our blog and want to put faces to the names
that they have been reading about.

As we were preparing the curry for dinner we realized that we did not have
any curry powder left. In a heroic mission by Bryn, he ran to the local
Indian, 'Indian Ocean', and returned with the manager's personal curry
powder mix. The dinner turned out alright considering it was made with
tinned hot dogs and meatballs.

With the speakers set up and the drinks on ice the party was ready to start.
The first guests started coming in at around 8 o'clock and stories of the
previous night and the day's events were exchanged. The Capitan Miranda boys
turned up too and told us all about life on the navy ship as well as
thanking us for our blogs, which provided them with some entertainment along
the race. During the course of the evening the Irish folk band turned up
with harps, fiddles and pipes to create a perfect party atmosphere on the
boat. Towards the end of the evening there was some concern about the public
coming onto the pontoon without crew badges. However, Rona 2's police
service led by Simon and Bryn dealt with any wrongdoers effectively.

The sheer mass of brightly coloured boys created a spectacle that onlookers
couldn't get enough of, taking pictures and asking to come on all night.

To everyone's disappointment the party drew to a close around 2 am but many
of the lads stayed up to talk about the nights events. It was fair to say
that no one was looking forward to the clean-up operation of the sticky
deck.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank James, Angela and Paul
Connan for the generous donations and driving us around to pick up supplies
for the crew party. Rona 2 is very grateful and the party would not have
been the success it was without their support.

Crew of Rona 2

Leg 4 update,12th August 2009

Leg 4 Update, The Epic End of Our Journey - Belfast, 12th August 2009

The day started with another delicious breakfast from white watch, cereal,
hot dogs, tomatoes and most importantly pancakes. Also of note is the fact
that Rona II have almost completed testing every variety of coco pops. From
the plain original to the Coco Rocks, and the most recent Moon and Stars,
Shortly after breakfast at about 9.30 we re-fuelled the boat which involved
a little repositioning magic with the aid of the mates strong arm, heaving a
line some 15 metres to the fuel barge to enable us to pull 50 tonnes of boat
across the narrow marina. Then we set off ourselves, skipper estimated it
to take 2 hours to get to Belfast. As we left the marina we passed Merrilyn,
another one of our boats: she had just finished the small ships race early
this morning and she did extremely well.

When we saw Belfast in our sights everyone got excited, we could not wait to
step ashore and live the last few days of this absolutely amazing
experience. Now it was the beginning of the ultimate tidy up. The whole boat
needed to be cleaned from bow to stern.

List of Jobs

a.. Store kit away in lockers
b.. Clean all the bunks
c.. Wash the floor
d.. Sweep the floor
e.. Clean the heads
f.. Clean the galley - cooker, fridge (heat box), sinks, work top
g.. Store/coil ropes
h.. Sort out all the oilies and life jackets

AND MUCH MORE.

In the evening Merrilyn held its crew party. What a lovely new/modern yacht.
Free bottles of Magners were available on the forepeak, which everyone got
stuck into. What a fantastic evening to finish a brilliant day.

At the same time the Dutch Navy Yacht Urania held a party which was well
supported by the crew of Rona.

Written by: Lee Price

Leg 4 update,11th August 2009

Leg 4 Update, nearly in Bangor, 11th August 2009

Cambeltown was a sleepy port but we have discovered that it used to be the
biggest income per capita town in Scotland even the Queen visited in 1954,
now the fishing port and the distilleries have closed down giving the town a
ghostly feel with its tall buildings and quiet streets. The newest building
was the sports centre where the showers were, there was also a swimming
pool, which some of the crew used, others went for a run led by Mr. Topsy
Turvey and they ended up in a peat bog up to their knees, which meant they
needed a cold pontoon shower, consisting of a cold hose sprayed at them,
when they got back to the boat.

After a dinner of chilli con-carne and rice, some of the crew went into town
and others stayed on the boat, the ones who stayed on the boat were lucky
enough to see dolphins and seals up close as they were fed by the local
fishermen. After an early night, the crew was ready for a tour around the
local distillery this morning (over 18's paying £5 for samples and under 18's
going for free) after a very detailed tour of the distillery over 18's were
given the opportunity to taste the whisky and were given a miniature sample
bottle.

As we walked back to the boat from the distillery the rain started and didn't
stop until we left the Scottish coast, there has been little or no wind for
most of the day, we are sailing/motoring to Bangor in Northern Ireland, this
is the last port we are stopping in before we head to Belfast. The time on
board has and is still going very fast. As we've been writing this blog Paul
Steptoe who has been associated with loosing wind has at last found some
wind!

Simon Turvey is offering his services as a portrait painter drawer person
after doing his impressions of Jonny Wareing, The Mate, and he is working on
the Skippers. Call him on the number 6789998212 for your personal picture
nooooowwwwww!!!!!!

Written by Tom West and typed by Luke Almond with technical advice by Simon
Turvey

Leg 4 update, 10th August 2009

Leg 4 Update, Cambeltown, 10th August 2009

We awoke this morning to find that the rain that had cut short last nights
beach BBQ had continued right through the night and everything was just as
wet and sandy as we had left it the previous night. However red watch made
breakfast and blue and white took advantage of the poor weather to make sure
on deck was as clean and tidy as it could possible be.

To begin there was not much wind so we motored but soon the sun broke
through the cloud and we got a good wind of around 16 knots. This allowed us
to raise the sails and power down the noisy diesel engine and we were soon
cutting through the water at 7.5 knots. We attempted to race a nearby yacht
but she was so intimidated by our superior composure through the water that
she soon dropped her sails and motored into the next port. We then proceeded
to do some tacking practice, which allowed the crew to hone this vital
skill.

We are now berthed in Cambeltown and some of the crew have found that it is
cheaper to swim at the local pool and shower than have a shower on its own.
Red watch is currently cooking chilli con carne, which smells fantastic, and
we are all enjoying the rare sun that is today shining on Scotland.

P.S just after finishing writing the blog we had to dunk Rupert head first
into the bilge to retrieve a spanner from just above the keel.

Written by

Matt O'Connell

Leg 4 update, 9th August 2009

Leg 4 Update, Anchored off Brodick Bay, Isle of Arran, 9th August 2009

We had a slow start to the day . Our leisurely 10 o'clock breakfast of fried
eggs, bacon, sausages and beans gave people time to wake up properly and
soon everyone was ready for some shore leave and spent a couple of hours
having a look at Tarbert in the daytime - taking a stroll through town,
going for a run along some of the scenic paths nearby or just sitting
watching the world go by. Some members of mother watch, meanwhile, enjoyed
the delights of the local Co-op as they shopped for the next couple of days.
Lunch was another relaxed affair with the choice of ham and cheese
sandwiches (with a personal sandwich-making service provided for the mate by
Paul Steptoe) on board, or the option to find somewhere ashore.

We set sail immediately after lunch but the lack of wind meant that we spent
most of our time motoring towards our destination of Brodick Bay, with a
short stint of motor-sailing in which the sails were hoisted but didn't
quite provide enough power to keep us moving by themselves! Blue Watch had
the deck all afternoon while Red Watch chilled out and slept down below,
forcing a near mutiny at 6pm when the boys in Blue realised they hadn't been
relieved of their duties and we were nearing our anchorage! Red Watch were
rapidly chivvied on deck to drop sails and set up the anchor.

White Watch spent the entire afternoon preparing for what can only be
described as one of the greatest pleasures of coastal sailing in remote
areas - a beach barbecue. The vast quantity of meat (burgers, bbq spare
ribs and chicken pieces) was supplemented by home-made burger baps, potato
salad and coleslaw, with chocolate bananas and a magnificent double-layered
chocolate cake for dessert. We anchored at 1830 and went ashore in the
dinghy with our brand new Co-op barbecue.

Jonny Wareing and Dom de'Ath took the highly masculine role of Barbecue
Kings, using their spatulas to dispatch anyone attempting to help them as
they revelled in flipping burgers and chicken legs above the roaring flames.
Our resident pyromaniac, Mark Williams, started a fire on the beach and
found enough driftwood to feed it for the evening. We then had a game of
football on the grass just above the beach, finishing just in time for the
first burgers from the barbecue. The food was delicious and the atmosphere
perfect except for the midges which plagued everyone; the only remedy for
this was to stand directly in the smoke of the barbecue, watery eyes being
the price to pay for not having to constantly slap every exposed piece of
your own skin.

The overcast skies finally gave way to rain just as the ribs and chicken
were nearly cooked, and we hastily erected a shelter using boathooks and the
canvas awning that we usually use to cover the cockpit when in port. We
were treated to the company of a couple of local girls who only stayed for 5
minutes; but during that time they let slip that they didn't know what the
Atlantic Ocean was! Steptoe got the guitar out again for a few boat
favourites such as Robbie Williams' "Angels" and "Yellow" by Cold, before
the cake and chocolate bananas were served up to finish off a fantastic
evening. The rain became heavier as we returned to Rona and there was a lot
of unwelcome sand on board, but that couldn't detract from what was a
brilliant way to spend a summer evening in Scotland.

Jonny Ho

White Watch

Leg 4 update, Saturday 8th August 2009 in Tarbert, Loch Fyne.

We were late to bed last night. As the clock struck mid-night the crew
returned to Rona from their shore leave to celebrate Kai Holdgate's 21st
birthday.

Alongside of us now was a second Challenger Yacht, Challenger 1, who had
arrived to link up with their sister yacht Challenger 4 in readiness for the
start of the Small Ships Race which assembles in Greenock tomorrow.

The crew of Rona 11 were in high party mood ...two guitars, the cheese
grater and 23 voices which were all in full swing. Sleep was the last thing
on our mind and we entertained the crews of the Challenger Yachts in the
true and finest tradition of the RSP until the early hours!!

On leaving Largs this morning we gave our new friends "3 Cheers" and set
course for Burnt Island which is to the north of the Isle of Bute. Here we
found a delightful anchorage for lunch and a touch of "R&R".

To mark Kia's birthday, his crew mates spent the afternoon "building" him a
magnificent cake, the ingredients of which would impress Delia Smith.

Arriving in Tarbert, we were greeted with a picturesque harbour which was
enjoying the last of the evening sunshine. Once we were securely tied up for
the night, two runners were dispatched ashore to seek out a suitable venue
for a crew meal ashore and one which would match the ceremony of the cutting
of the Cake. The Litbite were delighted to have us. Here we enjoyed an
excellent meal and warm hospitality...the owners of the Litebite found some
candles for Kia's Cake which was delicious.

We spent the remainder of the evening in the care of the local publican!!

Skipper and crew of Rona 11.

Leg 4 update, 7th August 2009 at Largs

It has been a refreshing two days. Hot showers, solid ground and fresh food
including meat that was cut less than a year ago. For Thursday's dinner we
had two delicious legs of lamb and all the normal trimmings that usually go
with a Rona Sailing Project roast dinner. It's been a completely alien
experience stepping onto solid ground. Everyday experiences such as visiting
the local super market or having an ice cream are such novelties that we
found ourselves thoroughly enjoying pretty much anything that was involved
in normal life. The weather has been great and we have all enjoyed our time
in Ballycastle and appreciated the hospitality that they have shown us.

We set sail at 8.00 am this morning and red watch served a delicious
breakfast at nine consisting of fried eggs, bacon, sausages and beans. To
our disappointment when we got out of the shelter of the harbour there was
no wind at all and we ended up motoring for a lot of the way although we did
have the spinnaker up for a while. Matt O'Connell managed to haggle another
ride up the mast while we were actually sailing to get some aerial shots of
Rona ll while she was under way. Despite this quiet days of sailing the crew
has enjoyed the down time and many have been either splicing rope to prevent
fraying or other minor repairs. The No.1 Genoa, our largest head sail will
soon be back to 100% thanks to Stevie "G" Jackson who has been patching a
small hole near the tack.

As I am writing this we are sailing into Largs harbour in Scotland and
coming alongside Challenger 4 who is making her way up to Greenock for the
small ships race that starts on Saturday. I hope you enjoy the photos of
Rona from the mast and perhaps tomorrow we may have more to report.

Written by

Matt O'Connell

Leg 4 update,6th August 2009

Leg 4 Update

Ballycastle, Northern Ireland, 6th August 2009.

We arrived in Ballycastle at around 2300 last night and swiftly moored up,
and enjoyed a celebratory drink to toast our achievement.

Rest and recuperation has today started in earnest, a lie in till 1000 was
enjoyed and much needed by all. We were woken to the smell of bacon rolls
that Andrew had gone and bought from a local café. This food provided the
motivation for a massive boat clean out. All the floor boards, mattresses
and oilskins were laid out on the pontoon for cleaning and drying. The boat
was wiped and sprayed down, and the increasingly vile smell was removed.
The boat is now a much more pleasant place to live in.

The showers were also taken over and we now have a clean and fresh smelling
crew.

A deal was also made with the local laundry who pulled all the stops out and
managed to wash everybody's clothes in about 5 hours. It was great to put on
dry and clean clothes.

A variety of repair jobs also took place, with Matt being sent up the mast
to retrieve the broken topping lift. We also have a small tear in the Main
and in the Genoa which Steve is currently managing to avoid repairing.

The clean up was followed by an afternoon of shore leave, an explore of
Ballycastle in search of food was followed by a trip to Giant Causeway for
the afternoon. A small coach was chartered to enable all who wanted to visit
the causeway to do so. However staring at rocks for several hours was not
everyone's cup of tea, so Kai, Toyin, Bryn and Rupert decided to pass the
time with a gay/manhug/fight/bundle/wrestle sort of activity, which was a
source of great amusement.

Dinner was an absolute treat, the local butcher was raided and a joints of
lamb were purchased. The dynamic duo of Wareing and Turvey virtually
doubled the turnover of Ballycastle's food stores in the process of
destroying the boats food budget. It was worth it though, the lamb was
divine, the potatoes were crispy and the veg was edible. We also have the
ingredients for a hearty full English in the morning.

We plan on having a good night tonight before heading for Largs tomorrow.

Steve Jackson

White Watch

Leg 4: 5th August

Leg 4 Update

Crossed the finish line at 1307 & 02 seconds on 5th August 2009.

I think the first thing to say is... WE HAVE FINISHED THE RACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We set sail roughly 16 days and 1 hour ago and we suspect that we will be first in class. But we have just reached Ballycastle in Northern Ireland and are looking forward to stepping on dry land. We intend to stay in Ballycastle until Friday before moving on to Scotland. We were skilfully helmed across the line by our able skipper, who suspiciously we think blackmailed the mate to pick his name out of the hat with '22' other contenders...mmmmmmm

Ok, I'm not going to lie, I have no idea what sort of order these things happened in, the last few days have been a blur of sail changes, waves, wind, rain and more sail changes.

Another special note to Mr Paul Steptoe, and not a bad one this time. Yes its actually a compliment! While in a force 10 gale with 10 meter waves crashing on deck he kept the cross track error to an incredible 0! For you who aren't familiar with the black magic of marine navigation equipment, while sailing to help you keep on course there is a little fake road with the boat on, it has an uncanny resemblance to Mario Kart on the Nintendo Wii, and the cross track error is how much you deviate from the centre of this imaginary road.

While on watch the crew were treated to a free shower and then swimming lessons as the cockpit drainage system failed to cope with the size of the waves entering it. While below decks there would be a cry from the deck of BRACEEEEE!!!! from our token scouser Mark Williams, a resounding crash as the wave hit the exposed side of the boat then crashed over the length of the boat filling not only the cockpit with water but also the cabin through leaky windows and air vents. It also managed to fill the sail locker with water so it had the resemblance of a giant fishtank. full of sails. There was also a sighting of the rarer, very colourful storm jib, which on sighting it was hoisted instantly. The filling of the fish tank sail locker then had the annoying side effect of setting off the bilge alarm at around 11.30 then subsequently every 2 hours as it refilled with water, interrupting mother watch's precious golden kip. This was a form of torture for the people sleeping in the forepeak (mother watch) as not only were they in wet sleeping bags with a form of Chinese water torture from the condensation dripping on their foreheads but there was a high pitched buzzer sound resounding around the room as well, sounding like a girlfriend asking for a favour. There is also the fact that being the forepeak it is the part of the boat that leaves the water while negotiating waves so we were getting slammed about, it was like sleeping in a cocktail tumbler. So in summary, the only time we can sleep for over 4 hours we are wet, cold, getting battered about and have what sounds like a girlfriend or mothers voice all night.

When I say everything is wet in the boat I mean EVERYTHING except the oven, only because the heat burns it off, even the nav table is wet as when a particularly big wave hits, even with the washboards in and hatch closed a torrent of water still enters the boat, and due to the way the boat is leaning it lands straight on the nav table, or the skipper standing by the table. You name it, it is wet, bunks so wet when you sit on them water comes out like a sponge, sleeping bags: well lets just say we can take comfort in the knowledge that they can get no wetter. Lockers, if the clothes aren't being worn in a fight against the cold then they will be gathering mould nicely in the damp lockers. Even the insides of my waterproof boots are wet, this driving me to wear my very un-waterproof deck shoes on deck, not expecting to have to leave the sanctuary of the cockpit, how wrong was I?! the sheet on the staysail snapped under the strong winds, so me being a dutiful on watch person got sent up to sort it out, much to my disgust a wave then crashed over firstly softening up the bigger target of my upper body, before mother nature delivered a devastating blow, as the bow crashed back down a wave swept up the foredeck almost a foot deep, so in desperation I started jumping to keep my feet out of the water, it was a flawed plan from the outset, I forgot about gravity. T-man who came up to gallantly help me also got attacked by the wave and was lying on the deck with water gushing into his oilies, looking like a drowned fish, quote "that wave savaged me"

While blue watch was on deck we were having some fun putting up the tri-sail, which proved to have issues as neither skipper or mate couldn't agree where to lead the sheets. So while sorting out these issues out on the aft deck amongst much shouting and urgency a wave crashed over, again, hitting us so much so that Jonny W's life jacket was set off. This then set Tacky Turvey up for the ultimate peg. on an inflated life jacket in a force 10 while trying to sort everything out. This provoked Simon into childlike hysterics much to our confusion. To get the main halyard from the mainsail to the tri-sail it had to be bought down to deck level as it was to dangerous to joke about untying knots. For this there was only one man, a man so great when doing press ups, he does not push himself up, but the world down. Some say he sleeps upside down, and that superman has pictures of him on his duvet. All we know is he is called 'The Tervinator' or Simon Turvey for you less crazy ones out there. As mighty as he is he cannot defy gravity, this is a feat only achieved by Chuck Norris, for this he called upon his Gummy Bear assistant T-MAAAAAANNNNN who lent his arm to the cause, until he got knackered and moved to the shoulder pose, while trying to keep balance so he was stumbling around like a pin ball between the granny bars. At one point leaving Topsy hanging onto the halyard for dear life. All this done while big waves were crashing onto the comical double act.

Jonny W also used all his culinary skills this morning to create a perfect pancake for each crew member for breakfast while the boat was having major disagreements with the sea. These efforts were even more amazing as because it was so rough none of the vents could be opened to try and cut down on water leakage, this then made the cabin, and kitchen especially extremely hot and stuffy, where even I, who in my mother's words has a constitution of steel like my fathers, started feeling a bit seasick. AND he was flipping them!

The magic hair monster has struck again, leaving the trademark two inch long hair calling card all over the boat. Including its favorite hideout being the Mate's custard pudding. The mate subsequently ordered a heave to and the boat stripped to find this mystical beast, Tom was then drafted in using his honed west country hunting skills to bring down this elusive magical annoying thing. It has no known shape so we have no idea what we are searching for. Others believe that the magic hair monster attracts other wildlife, thus the copious amounts of dolphins, sharks, whales, and the latest addition to this list is a gannet with a 'Uber-beak' that landed on the coach house roof and hitched a free ride. Our very own pet tamer scouser Mark 'Steve Irwin' Williams who had already caressed dolphins fondly like streamlined woman started stroking it before T-MMAAAAANNNN poked a big stubby finger in its direction and it took fright and flew off.

As we were nearing Ireland their luck rubbed off on us as white watch found the start and end of a rainbow that started on the port beam and ended on the starboard beam. Unfortunately the economic downturn has indeed affected the lepricorns as there was no pot of gold.

Now we have finished the race we can acknowledge the top speeds at the helm, these were mainly reached while not on course surfing down waves so clearly the best helmsmen won't be on here. (i.e. me)

3rd place goes tooo.... Simon 'tervinator' 'topsy' 'carlos 'tacky' Turvey with 17.6 knots

2nd place goes tooo....Mr Mate Andy Wright with an average 17.7 knots

1st place goes tooo...STEVEY GGGGGGGGGG with a phenomenal 17.9 knots still being disputed as conveniently there were no witnesses.

(all contenders have been drug tested)

Today has two quotes of the day:

"I used to take the Michael out of fair weather sailors, but now I feel I may have become one."

Stevey G at four am in the morning while putting on wet thermals still in a force 10

"We are up here battling a gale force 10 with waves crashing over us, and they are down there eating stewed apple and custard like there is nothing going on"

Skipper, Chris 'Daniel Craig' Matthews

Thank you for reading this epic blog/log and read it again if you just skim read it, I spent hours writing this instead of cleaning the heads (toilets).

Rupert 'rupie bear' Edwards

And Simon Turvey for technical advice.

(The Management take no responsibility for the editorial content of this blog.)

Leg 4: 4th August

Position at 2100 local time, 4th August 2009, 54.41N, 11.49W

A very good evening to all our readers. We've been having another good day, but rather busy coping with the continually high winds and rough sea. We currently have our storm jib and trysail up sailing in the correct direction at 7 knots.

We are all well, but rather wet and can't remember what life was like in the days when we did not live in oil skins!

All are in high spirits and the cooks from the respective mother watches have done a brilliant job in their effort to put food on the table for 23 hungry souls.

We are now 136 miles from the finish line and we again delighted with the news today that Rona II remains first in class.

Once we are across the finish line, we plan to head for Ballycastle which is at the tip of the West Ireland coast. Hopefully the sun will come out and we can dry out!

We will send more news tomorrow of our progress and you never know, maybe the time we crossed the finish line!?!

Many thanks for all your blog comments we have had great fun reading them this evening and trying to solve the riddles, it has to be said though that riddle solving and card playing are much easier when the boat is sailing flat and the sun is out!!!

Well I must shoot now, thank you to Andrew Downey for preparing the blog, I (the Mate) am purely typing it up. On a side note I will be upset if our message in the bottle gets to shore before we do, it might be worth waiting a few years before looking!!!!!

Right, time to check on the deck watch - good night all

The crew of Rona II

Leg 4: 3rd August

Position at 2100 local time, 3rd August 2009, 53.34N, 16.51W

After beating over night, the wind eventually moved round to a broad reach, this meant we were able to head straight for the finish line. Only 317 miles to go!! Now with the wind directly behind us we were cruising along; letting rip doing what we do best. With the wind hitting huge speeds of 48 knots and Bryn on the helm red watch pushed Rona to its limits reaching a staggering 15 knots surfing down the big Atlantic rollers.

As mother watch woke up they were immediately put to the test by cooking in F9/10 winds and having to deal with the boat constantly leaning on its side. But with Steptoe shouting the order white watch sailed through. For lunch we had chicken soup followed by noodles in a mushroom sauce. Next were hot dogs in specially made buns by the legend himself Johnny Ho.

During this fantastic day of brilliant sailing red watch decided it was the perfect time to relax on deck by playing a game of top trumps. In ridiculous F10 winds and with waves crashing over the side of the boat, yet they still continued to play. Not sure they realised we had a race to win.

We have now had the excitement of experiencing a severe gale and today a full storm.

A moment for the history books, the skipper and mate on deck. The mate in his dry suit all chuffed to bits thinking he's the man and not getting wet. When a sudden wave crept up and soaked the both of them. Ha-ha. The skipper complained his slippers got wet.

Lee Price - White watch

Finally, a special birthday message to Andrew's wife Claire...happy birthday darling for tomorrow...hope you like the present.

AndrewXXX

Send a message to the crew of Rona II

Leg 4 have been doing a great job with their blog entries, but its a one way system they can not see the blog, or any of the comment you leave.

If you want to send them a message, please leave it as comments on this message and I'll bundle them all up and get them to the crew onboard.

If you send them a question you might get it answered in the next blog post, or a riddle will keep them entertained on night watches.

Rona2 Blog Admin

All comments upto the 38th one on "Aug 4, 2009 9:20:00 AM " have so far been sent over to them.

Leg 4: 2nd August

Position at 2030 local time, 2nd August 2009, 52.42N, 22.04W

First all thank you to all the friends, family and random bloggers who have both read and left comments on our blog. All comments are greatly appreciated and really help crew moral. As requested we have put together a list of crew members with what they have become known for over the past fortnight and what their fellow crew members have described them as. The normal blog will follow.

Skipper- Chris Matthews- Daniel Craig look alike
Mr. Mate- Andy Wright- 'Your not here to have fun' Wrighty

Red watch
Watch Officer- Andrew Downey- Mr. Cheese grater and spoons
Watch leader- Bryn Kewley- 21- Chuck Norris
Dominic De'Ath- 18- Hairy
Josh Warren- 17- Even hairier
Kai Holdgate- 20- Man Mountain (Neanderthal)
Luke Almond- 19- Like Kai but worse (Lion)
Matt O'Connell- 18- Casanova (Man Machine)

Blue watch
Watch Officer- Simon Turvey- Hard on the outside, soft on the inside
Watch leader- 21- Jonny Wareing- Man of action
Liam Fullbrook- 18- Party boy
Toyin 'T-man' Kimber McCall- 20- Mr. Experience (Gonna Chunder)
Tom West- 17- Indecisive about many things (fish and chip addict)
Rupert Edwards- 17- Big big big fluffy storyteller
Julian Burton-Pierce- 17- Mr. One liner

White watch
Watch Officer- Paul Steptoe- Dr Rona musician
Watch Leader- Mark Williams- 23- 'Pure Scandalous' Williams
Jonny Ho- 20- Jonny the body Ventura (Number 49)
Matt Cooke- 17- The Chav Cooke, Blad!!!
Lee Price- 17- Veggie Lee
Steve Jackson- 17- Knacked Sailor
Ben Davis- 18- 18 years old and not had a beer (Fogle)

Today was a relatively calm day in all sense of the word. Once again all was calm at sea with little or no wind, white watch had an epic four hours of sail changes today only to lose the little speed we had. This was the story of the day, boring conditions leading to games and funny moments spurring out of sheer boredom.

Blue watch was on mother watch duties today and started the day with some pancakes for breakfast. Jonny of the Wareing showed some real skills in the galley as he flipped pancakes on a rolling boat and Rupert showed his uncanny skill of making a huge mess where ever he goes by dropping his pancake sunny side up on the floor. However he did pick it up and finish it so no pancakes where harmed. Unfortunately breakfast also brought the first sad moment of the day and some serious mourning..We have ran out of 'Alpen'.

The immense boredom and lack of wind of today has led today to some random stories and some pretty random games. Josh came closest to his first clothes change of the trip today but bailed at the last minute. He is still wearing the same swim shorts from Halifax and the t-shirt is still same as on the flight over.

Simon showed his artistic skills by drawing a surprisingly good portrait of Jonny Wareing. This also proved the longest time Simon has been quiet since we left from Halifax.

Dolphins where seen again, becoming somewhat of a daily event but still as exciting and as ever the cameras where out trying to get 'the' dolphin shot.

Marks attempts at fishing failed once again. Although he did avoid catching the stern of the boat again so I suppose progress has been made.

The rubix cube on board has been solved for the first time by Paul Steptoe. His prize of 9 beers from his watch awaits him on shore.

The mate was insistent that we sent out a message in a bottle and this was completed yesterday. Somehow we found an empty bottle with the word "Gordons" on it.The mate included a photo of Rona, an Atlantic Challenge pencil and a letter informing the lucky recipient of who we are and what we are up to with a couple of contacts. Next time you are at the beach look out for it! I know it is not ideal to be throwing glass bottle into the sea but we are recycling everything else thanks to our director of renewable resources!

Also a new and extremely annoying game of 'pegs' has begun. The aim of the game is to attach pegs to people with out them knowing. The skipper seems to be the prime target and often has 3-4 pegs attached to him. The realization that you have been pegged is one of the worse feelings ever. Note from the mate - This game will be ceasing tomorrow as this is seen as "fun" and I have been a target of the said "peg" game. Full crew discipline will be restored and 100% racing effort re-started!!!!

The mate has decided that daily flogging will continue until crew morale improves!!!!!

Towards the end of the day the wind began to pick up-ish and we began cruising at 5 knots in little wind which helped to boost crew moral after a lack luster day. A hearty and homely dinner of spaghetti bolognaise also pushed moral higher.

Matt O'Connell has taken some amazing action photos of crew members and hopefully these will also be posted soon.

As I am sitting at the computer now I can up date you that we have increased speed to 7.8 knots in 11 knots of wind and Rona hardly feels like she is moving, wow what an amazing boat sailed by an amazing crew. The washing up has just been completed (I have never seen a crew enjoy the washing up so much) and the off and mother watch are in bed. May I add that the notes from home are fantastic and really boost morale!

On a personal note darling please do not put your hand in the horses mouth again and experience the local NHS facilities!

Well I heard from other boats behind us in the fleet that they have 35 - 40 knots of breeze so it could be an interesting night.

Keep the comments coming - good night from Blue watch and the rest of the Rona 2 crew.

Photos are of a headsail change in rolling waves and the skipper directing operations from the comfort of below whilst the crew brave the elements.

Photos from the Atlantic

We have had a few photos in Rona II mid Atlantic, and they have been pasted into the following entries: 31st July & 28th July follow the links or scroll down the blog to see them.

You can also send them a message by commenting on this post: http://rona2news.blogspot.com/2009/07/send-message-to-crew-of-rona-ii.html

Rona2 Blog Admin

Leg 4: 1 August

Position at 2100 local time, 1st August 2009, 51.46N, 25.10W

Since our last blog update, life on board Rona II just gets better and better!

Last night we experienced constant rain throughout the night and the wind swung around to the SW. This meant we had the wind behind us and we, like the dancers, "gibed all night!" The only missing ingredient was the music and the women.

As the day progressed the wind has continued to strengthen, reaching gusts of up to F9 and we recorded 42 knots of wind - we have now experienced our first full Atlantic gale. The highlight of this was we touched 14.2 knots through the water. Despite numerous sail changes and towering waves, the crew coped well and rose to the challenge.

Red watch has been Mother Watch today and we've battled below deck to produce breakfast, lunch and dinner. Curry is on the menu tonight - oh no, more wind!

A new game of murder has been started: we already have one kill - with a hose pipe in the cockpit - and two failed attempts by the skipper.

The day ended with a couple of songs before dinner keeping everyone in high spirits. The winds had eased just enough to have a relatively flat happy hour.

We are still chasing PVD which is approx 100 miles ahead of us. At lunchtime today R II was still 1st in class. As the finish line starts to get closer - now approx 650nm away, the pressure and drive to win is mounting. We are also looking forward to hot showers, clean clothes and sunshine!

Thanks for the last set of responses: keep them coming. A big happy birthday to Tom's brother, Chris, on his 16th birthday from all the crew.

P.s. Ernie the octopus is in good health although the highland cow is still a little seasick!

Red watch

Leg 4: 31st July

Position at 2000 local time, 31st July 2009, 50.28N, 29.08W

Hello blog followers!!! May I say a massive THANKYOU for all your comments you have left over the last few days, keep them coming!!! It was a great boost for morale this morning at breakfast when skipper read them all out. It was really nice to hear from people back home and know that there are actually people out there reading, appreciating and enjoying our blog. The riddles are all being used in an inter watch competition, with the winning watch being the one who have solved the most. Our answers are at the end of this blog.

The boat rubix cube has yet to be solved despite the best efforts of Dom, Lee and Paul.

Today was white watches fourth time on motherwatch, and with it came the worst golden kip of the trip for the watch. Motherwatch have now been banished to the forepeak, or "the swamp" as it is more commonly referred to by the crew, for their golden kip. As its name suggests "the swamp is very wet, due to a multitude of factors; sweat, condensation and bow waves that are set on proving that the boat is not watertight by finding their way in through every crack and crevasse. This, combined with the heel of the boat and the stench from the heads, made for a night of little and uncomfortable sleep.

Breakfast was the usual combination of smash (powdered mash), omelette with frankfurters and tinned tomatoes. Most of the crew are going off the smash and the quantities of smash returning to the galley each day are on the up. Due to the rapidly decreasing amount of gas on board, bread and afternoon snack baking are now taking place together to fully utilize the oven. However, due to butter running out afternoon snacks are becoming more difficult to make, yet still turn out equally delicious, with oat cakes and pancakes being made today.

Motherwatch also made a fantastic discovery this morning three unused boxes of Leg 3 food were found in the main saloon bilges. This meant a much needed change from the lunch menu as egg fried noodles with tuna and mayonnaise was enjoyed. Jonny Ho's bread was accompanied by the newly found Nutella. Everyone enjoyed Jonny's egg fried noodles, number 45 on the menu; unfortunately it was eat in option at 20 degree tilt only.

Mark, our resident scouse fisherman, who so far has only been able to catch the boat when he got his line caught round the keel, still has not been able to provide dinner for the crew. However, two sympathetic fish took pity on him and his lame efforts and committed suicide by planting themselves on deck, these fish will be used as bait for something much larger.

On deck blue watch, under the charismatic leadership of Simon Turvey and Jonny Wareing took over an hour to instigate a head sail change, they blamed the mess on deck the previous watch had left behind. Despite that we are currently cruising along at 8.5 knots under Genoa, Staysail, Main and Mizzen, having had the spinnaker up earlier in the afternoon.

Photo by Matt O' Connell.

We are 1st in class today and have taken another 40 miles out of Peter Von Danzig's lead on the water. We are now just 100 miles behind them having been 220 miles behind 3 days ago.

The weather is due to turn heavy again tonight and this should give us a shot at closing the gap further, as they pull away in light conditions. We now have less than 1000 miles to go to Belfast and if we keep up our pace of the past week then we should cross the finish line before this time next week.

We are now looking forward to happy hour and Pizza for dinner.

Generally today has been without drama and last night was the first night without a sail change.

Steve Jackson - White Watch

Skippers notes - Results of riddles

Red Watch won the competition for the most riddles solved, answers are as follows:-

Riddle set by Ali, Coffin

Riddles set by Hazel and Gary, Way in the manger and We three kings

5 Houses problem, The Norwegian drinks water, The Greek keeps a Zebra

Riddles set by Iris and Terry, Sponge, Library, Take glass 2, pour into
glass 5 and put back into original place.

Riddle set by Pat, Stan and Susan, No answer yet, crew still working on
riddle.

Riddle set by anonymous about a nutcracker, Mouse.

I must reiterate Steve's comments about the response to our blogs, it is fantastic to know that people are following our progress and blogs and making the effort to respond.

I have to say that this is the most highly motivated and cheerful crew I have ever sailed with. Whatever is asked of them is carried out with enthusiasm and humour.

We are sailing the boat as hard as we can and looking forward to the finish line.

Best wishes
Chris (skipper) and crew of Rona II.