Team Torbellino

After a swift couple of pints, TT left the Hamble aboard its chartered J109, Vertigo, at 8:30pm on Thursday night. Some initial cockiness about the spinnaker wore off quickly as the 20-25 knot northerly made its presence felt. A comfortable and fast fetch under white sails seemed the better part of valour. Nipping smartly past Anvil Point, Portland Bill, Start Point and Eddystone, we rounded Lands End at midnight on Friday under beautifully clear skies. The wind refused to behave as forecast, staying in the north, so we set off for Ireland on starboard, thumping into a short sea.

With a tight crew, solid boat, good food and plentiful tea we very quickly made the transition to sea living. The hours can pass slowly, particularly when it’s nearly your turn for a sleep, but the days fly by.

Saturday saw us working steadily northwards through the Celtic deeps, accompanied almost continuously by large pods of dolphin and flocks of diving gannets. We were joined at around lunchtime by an exhausted and presumably second-rate homing pigeon, Myfanwy. Myfanwy ate, drank, shat all over the cockpit and then settled down to sleep on the top step of the companionway. Perhaps she thought we were headed in the right direction.

The wind finally dropped as we approached St David’s Head, and we motored slowly through St George’s Channel against a four knot tide. Tim, taking his skipperly duties seriously, spent a good deal of time at the chart table on Saturday night. He appeared on deck occasionally, waving his hand vaguely into the black night, muttering darkly about vicious rocks and uncharted depths. Although this didn’t fill the crew with much confidence, we rounded safely and were rewarded with a gentle southerly breeze, a fair tide and a rapid reach into Cardigan Bay.

Calculating that the tide wouldn’t let us into any port until Sunday evening, we paused for some gybing practice. We discovered that the boat doesn’t sail well with the spinnaker wrapped around the keel, so packed what was left of the sail into its bag and settled down to wait for the water to get deep enough in Aberystwyth. Having seen off several more pigeons who attempted to land on the boat and, in one case, on Phil’s head, Myfanwy finally decided to leave us and pluckily set off towards Aberdovey.

We passed gingerly through the rocky channel into Aberystwyth at 6:30pm on Sunday. Wage slaves Jim and Tim legged it for a train immediately, leaving three of us to tidy the boat, shower, eat, get drunk and talk bollocks. All of which we did.

In a race like the Three Peaks, getting to the start line is a major achievement. We’re nearly there.

Simon

It was with a degree of trepidation that we approached Hamble for the first of the Welcombe Hills school sixth form sailing trips. Eight students and their teachers were meeting us ready for a 4-day voyage on Merrilyn-the newest of the Rona Sailing Project yachts.

Would they like it? Would they be sick? Would they cope with the pressures of living on a boat with lots of other people? Was this going to work?

We needn’t have worried…

We divided into two watches, learned how not to block the loos and we were off…

Despite some early sickness from both staff and students, we soon settled into a routine. One watch cooking and cleaning and one watch sailing.

The sailing proved to be the easier part with the students soon learning the rudiments. After a lesson in clipping on and off, we soon moved on to hoisting sails, tacking and steering. Over the course of the trip, our crew gradually transformed into a well oiled machine capable of carrying out basic sailing manoeuvres whilst smiling, singing and fishing.

Cooking was slightly harder, not least due to the extremely demanding menu provided by the Rona sailing project. But, day after day, we rose to the challenge; conquering seasickness and producing such delicacies as roast lamb, roast ham, apple crumble and even making tinned tuna taste good. Every meal was followed by a mammoth wash up with everyone taking their turn.

Over the week we visited Cowes and Portsmouth by night and explored the Solent by day. We visited the Naval base at Portsmouth, ate ice creams in Cowes and anchored off the bay where Queen Victoria once swam. We even got to the pub once or twice.

All in all it was a wonderful trip. Getting to know the students and staff of the Welcombe hills School was a privilege. The level of commitment and professionalism of the staff was awesome. Most of all, the students were fantastic. They threw themselves into the challenge, worked together as a team and smiled and laughed so much of the time.

As we drove back up the M3, songs from Pirates of the Carribean still ringing in our ears, we planned more voyages, happy in the knowledge that the money raised through Team Torbellino is being properly used.

And then, strangely, we had a burning and irresistable desire for a drive thru' MacDonalds.

Over the last two Wednesdays, Team Torbellino has spent some time with Sixth Form pupils telling them about two sailing trips organised for them in May.  The pupils, all with varying levels of learning disabilities, will gain key skills in helping them to independence after they leave school.  The first trip planned lasts four days from 10th-13th May, with the second planned for the 21st May for more needy kids.

The pupils and staff alike were subject to two hours of captivating slide shows, mini movies (courtesy of Simon and his witty commentary) and practical sessions of bowline tieing, oilskin & wellie fashion parade, route planning on a chart. The sessions culminated with us scaring the hell out of some unsuspecting soul by inflating an automatic lifejacket!

Despite Simon laughing at all his own jokes and Phil being content with accepting arm wrestling challenges (and losing), the two crews went away with some idea of who Team Torbellino are and what they can expect onboard the yacht Merrilyn.

They will certainly have an unforgettable experience - watch this space for how it went...

Team Torbellino took to the water for a weekend of pre-season sail training last weekend.

Their objectives:

• To get to know the race boat-‘Newton’s Wonder’…no, really

• To prevent Jim from getting too bored

• To finalise dietary details for race

The first was largely achieved during the weekend. With the aid of carefully planned notes ‘Things we need to be able to do by June’ Team Torbellino attacked the challenge with their usual vigour. Saturday was spent on basic manoeuvres in light winds, while Sunday, in gustier conditions, was spent on mastery of the spinnaker, storm sails and predicted vs. achieved boat speeds. All went swimmingly apart from a slight obsession developing with predicted boat speeds, an obsession which may well lead to the prediction chart being ripped up and thrown overboard by the end of race day 1. All in all, the team were delighted with the boats performance and look forward to the delivery leg.

The second of our objectives was more difficult to achieve. Jim, having arrived 3 hours late proceeded to inform us that he was getting a little bored with the 3PYR. It was no longer a proper challenge to him. He was a lot more interested in bigger challenges such as the Tasmanian Three Peaks. He saw himself as an adventurer, an explorer, fearlessly facing unchartered waters in a constant quest for personal satisfaction. When it was suggested to him that he could perhaps make it more interesting by doing a faster Scafell he told us that he was fitter than ever before and predicted a record time with only transient deckchair use. He then spent the rest of the weekend finding ways to make things a little more interesting. He started by making advances on Phil during the first night while Phil was trying to sleep. This resulted in Phil rapidly vacating his bunk at the crack of dawn, embarking on a 10 mile walk to calm down and then throwing up his breakfast. His next game was to deliberately lock himself out of his cabin and then spend 2 hours finding novel methods of re-entry. Finally, he attempted, in several different ways, to rip the bow of the boat off with the spinnaker. Team Torbellino are grateful to have survived the weekend.

The final objective is best summarised:

Food winners:

Steak sandwiches

Pork Pies with Pickle

Pot Porridge-with the exception of Skipper who thinks ‘low GI’ is something to do with the US Military and when hungry will simply have another pork pie.

Ginger cake

Food Losers:

Tinned chilli con carne

Tinned tuna

Tinned frankfurters

Anything tinned

Plain pork pies

No Crisps

All in all a great start to the 3PYR training

*Appendum by Phil.

Only a doctor could pronounce confidently Tinned Chilli Con Carne 'bad' without even opening the can !

Doctor to Phil.

I also know jumping off a cliff would be bad...

Phil to Doctor

Depends on what is below. Tinned Chilli Con Carne may be one thing but you will eat your words when you have been seduced by the taste sensation that is canned steak and kidney pudding !!!