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LATEST NEWS
NAUTICA WATCHES ANNOUNCED AS TIMEKEEPING SPONSOR FOR BRITANNIA

JACKO’S WEATHER

Solent weather with some tips from us!

NEWS: PRESS RELEASE

RACE CREW MINUS JULIAN (WHO WENT FOR LAST MINUTE SHOPPING!)

LANCELOT WITH ANDY AT THE WHEEL

ARC UPDATES DAY 1 TO 8
4.01.06

Day 1 - ARC Race - Lancelot First Across Start Line:

Lancelot, Britannia's entry into the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC), crossed the start line in first place yesterday as over 220 yachts set off from Las Palmas to St Lucia to compete for the 2005 ARC. The team from Britannia led the Racing Division across the start line, closely followed by the rest of the Racing Class A and Racing Class B boats. A great start for the Gleeds and Furniture 123 sponsored yacht!

PRE RACE REPORT FROM SARAH (SHORE-BASED SUPPORT)

"What a busy week I’ve had, I arrived in the marina and board Lancelot late on Monday evening and I wasn’t prepared for the amount of work that we still had to do!

Wednesday – Shopping day. Having already purchased most of the provisions for the trip from Tescos, I thought this was going to be a relatively easy task! How wrong can you be! 5 hours later and Julian and were still in El Cortes Ingles. (Julian is fluent in Spanish as well) All we needed to get was fresh fruit and veg, bread, cheese, cooked meats, bacon and to have some meat frozen and vacuum packed. This was all followed by a fancy dress evening, a very late, heavy night.

Thursday – Engine serviced today. I unpacked and repacked the boat provisions and secured the boxes and finally found a solution to covering the boats cushions. I reupholstered all the seating area with bed sheets. Went to buy the fresh fruit from local supermarket. Andy, Jacko, Richard and 6 of the guys from Gleeds arrived today, which led to another late night!

Friday – lots of people to motivate today to wade through the list of ever expanding tasks. At the end of the day I think we’d managed to do 25% of the things we wanted to complete. I am now starting to nag! Kate, Tim, Dave and remaining Gleeds guys arrived. Go out for a sail to see how heavy Lancelot is and how she moves in the water. Farewell dinner at the Royal Yacht Club in Las Palmas.

Saturday – I turn into the old nagging witch today, lots of people wandering around aimlessly not getting a lot done - too hung over. I try to organise a plan of attack and get all the tasks complete before race day. Collect all items order from the supermarket this takes another 2 hours! Go out with the crew to scrub her bottom and water line. My tasks are then complete, so I carry out a formal hand over to the crew, its now over to you guys. Skippers briefing and I carry out a first aid brief which scares half the guys! Crew dinner, fireworks at midnight, crew curfew 1am. Crew present me with a beautiful thank you gift and the tears have already started rolling!

Sunday – very early start, still lots of last minute preparations and boat cleaning to complete. Lots of goodbye’s to say and lots more tears. The atmosphere in the marina is electric, marching bands making their way around the marina to lift spirirts and cheer up the supporters. Crew photos taken. Out on the Rib to watch the start, (with Gleeds) its amazing to see so many people lining the harbour wall and taking little dingys out to the start line. Air of anticipation as the starting sequence commences, we sit just in front of the line and watch the boats carefully. Lancelot seems to be running the line on the 1 minute gun looking for a good start. It looks like she was over first, we all smile and slap each others backs well done guys and we were only watching!
Follow the boat out for about an hour and then its time to turn back, it’s a very surreal feeling turning your back on so many loved ones aboard one vessel embarking on a life changing journey. All I can say is good luck, be safe, enjoy the journey and see you all in St Lucia. (if she comes back dirty its not my responsibility)."

THE RACE CREW AND GLEEDS BOARD

Lancelot, a Beneteau 40.7, is being skippered by Chris Jackson, Britannia's lead skipper. Other crew members include Andy Byham (MD of Britannia), Dave Thomson, Paul Coward, Kate Robertson, Tim Nadin, Julian Fielding and Richard Horswill.
The first position report is published at approximately 1300 GMT on 21st November and the Britannia website will be updated later this afternoon once we have this information.

Day 2 - Lancelot Continues Good Progress in ARC:

Lancelot, Britannia's Beneteau 40.7, continues to do well and leads Racing Class B on day 3 of the ARC.
Light winds means that the team has only covered 49 miles in the last 24 hours, as the entire fleet struggles to make significant headway in light airs. With Lancelot in the racing divison it means the team does not have the luxury of being able to run their engine in light winds, unlike the cruising division. However, a report from skipper Chris Jackson states that the team are enjoying their position at the front of their Class and that morale is very high.

The yacht has already been receiving praise from others in the sailing industry for their 'cracking start' and have been mentioned on the Yachting World website and the ARC website.

LANCELOT LEADS THE FLEET ACROSS THE STARTLINE

First report from the Lancelot crew, Monday 21st November, 1030h:

"Woke up early on Sunday morning (race day) to complete last minute chores. The excitement and anxiety was almost palpable amongst all the crews we met and many "goodbye, see you in St Lucia`s" were exchanged. The weather forecast is very mixed and many boats are opting for the Southern route to try and avoid the strong winds forecast along the rhumb line. We had an absolutely blinding start, taking honours for being the first boat over the start line with our owner, Andy Byham, at the helm! Wish they could just give us the prize now but apparently we have to sail the whole 2,700 miles first :( After an hour of sailing on a port reach we were becalmed and suffereed the indignity of being overtaken by several cruising boats under power... We finally reached strong wind offshore and got thoroughly drenched in a long windward beat. Our watch system (consisting of three hours on, three off at night and four hours on, four off during the day) kicked in as planned at 8.00pm. Andy somehow managed to cook our first night`s treat of kebabs and garlic potatoes in a boat that was horizontal, yummy and great for crew morale. We can't reveal too much about our tactics as we are racing but suffice it to say that we had a night of overtaking larger boats and cruisers who reached the good wind before us by getting there under power, and we are very pleased with our progress so far. We havehit a couple of squalls that drenched us but brought only light, flukey winds. We saw dolphins last night which we took as a good omen. Bacon butties in our bellies, washing up all done, the sun shining brightly and crew morale is great. More to follow soon..."
Lancelot

Day 3 & 4 - Lancelot - Time for Tactics:

With some of Lancelot's rivals reaping the rewards of a more southerly route, Lancelot has slipped down the rankings. However, short term gains do not always win races and the Britannia entry has a tactical ace up her sleeve.

Whilst not being able to broadcast the the teams tactics we look forward to seeing the strategy develop over the coming days. Watch this space!

Crew Report - Tuesday 22nd November, 1330h:

Great news received today on our position within the fleet, Lancelot – 36th overall, 6th in Division II IRC but are listed as 1st in racing class B (N 26° 45' 0" W 16° 21' 0") DTF 2607

Just starting adjusting now to the watch system and the very high temperatures outside and down below on board, currently making VERY slow progress. So far we have had three sightings of dolphins... Last night at around 11pm, they came torpedoing through the phosphorescence alongside and the four crew on deck at the time (Andy, Kate, Richard & jacko) abandoned the wheel and headed to the port bow! Early this morning (as you were all fast asleep!), very large pods followed the boat for a while, jumping as they swam.

Yesterday afternoon we must have hooked a HUGE fish on the rod and it just leaped out of the water snapped our lure and took the line - "the one that got away"! This all happened mid-BBQ which had to be turned off. What a shame and no fish since... But trying! (crew think it was a marlin, but who knows)

Tim aka "Nadders" was injured last night when a flying pineapple struck him whilst sleeping! He is now feeling quite ripe ! Kate dived in and rescued the pineapple before nadders had chance to hurl our rations over board! Good girl!

Overall crew in great spirits and looking forward to some downwind sailing and stronger winds (please!), which we expect in next 48 hours. We are all eating well, think Cottage pie is on the menu tonight! Thanks Sarah :)

Meantime we aim to maintain our westerly course and race position... hope everyone at home watching us are okay. Another update to follow tomorrow...

From a very hot and sweaty crew onboard Lancelot!

Cheers Andy

Day 5 - Lancelot - A day of misfortune, mast climbs and fish!:
A broken spinnaker halyard results in 3 mast climbs, followed by a fish supper at last, all in a days work for the crew aboard Lancelot!
Despite the set backs the crew are hoping to complete their first 200 mile day!

Crew Report - Thursay 24th November 18:00hrs:

Hello, Skipper Jacko here!

Well what can I say about today. What a day, filled with problems, problems, mast climbs and fish.

We've had a great breeze for the entire day, flat seas and southerly winds of around 15 knots all day. As I am writing, I'm hoping for our first 200 mile day of the trip! I came on watch at 0200h this morning to a boat speed of around 6 knots which, believe me, after the past few days felt like Mac 3! A nice clear night and fairly warm as well, just shorts and a jacket needed on deck.

Both watches spent all night and day making great use of the new breeze, for some on board the spinnaker work is fairly new and for others, it was a case of blowing away the cobwebs, as some were a bit rusty!! (no names)

We've recieved some weather reports of a Tropical Revolving Storm that is brewing in the mid atlantic, we are at the moment keeping a close eye on it and we are promised it will not be there by the time we are (you better be right Mr T!!).

First thing this morning the fish started coming, I believe Andy landed the 2 Dorado (which we have just eaten, nice!!) as well as another fish that we think is from the Mackerel family. As we are unsure as to what it is, Dave decided to name it, after looking at it for a while he decided it was long and skinny and rather ugly, therefore adptly named the Jacko Mackerel.

After not a lot happening throughout the first part of the morning, Andy was trimming the spinnaker from the base of the mast. He called me up onto the foredeck to say that he thought that the spinnaker halyard looked like it was chaffing through. We quickly got into action and I got the climbing harness on, after a bit of a slow climb (due to the swell). I got to the top to find the outer caseing of the halyard chaffed away. Without inspecting it too much, I started to un-tie the other spinnaker halyard that I had taken to the top with me to attach it to the spinnaker. All of a suddend there was a thunderous bang right next to my head as the halyard broke (I s**t myself!!!). Dave and the rest of the crew managed to haul the spinnaker from the water with no damage to kite or crew.

After inspection of the chafe we found the it was not chafe, the spilce that conects the rope to the shackle had parted (if I see on of those French Beneteau riggers god help me!). We took a lot of time to get ourselves re-sorted as we needed to stitch the other halyard to stop it happening again. After around an hour we re-hoisted another spinnaker, the big black beast (our Gleeds kite) and shot off at over 9 knots.

Whilst all this was all happening Sirroco, another 40.7, appeared on our starboard side. Before the spinnaker problems we where sailing a lot lower than them and a lot faster, which was very encouraging. Once we had our problems they pulled away from us, around 1 mile or so ahead. It only took 2 hours for the big black beast to do it's job, we where ahead again.

I have since had to climb the rig again to re-thread the new halyard down the mast, I got battered!!! I am black and blue on both legs and I am not even going into the problems with my nuts, Mum and Dad, if you are reading this I would not expect grand childern any more!! (and those bl**dy french riggers, don't even show your faces in pubic again!!)

Anyway, enough about my nuts. At the moment we are currently sailing along at 8.5 knots on a beam reach with the kite up, its perfect, must get back to the deck to check everyone is OK.

See u all soon

Jacko and Lancelot

P.S We have had to stop Kate from eating Jellie beans they have far to many E-numbers in for her and she keeps on saying the first thing that comes into her head! We now know she has a secret desire to have wings!

Day 6 - Lancelot moves back into 1st position:
Dispite yesterday set backs Laneclot and her crew have claw their way back up to the top of the Class B leader board.

Crew Report - Friday 25th November 17:00hrs:

After a crazy day yesterday with Jacko`s rig affair (poor Mr Jackson was in a serious state of shock after that little episode - left checking all his bits were in tact!), we had an equally mad night.

We settled into night watches at 8 after a great dinner of Dorado and rice (thanks to Julian's cooking talents!), but after dark thick clouds gathered overhead. Not a single star in the sky and almost impossible to see the horizon against the sky makes driving a VERY tricky task (especially when using instruments which have a three second delay)!

The cloud did not budge all night, but brought wind shifts and drops in pressure. Early this morning the grey clouds changed to black, and chased us as we sailed along, trimming the kite to every shift.

With an electrical storm, thunder and lightning on our starboard beam, and a big grey squall behind us, we were very glad to see daybreak, and a fantastic pink sunrise through the clouds.

No sooner was our watch down, than the squall hit, bringing a downpour and no wind. The kite was dropped and everyone enjoyed the chance for a quick shower in fresh water on deck. Feels much better, we're all stinking a bit now - first shower since Sunday!

This afternoon it's getting a bit hairy out here! Currently surfing down big swell in 22 knots of wind, with our big blick G-Spot kite up... It's a mama (124 sq metres)! Hitting 10 knots +.

I'm an office chick and I certainly don't have the muscles these boys do, so my neck and shoulders have been aching like mad from the effort of keeping us straight!

Andy has just taken the helm, and as I've been typing, the boat went into it's first broach, with another one straight afterwards. Mast almost touching the water. Jacko`s comment "at least it was the owner of the boat that did the first one"! That's what could have been a very expensive lapse in concentration! Unbelievably, Andy had the biggest grin on his face throughout the whole ordeal!

Everyone's just been called to drop the kite again, we're screaming along, but need to come up 10 degrees and the breeze is always building, so I've got to go. Dave's asked for Nadders on the foredeck, who's just crawled out of his pit in the forepeak, looking rather ruffled (still half asleep) and replied "uh oh that sounds dangerous"...

We still have thick cloud overhead as we approach our night watches... I believe our weather router is sending us towards the tail end of one of these nasty tropical storms to get us there quickly (- thanks, I wanted a suntan!)

Wonder what adventure tonight will bring!
Kate n everyone aboard `Lancelot the Surfboard`!

Day 7 - Lancelot enters Tropical Storm Delta:

Lancelot enters Tropical Storm Delta and rides the waves on day 7 of the ARC.

Crew Report - Saturday 26th November 17:00hrs:

Hello everyone, Jacko hear again,
What a funny storm this is, Pauls on deck in a jacket and his underpants!!! Wet and windy but quite warm, great fun!!

This is a slightly difficult message to write as at the moment we are being battered by 40+ knots of wind from the south west. Last night the breeze started building and by 0800h the breeze was up around 30 knots. We droped the number 3and lashed it down on the foredeck (or should I say Dave and Tim did!!). We got the storm jib up and over the next 30 mins the breeze increased. We decided to drop the main sail and raise the storm try sail. As we did this the wind and rain really picked up in excess of 45 knots.

Life aboard now has got bumpy, all crew safe and well but looking forward to the wind shifting arournd so that we can come off the breesze.
The last couple of days have been storming sailing with surfing conditions down thewaves. All aboard are feeling a lot better to be rattelling off the mileage now after a very slow start.

At present we have Paul, Tim, Julian, and Dave on watch listening to the most dodgy CD I think I have ever heard, it sounds like a eurovision CD of the past 20 years!!

Jelly sweets are the call of theday allthough I think we may run out the way that Kate and Dave eat them!
Sorry to keep it short and for any spelling errors, its slightly difficult to type at themoment
Send more progress through shortly

Jacko & Lancelot

Day 6 - Lancelot - Does it really beat walking the dog?:
Lancelots safely through the storm! After a day and night crashing through mountainness seas the crew are about to settle down to a fish supper, they had time to fish as well! Read about life on board whilst travelling through a tropical storm!

Crew Report - Sunday 27th November 17:00hrs:

So we went from "this beats walking the dog" (Andy Byham, Saturday) to "I wish I was in the Rising Sun having a pint!" (Andy Byham, Sunday). Things got quite bizarre on Sunday afternoon as our forecast 35 knots of wind built to full storm force 10, with gusts to violent storm force 11. That's one down from a hurricane! Lancelot and crew stood up to a real pounding under storm jib and try sail. Hats off to Dave, Jacko and Tim for their turns on the foredeck, very brave in such conditions.

As we crashed into mountainous seas day and night, with the wind more or less on the nose, life below decks became really quite difficult. We have some very experienced sailors on board with a lot of mileage under their belts and none had experienced anything quite like it, Kate said it was like being thrown around in a tumble dryer. It was certainly chaotic! The humidity below decks was almost unbearable and we couldn't open hatches to get air in as we had massive turquiose waves across the decks. It took a great deal of physical effort to change from dry clothes (shorts and t-shirt) for sleeping to wet gear (oilies, shorts and t-shirt, soaked from previous watch).

Fresh air and regular dousings of Atlantic waves meant we were all kept wide awake on deck. At least the sea and air temperatures are quite warm here and there was some debate about whether it was better on deck or below. Everyone had a go at helming, 20 to 30 minutes each seemed preferable as our shoulder muscles ached from the effort required to hold Lancelot on course for St Lucia. Kate and Julian did a fantastic job keeping us supplied with food throughout, although we had to go to plan B with freeze dried food after Lancelot took off one wave and the gimbles on the cooker broke. Paul had a go at fixing it during the storm but as he went one way, toolkit went the other and cooker remained stubbornly jammed in a rather drunken position repairs were consigned to a calmer moment. The great thing is we all got through it, no complaining from anyone, heads down, gritted teeth, no sea sickness and I think we are all better for the experience. Having said that, no one wanted it to go on longer than absolutely necessary so Jacko set a slighly more northerly course to find calmer conditions.

By six o'clock Monday morning the wind died to a point that allowed the No3 heasail to be raised (more heroics on the foredeck) and at eight the mainsail was up again. As the morning wore on we gradually shook out the reefs. Skies cleared, sun shone and we spent the morning drying out and getting Lancelot ship shape below decks. We have been making about 5-6 knots speed today, not always in exactly the right direction as wind is generally SW. Position reports suggest we are still placed well in the race and have a tactical advantage over yachts currently taking more southerly couse via the Cape Verde Islands. Fish supper tonight, we caught a Dorado and a Tuna fish, I can smell them cooking in the re-gimbled oven as I write this report. Crew very happy tonight.

Richard (Tricky), crew