Tuesday 8th May

To say that the preparations for this years Challenge have gone smoothly would be a gross exaggeration!
It started back in November when I placed a post on the Irish powerboat forum www.powerboat.ie asking for information on petrol availability waterside in Eire – the response was fantastic but came back with a clear “no chance”.
As a result, we advertised for assistance with the loan of a diesel boat for our event. Amongst others, a seemingly genuine chap from Scotland got in touch with the offer of a Diesel Pacific 22 – perfect!……………………unfortunately, 4 months later, having pinned everything on this, it transpired all was not as it seemed. We were back to square one.

Meanwhile, sponsors old and new were being fantastic at pledging their support with equipment. We had a liferaft, EPIRB, stainless prop, lifejackets, flares, long-range fuel tank, charts, helmets, dry suits, toughbook, fixed and handheld VHF, funky Buff headgear, on-line weather forecasting, oil, PR, land support, ferry transport, webmaster, and the full backing of our employers – Bedfordshire and Luton Fire and Rescue Service………and no boat. Doh!

Fortunately, I have a good credit rating, It is a drastic measure, but, following some earnest discussions both at home and with the team, some patient scouring of the internet found a few possible boats, none of them diesel unfortunately as these were out of my price range, but worth a look. I settled on a Revenger 23, which I would buy for the event, refurbish and equip, and then sell straight after. These are prestige top of the range Ribs based on a very successful racing hull and renowned as fantastic sea boats for there size. This one also came with a nearly new trailer and very low hours 2002 Mariner 200. We were back in business.

Some other preparations had been a struggle though, despite our past successes, we couldn’t find an electronic navigation sponsor and it has now gone down to the wire. Greenham-Regis have been extremely helpful with advice and just today I have had to bite the bullet and accept I have to buy the e charts. They should come on Friday morning giving us just the remainder of that day to cross reference with the paper charts, then plot and transfer all our routes to the chartplotter. Talk about last bloody minute. I will be finishing it in the van on the way up at this rate.

Meanwhile, we also raised £270 with a car wash at Bedford station. Many thanks to Green Watch (my old watch) for there assistance and in particular Dion who was only standing in for the day. Cheers Guys.

So here we are. Once again the Challenge has become a reality and we have a superb team to tackle it – Nick, Jason, Kev, Dickon and I on the boat. Neil and Alan on land support (hope to talk them in into having a ride though) Thank you to everyone who has assisted us and got us this far. It is getting close enough to be able to check out the forecasts now and as things stand, it doesn’t look too bad. Watch this space.

Saturday 12th May. The Start

A 5am start was a bit steep but well worth it. A cracking journey saw us get to Stranraer by just after one, well in time for our high speed ferry to Belfast that has kindly been donated by Stenna line, with the 8m trailer as well as the minibus we are as long as an artic so this has been a fantastic help. Many thanks. Filling up the boat with petrol hurt though in Belfast- 340 litres worth! ouch. Had to be done though, although fuel is cheaper in Eire we as yet have no idea what are fuel consumption will be, we know we are going to be heavy with 5 people, equipment and the weight of so much fuel so Steel Developments have lent us a 19" stainless prop to drop our gearing which will help us in the bigger sea's. Once in Bangor we contacted Ricky and Paul from Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue who have been superb in organising not just accommodation in NI but berthing too, many thanks guys for your help A few beers and a Chinese later we were ready for bed. The weather forecast’s are different every time we look at them so will wait for a nowcast with a look out of the window in the morning!

Sunday 13th May. Day 1. Bangor - Dublin.

A big fry up from a cafe just down from the stn left us all struggling, unknown to us at the time, Jason had only rented his, but more of that later! The nowcast saw the wind building during the morning as we prepared for the off and when Bangor Marina printed off the latest met we knew we had to get going. The first 40 miles or so were not too bad, but a break for a drink left Jason very green and hanging over the side. With the wind behind us, the sea's were starting to build now with some big hills to climb so we called into Kin for a pitstop. Coming back out with 40 odd miles to go the going started to get hard and some fierce concentration was called for to avoid stuffing the nose as we rolled down the crests. With only another 16 to go and Nick driving saw me have another Killer loop moment when a huge wave washed through the boat drenching us all and ripping my shades off. Bloody Hell - that is the THIRD pair I have lost on these trips and it is only day one!
We were all glad to get into Howth marina after a tough but hugely exhilarating day. Really pleased with the boat as she handled like a dream in what has been a good test. Fuel consumption has been far better than we hoped too using just150 litres to do 100.9 NM at a moving average of 18.9 knots. Considering the sea's that is pretty good going. Met up with Neil and Alan on support, sorted the boat and went on to
Klbarrack Stn. Stn Officer Hugh O Leary and the watch have been superb and have really looked after us. Thanks Guys.
A few beers, fish supper and bed
.
Mileage 100.9. Fuel used 150L

Monday 14th May 07.

The night watch have been amazing, a full cooked breakfast that could have fed us all twice. Fantastic - thanks guys. A leisurely get away saw us down at the marina about 10.30 and we were away about 11.20. No Jason today as after yesterdays events he fancied a day in the van. Nick and Kev had plotted our bailout options at Wicklow, Arklow and Wexford so we were ready to go. The breeze was still fairly strong but behind us from the North and we made great progress. Downwind ribbing is my favourite and doesn’t get any better. A couple of comfort stops left us all refreshed and ready to turn our first corner. Wind was from the west now so it was Revengers first trial into a head sea and she passed with flying colours. We just trimmed the leg right in to drop the bow and punched through at about 21 knots. Going up into Waterford was lovely not just for the scenery but a flat sea too!
Moored up in torrential rain right in the centre of town and met up with support. Couldn’t work out why the bilge pump had stopped working till Nick found it was jammed up with a zip tie it had dragged in and burnt the motor out so that will be the first job in the morning.

The Red watch here in Waterford didn’t know we were coming till 5 minutes before we arrived but it hasn’t stopped them being amazing. We have been given real beds and a top notch curry to boot. Thanks guys. Forecast for the rest of the week is shite to we have chosen to ignore it and just see what tomorrow brings.

Mileage 116.4 Total 217. Not sure about fuel as we switched tanks into the under deck in the head sea to keep some weight forward but at least as good as yesterday if not better.