Having wrapped up a great day of sea survival, capsize and rough
weather training for the FCP North West Passage down at the RNLI we
were quickly shown that mother nature is indeed unpredictable as we
set out for Jersey in our RIB.
By the time we reached the St Helier Marina on the island of
Jersey which took over 6 hours, we had substantial following seas
and winds of approx 25 knots testing the crew and the kit we had.
But all came through well, even if we did feel quite tired by the
end. (And it was only 150 miles whereas each leg in the Arctic is a
minimum of 800 miles!)
But as a team it was fantastic to be out together and working
together.
On Sunday we awoke to worsening weather situation and the sea
state had deteriorated considerably.
But we also knew that this would provide a great test for the
arctic passage as this could well be the normal daily weather we
could see inside the Arctic Circle.
It was certainly a long trip, demanding constant concentration
as well as communication with John our expedition manager in order
to keep the team all in the loop to our location and our progress.
We all felt pretty battered by the time we got home but there is
nothing like a little fear and focus to bind you together!
Many things were highlighted during the training weekend and so
many thoughts and job lists arose from that, which is precisely
what we had hoped to gather from this training - and as they say
"it's best to train hard and fight easy".
Bear