Challenge Completed

07.30 Monday woohoo

A huge sense of achievement felt by the entire team having had the stamina to see the challenge through to the end. Our ambition was to complete the race this year and we have managed that sucessfully.

Kookaburra was a great boat to do this race in, even if the keel nearly fell out the bottom of the boat 1/3 of the way throught. I will however dream of self tailing winches and a decent main track as she is hard work with only two in the cockpit.

Our thanks goes to everyone who sponsored us as we have raised loads of money for some great charities.

Will we do it again? lets wait and see, however Marco has already worked out how to cut his pack weight by about 2kg so I think I know where he will be this time next year

Finishing party ready!

Its our finishing party! One runner and one sailor. Will we do it again next year?

last sunrise-hopefully!

5 miles to go! As the sun rises over ardrossan we can see the entrance to troon.
We have to go in under sail and drop 2 in the dingy to race up to the office.
With it, the sun has killed the wind...

kookaburra finds wind!

A strong south easterly fills in giving us a beat over to ardrossan. Not long now, the goal is in sight. Beers are cooling as we speak! Kc

leaving arran

Runners finished the final run over goat fell.. Chilli all round as we head for troon! No wind and only 15 miles to the finish. Others have given up but we're all determined to complete the course. Kc

Nearly there

Just waiting 4 runners and the head to Troon. Not a lot of wind so may
take a while.

Check the view John

The summit of Goatfell. Hometime now and a beer at Troon.

Chilli spuds!

Chief Kook Kenny prepares a welcome meal for the runners and sailors, good effort boyo :)

The ferry

Maybe we could just get the ferry back. Looks a lot less bouncy!!

Paul wasn't happy to learn it was another 14 miles

Lamlash

So near yet so far

A tactical error ruined a chance of a place. Taking a risk on a beat
out to Ailsa Craig looking for the forecasted South Easterly changed to a North Easterly
stranding us 8 miles to leward of Lamlash. With tide turn lost 3
places and about 4 hours, but hey you gotta give it a go :(

Running though the woodland trails

Running through the beautiful woodland trails in arran. Lovely evening.

Charlie goes bananas!

Charlie tidying the cabin.

On way to Pladda

Round the Mull and heading to Pladda Lighthouse. 15 knts breeze and the Sun is out. All sailors grabbed 4 hrs kip with Runners still out cold. I swear Marco has superhuman strength and stamina.

Fladda lighthouse

sunrise over kintyre..

Kc and kb 5 miles off rounding the mull. Kb feeling refreshed after 3 hour power nap! Roll on 8am and i can wake up charlie for mine! Kc

Round the Mull

30knts Wind on a flyer. Great overnight trip, watch over @ 4am. Big
seas so sleep should be fun!

Watch out for the Moonburn!

Kc and Chaz reaching down to kintyre. Tired, who's tired!

team clear jura at midnight..

An excellent run for paul and marco finishing the paps in good time allowing us to head off towards the mull.. 7.5 knots will hopefully get us up there by 6am before our trip up to arran. Sailors managed 3 hours sleep at jura after 16 sail down. Keel causing problems as stuck down and rattlin after lifting mechanism broke . Paul is suffering with sea sickness but holding up well:) go team! kc

Speedy Muchachos

Marco radios in eta 23.15 good going :) That's a good time from the runners.

Top of the first Pap of Jura

Bloody freezing!!!!

Arrived @ Craighouse

A long frustrating 16 hour sail, no wind, choppy and altogether nasty. Sailors all knackered but we have managed to grab a mooring event though it's quite bumpy no need for anchor watch so 5 hours sleep hopefully for the sailors. Another 14 hour sail expected tomorrow starting @ 2am when the runners finish 18 mile race over the Paps of Jura.

Addition: Sailors got back 1.5 hours earlier and with trying to fix the lifting keel did not get the sleep we hoped for.

Motherwell score!

Motherwell equalise plus boat full of Celtic supporters equals joy all around.

Come on Motherwell!!!

In the doldrums

No wind no nothing. 15 miles from Craighouse feels a very long way away. Windex spinning round and round and round and round!

Dolphins off Fladda

A school of Dolphins dropped by playing in the eddy tides of Fladda. This has lifted everyones spirits and helped us forget about the temperature.

Fladda lighthouse

Passing Fladda Lighhouse @ 08:45

Morning has broken

Two thirds of the way to Jura. The runners are tired after not much sleep, the sailors after no sleep, tired and cold. Weather is cloudier and colder.

Spirits are high.

Baltic

Oh my god its freezing. Just about to pass Fladda.

After being becalmed at Salen for 3 hours of floating back and forth playing how far have we drifted back past the same lighthouse! Finally some wind appeared around 4am, to try and optimize our floating prowess we had winched up the lifting keel as there was a hint of wind behind us.

Chaz went down below to go and lower the keel to give us better steerage and stop us floating sideways. On cracking the winch off and letting an inch of the keel down there was a horrendous crash came from the bottom of the boat. Chaz was left with a piece of rope without a keel attached to it.

With everyone else on board suspecting a) we had run aground b) were sinking was not a very calming atmosphere for a couple of minutes.

It seems the keel had become un-attached and had just been lowered slightly "quicker" than usual.

Ah the fun on sailing!

The sound of Mull

As per usual in the sound wind shifts 180 degrees to a westerly. So
its been a beat up and a beat down. Typical !! Runners sleeping after
1/2 tonne of pasta.

Ready to head from Salen

Marco and Paul 40 minutes away. Light airs going to be a run and reach
down to Craighouse on Jura. Manual anchor lift was hard work! Kenny on rowing duty.

On the top of Ben More

At the top. All down hill from here. In more ways than one!!

On the way to the top of Ben More

Lovely weather all the way to the top

Retro post

Spinnaker start this morning leaving oban. KC

1st sailing leg complete.

Arrived at Salen safely with a few expletives! All good tho and an excellent sail over from mull with strong north easterlies.. Some clever decisions pushed us up the fleet and we think we're lying 2nd or 3rd in class at present, with some boats finishing as much as an hour behind us.. Paul and marco off safely ahead of the Ben More stage and we expect them back before midnight. Kookaburra sailing well in 20-25 knots but her gear is not the best. KC

Arrived at Salen 16.40

N56 31 483
W5 56 616
Phew hard beat up sound of mull. Paul and Marco off up Ben More. Hard
boat to sail not helped by the equipment on board. Ken and Charlie off
for some sleep.

We are here!

So the first run is finished and now we are sailing up to mull.

The sailors are doing a fab job and we hope to be at Salem for 17.30 for the 23 mile run up Ben More.

And they are off

The runners start off on their warm up run, the purpose of this is to break up the pack so everyone is not trying to get to their boats at the same time.

T minus 1hr 50 minutes

What do you do when there is less than 2 hours to go until the start of the big race. You get your runner to wd40 the windex on the top of the mast.

Any excuse for me to get a harness and go up the mast. Eeek. It is shall I say slightly uncomfortable.

Briefing 9am

Light winds and sunshine! Perfect! KC

Race day has arrived

Kenny Marco and Paul have gone to the race meeting before we get under
way. Lovely day though lack of wind may be a problem.

Realisation hits Paul

24 miles up a munro tomorrow. Yikes!

Thank you

We just want to say a BIG thank you to Nicola and Tom for there hospitality and feeding us full of carbs before the race. Funniest thing was Paul realising that we are running nearly 30 miles with 3000 feet ascent tomorrow. Never mind the 30 odd we run the rest of the weekend.

Now going back to the boat for an early night.

Pre race feed in Oban!

It's our last meal. Will it be our LAST meal? Team Kookaburra descend on Nicola & Tom for Spag Bol and wine! For me, I'll never forget the pineapple 7 figs with yoghurt! - Delicious! and will feature on my menu!

Thank you again.

Were in oban!

Crackin night

The good ship Kookaburra

Here is our good ship the Kookaburra.

Where we will spend the next 4 days.

Don't tell anyone but I feel sick already and we haven't even set sail.

le bucket of Chilli!

Hope this works boys...might give us some extra wind!!

Marco Set To Go

Ahh, just winding up at work before the big challenge. Note the maps on my desk. Its looking like a great weekend for the runners but not sure about the sailing. Light winds forecast.

Looking forward to it.

Marco

Jack

Who says Autistic kids dont have imaginative play !

Donations for National Autistic Society

http://www.justgiving.com/firebird5