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I was invited to see the start of the BT Global Challenge - Round the World Yacht Race at Southampton on 29th September 1996. Billed as "The World's Toughest Yacht Race" the route took the crews around the world against all prevailing winds and tides. There were 14 identical 67ft Yachts taking part, each crewed by 13 amateur sailors and a professional skipper.
As I stood on the deck of the "Swan Fakum" I was captivated by the spectacle of 14 boats fighting their way through gale force winds and heavy seas towards us. I thought no more of the event until the following week when I spotted an article in the Sunday Times highlighting the fact that Time & Tide were looking for additional crew members for the forthcoming leg of the Race. I composed and sent a letter to Time & Tide the same day. I was accepted 10 days later after satisfying Chay Byth (now Sir Chay Blyth) that I was capable of competing in the event. In the 4 weeks leading up to the Race restart in Brazil I had to raise £18,000 Race entrance fee, negotiate my leave of absence from work, complete a 5 day training course and have vaccinations against what felt like all diseases known to man. Having achieved all these tasks apart from the Race entrance fee, I departed for Rio de Janeiro on November 19th 1996. This could not have been achieved without the enthusiastic and invaluable assistance of my work-mates at Honeywell. The days prior to the Race restart were spent preparing the boat for the 6 ½ week voyage to Wellington and getting to know the crew. Time & Tide was unique in the fleet in that it was crewed by disabled people or people who have suffered life threatening illness. Among the crew were 3 amputees, 2 deaf, 2 cerebral palsy sufferers and 3 people in remission with cancer. The Race restarted on 20th November on a dull rainy day in Rio with very little wind. We crossed the start line in 13th position and headed south following the coast of South America to the dreade4d Cape Horn. During the first week I and a couple of other people were dreadfully sea sick. This did not prevent us from carrying out our allotted tasks though. By day 3 my artificial leg had got so wet that I had to cut away the cosmetic foam. Later in the Race my leg became so rusty that it seized up and liberal application of WD40 did little to ease the situation. By the second week we had fought our way through the fleet until we reached 1st position, which we held for 3 days until we blew 3 spinnakers in quick succession. The lack of spinnaker lost us an estimated 70 miles on the rest of the fleet in the next few days. We spent around 1,200 man-hours repairing the sails, which we never used again on that leg of the Race. Life on board is harsh ; focused around sailing, eating the dehydrated rations and getting as much sleep as possible. Most of the time the crew were cold and wet. Despite specialist foul weather clothing, seawater still found its way in. One of my lowest points in the Race was when I worked and slept in soaking wet clothes for 3 days. Wearing them was the only way to dry them at the time, as the boat's heaters didn't work at the time. As we rounded the dreaded Cape Horn .... we were becalmed. Most of the crew felt cheated that we weren't terrified by horrendous weather conditions. Our wishes were soon satisfied in the next few weeks when we experienced huge storms and sailed close to icebergs in the frozen wastes of the Southern Ocean. The day after we reached the Southern Ocean midpoint known as "Concert Gate" 2,700 miles from New Zealand a fellow crew member fell onto and broke my natural leg, during a storm. For me, this leg of the Race was over. I remained in my bunk with my leg in a splint (my natural leg being strapped to my artificial one), taking painkillers for the 19 days it took us to reach Wellington. In this period Time & Tide went through the biggest storm of all "Cyclone Fergus" which produced 85 knots of breeze which resulted in terrifying sea conditions for our crew. I was ably looked after by Lesley Bowden, our onboard medic, until we arrived in Wellington, New Zealand. We arrived on January 2nd to a fantastic welcome and Tina Turner's "Simply the Best". I was taken to hospital for x-rays and put in plaster from hip to toe. After a short stay in hospital, I flew back to the UK for another 12 weeks in plaster, before beginning the painful physiotherapy process of building up strength in my leg in order to take part in the Race again. I rejoined Time & Tide in Cape Town for the final 2 legs of the BT Global Challenge.
Brendan West |
 bt.com |
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