ULAS

flight, sport, adventure ...

The motley crew

With everyone back safely I believe you would like to know what we got up to. On 6 Aug 06 a number of intrepid souls from ULAS (and one from CUAS) travelled to Gosport to leap aboard two Victoria 34 yachts from the Joint Services Adventurous Sail Training Centre to take part in a sailing exped. The raft of safety briefs and pre-sail faff that had to be carried out curtailed the 'leap aboard' but by Mon PM we were out in the Solent learning the ropes - literally. For some, being on the yachts - Zidona (Skippered by Fg Off Dick Eastment from 5 AEF) and Fimbria (Skippered by OC ULAS) – was like being on another planet and yachting terminology another language.

oooo! Shiney!

The first few days were spent in the Solent completing basic sailing drills- man overboard etc - and learning how to sail the boats safely. When the skippers were relatively content that their crews could (would??) manage to pick them up from the water if they fell off the boat, we sailed west to Poole and then Weymouth. The original plan of crossing the Channel to invade France had to be curtailed for a number of reasons, not least that we would have been arrested for importing disease if French customs had seen the state of OC Marc Morrisson's lips. None-the-less, we had a good time in UK waters; the weather was great with good sailing winds and sunny days, I even got a tan. Well not like the Boss's.

Well Wrapped

Of course living on a yacht for a week brings out the best of people as we found out. Mark Morrison is now known as gobber and Hannah YCT is now to be known as LV. Alex kuligowski not only proved his worth as a human dustbin but also invented a new method of brewing tea; OC ULAS developed(?) a taste for apple soap and Dick Eastment kept asking 'How the hell does he make that boat sail so fast???' If you want the whole story speak to the sailors...

Well done to all the crew of the two yachts, they worked hard.

Times are changing and, to a degree, we need to be able to run our own expeds with our own qualified crewmembers. If you're interested in sailing or want to learn and gain qualifications drop me a line.

Ed Damulira
OIC sailing