It’s a great pleasure to report that Eberhard Harms and Lange Orm arrived in good order at Praia da Vitoria this morning, following their stopover at La Coruna for repairs. This means that all fifteen participants completed the passage to the Azores, so once more congratulations to all the skippers for their first-class seamanship. From the photographs we have received, it looks like the participants are having an excellent (and well-earned) time. Praia marina and the town itself always give a warm welcome to the Jester sailors and this year they excelled themselves, laying on a reception hosted by the town’s vice-president Ricky Batista, along with the marina manager Jaime Teófilo and his assistant Jorge Neves. The food was made by the Praia da Vitoria catering college. Ricky Batista expressed the hope that the event would continue and that the relationship between the town and the Jester Challenge would continue to grow and prosper. All the Jesters have the same hope and extend a big thankyou to Ricky and the marina for their continuing support and exceptional hospitality.
On a slightly different note, we have been contacted by one of the deck officers of the LNG carrier Seapeak Bahrain, who spoke with one of the Jester skippers, Richard North and Mooncresta, during the event. It seems that the ship’s Captain had been encouraging his deck officers to speak with any passing yachts, with a view to the officers refocusing on some of the more traditional aspects of seamanship. This is a great initiative that the company (Seapeak) hopes to promote through the officers of its fleet of 92 vessels, and we will be looking to help the company produce an appropriate article for its newsletter about the relationship between yachts, ships, traditional seamanship and so on.
Jester Challenge 