After a long adventurous training hiatus following the pandemic, six members of 457 Battery, 106 Regiment Royal Artillery deployed to Stavanger, Norway on Ex Tiger Cara Nordic, a sailing expedition aboard the NATO Joint Warfare Centre’s (JWC) sailing club yacht, Aurelius II. Sailing over nine days, the aims were to develop team cohesion and introduce soldiers to the Joint Services Adventurous Training (JSAT) and Royal Yachting Association (RYA) sailing schemes. With a variety of sailing experience and backgrounds, each day provided its own challenge for all individuals involved.
We arrived at the sailing club in Ulsnes, just outside of Stavanger. Aurelius II is beautifully looked after and in part funded by The Nuffield Trust. We were pleasantly surprised at the ease of the handover process, no doubt owing to the JWC’s centre manager, Lt Col Piers Noble RE in charge. The skipper and mate, 2Lt Josh Lam RA and Gnr Zimmermann received the instruction from the centre manager. At approximately 1800, after a briefing from the skipper, we slipped the lines, motoring the short voyage into a spirited Stavanger Saturday night for the first sleep onboard and we woke to a familiar sight; the P&O cruise ship Aurora coming alongside a few hundred metres away and streams of tourists pouring down the gangways.
Each day had a similar structure; lessons were delivered in the morning, followed by sailing activity. The first lesson was an introduction to the points of sail. We sailed towards open water on a beam reach, the easiest point of sail where the wind is perpendicular to the boat (on the beam). With the traffic clear around us, we started off by conducting man-overboard drills to familiarise everyone with different roles throughout the situation. Succeeding this, we tied up to a mooring buoy off the island of Tingholmen and stopped for lunch there, enjoying the scenery, weather, and wildlife on the island.
Monday was peaceful starting with a lesson in springing off, utilising mooring lines for manoeuvring the boat off a berth. Unfortunately, wind was lacking and under both sail and engine power we travelled to a village called Skudeneshavn, twenty miles north of Stavanger. The next day’s forecast however, looked promising. We anchored for lunch in an island archipelago called Kvitsøy, with Gnrr Hammond and SSgt Baker responsible for meal prep that day and finally reached our destination, the quaint village providing a scenic sunset; sadly, too late, to discover that the sauna was fully booked.
Tuesday’s weather conditions provided excellent character-building experiences. First we received a blessing from an eccentric self-proclaimed local bard who called himself the Herring King of Norway and then got under way. The initial challenge sailing in the heightened sea state pushed the boundaries of comfort zones for all involved. Eventually, we returned to Skudeneshavn with seasickness setting in for some of the crew.
On Wednesday we set sail for Skartveit, an island twenty-five miles away. In stark contrast to the previous day, we had sunshine and a favourable breeze behind us making for light work, sailing on a broad reach most of the way there and, whilst en-route we had lessons in knot tying and buoyage.
We started Thursday off with a lesson on the Rules of the Road, the highway code for boats. The fine weather provided us with some more great training opportunities on passage to Jørpeland. This was the day when everything clicked, firstly we were close hauled and short-tacking up-wind, the wind then shifted which required some gybing; entertaining and challenging all the crew.
Gnr Johnson, the battery’s social media lead, took some spectacular photos on Friday. After a consolidation and cultural day, we rounded off with a BBQ overlooking the Sun Mirror on Klungholmen. The island houses the Norwegian equivalent to Stonehenge but also includes a frisbee golf course. Coals were now smouldering and, with SSgt Baker, now frisbee golf champion at the grill, we enjoyed our Viking feast with the sun setting over the mirror. We finished the climactic day engaged in conversation around the firepit; the last leg looming, we embraced the benefits of adventurous training in such a stunning setting.
On Saturday we returned to Stavanger with a dramatic forecast suggesting strong winds later in the afternoon. To make the most of the building wind, we had an early start, tacking and gybing our way towards Stavanger. More experienced as a crew now, we pushed Aurelius II to almost 11 knots, with trimming the sails and fine-tuning adjustments becoming second nature and we reached the familiar guest marina in time for our final dinner overlooking the harbour. The last night together boasted a social night out in the city. On Sunday, feeling slightly worse for wear and unwilling to go home so soon, we prepared the boat for handover back at the Joint Warfare Centre.
The impact of the expedition on the crew cannot be understated. Averaging no to very limited sailing experience across the board, we exceeded our own expectations, performing well as a team. Gnr Zimmermann gained valuable experience at the helm and is now looking to complete the RYA Day Skipper course. 2Lt Lam, in his first outing as skipper made headway in mooring manoeuvres and SSgt Baker, Regimental Mentoring Support Officer (ReMSO) and no stranger to adventurous training, capitalised on the recruiting opportunities afforded to us from the trip.
Gnr Hammond had this to say:
‘It was such an amazing time and I built so many strong friendships within the unit. It really pushed me out of my comfort zone, especially never having been on a yacht before, although I was a bit seasick to begin with, it went away after the first couple of days. I learnt a lot from the lessons, like tying a bowline or reading the wind – something that I will be able to carry over to my kitesurfing!’
Overall, the expedition was impeccably executed and something I can only hope to repeat again in my career. On reflection, it provided me with an opportunity to transfer skills from my previous experience navigating cargo ships. Little did I know at the time; this would be my first and last AT expedition as a reserve soldier with 457 Battery; naturally quite reserved, the trip emboldened me and two weeks later I passed the Army Officer Selection Board Main Board with aspirations to join the Regular Army.
By Officer Cadet George Gadd
457 (Hampshire Carabiniers Yeomanry) Battery
106 (Yeomanry) Regiment Royal Artillery
