3 days, 8 hours, 27 minutes

3 days, 8 hours,
27 minutes
History
Dag Pike about the comeback of Virgin Atlantic Challenger II
It was the record of a lifetime.
27 years ago, the Virgin Atlantic
Challenger II crossed the Atlantic in three days, eight hours and
27 minutes. But instead of being
showcased, the famous racing
boat ended up in a shipyard on
the Balearic Island of Majorca
where it was found by British
boating enthusiast Dan Stevens
and restored to former glory.
Together with the record breaking crew, he presented the boat
to the public during the summer.
One of the crew members was
Dag Pike. He was the navigator
on the memorable journey
across the Atlantic. For the MTU
Report, he recalls this comeback
and the record breaking crossing
27 years ago.
27 years ago, the British
billionaire Sir Richard
Branson initiated the
record breaking journey.
Now he met his former
crew for a comeback trip
of the Virgin Atlantic
Challenger II. Photo:
Helmsman Steve
Ridgway (top right),
engineer Ecki Rastig
(bottom left), former
owner Richard
Branson (center)
and Dag Pike
(navigator).
Today, Dag Pike is a journalist. In
MTU Report he talks about the comeback of the Virgin Atlantic Challenger II
and shares his memories of the record
voyage 27 years ago.
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MTU Report 03/13 I 63
History
1
I don't think I’ll ever forget those feelings I had 27 years
ago. In public we were all gung-ho and ready for a fantastic
adventure. We were six young men wanting to break the
stranglehold of the liners on the Atlantic record. There was
still some unfinished business: A year ago we had already
made an attempt at breaking the record. But then, 130 miles
from the finish line in England, the Virgin Atlantic Challenger
sank. What a disgrace! So in summer 1986 we were ready to
try again - with the Virgin Atlantic Challenger II. And now, 27
years later, I might as well admit: In private I was scared stiff.
The Atlantic does not give up its records easily and here we
were trying to cross 3,000 miles of some of the stormiest seas
in the World in a time faster than had ever been done before
in a 72 foot boat that looked so vulnerable in the dawn light of
New York harbor.
Adventurers meet again
27 years later that same crew boarded the boat in Plymouth
for a trip down memory lane. In 1986, we were a six man
crew on Virgin Atlantic Challenger II with Richard Branson
heading up the team. Alongside were Steve Ridgway who is
now the MD of the airline and yachtsman Chay Blyth. Ecki
Rastig was the engineer, there to nurse the pair of 2,000 hp
MTU 396 diesels that would power us across the ocean and
Peter McCann of the BBC was there to record the event for
posterity on his TV camera. My job was to act as navigator
and weatherman. 27 years later, six rather grey-haired and
wrinkled old men climbed on board to make a short 20 mile
voyage down the coast to Fowey from the base in Plymouth.
It was a trip down memory lane for all of us. Richard Branson,
now Sir Richard Branson, could not keep the grin off his
face with excitement and our emotions were running high as
those same 396 MTU’s were fired up and the memories came
flooding back.
Happy as rarely before
But what I remember most clearly is that moment 27 years
ago where we realized that we had made it. The moment we
saw the lighthouse of Bishop Rock and knew “We’ve made
it!” Everything became a blur. I was physically and mentally
exhausted and could hardly stand. I was so tired I could not
sleep. It took a week for our bruised and battered bodies
North
Sea
North Atlantic
Ocean
Ireland
United
Kingdom
MTU Brown
0-17-28-62
CMYK
MTU Brown
80% der Farbe
CMYK
MTU Blue
50-25-0-10
CMYK
MTU Blue
80% der Farbe
CMYK
Plymouth
60%
CMYK
40%
CMYK
20%
CMYK
60%
CMYK
40%
CMYK
20%
CMYK
English Channel
France
64 I MTU Report 03/13
2
to recover and much longer to recover from the constant
publicity and the demands of the press that followed from this
epic voyage. Even now, 27 years later I can still feel the pain.
From one owner to the next
Stepping on board again, the pain was of course forgotten. We
were so full of happiness. I never knew a boat and its engines
could take so much punishment and still keep going. In the
27 years since we made that record voyage, Virgin Atlantic
Challenger II has had several owners and attempts at refits.
After the record attempt she was taken to the Mediterranean
where she was sold to Prince Rashid of Saudi Arabia. He
based the boat in the South of France and used the boat just
a few times every year to go to Majorca or along the coast. It
remained almost in its original condition and at that time the
engines had around 700 hours of running.
3
When he tired of the boat it was laid up in Beaulieu-sur-Mer
where it sat out of the water for 10 years. The storage bills
stopped being paid so the yard put the boat up for auction
and it was bought by Marshall Rice from the UK. Marshall’s
plan was to restore the boat and bring it back to the UK and I
was asked to bring in my experience to help. Ecki Rastig was
« I never knew a boat and its engines could take
so much punishment and still keep going.
»
1 27 years ago, Dag Pike navigated the Virgin Atlantic Challenger II across the Atlantic
from the USA to Great Britain using land-based navigation systems 2 All of Great Britain
was holding its breath. Even Margaret Thatcher, then Prime Minister, congratulated the
crew. 3 The 22 meter yacht was about as seaworthy as a F1 racecar is roadworthy. 4 After the stressful journey, the crew was delighted to arrive in the Isles of Scilly on June
29, 1986. Dag Pike describes it as ”absolute euphoria and relief.”
Dag Pike, navigator of Virgin Atlantic Challenger II
4
brought in to check over the engines and declared them fit
and ready even though they had not run for 10 years. When
new batteries were installed, the engines fired up on the
second crank of the engine. Not bad after 10 years of not
running. We put the boat in the water and it ran like clockwork
until the fuel stopped coming through from the tanks. The
original fuel tanks were constructed with a rubber bladder
filled with foam which was supported in a wooden box. This
was a light weight solution but unfortunately the foam had
deteriorated with age and the powdered foam was blocking
the fuel lines. The filters would cope until they became
blocked and the engines would stop. We ran the boat as
far as Palma where we intended to carry out a full refit but
unfortunately Marshall Rice died of cancer and the project
came to a halt.
“Part of Britain’s maritime heritage”
So once again the boat sat in a boatyard uncared for and it
was put up for sale. For years there were no buyers and then
Dan Stevens, the owner of a boatyard in Plymouth, England,
heard about it and negotiated its purchase. “This boat is
part of Britain’s maritime heritage,” commented Stevens. “I
couldn’t let it go to scrap so I purchased it and took a team
out to Palma where we stripped the fuel tanks, shoveled out
the foam granules and lined the tank shells with composite to
create new rigid tanks. With some more work we had the boat
up and running and as before it took just a couple of cranks of
the engines before they fired up.”
MTU Report 03/13 I 65
1
History
2
3
The boat ran like clockwork on the 2,000 mile voyage back
to the UK and this is where we arranged the reunion for the
original crew. As we stepped on board the memories came
flooding back. “Memories of trying to get suitable weather
predictions for our Atlantic record attempt. Memories of the
severe fatigue and pain of that epic crossing when we barely
slept for three days as the boat bucked and tossed in the
Atlantic waves. Best of all were memories of our arrival in the
Isles of Scilly with the record in our pockets.”
night and every now and then flying completely out of the
water as a bigger wave than average came along. Suddenly
it would go quiet as the engines automatically cut out and
you knew that there was going to be the most almighty
crash when the boat re-entered the water. Despite our wellcushioned seats the pain started at the bottom of your spine
and travelled all the way up to your head. That was the longest
night I have ever spent at sea and all you could do was live for
the next wave and not think any further ahead.”
Reminiscing about an eventful journey
After negotiating thick fog and the icebergs off the
Newfoundland coast we made our second refueling stop on the
Grand Banks. After little more than an hour transferring fuel we
fired up the engines and were ready to head east, on schedule
for home and glory.
Two hours inside the record
We didn’t know it but the outside world was holding its breath
as well. In our tiny world we were completely isolated from
the outside and just focusing on getting the job done. But the
world was sitting on the edge of its seat willing us on. Daylight
brought some relief and just 20 miles out from the Bishop
Rock and things were looking great. We would be two hours
inside the record if we kept going and it all looked downhill
from here with just half an hour to go. Any moment now the
lighthouse would show up and we could power over the finish
line. Then we were overtaken by this thunderstorm and the
sky turned black. The intense rain of the storm was blanking
out the radar and visibility through the windows was down to a
mile or so. Here we were after 3,000 miles of punishing ocean,
racing towards the rocks of the Isles of Scilly at 50 knots and
we were virtually blind. I could have wept. Then just a couple
of miles away right on track the lighthouse was visible. What
a relief!!
Then the engines faltered and stopped. They were started again
and then stopped once more. Up to that moment the engines
had run without missing a beat. What was wrong? Rastig leaped
«She still looks and sounds the same. It’s wonderful
to be back.
»
Richard Branson, former owner of Virgin Atlantic Challenger II
4
1 27 years ago, Dag Pike navigated the transatlantic route of the Virgin Atlantic Challenger II from the USA to Great Britain using land-based navigation
systems. 2 At the time, the whole of Great Britain followed the adventurers‘ progress with bated breath. Even the British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher,
wished the crew luck. 3 The 22-meter yacht was about as seaworthy as a Formula 1 racing car is fit for the road. 4 After the exhausting voyage, the crew
members were exuberant as they arrived at the Scilly Isles on 29 June 1986. Dag Pike described their state of mind as ”pure euphoria and relief”.
66 I MTU Report 03/13
into the engine room and came up with filters full of water
instead of fuel. Further investigation showed that we had taken
4 tons of fuel on board and 8 tons of water during our refueling
and it was the water that was getting to the engines. Even MTU
diesels will not run on water so we had to drain the fuel tanks
twice and refill them before we got mainly clean fuel coming
through. The water came from a mix up on board the refueling
ship. Suddenly our hopes of glory turned to gloom. It looked
like our race was run and the best option would be to hobble
back to Newfoundland and maybe try again later in the year.
Thanks to the weather
However, the weather had other plans. Coming up behind us
was a huge storm that we would have to face if we headed
back. The only option was to keep going – but with a 10 hour
delay the chances of the record were minimal. The MTU’s
would run intermittently, stopping perhaps every half hour
as more water still came through the system but worse still,
we were running out of fuel filters. Then the Royal Air Force
came to the rescue and dropped a canister of new filters by
parachute. Armed with new filters we kept heading east as
fast as possible to run away from the storm. We could already
feel its effects on the increasing height of the waves but we
had the speed to outrun the storm. As the seas built up it was
becoming a rough ride. Tired beyond belief after 48 hours
without sleep, battered by the constant movement of the
boat and worried sick about the weather we all had to call on
reserves we did not know existed.
Everything unchanged
Stepping on board after 27 years, the feeling of relief came
flooding back. All of us could hardly believe our luck. “She
still looks and sounds the same. It’s wonderful to be back,”
Branson commented. Nearly everything on board looked just
the same. The navigation electronics had been renewed and
there was new safety gear and a fireproof lining in the engine
compartment but we settled into the same old seats that had
cushioned the rough ride 27 years ago. The sounds were the
same with the reassuring rumble of the twin 2000 hp MTUs
although the speed is a bit lower now as befits an old lady.
Ecki Rastig remembered that the MTU’s were running at 20%
overload for the record run. “Now they are back to normal
tune so the top speed has dropped to 45 knots.” As for me,
I could not believe how small the boat looked. “Did we really
cross the Atlantic in that?”
Words: Dag Pike; Pictures: Dag Pike, Owen Billcliffe,
Tognum-Corporate Archive
To find out more, contact:
Darren Barnett, [email protected]
Tel. +44 1342 335-450
The longest night out at sea
After another refueling stop in the mid-Atlantic we continued
to power east. “I will remember that last night for a long, long
time. Picture a 72 foot boat powering along in the pitch black
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