Perhaps the handwriting was on the wall in 2001 when I signed up as a "legger" on the New World Challenge. That race was to go around the world in the same direction as the Global Challenge but featured more US stops and a big finish in San Francisco. Challenge put a big effort into that race and established offices in San Francisco and Boston. Not only offices, but training programs as well - they had a Challenge 67' training yacht in both those locations. However, almost immediately after I signed up, they had already shortened the race. The race was now to start in the UK, with stopovers in the US, Argentina, Chile and a finish in San Francisco. Challenge just wasn't able to line up sponsorship for the longer race. The final blow came shortly after my first training sail. Challenge canceled the New World Challenge entirely. Again, it seems that they weren't able to line up sponsorship for that race. After they canceled the New World Challenge, Challenge offered up the Challenge Transat as a replacement for the many Crew Volunteers who had already signed up and paid their money. This race consisted of two legs from the UK to Boston and back again. This was the race I crewed in.

The Transat's training was not quite as tough as that of the Global Challenge, but I found it both physically grueling and impressively comprehensive. Although my regular exercise has always featured a good amount of weight training, by the end of my first training sail I thought my arms were going to fall off and my biceps were several stages beyond sore. Challenge did a great job of motivating you to get your body in racing shape and by the start of the race, I was fitter than I had been in 20 years. They also gave lots of homework - material you were supposed to master before each training sail. I have to say that the training was also alarming at times. I was used to boats quite a bit smaller than the 72ft Challenge Yachts, and when I once got ready to release a sheet in my normal way rather than the Challenge-approved method, my training skipper checked me with "Richard - STOP!! You could lose a hand if you release the sheet like that. That sheet has TONS of force on". That got my attention.

I want to do my best to explain the magic of Challenge and why it would be such a loss for them to go under. The people I crewed with on the Transat, apart from one person, had no background in Ocean Racing. They were professionals and business people who perhaps had done a little coastal cruising. There was nothing like a professional sailor in the lot. So picture them performing a sail change in Force 10 conditions with the decks awash. By the end of the Transat I felt very proud to have sailed with such shipmates. It may well be that these were exceptional people to begin with but I give full credit to Challenge for having enabled them to display such qualities of courage, loyalty and resourcefulness. And when you think about what those amateurs accomplished, take note that we didn't just sail through a squall or two, we sailed through two full-fledged Atlantic storms and Hurricane Gustav. So I believe that Challenge has lived up to their motto: "Ordinary people doing extraordinary things."

When we sailed across the finish line there in Boston harbor, I was pretty beaten up and I was as tired as I'd ever been but for all that I have never felt such a sense of accomplishment. The next few days up to and including the awards ceremony were filled with a euphoria I had never experienced before. If you asked me if I enjoyed the race, I would have said no. Such an adventure is not necessarily something you enjoy but rather something that you accomplish. But was I glad to have done it? Absolutely.

It seemed like an ominous sign that Challenge carried out the 2004-5 Global Challenge without a title sponsor. When I read that they were postponing the 2008-9 race, I dreaded the worst. I'd never given up the idea of doing one more Challenge adventure but that looks pretty unlikely now. Damn.

Challenge is "in Administration" which sounds like the UK version of Chapter 11. So, there is still a chance that investors may still come to the rescue. I truly hope that they do.

Richard Bustamante