Leg 3: Cape Town to Melbourne (cont)

Date: Saturday 8 November 2003
Day: 106

Local time: 1200 GMT+4

Leg Number and name: Leg 3, "The Wandering"

Focus of leg: CCAMLAR - the role of a regulated fishery. The impact of IUU fishing. ..' Position - Latitude, Longitude: 45.54S, 46.20E Position relative to nearest land: 160 miles West of Crozet Island

Course: 58 T

Speed: 6.3 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 130 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 1,705 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 9,705 nm

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 4,150 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).

Barometric pressure: 1001

Wind direction: WNW

Wind Speed: Force 7-8 (28-40 knots)

Cloud cover: 100%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 6.3 C

Sea conditions: Moderate to rough sea on the beam

Bird sightings: Wandering Albatross, Black Petrels, Sooty Petrels, White Chinned Petrels, approx 10 Prions


Notes: Around midnight we decided to gybe and take the northerly route round the fast approaching Crozet Islands.


This was a lumpy, bumpy day with grey everything, plus fog and rain. We made poor progress despite strong winds.


The first sighting of an Antarctic Fulmar - maybe from the Crozet Islands? We're a couple of weeks out of Cape Town. People are coping with things in their own way. Gritty, frozen Igor is sunny, carefree and totally caught up with Arnie Schwarzenegger's recent success: waking up and finding his wife had fixed him up with more than just a promo tour for Terminator 3 for the summer: "Oh gott, I'm in Polly Diggs!" Govenor of California.


Nick, ashen, devourer of manuals. Worries about communications and everything he thinks others are not worrying about. Driving the boat forward, longest at the wheel. Solid gold.


Quentin comes on Watch, rushing up the ladder into the doghouse, throws a pile of gear ahead of him, "Made it on time!" he gasps. Never mind the course, get those yellow lights going, switch on mobile satellite phone and the Palm Pilot. Call up Wagga Wagga, Washington or wherever, there's a world to save out there. Was I like that 33 years ago? Yes.


Trevor clambers up the ladder: loving the sound of velcro in the morning. Looking younger every day. Measured, avuncular, prepared to discuss the journeys of despair he and I made coincidentally and quite separately, to the Pomme D'Or nightclub in Portsmouth in years 1962/3. He's heard somewhere that the highest waves in the world are to be found on the Kerquelen Plateau up ahead. Unsure if he wants to see them.


Marie Christine, brusque, doing her watches, all the cooking, all the cleaning and 50% of all the washing up. Beats up her poor husband something cruel.


Me, worrying if the pain in my lower chest is a duodenal ulcer, stomach cancer or just a bruised sternum caused by being thrown onto the wheel against my safety harness. I could believe all 3. "Mein Gott, I'm in Orni Dollogy!"


Into the mist... John Ridgway

Date: 9 November 2003
Day: 107

Local time: 1200 GMT+4

Leg Number and name: Leg 3, "The Wandering"

Focus of leg: CCAMLAR - the role of a regulated fishery. The impact of IUU fishing.

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 45.54E 46.20

Position relative to nearest land:

Course: 50 T

Speed: 3.2 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 125 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 1,830 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 9,830 nm

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 4,000 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).

Barometric pressure: 1015

Wind direction: WSW

Wind Speed: Force 2 (4-6 knots)

Cloud cover: 100% (foggY)

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 4.8 C

Sea conditions: Lumpy swell

Bird sightings: Sooty Albatross, Royal Albatross, Black Petrels, Sooty Petrels, White Chinned Petrels, Prions


Notes: Foggy and still. Just slipping along at 2-3 knots on a silky sea. Noon found us 130 nautical miles (nm) NW of Ile Aux Cochons (Isle of Pigs) in the (French) Crozet Islands. The islands are small and inhabited only by seabirds. The pigs were probably put there for shipwrecked sailors in the days of sail. Maybe they found them and ate them. Then what?


With the absolute silence of 2 or 3 knots (neither wind generator or towing generator work at this speed), time alone at the wheel in the fog offers "The bliss of solitude". A chance to study the visitors, who come ghosting in through the mist. Dainty Icebirds, incredible 12' wing span Wandering Albatrosses (how can that span be supported by a wing only 9" from front to trailing edge?). Cheerful piebald Cape Pidgeons, and the newcomer, the Antarctic Fulmar, so like our own Fulmar at home in NW Scotland, save for the white patch on the end of it's grey wing. The Sooty and White Shinned Petrels and the tiny Mother Carey's chickens.


How many millions of years have they been here? How did they learn to fly. How long is my own lifetime in all of this?


Why must we needlessly destroy them all, now in this particular generation? Surely, if we can get to the moon, we can stop this needless slaughter of the Albatross?


What can you do? Or do you just not care? I'm sure you haven't got much time and you have some more pressing problems to solve.


Well, the very least you can do is sign the Petition - on the website - now. I'll try and sail round the world and take it to the UN, in Rome, next June. Go on, sign it.


To stop pirate fishing, all countries must take action to:


1. End flags of convenience (FoC) for fishing vessels, and close all markets and ports to FoC vessels and their stolen fish;

2. Ratify all relevant international agreements to protect Albatrosses and other marine life, including the United Nations Fish Stock Agreement;

3. Enforce protection at sea and intercept pirate vessels.


You can help end the needless slaughter of the Albatross


Please sign and put an end to Pirate fishing.


Into the mist...

John Ridgway

Date: 10 November 2003
Day: 108

Local time: 1200 GMT+4

Leg Number and name: Leg 3, "The Wandering"

Focus of leg: CCAMLAR - the role of a regulated fishery. The impact of IUU fishing.

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 44.32E 51.09E

Position relative to nearest land: 110 miles NE of Crozet Island

Course: 105 T

Speed: 8.8 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 125 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 1,955 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 9,955 nm

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 3,925 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).

Barometric pressure: 1010

Wind direction: N

Wind Speed: Force 7 (28-33 knots)

Cloud cover: 100% (foggY)

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 5.6 C

Sea conditions: Fast reaching across moderate sea.

Bird sightings: 1 Wandering Albatross, 3 Prion, 2 White Chinned Petrels, 1 Stormy Petrel, I Grey headed Albatross


Notes: A surging day. Under full sail we had the old ship making nine miles in the hour, trying to build the big MO for Kerguelen (Desolation Island) seven hundred miles ahead. The secret agent promises good intelligence once we are south of the Antarctic Convergence. Everyone in good spirits and managing the hard cold routine.


As well as signing the Petition, which I published in the log yesterday, there are some other things you could do to save the Albatross.


The Patagonian Toothfish is caught at depths of around 2,000 metres in the Southern Ocean. A single sashimi-grade fish can be worth US$1,000. They fall to some of the 1 billion hooks laid down here each year. Albatrosses fall to many of the hooks too.


Now, we're not talking about fish to feed the starving millions. No, the fish are eaten by Palm-Pilot folk, people with freedom to make choices in restaurants and super-markets. Patagonian Toothfish is not an attractive name, so it appears in restaurants as SEA BASS in USA and UK, MERO in Japan, LEGUNE in France. Just stop buying it! And don't hesitate to tell the seller why.


Into the mist...

John Ridgway

Date: Tuesday 11 November 2003
Day: 109

Local time: 1200 GMT+4

Leg Number and name: Leg 3, "The Wandering"

Focus of leg: CCAMLAR - the role of a regulated fishery. The impact of IUU fishing.

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 45.38S 54.10E

Position relative to nearest land: 180 miles West of Crozet Island

Course: 110 T

Speed: 6.8 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 150 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 2,100 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 10,100 nm

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 3,775 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).

Barometric pressure: 1013

Wind direction: W

Wind Speed: Force 5-6 (17-27 knots)

Cloud cover: 100% (foggY)

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 5.8 C

Sea conditions: Fast reaching across moderate sea.

Bird sightings: 1 Prion, 1 Wandering Albatross


Notes: Endless fog but favourable wind. Warm air over cold water. Intelligence improving as we approach Kerguelen Plateau.


Un-wise to reveal all at this point. Everyone suffering a bit from relentless cold and the thought that it will get colder once south of Antarctic convergence. This good weather will not last indefinitely.


Here is something you could do to help the Albatross. Go to your nearest Aquarium and ask them to set up a montage for the Save the Albatross Petition on a wall within the building plus a facility for easy signing. Ask them if they will link up with other aquariums round the country, round the world. Japan is developing its +100 Aquariums. This is a way you could help save the Albatross.


Thanksalotty,

John Ridgway

Date: Wednesday 12 November 2003
Day: 110

Local time: 1200 GMT+5

Leg Number and name: Leg 3, "The Wandering"

Focus of leg: CCAMLAR z- the role of a regulated fishery. The impact of IUU fishing.

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 46.21S 57.30E

Position relative to nearest land: 420 miless WNW Kerguelen Islands

Course: 147 T

Speed: 4.2 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 140 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 2,240 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 10,340 nm

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 3,690 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).

Barometric pressure: 1007

Wind direction: NW

Wind Speed: Force 5 (17-21knots)

Cloud cover: 100% (foggY)

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 6.5 C

Sea conditions: reaching across moderate sea.

Bird sightings: 15 Prion, 1 Wandering Albatross, 5 White Chinned Petrels, 1 Grey headed Albatross, 4 Sooty Petrels


Notes: There is a certain relentlessness to all this. We are heading southeast again and still there is fog. The wind is light and for here, the weather is kind.


For a while we had a lone King Penguin stitching the water 20 feet or so from our stern. A cheery fellow he was a particular delight to Marie Christine. A striking colour he grows to 3.75 feet high, weighs up to 26lbs and has been known to dive to 787 feet for squid. They breed on sub Antarctic islands like Kerguelen.


The highlight of the day for others was the dental surgey at 1100 hrs. I gazed up and thought. Surely they should be retired by now. Which route down my root canal will they take? Marie Christine, short hair, and gold rimmed glasses, looked uncomfortably like Anne Robinson in 'The Weakest Link'. She had mirrors and long shiney steel spikes. Trevor peered down enthusiastically at the fatal lower jaw with its missing filling, agitating, he was balling his fists. Very keen to "Have a go himself""Knock him out- I'm going in!"


"Oh Gawd" I thought. Remembering the two hours in that chair in the Cape Town dentist. "If this filling fails the tooth may disintegrate and that would be serious", Benjie Lowrie had told me. "Get it capped as soon as possible-Melbourne if you can!"


My wife screwed home the white paste. Both grave practitioners told me it would harden soon, but it seemed like chalk paste to me. Would I have to go aboard the Russian Icebreaker at Heard Island? Would that part-time dentist be like Lawrie Oliver in Marathon Man?


Anyway it seems OK for now.


Sat phone calls to Quentin gather pace. Australian skippers keen to RV in the snow somewhere. Better than knitting and gardening?


Into the mist...

John Ridgway

A Verse on Shipmates hearing the Antarctic Owl


I'm the Antarctic Owl,

A fabulous fowl

Resembling the Dodo or Moa.

Ornithologists insist,

Since I'm not on their lists,

I'm as dead as a Dowager's Boa.

The fact is I'm heard

By a small gifted few

To Doubters I say

Look me up in who who.


by our Special Correspondent aboard English rose V1, Trevor Fishlock

Date: Thursday 13 November 2003
Day: 111

Local time: 1200 GMT+5

Leg Number and name: Leg 3, "The Wandering"

Focus of leg: CCAMLAR z- the role of a regulated fishery. The impact of IUU fishing.

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 47.50S 60.10E

Position relative to nearest land: 317 miless WNW Kerguelen Islands

Course: 120 T

Speed: 7.3 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 135 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 2,375 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 10,375 nm

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 3,565 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).

Barometric pressure: 1000

Wind direction: WSW

Wind Speed: Force 6-7 (22-33 knots)

Cloud cover: 50%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 6.1 C

Sea conditions: Reaching across building sea. waves est. 2.4 metres

Bird sightings: 2xGreyheaded Albatross, 1xWandering Albatross, 15 prions, 15 White chinned Petrels, 2xSealions, 1 Elephant Seal.


Notes: Perfect morning. bluest sky, whitest rollers. Good direction.


I waved at a Wandering Albatross "Aye Aye Cap'n" I called as he looked me in the eye. He rolled onto his side and waggled his tail as if to say "Good on yer, old top!" I was really chuffed.


He skimmed a few waves, rather kicking his heels, really. I could almost hear him say "Look, you can only do 150 miles a day - If I step on the pedal a bit I can do 1500. What say I nip on ahead and see if they've put the kettle on?"


During the morning the wind rose steadily. A couple of small brown seals gamboled around us.


"A fishing buoy! A fishing buoy!" shouted the Secret Agent from the wheel.


"How has he done it?" we asked ourselves. More magic.


"Oh no, sorry, it's an Elephant Seal" he called down.


By lunchtime we had a full gale. The rest of the day was reducing sail and the night holding the nerve while plunging down the overtaking waves which filled the cockpit on several occasions.


Into the mist...

John Ridgway

Date: Friday 14 November 2003
Day: 112

Local time: 1200 GMT+5

Leg Number and name: Leg 3, "The Wandering"

Focus of leg: CCAMLAR z- the role of a regulated fishery. The impact of IUU fishing.

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 48.05S 3.38E

Position relative to nearest land: 180 miles WNW Kerguelen Islands

Course: 095 T

Speed: 6.4 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 140 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 2,515 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 10,515 miles

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 3,420 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).

Barometric pressure: 1010

Wind direction: SW

Wind Speed: Force 5-6 (17-27 knots)

Cloud cover: 50%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 4.6 C

Sea conditions: Light to moderate

Bird sightings: 25xPrions, 1xWandering Albatross, 1xGrey Headed Albatross, 3xWhite Chinned Petrels


Notes: Hello! When marie christine and I came on atch at midnight, 2000-2200 Trevor and Quentin and 2200-2400 Nick and Igor both reported in the Log that they'd each had the mid and aft cockpits flooded twice by breaking waves. But we were in for a spot of luck, the wind was easing and we stayed dry. It's snowing and most people are complaining of feet like blocks of ice in their bunks.


During the day conditions improved. We were surrounded by great numbers of birds: Albatrosses, Cape Pidgeons, Sooty, Wite Chinned and Storm Petrels. But most of allPrions or Ice Birds: They are too small to take hooks baited with frozen squid.


Spectacularly aerobatic I have seen them actually flying backwards at head height not 20 feet from the side of the boat. They are all Petrels, a derivativ of Peter, for their ability to 'walk on water' as they pick up Plankton from the surface.


We are closing on Waypoint 111 which is fishing ground 1 on the very edge of the Kerguelen Plateau. the Secret Agent has produced charts awash with pink and blue patches denoting target areas.


When I think about it how I admire him for choosing this as a way of life. Rather than sitting on his bum and whinging like so many.


Some dredful things are quietly happning, over the horizon on the great ownerless unprotected oceans. gradually we will see fish disappearing from the menus. And there will be only be films of seabirds to remind us of what we did. At the CCAMLR meeting in Hobart this week France owned up to killing 27,000 seabirds in the past couple of years . Most of those would have been right here - Kerguelen is a French territory.


But I just think how many have been killed by Pirates.


There must be a way to regulate fishing before it's too late. It jst needs a willing skipper on every boat. That's all it needs.


Into the mist...

John Ridgway

Date: Saturday 15 November 2003
Day: 113

Local time: 1200 GMT+5

Leg Number and name: Leg 3, "The Wandering"

Focus of leg: CCAMLAR - the role of a regulated fishery. The impact of IUU fishing.

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 47.35SS 66.41 E

Position relative to nearest land: 79 miles NW Kerguelen Islands

Course: 061 T

Speed: 5.1 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 130 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 2,645 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 10,645 miles

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 3,330 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).

Barometric pressure: 1023

Wind direction: NW

Wind Speed: Force 4 (11-16 knots)

Cloud cover: 50%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 5.4 C

Sea conditions: Light

Bird sightings: 1 x Grey Headed Albatross, 1 x Sooty Albatross, 1 x Juvenile Wandering Albatross, 4 x White Chinned Petrels


Notes: Hello, Imagine, if you will, that you are a 65 year-old man who's led a fairly hectic, mostly athletic life, driven by a love of excitement and a need to earn a living. You are now retired and find yourself looking down from your cottage at a magic carpet stretching right around the world. On the carpet there lies a white 60' ketch, too big to attract a buyer. Too big to afford as a hobby. Now well aware of your own mortality you decide on one more fling -"Beyond the far horizon". Most encouragingly, your wife of 40 years agrees to accompany you leaving behind loved children and grandchildren.


The price you must pay, for there's 'owt for nowt', is that you must concentrate on the seabirds which surround you as you stand alone at the wheel. Overtime, among these swirling birds, a pattern emerges, it's your own life: childhood, youth, adulthood, seniority.


The sun shines, making rainbows in the mist, these seabirds are indescribably beautiful and precious.


Please don't destroy them.


Into the mist...

John Ridgway

Date: Saturday 16 November 2003
Day: 114

Local time: 1200 GMT+5

Leg Number and name: Leg 3, "The Wandering"

Focus of leg: CCAMLAR z- the role of a regulated fishery. The impact of IUU fishing.

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 48.24S 68.33 E

Position relative to nearest land: Just off the NW corner of the Kerguelen Islands

Course: 100 T

Speed: 6.3 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 100 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 2,745 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 10,745 miles

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 3,230 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great Circle route, we will not go so far South and willtherefore have to sail further).

Barometric pressure: 1023

Wind direction: North

Wind Speed: Force 4 (11-16 knots)

Cloud cover: 100% (Fog)

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 5.0 C

Sea conditions: Light

Bird sightings: 1 x Grey Headed Albatross, 1 x Black-browed Albatross, 3 x White Chinned Petrels


Notes: Searchlight beams of Aurora Australis. We have dreadful propagation for HF radio Sailmail, is it the active Aurora or Maputo down again? Iridium aerial on the stern has been hit by a wave, Nick rigs up a bit of a car aerial inside the dome - claims dramatic improvement. We haven't been able to connect on the Iridium phone for weeks - tomorrow we'll have a trial to Marie Christine's mother in Brighton, a Volunteer Coastguard in Marine Gate.


Off the north end of Kerguelen. Really dense fog now. Water shallow brown. Seabirds few. "We have a target, 7 miles fine on the starboard bow", Trevor's Leader voice set alarm bells for action stations a'ringing all over the ship.


Marie Christine stayed in the Galley. I accelerated my shaving in the After Heads. It's never certain what Igor is up to in the Forward Heads. Quentin strode the Delessops Panama Canal plank at the wheel, a vision in green, red and yellow with sun glasses an ghastly quasi-beard. Trevor looks calm but concerned. Nick reached the Doghouse and scanned the radar. "It's moving away from us at 3.5 knots", he proclaimed.


"Oh wow! This is actually it." I thought, "A pirate fisherman at last". Igor even agreed to abbreviate, at least that's what I took the muffled mumbling to mean.


Now everyone but Marie Christine was by the wheel or peering out of the Doghouse hutch. Quentin the professional negotiator didn't want to be on the radio. I wanted to steer the boat right at the Pirate. But Nick thought I should be on the radio to the pirate. A simple white sailing boat doing 4 knots downwind, no markings on the sails or hull, save the red GBR 1218 on the mainsail. Innocent.


I suggested Marie Christine, the French interpreter of 43 years ago, should man the radio. Trevor and Quentin thought up penetrating questions. Igor was all set with cameras. The fixed video camera on the mizen mast pointed forward, I could aim the boat like a rifle.


Everyone set off to prepare themselves for the engagement. Leaving Trevor and Quentin on Watch.


"It's big. It's five miles. Is it a rock?" The leader voice enquired. I scuttled up the ladder and scanned my 1954 chart.


Right up on the very top, part of View A, there it was Ilot du Rendevous, tiny but 280 feet high. Trevor as awarded a gold star for his leader feat. I was chastened.


Into the mist...

John Ridgway

Date: Sunday 17 November 2003
Day: 115

Local time: 1200 GMT+5

Leg Number and name: Leg 3, "The Wandering"

Focus of leg: CCAMLAR z- the role of a regulated fishery. The impact of IUU fishing.

Position - Latitude, Longitude: S E

Position relative to nearest land: At Port aux Francais, Kerguelen Course: -

Speed: -

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 120 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 2,865 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 10,865 miles

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 3,110 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).

Barometric pressure: 1016

Wind direction: North East

Wind Speed: Force 1 (1-3 knots)

Cloud cover: 100% but visibility good

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 6.7 C

Sea conditions: Calm

Bird sightings: Many South Georgia Petrels, 35+ Black backed gulls


Notes: A night of motoring in the fog. Glassy calm down east coast of Kerguelen. Dawn found us entering a typically Scottish sea loch with mountains poking above the clouds!


1340 we picked up a mooring at Port Aux Francais, a bleak tangle of barrack blocks on low treeless moorland. Windswept, this is no place to lie in bad weather, the last yacht here ended up on the beach, there have been only two in the past year.


Some 60 residents in summer, 30 in winter, scientists and biologists mostly, with French Navy and Army personnel to run logistics.


Marco and Oliver picked us up in a RIB. Three ornithologists all in their early twenties took us for a meeting in the smart, warm HQ Building.


Amelie, elfin and bright, spoke fair English. Fabrice, a John Lennon lookalike, shy and sincere was quietly spoken.


Cedric, more assured, has been here over a year, gave us some copies of his lovely Albatross photos.


At first we sat rather awkwardly round a formal table. I asked Cedric if, after his time on Kerguelen he was optimistic or pessimistic about the future of the Albatross. "Je suis desolee - I am very sad for the Albatross" he replied haltingly, looking out of the window. "We have been studying a sample of 300 Albatrosses for two years now, this year they are only 240 - 60 down - mostly female" added Amelie, warming to a subject very close to her heart. "We find many fish hooks in the Albtrosses."


"The best chance for the Albatross is for the fishermen to catch all the fish - then they will go away!" Fabrice spoke surprisingly directly.


70 miles N-S, 90 miles E-W kerguelen is 1/3 ice cap with mountains to 6,000 feet. Hundreds of islands, many fjords, A historically notorious place for man's butchery of wild life, in 1843 it is said there were 600 whaling vessels on these coasts - we saw no sign of a whale today.


Between 1791 and 1873 the vast populations of seals were virtually exterminated, boiled down in huge cauldrons fueled with local penguins.


Now it is the turn of the albatross.


As man is forever to hunt lower and lower down the food chain, laying a billion hooks a year for Toothfish from 1200 metres now, we'll soon be eating jelly-fish.


We just must regulate fisheries now. Surely if we can reach the moon, we can manage our fisheries?


Into the mist...

John Ridgway

Date: 18 November 2003
Day: 116

Local time: 1200 GMT+5

Leg Number and name: Leg 3, "The Wandering"

Focus of leg: CCAMLAR z- the role of a regulated fishery. The impact of IUU fishing.

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 49.32'S 70.30'E

Position relative to nearest land: Off South-east coast of Kerguelen

Course: 080 T

Speed: 5.4 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 20 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 2,885 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 10,885 miles

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 3,150 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).

Barometric pressure: 1009

Wind direction: SSW

Wind Speed: Force 7 (28-33 knots)

Cloud cover: 75%, visibility good

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 4.2 C

Sea conditions: Moderate

Bird sightings: >50 Antarctic Prions, 1 x immature Wandering Albatross


Notes: We all slept through from 2200 last night till 0500. Odd to have no sound, at sea there is always noise from wind, water and gear.


Flat calm as we sounded our hooter and waved goodbye to friendly Marco on the quay.


An email tells us the latest Australian government satellite sweep of Heard Island Economic Exclusive Zone has revealed no pirate vessels in these waters. Probably because of the presence of the two Australian boats,it was thought.


Fog blanketed our departure through Passe Royale but we were greeted by Force 7 wind as we gained the open sea. Unfortunately this prevented us laying Heard Island. Now we know there are no Pirates there, so I turned the boat for Melbourne and this was greeted with a hoarse cheer of approval.


3,150 miles to go, we are two weeks behind schedule from our excursion around Marion, Crozet and Kerguelen Islands. Now we can swing along the wind at last - on the track of our old chum the Albatross, who was waiting to greet us on the gale at the mouth of Passe Royale.


Into the mist...

John Ridgway

Date: 19 November 2003

Day: 117

Local time: 1200 GMT+5

Leg Number and name: Leg 3, "The Wandering"

Focus of leg: CCAMLAR - The role of a regulated fishery. The impact of IUU
fishing.

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 49.08'S 74.01'E

Position relative to nearest land: 140 nm east of Kerguelen

Course: 084 T

Speed: 8.8 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 142 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 3,027 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 11,027 miles

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 3,024 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great
Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).


Barometric pressure: 1015

Wind direction: N

Wind Speed: Force 6 (22-27 knots)

Cloud cover: 100%, visibility good

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 4.6 C

Sea conditions: Light to moderate, some white caps. Wind rising.


Bird sightings: 6 x Black-browed Albatrosses, 5 x White-chinned Petrels,
10 x Antarctic Prions, 1 x immature Wandering Albatross, 1 x Pintado.



Notes: By midnight the land had fallen away and we were treated to a grand
display of the Aurora Australis. It was as if the white Antarctic had
bathed the sky in light, as if the sun might be going to rise in the South
rather than the East.



When Marie Christine and I came on Watch again at 0600, Nick and Igor had
already gybed the sails to suit a rising north wind. Gradually we increased
speed all morning.



Our old chums were there as usual, mostly in ones or twos: Wandering, Black
Brow, Light-mantled Sooty and Grey-Headed Albatrosses, the odd White-chined
Petrel, a pair of Pintados and the normal flock of Prions. With just the
occasional Storm Petrel.



Morale kept high. Quentin, Trevor and Nick each had their own reasons for
getting to Melbourne as soon as possible. Igor wanted to warm his Peruvian
hide. Marie Christine and I, well we were just looking forward to getting home.



Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 20 November 2003

Day: 118


Local time: 1200 GMT+5

Leg Number and name: Leg 3, "The Wandering"

Focus of leg: CCAMLAR - The role of a regulated fishery. The impact of IUU
fishing.

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 49.12'S 78.04'E

Position relative to nearest land: 300 nm east of Kerguelen

Course: 083 T

Speed: 4.5 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 160 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 3,187 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 11,187 miles

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 2,874 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great
Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).

Barometric pressure: 1001

Wind direction: WNW

Wind Speed: Force 4 (11-16 knots)

Cloud cover: 100%, visibility good

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 6.5 C

Sea conditions: Moderate and falling


Bird sightings: 5 x Prions, 1 White Chinned Petrel



Notes: Hello, is there anyone there? We have have so many problems with our
communications that we haven't heard from anybody for some weeks now.
Mainly we hope Carol Knutson is going to met us in Melbourne, we'd ring you
Carol,if we could.



Well we're bowling along in bumpy grey. It's one gale after another and the
water temperature fell to 4C; good thing it's not freshwater, we'd soon be
set in a solid block.



Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 21 November 2003

Day: 119

Local time: 1200 GMT+6

Leg Number and name: Leg 3, "The Wandering"

Focus of leg: CCAMLAR - The role of a regulated fishery. The impact of IUU
fishing.

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 48.22'S 81.04''E
Position relative to nearest land: 430 nm east of Kerguelen

Course: 067 T

Speed: 6.7 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 130 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 3,217 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 11,217 miles

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 2,764 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great
Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).

Barometric pressure: 1011

Wind direction: SSW

Wind Speed: Force 7 (28-33 knots)

Cloud cover: 100%, visibility good

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 8.6 C

Sea conditions: Moderate to rough sea on the beam, icy spray and hail
blowing across the boat and into your face on the helm.


Bird sightings: 1 x Wandering Albatross, 3 x white Chinned Petrels, 2 Prions



Notes: "Hello..." I can hear the empty echo returning. Another gale, or is it all part of the same one.? Grey, lumpy, icy breath mists off people as they eat their omelette lunch in the Saloon. Delicious.



Omelette because at 0950 we were hit by wave which knocked me down at the
wheel and put the boat on its side.



"Never put all your eggs in one basket" Marie Christine had chortled at
Trevor, a couple of days earlier, as she conducted yet another re-shuffle
in her open plan grocer's store below the Doghouse.



Very luckily it was two red plastic baskets. When the wave hit us 50 eggs
took to the air and flew for their individual targets like Pearl Harbour.
How one squadron finessed the corners to splatter the After Heads door for
modern art, no one can figure out. It made 'Top Gun' look easy.



Marie Christine did not take kindly to the attack. She was soon on her way
to 'Midway', hurling flasks and saucepans through a curtain of steaming
water like a good'un. It was a relief they were not coming at me for a change.



Generally there is a sombre mood. No pirates means goodnight. Ah well
life's up and down, we'll head north to warm the crew and get back on to
Sailmail, it's been like the dark ages.



Fewer Albatrosses now, the poor old things; their trouble is, nobody sees
them out here over the horizon. Like the fish there's nobody effective to
represent and protect them.



What a difference a couple of days north-east makes.: 3.2C at Kerguelen,
today 8.6C - still a step o the 31C we had near the Equator but still we've
definitely cleared the Antarctic Convergence



Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Now go on to the next two weeks 22 November to 5 December 2003 as we sail east in the Southern Ocean.

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