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Below you'll find all the very latest log entries sent in from the crew of the English Rose V1.

We've also archived all previous log entries here.

Melbourne

Saturday 27 December 2003



Diesel and water loaded. Things coming together. Eager to start tomorrow.



Into the mist...


John

26 December 2003



Work continues. Gear checked. Problems insurmountable. Nev indefatigable. Diesel unobtainable. Drugs Squad raid inexplicable. Let's get going.



Into the mist...



John

Christmas Day



A peaceful Christmas in the sun.



Various things to do - Just about possible.



Helen Lazala and I collected Carol Knutson and Peter Lewwis of NZ off the Wellington plane safely at 1800. They look the right stuff and we hope to have as happy a team as on the trip from Cape Town to Melbourne.



Into the mist...


John

Christmas Eve



We would like to wish all our readers a Very Happy CHristmas. We plan to sail from Melbourne on sunday 28th December. Meanwhile let's have a good Christmas, far from home.



Into the mist...


MC, Nick, Igor and John.

23 December 2003



Nev continues with re-fitting of equipment - a good day. Igor in Sydney with cousin 'Mouse' for Christmas. Sails going on again. Hot again.



Into the mist.


John

Monday 22 December 2003



Melbourne: Christmas looms. We are bearing up well. MC refreshed by accidental lone swim in the dock in party frock. Just another storm.



Into the mist... I hope


John

Sunday 21 December 2003



Eddington, Central Victoria, Australia. We drove slowly and sadly back to Sandringham. Hurrah! Frank Hammond had done the sails. Good old Frank, good thing he never did get a 'proper job!'



Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Saturday 20 December 2003



Eddington, Central Victoria, Australia: Perhaps you need five months on a yacht to feel the the joy of waking up in Eddington: "A home among the gum trees..." Stock still and absolutely silent instead of rocky roll, creaky - wind in the rigging. Harry hunched over his saxophone in the dusk at the barbie. And the carol service.



Let's hope we make it home.



The albatross is over the horizon and far away.



Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Friday 22 December 2003


Eddington, Central Victoria, Australia: We sorted out various problems in the morning but lurking just below the surface: the Panda generator, it's limping and it has a long way to limp.



In two cars we drove the 100 miles north to Nev and Heather's home in Eddington, a small rural village in the heart of Victoria. We saw "MMBAM" (Miles and miles of Bloody Australia mate, laughed our hosts). MC and I stayed with Wendy and Ron Alexander who made us very welcome. We spent a musical evening at the 'Cockatoo' in the old gold mining town of Dunolly.



What a wonderful counterpoint "MMBAM" is to "MMBOM" (Miles and miles of bloody ocean mate).



Into the mist,

John Ridgway

18 December 2003


Melbourne, Australia. Nev saving the day with intensive workshop activity. Sails and rig work proceeding. Rain and therefore cooler.



Into the mist...


John Ridgway

17 December 2003


In Melbourne, Australia. Igor at the Spanish broadcasting. MC and me under the awning on the yacht. Nicck with his family. Nev at home in his shed dismantling and fabricating. Days going by.



Into the mist...


John Ridgway

16 December 2003


Melbourne, Australia. Hot and sunny. ABC 'Today' radio programme. Nev making all our problems look very easy to solve. I seem to be sailing round the world to meet with very efficient dentists. A second day with Darren Donnelan and Dianne had me groggy.



MC cleaning. Igor broadcasting in Spanish for the Albatross. Nick with his family.



Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 15 December 2003

Day: 143

Local time: 1200 UTC +11

Leg Number and name: In Sandringham Yacht Club, Melbourne, Australia

Focus of leg:

Position - Latitude, Longitude: In Sandringham Yacht Club, Melbourne

Position relative to nearest land:

Course:

Speed:

Distance traveled in last 24hrs:

Distance traveled since last port:

Total distance from Ardmore:

Headed to:

Distance to next port:

Barometric pressure:

Wind direction:

Wind Speed:

Cloud cover:

Air temperature:

Surface sea temperature:

Sea conditions:


Bird sightings:



Notes: In pursuit of the equipment agents. Everybody is very friendly and helpful and it looks as if we may be ready to sail towardes Wellington on 28 December.


Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: Sunday 14 December 2003

Day: 42 (52 this Leg)

Local time: 1200 UTC + 11hrs

Leg Number and name: Leg 3

Focus of leg:

Position - Latitude, Longitude:

Position relative to nearest land:

Course:

Speed:

Distance traveled in last 24hrs:

Distance traveled since last port:

Total distance from Ardmore:

Headed to:

Distance to next port:

Barometric pressure:

Wind direction:

Wind Speed:

Cloud cover:

Air temperature:

Surface sea temperature:

Sea conditions:


Bird sightings:



Notes: Motoring up the coast from Cape Otway to Port Phillip Heads. We came through the Rip around noon and it was still 30 miles across the Bay to Melbourne. THe lovely welcome meant so much to us. We had arrived in the most liveable city in the world - what a contrast with the Southern Ocean.



Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Sunday 14 Dec.


2pm -arrival update - good speed overnight and successfully through
the Port Philip heads - now motoring up through the South channel -almost past Arthurs Seat - 5-6pm is current guess at Sandy
YC



How relieved I am that we don't have a gale now. Australia is a long way
from Ardmore.



Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: Saturday 13 December 2003

Day: 141 (This Leg Day 51)

Local time: 1200 GMT+10

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: 39.16'E, 141.36'E

Position relative to nearest land: 91 miles est of Cape Otway, approaching
Melbourne

Course: 104 T

Speed: 4.6 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 125 miles

Distance traveled since last port: 5,970 miles

Total distance from Ardmore: 13,970 miles

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 191 miles.


Barometric pressure: 1020

Wind direction: W

Wind Speed: Force F4, (11-16 knots)

Cloud cover: 50%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: n/a

Sea conditions: Running before lumpy sea

Bird sightings (At 1200): nil



Notes: The weather comes good for us. A high develops, the wind holds and
the sea smooths out. We could reach Melbourne by 1700



Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: Friday 12th December 2003

Day: 140 (This Leg Day 50)

Local time: 1200 GMT+10

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: 39.30'S 138.51'E

Position relative to nearest land: 240 mile due south of the port of
Goolwa, at the mouth of the great Murray River, South
Australia.

Course: 059T T

Speed: 5.7 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 144 miles

Distance traveled since last port: 5,845

Total distance from Ardmore: 13,845

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 219 nautical miles (nm) to Cape Otway, 60
miles from Melbourne.

Barometric pressure: 1009

Wind direction: W

Wind Speed: Force F4, (11-16 knots)

Cloud cover: 50%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: n/a

Sea conditions: Running before lumpy sea

Bird sightings (At 1200): 1 x Grey-headed Albatross.



Notes: Still bumping and rolling downwind toward Melbourne. The problem
with splitting the circumnavigation into Legs rather
than sailing non-stop round the world is that sight of the overall voyage
is lost in the rush to complete each Leg: catch the
tide at Port Phillip, reach Melbourne before dark, catch the plane, reach
the office on time. The result is inevitable over-pressing and so damage to gear at the end of each Leg. Worse, some damage is cumulative. It was £10,000 in Cape town, what will it be in Melbourne?



Closing the great mainland of Australia we are losing our ocean companions,
the wheeling albatross, the speedy black petrels
and the tiny storm petrels walking on the water beside us. It's as if they
prefer the vast great blue water ride round the
planet. They don't wish to be blown onto the hostile hinterland of
Australia. If you drink seawater, eat fish and sleep on
the sea, the land is not much use to you. I miss them.



Into the mist...John



PS We now urgently need a set of aluminium sail foils for the staysail,
that is for our Profurl furling system, Model No. NI42, I imagine there is
a Profurl Agent in Melbourne and the sailmaker will know him. Bit of a
panic as the parts may need to come from France and we sail on 28 December.



John Ridgway

Date: Thursday 11th December 2003

Day: 139 (This Leg Day 49)

Local time: 1200 GMT+9

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: 40.34'SS 135.58'E

Position relative to nearest land: 463 nm WSW of Melbourne

Course: 049 T

Speed: 6.0 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 150 miles

Distance traveled since last port: 5,701

Total distance from Ardmore: 13,701

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 363 nautical miles (nm) to Cape Otway, 60
miles from the entrance to Port Phillip, approx 100 miles from Melbourne.

Barometric pressure: 1010

Wind direction: WNW

Wind Speed: Force F5-6, (17-28 knots)

Cloud cover: 100%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: n/a

Sea conditions: Big swell and cross sea, but easing.

Bird sightings (At 1200): 1 x Grey-headed Albatross, 1 x Storm Petrel.



Notes: Winds still favourable for cape Otway,our landfall on Australia.



Very pleased to see Elliot Morley, UK Environment Minister,is to head a
five-nation Task Force to tackle pirate fishing. Only sorry it will take 2 years to announce its plans. That will be too late for hundreds of thousands of albatrosses and petrels.



In Australia and NZ we will emphasise the seabird by-catch problem associated with pirate fishing.



Meanwhile, on the shippy, everyone is coping with short rations ok, we
should land with oatmeal complexions - not far to go!



Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: Wednesday 10th December 2003

Day: 138 (This Leg Day 48)

Local time: 1200 GMT+9

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: 42.04'S 133.04'E

Position relative to nearest land: 500 miles SSW of Adelaide.

Course: 079 T

Speed: 7.5 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 90 miles

Distance traveled since last port: 5,511

Total distance from Ardmore: 13,511

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 513 nautical miles (nm) to Cape Otway, 60
miles from Melbourne.

Barometric pressure: 996

Wind direction: SW

Wind Speed: Force F7, (28-33 knots)

Cloud cover: 50%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: n/a

Sea conditions: Rough

Bird sightings (At 1200): 1 x juvenile Wandering Albatross, 5 x White
chinned Petrels.



Notes: Shortly after midnight the wind picked up and by mid-morning we had
a full gale from first the south West and then the West.



The boat picked up her skirts and romped along. As eager to reach Melbourne
as her crew. It's a really big bonus that we all get along so well. None of
us will forget the endless nights and days of hand-steering, what ever the
weather!



We are aiming to thread the eye of the needle. After seven weeks of
hand-steering our colours are running dry. But we must
pass through on the north side of a fifty mile gap between Cape Otway and
King Island. The Chart reads:



CAUTION - In approaching King Island, especially during thick weather,
caution will be required on account of the variablestrength of the current which sets to the south east with a force varying from half to two and a half knots, according to the strength and duration of the westerly winds. Many fatal wrecks have occurred on this island apparently from errors in reckoning.


The Cape Otway side is known as the Shipwreck Coast.



I wish we had the mainsail!



Into the mist... John.


John Ridgway

Date: Tuesday 9th December 2003

Day: 137 (This Leg Day 47)

Local time: 1200 GMT+9

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: 42.11'S 131.06'E

Position relative to nearest land: 640 miles west of Tasmania

Course: 102 T

Speed: 7 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 150 miles

Distance traveled since last port: 5,421

Total distance from Ardmore: 13,421

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 598 nautical miles (nm) to Cape Otway, 60
miles from Melbourne.

Barometric pressure: 1005

Wind direction: N

Wind Speed: Force F5, (17-21 knots)

Cloud cover: 100%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: n/a

Sea conditions: Lumpy

Bird sightings (At 1200): 1 x Wilson's Storm Petrel, 1 x White-chinned Petrel



Notes: The Low came marching east; centred just south of the 40th parallel.
We were south of the 42nd, heading ESE. The

barometer fell 17 points over the 24hrs and it looks as if it really has
passed just to the north of us, depriving us of the

longed for westerly air stream.



At 1845 the Mizen Staysail halyard block exploded at the top of the Mizen
mast, this brought people on deck pretty sharpish.



We gathered the sail in and just gilled along during the night, wallowing
in a sloppy calm.

Nick is set to take a bigger block to the mizen masthead tomorrow, when we
may get a bit of SSW wind off the back of the

Depression. Then we could set the trusty Mizen Staysail again; it has
proved such a good substitute for the damaged Mainsail.



A couple of Wandering Albatrosses still with us.



Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: Monday 8 December 2003

Day: 136 (This Leg Day 46)

Local time: 1200 GMT+9

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: 41.41'S 127.49'E

Position relative to nearest land: 670 miles south-west of Adelaide

Course: 094 T

Speed: 7.6 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 125 miles

Distance traveled since last port: 5,271

Total distance from Ardmore: 13,271

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 737 nautical miles (nm) to Cape Otway, 60
miles from Melbourne.


Barometric pressure: 1019

Wind direction: NNE

Wind Speed: Force F4-51, (11-21 knots)

Cloud cover: 100%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: n/a

Sea conditions: Moderate and rising sea from NE

Bird sightings (At 1200): 1 x Black-browed Albatross



Notes: The 990 Low advanced towards us. We held onto the Mizen Staysail
until 1400, then dropped it together with the Mizen

Sail itself. This left the two Headsails: No 2 Yankee and Staysail; adding
just a scrap of Mainsail, only out as far as the

damaged section of the Leech, and gave us our familiar storm sail setting.



As afternoon wore on our world turned grey and we thumped into a gathering
NNE wind. Everyone on their toes for what we hope

might just be our last gale before Melbourne. It looks as if the centre of
this Low could pass right over us.



A couple of tiny Storm Petrels walk on the water around us. The bigger
White Chinned Petrels, which are in fact all black,

except for the merest touch of white on the chin, swoop about. A young
Wandering Albatross or two quarters the vicinity like a

cruising B52.



There is also another smaller albatross which we cannot place. Snow white,
except for black wing tips and black frame to the

underwing and black tail, it has a black beak maybe. It is local to Australia.

Pretty bumpy by midnight.



Into the mist....John



John Ridgway

Date: Sunday 7 December 2003

Day: 135 (This Leg Day 45)

Local time: 1200 GMT+9

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: 41.19'S 125.08'E

Position relative to nearest land: 953 miles WSW of Melbourne

Course: Becalmed

Speed: 0 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 37 miles

Distance traveled since last port: 5,146

Total distance from Ardmore: 13,146

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 857 nautical miles (nm) to Cape Otway, 60
miles from Melbourne.

Barometric pressure: 1023

Wind direction: NW

Wind Speed: Force F0-1, (0-3 knots)

Cloud cover: 25%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: n/a

Sea conditions: Flat calm. Wonderful sea and cloud-scapes, reflected on
the oil-like sea. Silence.

Bird sightings (At 1200): Nil



Notes: Alone at the wheel in flat glassy calm, literally not moving, leaves
the mind free to wander. How do I come to be here, championing the Albatross, a bird beyond the
pale? What draws me here to this lonely giant?



As an adopted child in those bleak years after WW11, I was lonely. Most of
my time was spent fishing alone, rowing my small wooden boat up and down the Thames near Windsor. My eyes were sharpened, looking for wary Chub shadowlike under bankside trees. I was alone with nature.



In 1956, aged 18 and in the Merchant Navy, after Nautical College, I
visited the Southern Seas and saw my first Albatross.



Ten years later I was rowing the North Atlantic with Chay Blyth, one
asleep, one awake. Alone with the sea. In 1968 I was in a Race to become the first to sail alone around the world non-stop. Shortly after this I left the Army , and with MC, went to live in a remote coastal part of NW Scotland. Accessible by boat, Ardmore has been our home for 35 years, the first 18 were without electricity. We worked on Kinlochbervie Pier in the Whitefish Industry.



We owned a Salmon Farm for 17 years and still own a Mussel farm. We
witnessed the inevitable drift toward mass production and
genetic modification, to suit the market place and huge investment; and the
need to kill other fish to make food for Salmon.



At the same time I sailed a couple of times around the world and to
Polynesia, Greenland and Antarctica. Much time was spent alone at the wheel with the Albatross on my shoulder.



I understand the anarchy of the high seas and its association with flags of
convenience, low wages, piracy. The sea covers 3/4 of our planet.



I understand how charities must battle for funds, often competing with each
other for meagre sponsors from the same pool.



I have always had a fatal weakness for the underdog. I think I understand
how the lonely Albatross is beyond the pale.




Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: Saturday 6 December 2003

Day: 134 (This Leg Day 44)

Local time: 1200 GMT+9

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: 41.27'S 124.19'E

Position relative to nearest land: 953 miles WSW of Melbourne

Course: 097 T

Speed: 4.2 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 67 miles

Distance traveled since last port: 5,119

Total distance from Ardmore: 13,119

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 893 nautical miles (nm) to Cape Otway, 60
miles from Melbourne.

Barometric pressure: 1026

Wind direction: NW

Wind Speed: Force F2-3, (3-10 knots)

Cloud cover: 10%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: n/a

Sea conditions: Virtually becalmed, occasional light breeze from distant
cloud with a few spots of rain. Very Slowly running
across flat sea under full N0 2 Yankee, full Staysail, full Mizen Staysail,
full Mizen sail

Bird sightings (At 1200): 3 x White Chinned Petrels (sitting on water), 1
x Wilson's Storm Petrel



Notes: Flat calm. The scent of the fleshpots is not getting any stronger in
the nostrils. First signs of oncoming privation:



Cocoa, Peanut butter, Biscuits exhausted, last 4 litre of paraffin into
cooker fuel tank.



It's a big effort for the seabirds to fly in flat calm. Many seem to sit it
out, particularly White-chinned Petrels.



Everyone settles down to wait. Not a common component of modern life.




Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Friday 5 December 2003

Day: 133 (This Leg Day 43)

Local time: 1200 GMT+9

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: 41.38'S 122.58'E

Position relative to nearest land: 1,015 miles WSW of Melbourne

Course: 085 T

Speed: 2.4 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 62 miles

Distance traveled since last port: 5,052

Total distance from Ardmore: 13,052

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 955 nautical miles (nm) to Cape Otway, 60
miles from Melbourne.

Barometric pressure: 1028

Wind direction: WSW

Wind Speed: Force F1-2, (1-6 knots)

Cloud cover: 10%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: n/a

Sea conditions: Slowly running across calm sea under full N0 2 Yankee,
full Staysail, full Mizen Staysail, full Mizen sail

Bird sightings (At 1200): 1 x Wandering Albatross, 1 x juvenile Wandering
Albatross, 3 x White Chinned Petrels



Notes: We are becalmed. Maybe for quite a while too, looking at the
weatherfax.



In a way, I'm sorry we are having to stop anywhere at all. This is the
third time I've been around the world in this boat and I'm beginning to get into the rythm of the 203-day non-stop circumnavigation which Andy Briggs and I sailed 20 years ago.



"Reel in, reel out", I would think then. One awake, one asleep, each left
to his own devices: the decisions reached over those 7 months resulted in the most rewarding period of my life thus far.



Ahead lies a forest of shopping malls and a burst of modern ("Oh you must
have a mobile!") high speed living. I don't expect to make any worthwhile decisions. But hopefully we shall do something for the poor old Albatross.



Coming on Watch at 18.30 we were making 2.5 knots towards cape Otway, 940
mile away. We were in a sort of oil patch, theripples falling back on themselves rather than break the surface tension.



The birds gathered, a dozen porpoises or dolphins
appeared around us and a couple of black three-foot long seals/sea lions
began stitching the waves with delight. Swimming White Chinned Petrels dived beneath the surface for a few seconds before bursting up with a silver fish or some pink thing wriggling in its beak. Big Albatrosses plumped down beside them, eager to join in; then the playful porpoises would break up the party, amid squawks of irritation from the birds. At 65, I'd rather be out here with them. Poor old guffer!



Into the mist...



John Ridgway

Date: 4 December 2003

Day: 132

Local time: 1200 GMT+8

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: 41.50'S 121.43'E

Position relative to nearest land: 490 miles south of Esperance, Western
Australia

Course: 110 T

Speed: 5.1 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 133

Distance traveled since last port: 4,990

Total distance from Ardmore: 12,990

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 1,028 nautical miles (nm) to Cape Otway, 60
miles from Melbourne.

Barometric pressure: 1028

Wind direction: WSW

Wind Speed: Force F3, (7-10 knots)

Cloud cover: 10%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: n/a

Sea conditions: Quietly running across calm sea under full N0 2 Yankee,
full Staysail, full Mizen Staysail, full Mizen sail

Bird sightings (At 1200): 1 x Wandering Albatross



Notes: Another big day for Nick, the human crane.



At dawn I noticed small tears in the Mizen Staysail where it collides with
the Backstay bridle, a steel plate with sharp split pins. (Where the mainmast backstay splits to pass around the Mizen mast about half way up). We dropped the sail and MC, who once spent 24hrs sewing the split mainsail off Cape Horn, fell to with needle and Spinnaker tape.



With all his various worries, Nick has fined down a couple of stone since
he came aboard the Save the Albatross Voyage.



Combining his enormous reach with an enhanced power to weight ratio, he
makes a perfect Spiderman. With foot-long feet
clenched bravely in the Mizen mast steps, he unfolded like the wings of an
Albatross, stretching his skeletal frame across the void to wrap the
distant bridle with mutton cloth padding overlaid with black gaffer tape.
This was a stunning knee-trembler which only Nick could have managed. We
must hope he doesn't plump up over Christmas.



The fine sail hoisted once more, we continued our 2 knot progress through this great high pressure system. At 1900 the final digit fell from the GPS: 999 miles to Melbourne.



The occasional Wandering Albatross flies past, sometimes she answers my
call. Often she'll land up ahead and watch us sail by. Then a younger may
join her for a chat (or is it a feed) on the water. Slowly they'll bob
astern. After a bit of nap, they'll rejoin us, effortlessly circling the
boat, gliding so low, their wing-tips kiss the water as they swing in and
out of the silvery foot-high swells.



Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 3 December 2003

Day: 131

Local time: 1200 GMT+8

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: 41.35'S 118.45'E

Position relative to nearest land: 400 miles south of Albany, Western Australia

Course: 062 T

Speed: 6.5 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 155

Distance traveled since last port: 4,857

Total distance from Ardmore: 12,857

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 1,204 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great
Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).


Barometric pressure: 1025

Wind direction: WNW

Wind Speed: Force F4-5, (11-21 knots)

Cloud cover: 50%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: n/a

Sea conditions: Reaching across light sea under full N0 2 Yankee, full
Staysail, full Mizen Staysail, full Mizen sail

Bird sightings (At 1200): 3 x White chinned Petrels, 1 x Wilson Storm Petrel



Notes: So we settled down to the new rig. Some say it's better than the
mainsail with the flapping headsails. We managed 155 miles noon to noon through the water and we now worry about taking a too northerly course which might land us in an airless Great Australian Bight. so we gybed in late afternoon, heading just a little south of east.



The seabirds are not as numerous up here. But today I did see something
I've not seen in a lifetime of looking: a Storm Petrel resting on the surface of the water.


These little chaps, they often appear to walk on the water, are much smaller than the other birds. There are never many of them in one place but unlike other species they are always there, all the way around the world from north to south and east to west. Just here, they come closer to the boat than I've ever known, we think they are Wilson's storm Petrel and Black Billed Storm Petrel. Albatrosses now less numerous.



1,100 miles ahead lies Melbourne. A restaurant in the city has apparently just bought all the Patagonian Toothfish, confiscated from the recent Uruguayan pirate boat. We have done all the road work, now we're down to the speed ball and light skipping: ready to continue our campaign to prevent the needless slaughter of the Albatross.



into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 2 December 2003

Day: 130

Local time: 1200 GMT+8

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: 42.46'S 115.47'E

Position relative to nearest land: 1,338 nm WSW of Melbourne

Course: 103 T

Speed: 3.5 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 100

Distance traveled since last port: 4,702

Total distance from Ardmore: 12,702

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 1,338 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great
Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail
further).

Barometric pressure: 1025

Wind direction: SW

Wind Speed: Force F2, (4-10 knots)

Cloud cover: 0%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: n/a

Sea conditions: Slowly reaching across light sea under full N0 2 Yankee,
full Staysail, full Mizen Staysail, full Mizen sail

Bird sightings: 2 x White chinned Petrels, (at 1200 that is - lots of
other birds at other times of the day)



Notes: Well poor Nick has had his three disasters in three days, he should
be alright now. After the Sunday Panda and the Monday Mainsail came the
Tuesday Mizen Staysail. It's a triangular light weather sail rigged between
the foot of the mainmast and the top of the Mizen mast, with the third
corner sheeted off the end of the Mizen boom.



Nick approached the halyard with customary zeal. The top of his head ran
straight onto the first step on the Mizen mast. The claret spouted and the
heartless crew drew their cameras. I squeaked my timeless battlecry "Keep
the blood off the sails".



Nick photographed himself, while eager First-Aiders glinted metal all
around him.



Later, coming off Watch at 2000, I spotted Nick and Igor in the Saloon;
still slumped on the port bench seat, Nick's bandaged head glowing white in
the gathering darkness.



"We're the sick parade!" they muttered.



"Next!" I called, looking at Igor, who sat nearest, "What's your problem
Sunshine?"



"I got suckerlogical problems" the sunny Peruvian sighed, his fingers split
with the cold.



All in all a good day's progress as we slant northeast toward the 40th
parallel, with four sails set, the glories of having two masts to hang them
from. I hope the old Albatross appreciates it, he's showing signs of
heading south for cooler climes, where even real men wear gloves.



Into the mist....


John Ridgway

Date: 1 December 2003

Day: 129

Local time: 1200 GMT+8

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: 43.28'S 113.39'E

Position relative to nearest land: 640 miles south of Perth

Course: 046

Speed: 7.0 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 145

Distance traveled since last port: 4,602

Total distance from Ardmore: 12,457

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 1,602 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great
Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).

Barometric pressure: 1014

Wind direction: W

Wind Speed: Force F6-7, (22-33 knots)

Cloud cover: 10%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 12C

Sea conditions: Running before rough sea, moderating.

Bird sightings: 2 x White chinned Petrels, 1 x Grey Petrel



Notes: We thought it bad yesterday, when Panda broke down. But at least we
didn't know what would happen today!



A maxim throughout my adult life has been some teaching I once heard in an
old black and white army training film:

"More soldiers are killed, returning from a patrol to enemy lines, than are
ever killed going out".



It's surprising what ground you can make up, over the piece, if you always
finish five yards after the line.



Well, today we allowed ourselves to lose focus and be diverted to problems
elsewhere. Bang! Smack on the snout, there it was.



We walked straight into the ambush!



The mainsail is now split along horizontal seams at the leech high up near
the peak. We have rolled it away, into the mast to await specialist treatment in Melbourne. Now we are limping.



Back to attention to detail, eyes aloft, dogged persistence. Cruel sea.



The Albatrosses sometimes sit on the water for a tea party, chittering and
rubbing beaks. Maybe humans should try it, to avoid bombing themselves out of existence.




into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 30 November 2003

Day: 128

Local time: 1200 GMT+8

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: 44.14'S 110.22'E

Position relative to nearest land: 1,577 nm WSW of Melbourne
Course: 072

Speed: 6.2 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 120

Distance traveled since last port: 4,457

Total distance from Ardmore: 12,457

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 1,577 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: W

Wind Speed: Force F4, (11-16 knots)

Cloud cover: 50%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 12C

Sea conditions: Broad reach over light to moderate sea.

Bird sightings: 1x black-browed albatross, 2 x juvenile Black-browed Albatross, 1 x Wandering Albatross, 2xGrey Petrels,
1xSooty Petrel, 1x White chinned Petrel



Notes: We are unable to solve Panda/Kubota overheating problem. Therefore abandoning Panda/Kubota until we get to Melbourne
agent who is vital to the Project.



All electric power now generated by alternator on faithful Mercedes main engine which has done it all before. All electric
demand cut to GPS and sending this Log. Boat going very well. Albatrosses with us.




into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 29 November 2003

Day: 127

Local time: 1200 GMT+8

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: 44.30'S 107.32'E

Position relative to nearest land: 790 nautical miles SSW of Perth, Australia

Course: 078

Speed: 6.0

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 140

Distance traveled since last port: 4,337

Total distance from Ardmore: 12,337

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 1,699 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great
Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).

Barometric pressure: 1020

Wind direction: SW

Wind Speed: Force F6-7, 22-33 knots

Cloud cover: 100%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 11.5C

Sea conditions: Lumpy but gradually settling


Bird sightings: 2 x Grey-headed Albatross, 3 x white chinned Petrels,



Notes:


Rolling down wind in the early light of dawn, with just the staysail up,
the sea was very confused. It was as if we were on a broad, fast flowing and shallow river with all the waves running around us. The boat had bee difficult to control in the dark particularly in the frequent squalls.



Trevor and Quentin are busy planning their route home for Christmas. The Saloon is hung with Quentin's khaki sunhat and shorts, our tropical stuff is packed away in remote locations in waterproof
bags.


The wind eased during the day and the main as unfurled once more. But the Panda failed again (is it the sea-water cooling impeller?) and we fear being unable to furl the sail back into the mast.



We are visited by what we take to be juvenile Grey-Headed Albatrosses but
we are unsure precisely what they are. They look Black-browed




into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 28 November 2003

Day: 126

Local time: 1200 GMT+8

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: 44.55'S 104.19'E

Position relative to nearest land: 1836 nm west-south-west of Melbourne.

Course: 075

Speed: 6.4

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 145

Distance traveled since last port: 4,197

Total distance from Ardmore: 12,497

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 1,836 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great
Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).

Barometric pressure: 1003

Wind direction: SW

Wind Speed: Force F8, 34-40 knots

Cloud cover: 100%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 11.5C

Sea conditions: Rough and very confused.

Bird sightings: 1 x Grey-headed Albatross, 2 x white chinned Petrels, 1 x
Grey Petrel


Notes:



Hello,


Thing is - it was never meant to be like this. It is the relentless 24 hour
a day hand steering which is wearing us down.



We have two automatic steering systems:



1. Monitor wind vane, which requires no electricity, only wind. We lost the
steering oar.

2. Whitlock 1/2 hp Mamba autopilot drive unit. Out of action since well
before Capetown. I just must get on to Graham Smith at Whitlock in Luton. I must. I will do it today.



We are into another gale. Quentin saw a white-chinned petrel flying upside
down. At the moment, it's all I can do to keep the boat on course, with me
woolly hat slipping over my eyes. Still, the wandering albatrosses roll
down the sky to see us each day.



Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 27 November 2003

Day: 125

Local time: 1200 GMT+7

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: 45.06'S 100.59'E

Position relative to nearest land: 1,977 nautical miles (nm) WSW of Melbourne

Course: 104 T

Speed: 4.6 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 125 miles

Distance traveled since last port: 4052 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 12,052 nm

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 1,977 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).

Barometric pressure: 1012

Wind direction: WNW

Wind Speed: Force 4 (11-16 knots)

Cloud cover: 50%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 11.3

Sea conditions: Light


Bird sightings: 5 White chinned Petrels, 1 Prion.



Notes:



Hello, Like me, You may have thought I was sinking over the past couple of days. But I do seem to have made another come back. Which is handy.



A front came through at 0700. In heavy rain, I went forward and gybed the sails while MC steered the boat and hoped I wouldn't get washed away (I think). We headed a little south of the track for Melbourne. The sky cleared to a Scottish Spring day: sunny and bright. The price was the falling wind.



We are north a bit now, messages are coming in again, by Satphone and by email, through both Sailmail and Iridium. It's very encouraging to know someone is reading this guff.



We've just cleared the 2,000 mile hurdle to Melbourne. Everyone bearing up well, silently nursing sore wrists and forearms. Having four wandering albatrosses with us is a constant thrill. It brings back a perfect solitary memory from my childhood; fly fishing for silver Dace, in a clear gravel run between waving weed beds, with the early morning cooing of wood pigeons drifting across the Thames at Datchet. Perfection, how seldom, how fleeting. Why destroy it what little there is?



For these birds, for many hundreds of miles, we must be the only show in town. They swing in so close, do I look like a sandwich? I remember a fellow falling overboard, off another boat down here, in the 1977/8 Whitbread Race. When he came on the radio that night, he told us how the birds had landed all around him,as the boat drew further and further away, before returning to pick him up. He was in no doubt, they'd come to eat him.



Into the mist....John.

Date: 26 November 2003

Day: 124

Local time: 1200 GMT+7

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: 45.28'S 98.04'E

Position relative to nearest land: 2,098 miles west of Melbourne

Course: 082 T

Speed: 7.2 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 155 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 3,927 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 11, miles

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 2,098 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: W

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

Cloud cover: 100%,

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 10.5 C

Sea conditions: Reaching across moderate to rough sea.


Bird sightings: 1 x Wandering Albatross, 1 x Pintado, 5 x White-chinned
Petrels,



Notes: Trying to ginger us up.



We are engaged in a war of attrition out here! Success depends on morale. We need to leave everything better than we find it - not just leave it to someone else.



The Heads, the floors, the brasses, the cockpit floors, the snack cupboard, the Galley draining board, the sink, the coiling of sheets and the prevention of chafe.



Please don't take oilskins and seaboots into the Saloon to dump saltwater over the engine beneath. If the previous 10,000 people had done this, we'd have no motor- what a pickle!



Take a look in the mirror. Are we a Superman or even a super man?



On some Whitbread Race boats they worked 4 watches: 3 on deck, one on cooking and cleaning - on this boat we have Marie Christine, please help her all you can



JR

(El Hypo Critter)



"The youth of today they've no pride,

grooming and manners have taken a slide.

It's long hair and skinheads have buggered this game,

That mutt Igor and his friends,

They're to blame.


But I guess I'm wastin' my breath on you sonny!"



(with apologies to John Williams, 1988)



Very lucky to have such a grand crew. No boat will ever have gone slower from Kerguelen to Melbourne. The hand steering takes it out of us.



We heard Albatrosses never land on the water but with us they fly ahead a few hundred yards and land, have tea and wait for us to sail by.



Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 25 November 2003

Day: 123

Local time: 1200 GMT+7

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: 46.16'S 94.20'E

Position relative to nearest land: 2,250 miles west of Melbourne

Course: 054 T

Speed: 4.5 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: nm
Distance traveled since last port: 3, nm
Total distance from Ardmore: 11, miles
Headed to: Melbourne, Australia
Distance to next port: Approx 2,250 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).

..
Barometric pressure: 998

Wind direction: WSW

Wind Speed: Force 3 (7-10 knots)

Cloud cover: 50%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 9.0 C

Sea conditions: Moderate, becoming light.


Bird sightings: 1 x Grey-headed Albatross, 1 x Prions, 4 x White-chinned Petrels



Notes: MC and I came on Watch at 0600. It was raining steadily from a leaden sky. It continued for the whole four hours of our

Watch, culminating for me in a 60 knot torrential squall which coated the sea like icing sugar. At the end, our ten year old

oilskins weighed a sodden ton.



After a week of these conditions the old fogies are feeling the strain. Trendy definitions like 'repetitive stress' trip off

the tongue. In my case the torn tongue as filling is all gone from the lower left eyetooth and the jangly half xxxxx scrape

the tongue at every syllable (Oh! Come off it, it's not that bad - but what would a xxxxx swollen gangrenous tongue be like

1,000 miles short of Melbourne?)

The main complaint is pins and needles in wrists and fingers, caused by battling with the wheel. Trevor has suffered this in

silence for some weeks and MC has chilblains on her fingers as well.

Blimey!



Anyway, we're bumbling along. What's a few weeks in a life time? If we can all leave everything we touch a little better

than we found it, we will prevail. Otherwise its back to gazing into the abyss of self pity.



There are no jet trails in the sky down here, no ships, no flotsam or jetsam. Very occasional clumps of kelp wrung from the

islands, now a 1,000 miles astern, is all we encounter to remind us of the existence of anything else on this planet but

endles sea.



The bad weather hasn't helped the inevitable anti-climax after the Marion, Crozet nd Kerguelen Islands, with all the drama of

the chase: satellite searches, abortive rendevous, meeting the French and certainly not least the hazardous navigation round

the islands through fog and tempest.



But there is a world out there. It's teeming with 6,000 million people. It's only too easy out here, to focus on our own

narrow problems. No doubt Birds Australia is short of resources to meet all the demands for support for native Australian

species, never mind take on the Albatross, something nobody ever sees in this age of air travel. No hard feelings, it just

came at a bad time.



Into the mist...

John Ridgway

Date: 24 November 2003

"I've letters here," the Postman calls,

"For Mr Gale and Mr Squalls,

and Mr Frost and Mr Snow -

and Messrs Sleet and Hail and Blow.

I've mail for Berg and Storm and Grey.

And here's some post for Wilde I'd say."

"I'll take those, lad," our Skipper says,

(As ever proud and haughty),

"I know where all those blighters live -

It's in the Roaring Forties."
- Trevor Fishlock, aboard English Rose V1 in the Southern Ocean

Date: 23 November 2003

Day: 121

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: 47.01'S 87.42'E

Position relative to nearest land: 2,513 miles west of Melbourne

Course: 072 T

Speed: 8.2 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 135 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 3,507 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 11,507 miles

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 2,513 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 9 (41-47 knots)

Cloud cover: 100%,

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 9.0 C

Sea conditions: Very rough. Still running with much rolled staysail before large breaking waves with cross swell to add to the confusion.


Bird sightings: 1 x Antarctic Skua, 2 x Sooty Petrels, 2 x Pintados, >10 White Chinnned Petrels, >25 Prions.



Notes: The night was particularly bad, as we have only one of two light bulbs working in the steering compass. As a result steering was hampered.



Mountainous seas and cross seas at dawn. Conditions same all day. These trips are really an endless set of hurdles to cross.



Three hurdles ahead appear rather tall just now:



1. Illness in Nick's family is causing major concern.


2. The Fischer Panda Generator is not working. With the wind and towing generators already down, we are now left with only the inefficient alternator on th diesel-drinking main engine to charge the batteries. Without electricity, furling the
mainsail and navigation become rather tricky. Communication ceases.


3. Our belated arrival in Melbourne coincide with a Birds Australia Conference so they are unable to help us raise awareness

to the plight of the Wandering Albatross which is a pity. However there are so many people already helping us in Australia I'm sure we'll be ok at the Sandringham Yacht club.



Because I'm too slow in bending my knees, when a rogue wave bangs over the side to hit me at the wheel, I sometimes swing across the cockpit on the end of the Jackstay in a wall of silver and green, crashing my rib cage into the leeward winch.



After ten times in a day I do occasionally feel nearer seventy than sixty.



But then the old Wandering Albatross comes swinging up out of the marble green...



Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 22 November 2003

Day: 120

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: 47.04'S 81.o4'E

Position relative to nearest land: 2,648 miles west of melbourne
Course: 072 T

Speed: 8.2 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 155 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 3,372 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 11,372 miles

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 2,648 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: NW

Wind Speed: Force 10-11 (48-63 knots)

Cloud cover: 100%, visibility poor

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 9.6 C

Sea conditions: Very rough. Running with much rolled staysail before large

breaking waves with cross swell to add to the confusion.


Bird sightings: 1 x Grey-headed Albatross, 5 x white Chinned Petrels, 4 Prions



Notes: Not a lot to say. three points -



1. 40 years since Kennedy assassination.

2. England won Rugby World Cup.

3. The weather got even worse in this part of the Southern Ocean.



Only the third of these events directly affects us right now.



A very trying night for everyone. The sea has a sort of white skin on it.
It'll be good if it doesn't last too long, like this.



I saw a Antarctic Skua today. I think that will do.



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

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: Friday 7 November 2003
Day: 105

Local time: 1200 GMT+2

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: 46.09S, 43.04E

Position relative to nearest land: 300 miles due east of Crozet Island

Course: 99 T

Speed: 6.4 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 150 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 1,575 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 9,578 nm

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia


Distance to next port: Approx 4,270 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).

Barometric pressure: 1008

Wind direction: SW

Wind Speed: Force 4 (11-16 knots)

Cloud cover: 50%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 6.5 C

Sea conditions: Reaching at good speed over light sea

Bird sightings: Wandering Albatross, Royal Albatross, Black Petrels, Sooty Petrels, White Chinned Petrels, approx 50 Prions


Notes: Marie Christine tried a new contortion t the wheel and the elbow improved. - just in time, we need all hands. We crossed two fishing grounds, rolling east toward the dreaded uninhabited Crozet Islands. Isle de Cochon: if we are wrecked there the pigs will probably eat us.


The triumph of the day was bleeding the Panda diesel fuel system and hearing it cough into life. No words can express our relief.


Each of us spend long periods alone on deck, at the wheel. It's 14 days since we left Cape town but few of us would really be able to guess the exact day or date. Life is geared to gales, the fourth is nearly upon us.


Our aim is to prevent the needless slaughter of the Albatross. At the wheel there is plenty of time to watch them and to wonder if we are achieving our aim. As it was getting dark a huge adult Wandering Albatross swung closer and closer across our bow.


All 12 feet of snowy white banking underbody and wings, crystal clear in the golden rays of the setting sun. It looked so plump and warm and at home; we are rushing along at 7-8 knots, surfing more. I'd like to be an Albatross.


Into the mist...

John Ridgway

Date: Thursday 6 November 2003
Day: 104

Local time: 1200 GMT+2

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: 46.10S, 339.24E

Position relative to nearest land: 100 miles NE of Marion Island

Course: 75 T

Speed: 5.4 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 40 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 1425 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 9,425 nm

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 4,320 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).


Barometric pressure: 997

Wind direction: S

Wind Speed: Force 6 (22-27 knots)

Cloud cover: 50%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 6.9C

Sea conditions: Reaching across moderate to rough sea, many whitecaps.

Bird sightings: 2 x Wandering Albatross, 3 Sooty Petrels, approx 50 Prions


Notes: The glass dropped 6 points in 2 hours. Nick and Igor blinked into the ESE gale. Dead on the nose. They set a scrap of mainsail and lashed the wheel down to leeward to lie a-tri (Nick speak) and retired to the shelter of the Doghouse. Marie Christine and I were coming the other way: clambering up the ladder to join them. The wind generator was going like a banshee, the snowflakes attacked the window like a plague of moths trying to get at the dim light inside. We were happy to stay indoors, waiting for the Low to pass.


Throughout the night we drifted north at a couple of knots, away from Marion Island. At 0400 the Fischer-Panda coughed into life alerted by the radar's voltage drain. It had started automatically ten times yesterday. Now, after ten seconds, it died.


Another life changing moment had come. Lack of electric power would put us back into the dark ages. Can you imagine life without computers. Quentin who has been accused of working for the KGB by foreign governments before now, is never more than half an arm's length from his secret agent's black box and go-faster earphones. Nick's hyper-super-long fingers would cease their endless fluttering across the waterproof keyboard. His quasimodo hunch might wither and his screen-blank eyes might flicker back to life.


We would become Vikings. Strapped to the wheel. Unless we tame the Panda we will become Vikings strapped to the wheel.


By dawn the glass was rising 3 points an hour. By six the masts were shedding their coats of snow, thumping the decks like croquet mallet.


The wind swung to the south-west, up went the full Staysail and half the Mainsail.


The old boat lurched forward at 7 to 8 knots and surrounded by a cloud of approximately 100 pale grey Icebirds but few Albatrosses, we bore on toward the next two fishing grounds.


Poor Marie Christine has a sore elbow from the steering. We'll have to juggle with the Watches.


Nick and I got the Panda to start and this added to the sunshine but at the end of a great day's sailing, it failed again. 'Worrying about it won't fix it' muttered Nick, wearily, after his third attempt at starting. 'Let's have a go in the morning!'


Into the mist... John Ridgway

Date: Wednesday 5 November 2003
Day: 103

Local time: 1200 GMT+2

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: 44.15S, 38.30E Position relative to nearest land: 60 miles NNE of Marion Island

Course: 117 T

Speed: 3.7 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 120 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 1385 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 9,385 nm

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 4,332 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).

Barometric pressure: 1002

Wind direction: WNW

Wind Speed: Force 2 (4-6 knots)

Cloud cover: 25%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 6.3C

Sea conditions: Pretty much becalmed on light sea

Bird sightings: Wandering Albatross, Immature Wandering Albatrosses, approx 12 Antarctic Prions, White Chin Petrel.


Notes: A beautiful moonlit sail from midnight to 0200. Nick and Igor did an extra hour at the wheel 0400-0700, so I would not have to steer 4 hours on my own but three, 0700-1000. As it turned out we were sailing gently and Marie Christine was able to steer for a good part, as well as get through all her stuff in the Galley.


There were great patches, rafts, of yellowy brown kelp, floating by like expired octopuses. And birds a plenty. Four Wandering Albatrosses, one with pink on the back of its neck, chatting together as they bobbed on the almost calm sea, one with pink on the back its snowy white head.


"Land Ho!" cried Quentin, thus winning the second of his four prizes. The first whale (off Cape Town), and first land (Prince Edward Island). The competitions for the other two prizes will probably be announced after Quentin has won them, this is a pity since the prizes involve chocolate. Prince Edward, 15 miles in front of Marion Island, was 35 miles away on our starboard beam and snow gleamed on its 2,370 ft peak.


As night came on a gale sprang up from the southeast and soon snow gleamed on us too. Drat it! Early Christmas.


Here we are roaring along amid snow and hail and Euan Dunn has just phoned to tell us that South Africa has ratified the Agreement for the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels. Good on 'em.


Dear God! Why can't they agree to a 200 mile fishing limit around Antarctica and be done with it, before it's too late?


Into the mist...

John Ridgway

Date: Tuesday 4 November 2003
Day: 102

Local time: 1200 GMT+2

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: 45.41S, 35.43E Position relative to nearest land: 840 miles SSE of East London, South Africa.

Course: 100 T

Speed: 5.1 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 135 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 1265 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 9,265 nm

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 4,432 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further). .. Barometric pressure: 1005 Wind direction: WSW Wind Speed: Force 6 (22-27 knots) Cloud cover: 100% Air temperature: n/a Surface sea temperature: 7.3C Sea conditions: Wind has eased leaving us reaching along over a lumpy swell.


Bird sightings: Wandering Albatross, Immature Wandering Albatrosses, approx 12 Prions, Cape Pidgeon, Sooty Petrel, Storm Petrel, White Chin Petrel.


Notes: 0400. Alone at the wheel. The stern rose, the bow fell. I am looking down the wall of a house, the pavement lay below. With a rumble the wave broke round my shoulders, raced on down either side of the boat creating walls of water. Slowly the bow rose and we surfed forward on compressed air. Some trembling in the stomach. This is no time to have aboard people who question the tactics. We have always pushed on. Sometimes, when the bow hangs 60' near vertical below, I wonder what would happen if the stern toppled ahead of the bow. That's called pitchpoling. I've never done that - others have.


The wind eased with the coming of the daylight. We mopped up and returned to normal watch routine. What ever you are doing there is a better way to do it - if you look hard you may see it. Plenty of room for improvement for the next gale.

Hello Koryu Maru 11. Kochira wa 'Ingurisshu Rouze Sikkusu' toh iuh yotto desu. Eigo ga dekiru hito o musen ni dashite kudasai.

Date: Monday 3 November 2003
Day: 101

Local time: 1200 GMT+2

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: 44.06S, 32.47E

Position relative to nearest land: 194 nm WNW of Marion Island.

Course: 73 T

Speed: 6.1 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 130 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 1130 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 9,130 nm

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 4,552 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).

Barometric pressure: 1008

Wind direction: W

Wind Speed: Force 9 (41-47 knots)

Cloud cover: 100%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 9.4C

Sea conditions: Still rough.

Bird sightings: Black browed albatrosses, Wandering Albatrosses, Small flock Antarctic Prions


Notes: At 0300 in a rising wind, the sacrificial tube on the Monitor wind vane steering gear broke. Its stainless steel rudder then trailing behind on its Spectra safety line. Trevor immediately disengaged the Monitor and switched on the Raymarine Autopilot. The Monitor steering rudder was then found to have parted company with its safety line at the manufacturer's staple. We proceeded under the Autopilot. "Three wheels on my wagon" muttered Marie Christine.


Quentin then received information from the South African authorities that the legal South African flag Japanese long liner was not southwest but northwest of Marion Island, not 69 but 200 miles from us and due east.


This was a stroke of luck as the wind was building from the west.


But then while shaving I heard a chattering from the slim grey computer box in our Heads. and the Autopilot drive failed, this was a bit of a teaser, after lengthy costly servicing by the agents in Cape Town.


So we had to re-shuffle the cards a bit. With the boat surfing on winds gusting to over 50 knots, the tumbling waves were leaping hungrily into both cockpits. Now reduced to hand steering only, Quentin, Nick, Igor and I took hour long tricks at the helm, while Trevor and Marie Christine worked three-hour spells in the doghouse, generally supporting the Helmsman.


Heading into a familiar Southern Ocean night with the inevitable broaching, we seemed rather 'Up the creek without a paddle'.


Fairly long creek: 4,500 miles to Melbourne.


Into the mist...

John Ridgway

Date: Sunday 2 November 2003
Day: 100

Local time: 1200 GMT+2

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: S 27.10S, 30.00E

Position relative to nearest land: 680 nm SSE of Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Course: 77 T

Speed: 7.0 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 130 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 1000 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 9,000 nm

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 4,660 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).

Barometric pressure: 1012

Wind direction: WNW

Wind Speed: Force 9 (41-47 knots)

Cloud cover: 100%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 9.4C

Sea conditions: Rough.

Bird sightings: Black-browed albatrosses, Wandering Albatrosses, Small flock Antarctic Prions


Notes: Barometer fell 5 points in 5 hours and by dawn the wind was rising as Nick and Igor gybed the boat onto port tack. I reduced sail through the morning until we were running under a scrap of yankee in WNW Force 9 (41-47 knots). It is not appropriate for me to be explicit at this time but we are closing on the fishing grounds and await final details for a rendevous with a longliner. Unfortunately we have had to commit our course towards a general location already indicated and must hope for confirmation as soon as the weekend is over.


Conditions worsened all day and people became quiet and thoughtful. Trevor did his best to enliven things with his almost-sonnet to our final banana.


Both cockpits were filled by breaking waves at various times and cold, cold water got into annoying places. Poor Marie Christine had a bad day in the Galley with everything flying about and events wrecking the timing for both lunch and supper.


Writing like this, in a continuos email in the present is quite unlike writing a book when hindsight plays such a large part. We are all a bit ragged just now, as we approach one of those situations where hindsight is probably going to be used in a few days.


We need two things: A different RV position and the weather to ease. Both very possible.


Into the mist...

John Ridgway

Date: Saturday 1 November 2003
Day: 100

Local time: 1200 GMT+2

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: 44.43S 27.10 E

Position relative to nearest land: 300 nm NW of Marion Island.

Course: 145 T

Speed: 4.9 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 105 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 870 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 8,870 nm

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 4,790 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 4 (11-16 knots)

Cloud cover: 50% Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 9.2C

Sea conditions: Reaching across moderate following sea, some whitecaps, cold.

Bird sightings: Black browed albatrosses, Wandering Albatrosses, Small flock Antarctic Prions.


Notes: "Sailing directly toward a clean sunrise, with an astounding perfect rainbow behind us, just before 0500", Igor wrote in the Log, slipping along at a silent four knots they passed close by a resting albatross and were amazed at its bulk.


We all six meet in the Saloon for lunch. It's our only time all together. Trevor peers out of the Perspex dome and Quentin, the other half of the duty Watch, sits on Nick's Communications Centre seat, which can be wiped dry. The rest of us sit on Marie Christine's Cape Town washed cushioned seats. There are plenty of fuzzy ideas - let's see what we can make of it. Here we are, 100th day out and we're juggling with three bureaucrats in 3 cafes on 3 continents to end their 3 tiring weekends.


Nick finally solved the Iridium problem. He looks ten years older. Auntie BBC was doing a spot of house keeping - around 15th October - obliterated us, but forgot to tell Nick.


A bit testy,


Into the mist...

John Ridgway

Date: 31 October 2003 2003 Day: 99

Local time: 1200 GMT+2

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: 43.57 E 24.53

Position relative to nearest land: 646 nm NW of Marion Island.

Course: 109 T

Speed: 6.8 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 110 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 765 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 8765 nm

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 4,890 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 4 (11-16 knots)

Cloud cover: 80%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 12.6

Sea conditions: Reaching across growing following sea, some whitecaps, cold.

Bird sightings: Cape petrels, White chinned Petrels, Storm Petrels, Small flock Antarctic Prions, Black browed albatrosses, Royal Albatrosses


Notes: Marie Christine and I came sweeping on Watch at midnight. Nick and Igor were in high spirits- they were off to their bunks for four hours!


The crescent moon was just setting over our stern and we were heading a little south of east with a steady breeze at our backs. the sea was smooth, the horizon a sharp, clean line, strangely lit in the south wet, far from the influence of the fast sinking moon. I settled down to review the log and continue worrying about our course. Marie Christine, well wrapped , was outside checking for any sign of ships.


"Come out! Come out! Her head ducked into the Doghouse, "You'll never believe it!".


"Icebergs!" I thought, wearily.


But it wasn't. The whole southern sky was bathed in light, deep red to the east, palest green to the west. A splendid introductory showing of Aurora Australis. Sometimes you can feel small and vulnerable out here.


Quite different in the morning. Sunny and blue to begin with but by eight o'clock a Front of black cloud was advancing from the western horizon. I rolled the mainsail into the mast but was too slow with the No.2 Yankee on the bow.


The rain roared in, the sea streaked white. Marie Christine and I resumed forty years of team building: me at the wheel trying to avoid shouting instructions, herself whirling on the wing,trying to avoid screaming defiance. Both still failing.


Anyway it was exciting. the dial showed top gust: 59.4 knots. Decibels un-recorded. Un-mimsy.


Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 30 October 2003 2003
Day: 97

Local time: 1200 GMT+2

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: 43.12 S, 22.22 E

Position relative to nearest land: 580 nm south southeast of Cape Town, South Africa.

Course: 116 T

Speed: 6.2 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 145 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 655 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 8655 nm

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 5,002 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: ENE

Wind Speed: Force 5 (17-21 knots)

Cloud cover: 100% (Thick mist)

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 14.5

Sea conditions: Very light sea just aft the port beam

Bird sightings: Cape petrels, White chinned Petrels, Storm Petrels, Small flock Antarctic Prions, air Black browed albatrosses.


Notes: A very different day. Close fog shrouded the boat and few birds ever found it. The wind began its anti-clockwise circle, turning from east through north-north-west. Nick and I are in a quandary about using our twin headsail rig poled out on either side; I think it will come but tactically we need maximum maneuverability just now.


Light following winds reduce our speed and so we are generate little power from either our excellent Ampair towing generator or the marginally less effective Ampair wind Generator. Therefore over the day the automatic Fischer Panda Generator switched itself on and off for eight brief sessions, each of 12 minutes, to keep the voltage up to transmission standards. Even so, Nick was unable to transmit at all either on Sailmail HF or Iridium. This sends him into paroxysms of frustration. However he was able to pick up a report of a sixty foot high iceberg to the north and a bit west of us. Steering in the fog sharpened a bit.


Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 29 October 2003 2003
Day: 96

Local time: 1200 GMT+2

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: 41.45 S, 20.02 E

Position relative to nearest land: 440 nm south of Cape Town, South Africa.

Course: 129 T

Speed: 5.5 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 130 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 510 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 8,510 nm

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 5,070 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).

Barometric pressure: 1027

Wind direction: ENE

Wind Speed: Force 4 (11-16 knots)

Cloud cover: 50

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 14.7C

Sea conditions: Gently reaching across light sea, heading South, light breeze on the beam, under full mainsail, No 2 yankee and Staysail.


Bird sightings: Cape petrels, White chinned Petrels, Storm Petrels, Small flock Antarctic Prions, air Black browed albatrosses.


Notes: What fun it is to be completely immersed in something, with some of my favourite people in the world. To be old enough now, to realise this really is the main event. This rather than meeting with these old chums and talking of things past.


We are sailing across a smooth, vastly empty sea. We are in high pressure, the Glass reads 1024 the nearest low, off to our south, is 960, a fall of 64 points.


As you can imagine, there is an air of expectancy. The three Watches have come together very well. Trevor, a gentleman reporter since the age of 16, spends 8 hours of day and night, alone on deck with dynamic, astute Quentin, who's half his age, sometime opal cutter and climbing bum, longtime Greepeace operative. They'll get to know each other pretty well.


Long thin Nick is going well with exotic Igor (40), part Peruvian, English and Russian, who I've found to be a most agreeable traveling companion these past 17 years. We've been on many trips in the jungles of Peru, kayaked round Cape Horn and sailed to Antarctica together.


Marie Christine and I are in our usual. I feel so much better since the Root Canal treatment for my left lower jaw.


Between us, Nick and I run the sailing, ably helped by the newcomers.


A flock of Icebirds appeared toward dark, welcoming us as we headed southeast. Whales were seen in the distance and a small brown seal was seen on three occasions


Into the mist...

John Ridgway

Date: 28 October 2003
Day: 95

Local time: 1200 GMT+2

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: 39.47 S, 18.59 E

Position relative to nearest land: 345 nm south of Cape Town, South Africa.

Course: 176 T

Speed: 7.3 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 160 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 380 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 8,380 nm

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 5,143 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).

Barometric pressure: 1036

Wind direction: E

Wind Speed: Force 5 (17-21 knots)

Cloud cover: 75%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 19.3C

Sea conditions: Reaching across light sea, heading South. Some whitecaps.

Bird sightings: Black browed, Grey Headed and occasional Wandering Albatross, Cape pigeons, Petrels.


Notes: The glass remains high and the wind holds good from the South-East. We continue to tip-toe down the longitude fence into the fearful Southern Ocean while the giant slumbers. Should I tell the others how awful it's going to be? The skinning cold and the lurking fear: If it gets much worse, we're going over". But this is just the defeatist talk of an old man. Six of us, with all the modern gear - Furling sails, Doghouse, Auto-Pilot; surely we'll find it easier than Andy Briggs and me on our 203-day non-stop trip round the world 20 years ago with those three shivering months in the Southern Ocean. I thought you were supposed to forget the nasty things in life. Then, I was 12 years older than Quentin is now. He has a good power to weight ratio, for a Powder Monkey.


Maybe the the surest form of education is the nose in the way of the slamming door. I love a bit of spark. Only dead fish swim with the stream.


During daylight hours we tried hand steering, in place of the Monitor wind-vane. This allowed us to press on a bit and the noon-to-noon run showed a respectable 160 miles.


A Wandering Albatross landed nearby. Folded its huge wings and looked on approvingly as we passed by.


Into the mist...

John Ridgway

Date: 27 October 2003
Day: 94

Local time: 1200 GMT+2

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: 37.01 S, 19.05 E

Position relative to nearest land: 140 nautical miles SSW of Cape Agulhas, South Africa.

Course: 174 T

Speed: 7.8 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 100 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 220 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 8,220 nm

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 5,263 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great Circle route, we willnot go so far South and will therefore have to sail further). ..

Barometric pressure: 1034

Wind direction: SE

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

Cloud cover: 20%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 16.8C

Sea conditions: Tight reach (wind on the side), sailing south across moderate sea, whitecaps.

Bird sightings: Black browed, Grey Headed and occasional Wandering Albatross, Cape piggeons, Petrels.


Notes: Bumpy again today. So the repairs to our health, achieved yesterday, rather failing today. 'B' Watch (Trevor and Quentin) was rather quiet. Trevor (62) the seasoned Foreign Correspondent who has sailed a lot with us, smiles wanly, when Marie Christine calls him "Treasure". Quentin (33), tells us he is more Politician than Birder. Small, dark and wiry, he spits out words like machine gun bullets. A Greenpeace Team-Leader in the South Pacific, Quentin has contributed greatly to getting the Petition going. In the couple of weeks before we sailed from Cape Town, he had traveled from Fiji to his home in Australia and swiftly on, to multi-meetings in Europe. Arriving in Cape Town only a day or two before we sailed, he immediately set up key meetings for us, including the filming of the pirate ship. Now he's finding it difficult to settle down into the 24-hour rhythm of a year-long voyage. We must help him 'Down-stress'

Into the mist...

John Ridgway

Date: 26 October 2003
Day: 93

Local time: 1200 GMT+2

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: 35.31 S, 18.12 E

Position relative to nearest land: 80 miles SSE of the Cape of Good Hope

Course: 136 T

Speed: 5.6 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 120

Distance traveled since last port: 120

Total distance from Ardmore: 8,120 nm

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 6,000 nautical miles (nm) ...

Barometric pressure: 1032

Wind direction: SW

Wind Speed: Force 5 (17-21 knots)

Cloud cover: 20%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 17.0C

Sea conditions:Beating into light sea

Bird sightings:


Notes: Rather too close to the west flank of the notorious Agulhas Bank. We must head due south until we reach 38 South. Then we can turn S.E. for Marion Island, some 1,100 miles away. The first of the Patagonian Toothfish fishing grounds.

The wind eased and the sea calmed down a little. Grand to see the great Albatross again! Grey Heads, Black Broweds and Yellow Noses were about as if to encourage us on toward their home on the Southern Ocean, still 300 miles to our south.

Everyone managed to keep some food down and a bit of laughter returned to the old ship. We'll be alright soon

Into the mist...

John Ridgway

Date: 25 October 2003
Day: 92 (Day 21 in Cape Town)

Local time: 1200 GMT+2

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

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

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 33.54'S, 18.19'E

Position relative to nearest land: A few miles due west of Cape Town, heading out...

Course: 268 T

Speed: 1.2 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: tbc

Distance traveled since last port: tbc

Total distance from Ardmore: 8,000 nm

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 6,000 nautical miles (nm) ...

Barometric pressure: 1024

Wind direction: NW

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

Cloud cover: 100%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 17.0C

Sea conditions:Rough. Motoring west into steep swell to 20ft and strong wind to 40 knots from the WNW to gain sufficient sea room to clear Cape Point on a starboard tack.

Bird sightings:

Notes: Up at 0530 for the last hot shower. We sailed on the dot of 0900. A strong NW wind made it a bit of a test. Flashing daggers slashed ropes as we sprang backwards into the huge dock lined with tankers and fishing boats. Hope nobody was watching.

A radio message came from the Yacht Club anxiously asking if we were returning. We were motoring into a big swell and forty knots of breeze. "No!" I said. It was 25 years to the day since we'd sailed out of here on the 1977/8 Whitbread Round the World Race.

Anyway it was a dreadful day, all six of us were horrifically sick. I must go and lie down.

Into the mist...

John Ridgway