Leg 6 - Stanley, Falklands Islands to Horta, Azores

Date: 13 March 2004

Day: 233, Day 1 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-3

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 51/33S, 57/31W

Position relative to land: A few miles to the NE of East Falkland.

Distance travelled in last 24hrs: 18

Distance sailed this Leg: 18

Total distance from Ardmore: 20,272 miles

Course: 023T

Speed: 5.8 knots

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: tbc nm

Wind: NW F4 (11-16 knots)

Sea: Light (still in lee of Falklands)

Barometer: 1004 rising

Air Temp: 14C

Sea temp: 12.2C

Cloud cover: 100%

Bird sightings over the day:

- Southern royal, Northern Royal, Balack-browed Albatross

- Giant, White-chinned Petrels,

- Sooty shearwater,

- Gentoo, Rockhopper, Magellanic Penguins

- Falkland Skua,

- Peale's Dolphin



Notes: Up 0500. Plodding through the puddles in very heavy rain, for a last
wash and shave in the Information Centre toilets.



This will probably be a long Leg up to the Azores. It's difficult to get up
to the chart table in the doghuose to plot the waypoints for leaving Port Stanley. The back of the boat is crowded with five sacks of potatoes, four of onions, two of carrots as well as uncountable cabbages and rhubarb. And all the other stuff.



But the rain stopped and people made their way along the wooden jetty to
see us off. Ben and Janie Sullivan brought bread and hot sausage rolls from the bakery. The Govenor's Landrover drew up as 0900 approached. Ropes were singled up and our engine coughed into life.



It was time to go. The NW breeze pushed us clear and three rousing cheers
rang out for the old albatross. The Falklands had really done us proud.



We motored out of Stanley harbour through the Narrows. Passing between Navy
Point and Engineer Point, and into Port William, heading east for the South Atlantic.



With Helen Otley, the plucky Observer aboard, the CFL Gambler overtook us
on our starboard side; smart in her fresh livery of blue and white, bound for six weeks long-lining. She was followed by the
red and white Sigma, one of two Fisheries Patrolvessels operating from the Falklands.

Soon we were lost in the fog, heading NNE for warmer climes. Foggy, wet,
bumpy, seasick. Not much like Government House.



Into the mist......



John Ridgway

Date: Sunday 14 March 2004

Day: 234, Day 2 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-3

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 50/09S, 57/31W

Position relative to land: 140nm NE of East Falkland.

Distance travelled in last 24hrs: 140

Distance sailed this Leg: 158

Total distance from Ardmore: 20,412 miles

Course: 077T

Speed: 6.3 knots

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: tbc nm

Wind: Northerly F6 (22-27 knots)

Sea: Moderate, becoming rough, (seems worse because we've been sailing into
the swell since we left and the forecast is for more)

Barometer: 1008 steady

Air Temp: 13C, with wind chill 3C

Sea temp: 10.1C

Cloud cover: 70%

Bird sightings over the day:

- Albatross: Wandering, Southern Royal, Black-browed, Sooty;

- Petrel: Northern Giant, White-chinned, Atlantic, Soft-plumaged;

- Prion: Antarctic, sp.

- Shearwater: Great;

- Storm Petrel: Wilson's, Grey-backed, White-bellied, Black-bellied;

- Other: Common Diving Petrel, Sub-antarctic Skua;




Notes: Ten days appear to be quite enough to remove the sea legs. Nick only
suffered a little, Marie-Christine rather more. Igor and I were actually sick and move around as if gravity has been severely increased, longing to be stretched horizontal in our bunks, bearing the weight on every square inch of available frame.



Tim Reid, our resident birder for this Leg from Port Stanley to the Azores
is very quiet and reserved: he does not admit to feeling at all seasick. Long, thin and 41, his vast pullovers threaten to slide down over his shoulders. Tim's interest in birds dates back to his childhood in Victoria and Tasmania. Youngest of five, his two brothers and two sisters are all 'in computers', mostly programming. With an Honours degree in Zoology, Tim has already made a dozen or more 4-6 week voyages aboard both long-lining and trawling fishing boats with foreign crews. As a solitary observer, on behalf of Falkland Conservation's "Seabirds at Sea Team", he has seen much weather like this. Reckoned to be very knowledgeable on seabirds, I'm really looking forward to learning a lot from him. I feel he will be a good hand.



Tim recorded many birds in the Log today, one or two new to us, on this
side of the Falklands. The Atlantic Petrel would have had Brent whooping with delight. But my favourite was a long thin white bar, it came cruising out of the mist, low on the waves, its wings scarcely moving: a big Southern Royal Albatross, from far away New Zealand.




Into the mist......



John Ridgway

Date: Monday 15 March 2004

Day: 235, Day 3 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-3

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 48/56'S, 51/31'W

Position relative to land: 280nm NE of East Falkland.

Distance travelled in last 24hrs: 140

Distance sailed this Leg: 298

Total distance from Ardmore: 20,552 miles

Course: 042T

Speed: 6.1 knots

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: tbc nm

Wind: NNW F5 (17-21 knots)

Sea: Moderate, (seems worse because we've been sailing into the swell since
we left and the forecast is for more)

Barometer: 1009 steady

Air Temp: 14C, with wind chill 8C

Sea temp: 13.4C

Cloud cover: 100% with frequent rain

Bird sightings over the day:

- Albatross: Black-browed, Sooty;

- Petrel: Grey, White-chinned, Atlantic, Soft-plumaged;

- Prion: Antarctic, sp.

- Shearwater: Great, Sooty;

- Storm Petrel: Grey-backed, Black-bellied;

- Other: LonCommon Diving Petrel, Sub-antarctiuc Skua;



Notes: Pressing on well to the North East. Out of the '50's and into the
'40's. Boat steering herself well, as we bump along to windward.



Marie Christine cooked up some Ice fish, given to us frozen, on the jetty
by Rachel just before we left. It was tasty in a Caper sauce with some
boiled Falkland Island new potatoes cooked with mint.



We are well off the continental shelf now and the birds are a little less
numerous. We did see a few Black-browed Albatrosses, but on a smaller
scale, at dusk I saw a tiny black bird about the size of the smallest Storm
Petrel. But this bird was flying frantically, well above the water, and
White-chinned Petrels seemed to be harassing it. It was not a seabird at
all but some kind of Swallow or Martin, looking for somewhere to land for
the night. We are heading out into the middle of the South Atlantic, no
place for it to go I fear. Tim said he thought it came from Argentina which
lies some 600 miles to our west. Outlook grim.



It looks as if Igor and now I have the Port Stanley flu' bug, let's hope it
stops with us.



Into the mist......



John Ridgway

Date: Tuesday 16 March 2004

Day: 236, Day 4 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-3

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 46/48'S, 49/05'W

Position relative to land: 465nm NE of East Falkland.

Distance travelled in last 24hrs:

160

Distance sailed this Leg: 458

Total distance from Ardmore: 20,712 miles

Course: 042T

Speed: 6.9 knots

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: 5,135nm

Wind: NNW F4-5 (11-21 knots)

Sea: Moderate, becoming light.

Barometer: 1013 rising

Air Temp: 16C, with wind chill 13C

Sea temp: 16.6C

Cloud cover: 100% with fine drizzle

Bird sightings over the day:

- Albatross: Black-browed, Sooty;

- Petrel: Atlantic, Soft-plumaged;

- Prion: Antarctic, Broad-billed;

- Shearwater: Great;

- Storm Petrel: Wilson's, White-bellied, Black-bellied;



Notes: A day of high speed sailing as the full No.2 Yankee, full staysail
and 3/4 mainsail on a broad reach with 20 knots of wind plus a favourable
current gave us a 160 miles noon to noon run. About the most ideal
conditions the old boat has had on the entire trip so far.



Fewer albatrosses: Four Black-browed and one immature Sooty. But a cloud of
hundreds of Prions.



Beecham's Powders to dose the Port Stanley bug. Looking forward to a bit of
sun on the back to blow away the coughs and sneezes. Hope MC and Nick avoid
it. We are still on delicious fresh grub. Natalies's cauliflower with
cheese sauce followed by her rhubarb over her Madeira cake: surely a
miracle cure for a cold?



Igor seems better. He had a frenzy of brass cleaning, to brighten our
surroundings, including the navigation dividers.



Into the mist......



John Ridgway

Date: Wednesday 17 March 2004

Day: 237, Day 5 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-3

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 45/23'S, 46/21'W

Position relative to land: 506nm NE of East Falkland.

Distance travelled in last 24hrs: 140

Distance sailed this Leg: 598

Total distance from Ardmore: 20,852 miles

Course: 059T

Speed: 6.6 knots

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: 5,115nm (straight line/great circle route)

Wind: NNW F5 (17-21 knots)

Sea: Light (surprisingly), little swell, occasional white caps

Barometer: 1016 steady

Air Temp: 16C, with wind chill 10C

Sea temp: 16.2C

Cloud cover: 100% with fog

Bird sightings over the day:

- Albatross: Black-browed;

- Petrel: Atlantic, Soft-plumaged;

- Prion: Antarctic, Broad-billed;

- Shearwater: Great;



Notes: The old boat is in the groove, as if she can read the way along the
magic carpet to her mooring under the wood at Ardmore, 6,500 miles away, north up the Atlantic. The sails never flutter, the sea stays smooth, with 18-20 knots of wind just forward of the beam. Gone are the thousands of miles of downwind roll, of running before the roaring westerly wind around the world. Now we are heeled gently to starboard spinning along as if set on iron rails.



Have I seen my last Wandering Albatross? Already I'm anxious, is this the
really the last time I shall see them? Will I ever be one?



I feel rotten with the Stanley cold, the South America Pilot Vol 11 says of
the Falklands ".... the climate is healthy, but ordinary epidemic diseases such as colds occur in virulent form." UGH!



Into the mist......



John Ridgway

Date: Thursday 18 March 2004

Day: 238, Day 6 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-3

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores


Position - Latitude, Longitude: 43/48'S, 43/47W'W

Position relative to land:

Distance travelled in last 24hrs: 150

Distance sailed this Leg: 749

Total distance from Ardmore: 21,003 miles

Course: 061T

Speed: 5.5 knots
Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: 4,995nm (straight line/great circle route -
it'll be further the way we go to make the most of the wind)

Wind: N F4 (11-17 knots)

Sea: Flattening out

Barometer: 1015 steady

Air Temp: 19C, with wind chill 16C

Sea temp: 16.6C

Cloud cover: 5%

Bird sightings over the day:

- Albatross: Tristan,Black-browed, Sooty, Atlantic Yellow-nosed;

- Petrel: Atlantic, Soft-plumaged, White-chinned, Spectacled;

- Prion: Broad-billed;

- Shearwater: Great;

- Storm-petrel: Wilson's, White-bellied, White-faced;



Notes: Another splendid noon to noon run of 150 miles petered out into calm
as the afternoon wore on and a high pressure weather system established
itself in the region.



We're "idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean" and a good selection of
seabirds were seen including the first Atlantic Yellow-nosed albatross for
many a month. Tim was thrilled to see a Spectacled Petrel but soon they
became very common indeed.
It does seem odd to be seeing the "same birds again", six months later. I
almost expect one of them to say "Oh, hello! We've had quite a good summer
here; it's just a pity so many some of our mates have disappeared, how
about you?"



Igor is coming back to life: hanging all sorts of kit and gear out to dry.
Which reminds me - the mizen sail cover and the pair of 'Save the
Albatross' dodgers, bold red lettering on a white and background, were
rolled away sopping wet, in the swirling fog off the Falklands.



Tim is proving a real mine of thought-provoking information on seabirds. A
quiet but reflective fellow of great experience, he is just the person I
need to help me put together the differing experiences we have had sailing
round the old bird's circumpolar track: South Africa (+ Prince Edward and
Marion Island), France (Kerguelen), Australia (Quentin, Heard Island,
Melbourne and Bass Strait) New Zealand (Brent, Cook Strait and Chatham
Rise), the EEZ's of Chile and Argentina, Falkland (Patagonian shelf,
Burdwood Bank and Scotia Ridge, South Georgia (meeting with the Fisheries
Management team of today in Stanley and Jerome and Sally Poncet, and our
own experiences in South Georgia in 1995.



At first sight it does seem as if, out on the High Seas, the fate of the
Albatross hangs by a slender thread in the face of insatiable, relentless,
world-wide greed.



Into the mist......



John Ridgway

Date: Friday 19 March 2004

Day: 239, Day 7 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-3

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores


Position - Latitude, Longitude: 43/12'S, 42/49'W

Position relative to land: 700 miles off the coast of Argentina

Distance travelled in last 24hrs: 49
Distance sailed this Leg: 798
Total distance from Ardmore: 21,052 miles
Course: 042T


Speed: 4.3 knots

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: 4,940nm (straight line/great circle route -

it'll be further the way we go to make the most of the wind)

Wind: ESE F3-4 (7-16 knots)

Sea: Flattening out

Barometer: 1012 steady

Air Temp: 15C, with wind chill 10C

Sea temp: 16.2C

Cloud cover: 10%

Bird sightings over the day:

- Albatross: Tristan,Black-browed, Sooty, Atlantic Yellow-nosed;

- Petrel: Great-winged, Atlantic, Soft-plumaged, White-chinned, Spectacled;

- Prion: Broad-billed, Antarctic;

- Shearwater: Great, Little;

- Storm-petrel: Wilson's, White-bellied, White-faced;

- Other: 2 x Sperm whale



Notes: A windless night with a sea so calm that not only were stars
reflected but the Milky Way as well. Noon came round and we had only made
49 miles.



A benefit from this tardiness was a magical morning of sailing along at 3
knots, surrounded by sea birds, 700 miles off the coast of Argentina. They
were so curious, came so close to us and looked so pristine. Memory of a
lifetime conjured up from nowhere, out of nothing.



We plod along out here, Day 239, Relentless. Life moves on. Over these 239
days many of those involved with this project have suffered much
dislocation. And looking at the Tristan, Yellow-nosed and Black-browed
Albatrosses this morning I was reminded of a question from a teacher who
called down from a balcony at the talk we gave in Port Stanley High School.
"If the Albatross does become extinct, a bird we never see anyway, what
have we lost?"



My answer is that the Albatross symbolises the Ocean, which is sick and
which the average person never sees either, but which nevertheless covers
3/4 of the Globe and which is of such importance to the 1/4 which is land,
home to 6,000 million people.



Must nip out to be sick, myself.



Into the mist......



John Ridgway

Date: Saturday 20 March 2004

Day: 240, Day 8 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-3

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 41/44'S, 40/50'W

Position relative to land: Heading NE up the South Atlantic 700 miles off
the coast of Argentina

Distance travelled in last 24hrs: 121

Distance sailed this Leg: 919

Total distance from Ardmore: 21,178 miles

Course: 133T (on port tack whilst fixing Panda see below)

Speed: 3.5 knots

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: 4,850nm (straight line/great circle route -
it'll be further the way we go to make the most of the wind)

Wind: E F4 (11-16 knots)

Sea: Flattening out

Barometer: 1012 steady

Air Temp: 15C, with wind chill 9C

Sea temp: 17C

Cloud cover: 100%

Bird sightings over the day:

- Albatross: Black-browed, Sooty, Atlantic Yellow-nosed;

- Petrel: Soft-plumaged, Spectacled;

- Prion: Broad-billed;

- Shearwater: Great, Sooty, Cory's;

- Storm-petrel: Wilson's, White-bellied, White-faced, Broad-rumped;



Notes: Almost sick again on coming on Watch without MC at 0600. Grey and
bumpy. After her big vegetable sort-out of yesterday, MC finally succumbed
to the 'Stanley Bug'. I can manage the Watch alone and it will do her good
to keep warm in her bunk and get plenty of sleep.



This leaves Nick the only one still standing. Say's he's had a flu' jab but
he's sneezing a bit. Tim fresh from it, says it knocked him backwards for
two weeks. Igor is up and down, coughs a lot but feels he's through it. I'm
fed up with it.



Nick's moment of truth came this morning - quite a few moments. With
Francois the "Panda Tamer" long gone, the time was bound to come when the
slumbering Panda (generator) would wake and try its luck. 1100 this morning
was that time.



Two false starts had the crew breathless. The warning light showed a lack
of oil pressure: Nick added oil. But it wasn't that. Surely it must be a
case of the "Francois Syndrome": ANGLE OF HEEL. The only way forward now
was to follow where Francois had led - temporarily bypass the oil pressure
warning relay to clear the airlock in the oilway. Nick 'boldy trod' and the
Panda came to heel once more. The future lies before us still.



Sooty, Yellow-nosed, and Black-browed albatrosses still about. This morning
Tim saw his first Cory's Shearwater and his first Madeira Storm Petrel
(though he has seen one of these previously off Peru).



The clock is running down to midnight. Tomorrow is our 40th Wedding
Anniversay and it wll be the first midnight Marie Christine has missed the
midnight to 0200 Watch with me, which is a bit of a blow. Best thing is for
her to get better.



Funny old game...



Into the mist......



John Ridgway

Date: Sunday 21 March 2004

Day: 241, Day 9 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-3

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores


Position - Latitude, Longitude: 41/02'S, 40/01'W

Position relative to land: 1,000 miles ESE of Buenos Aires
Distance travelled in last 24hrs: 53

Distance sailed this Leg: 972

Total distance from Ardmore: 21,231 miles

Course: 030T

Speed: 4.5 knots

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: 4,811nm (straight line/great circle route -

it'll be further the way we go to make the most of the wind)

Wind: W F4 (11-16 knots)

Sea: Light, but starting to build

Barometer: 1009 Falling

Air Temp: 15C, with wind chill 10C

Sea temp: 18C

Cloud cover: 10%

Bird sightings over the day:

- Albatross: Tristan, Black-browed, Sooty, Atlantic Yellow-nosed;

- Petrel: Great-winged, White-chinned, Soft-plumaged, Spectacled;

- Shearwater: Great, Cory's;

- Storm-petrel: Wilson's, White-bellied, White-faced;



Notes: Becalmed and alone on Watch in the 1st couple of hours of our 40th
Wedding Anniversary. I can think of no other person I would prefer to have shared the Watch with, than Marie Christine.



Anyway, come the dawn, we decided MC would stay in her bunk until she felt
like getting up. And before too long she was up and opening cards, some of which had been in a cupboard ever since we left home last July. There was too, a mysterious round cake tin, which Marjory MacPheee had asked Nick to smuggle aboard just before we sailed out of Port Stanley. Prising the lid off, we were delighted to find a noble home-baked, 40th anniversary fruit cake, complete with marzipan and soft icing.



Needless to say the crew were equally thrilled and we fell-to immediately,
with mugs of morning coffee.



Nick gave us a beautifully wrapped picture of Wellington to remind us of
our stay there. As soon as we get home we'll have it framed.



It was corned beef hash for lunch and we thought how much Trevor would have
liked to be tucking into it too.



Tim was busy drawing his Cory's Shearwater which he saw again this morning.



Nick is the only person on his Watch and he makes the most of it, really
enjoying running the boat on his own then joining MC and me for a yarn as he hands over to us.

Into the mist......



John Ridgway

Date: Monday 22 March 2004

Day: 242, Day 10 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-3

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 39/31'S, 38/18'W

Position relative to land: 1,100 miles NE of the Falklands

Distance travelled in last 24hrs: 125

Distance sailed this Leg: 1,097

Total distance from Ardmore: 21,356 miles

Course: 023T

Speed: 4.7 knots

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: nm (straight line/great circle route - it'll
be further the way we go to make the most of the wind)

Wind: SSE F6-8 (22-40 knots)

Sea: Moderate

Barometer: 1013 rising

Air Temp: 17C, with wind chill 13C

Sea temp: 18.9C

Cloud cover: 25%

Bird sightings over the day:

- Albatross: Tristan, Black-browed, Atlantic Yellow-nosed;

- Petrel: Great-winged, Soft-plumaged, Atlantic, Spectacled;

- Shearwater: Great, Cory's, Sooty;

- Storm-petrel: Wilson's, White-bellied;



Notes: Are we witnessing the start of the "Snore Wars"? As the heat begins
to bite, it will be easy to slide into the negative - at just the time when we are at our most vulnerable: "More soldiers are killed returning from a patrol to enemy lines, than are ever killed going out". It's a long road home.



We've sailed over 20,000 miles in this pressure cooker, since leaving home
last July. We are now within a thousand miles of "tying the knot" on our Albatross circumnavigation.



But the Skipper has lost a bit of Grip, what with the Stanley Bug and one
thing and another, he's become something of an olddodderer. Chafe damage has occurred owing to lack of anti-chafe discipline. Slipshod. Not leaving things better than we found them", just leaving things.



Time for the Skipper to take a tug at his own bootlaces; all problems
emanate from him. We must make a big effort to enjoy this passage. Struggling with one another is not going to help. Which brings me back to the "Snore Wars". Tim's snores have just about shattered Nick's tape recorder, never mind his nerves. Something's got to give. Igor is sitting on the fence, uncertain which way to hop.



Into the mist......



John Ridgway

Date: Tuesday 23 March 2004

Day: 243, Day 11 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-3

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 38/44'S, 36/49'W

Position relative to land: 1000 miles east of Montevideo

Distance travelled in last 24hrs: 85

Distance sailed this Leg: 1,182

Total distance from Ardmore: 21,441 miles

Course: 041T

Speed: 6.6 knots

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: 4,640 nm (straight line/great circle route -
it'll be further the way we go to make the most of the wind)

Wind: NW F4 (11-16 knots)

Sea: Light

Barometer: 1018 steady

Air Temp: 21C, with wind chill 19C

Sea temp: 19.7

Cloud cover: 0%

Bird sightings over the day:

- Albatross: Atlantic Yellow-nosed;

- Petrel: Great-winged, Soft-plumaged, Atlantic, Spectacled;

- Shearwater: Great, Cory's;

- Storm-petrel: Wilson's, White-bellied;



Notes: Total rolly calm night. All sails down. We stood still, hour after
hour, for 7 hours. It was 1079 miles to the 'tying the knot' position.



An email from Gene Feldman at NASA who'se been keeping an eye on us, tells
us that from 705km up in space it looks as if we are just leaving the
strong eddies and ocean colour fronts and heading out into the boredom of
the great gyre of the South Atlantic without much of interest until we are
approaching the Equator.



But at dawn there was a new feel to things. A barely remembered warm
freshness to the sky, a gentle breeze to lift the sails, something we
hadn't felt since before Cape Town last September - there was no Southern
Ocean threat.



Nick went off to his bunk.



Gradually I went through the menu; 1/2 No 2 Yankee, 3/4 mainsail, Full No 2
Yankee, 1/4 Staysail, full mainsail. All day we bowled along at 5-6 knots
on 15 knots of a NW breeze. Blue skies, smooth blue sea. Bring it on!



We are down to the occasional visiting Yellow-nosed Albatross. They're
thinning out, a visit is a real treat, no longer common-place. Marie
Christine talks of building a life-size model of a Wandering albatross and
hanging it in the long shed we have on the croft at home. But I gaze at the
wonder of the real thing in flight and begin to realise what it will mean
to me when it is no longer there.



We must focus on the aim of the John Ridgway Save the Albatross Voyage
2003/4! It is "To prevent the needless slaughter of the Albatross." And
that needless slaughter has been carried out by fishing boats in the
southern Ocean, on a grand scale, since the 1980's. An efficiently enforced
High Seas Agreement is imperative. Remember the Grand Banks of Newfoundland
- so recent.



Who'd have thought we'd get this far? An elderly couple, in an elderly
boat. No insurance, no sponsorship. Relying entirely on our own slim
finances. A voyage for mad people.



The albatross is a symbol of the ocean, a beacon. Unhealthy ocean: no
albatrosses: unhealthy planet. Population doubling.
So many people are struggling for this, it's time for the rest of us to put
our shoulders to the wheel.



Into the mist......



John Ridgway

Date: Wednesday 24 March 2004

Day: 244, Day 12 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-3

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 37/39'S, 35/09'W

Position relative to land: 1287 nm NE of the Falkland Islands

Distance travelled in last 24hrs:

105

Distance sailed this Leg: 1,287nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 21,356 miles

Course: 085T

Speed: 1.7 knots

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: 4560 nm (straight line/great circle route -
it'll be further the way we go to make the most of the wind)

Wind: WSW F1-2 (1-6 knots)

Sea: Calm, and smoothing out. Gentle rolling swell.

Barometer: 1019 steady

Air Temp: 25C, with wind chill 25C

Sea temp: 20.5

Cloud cover: 0%

Bird sightings over the day:

- Albatross: Tristan, Atlantic Yellow-nosed;

- Petrel: White-chinned, Spectacled;

- Shearwater: Great, Cory's;

- Storm-petrel: Wilson's;

- Other: Common Dolphin



Notes: Early spring. Wind like a whetted knife. Grass the colour of washed
straw. The little blue fishing boat came butting up the Loch. Wee Davy was in for his creels. I looked out from the croft house on the hill, this was no time for a heart
attack. Still, today I would have it out with him. I trotted down to the shore, waving. He pulled over and pressed his stubby bow against a flat rock. "It's OK, I'm keeping clear of your moorings!" he called cheerily.



"Do you ever catch any Davy?"



"Och, they're very scarce!" He held up a solitary blue lobster, just on the
9" limit.



"Maybe there should be a closed season," I muttered half heartedly, "I dive
on the moorings you know, it's like a desert down there."




"There's always that last one, I might as well have it, if I don't, someone
else will. I've a wife and kids to feed!" He shrugged, impatiently pulling back on the gear handle. I watched him chug out into the icy wind. Spring seemed a long way off as I turned to haul myself back up the steep hillside to the house. I'd achieved nothing.



"What will nuclear winter be like?" I thought bleakly, some say only
cockroaches will survive. And I remembered another morning, threading our way through the ice floes of the Lemaire Straits in Antarctica, with the sea water temperature hovering on 0C, it was pretty nippy. Going to windward like this, we could only manage 15 minutes spells on deck. Islands and icebergs looked very similiar: I had to peer closely at the GPS in the doghouse.



Very, very slowly, a cockroach, in the gap between the inner and outer
screens, crawled across our course line, basking in the warmth from the instrument - a true survivor.



Today, 900 miles east of the River Plate, we're crawling along our own
course line, into the gyre of the South Atlantic. A solitary old male Wandering Albatross, its white tail specked with black, swung past our stern, heading south.



Into the mist......



John Ridgway

Date: Thursday 25 March 2004

Day: 245, Day 13 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-3

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores


Position - Latitude, Longitude: 37/15'S, 34/01'W

Position relative to land: 900 miles east of Rio Plata

Distance travelled in last 24hrs: 59

Distance sailed this Leg: 1,346nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 21,415 miles

Course: 061T

Speed: 4.4 knots

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: 4530 nm (straight line/great circle route -
it'll be further the way we go to make the most of the wind)

Wind: WSW F3 (7-10 knots)

Sea: Calm

Barometer: 1019 steady

Air Temp: 23C, with wind chill 21C

Sea temp: 19.7C

Cloud cover: 0%

Bird sightings over the day:

- Albatross: Atlantic Yellow-nosed;

- Petrel: Soft-plumaged, Spectacled;

- Shearwater: Great, Cory's;

- Storm-petrel: Wilson's;

- Other: Common Dolphin



Notes: Gone are the thick woollen socks from Manchester. Now the sails slat
and its hard to make 50 miles in 24 hours. Shirts, shorts, shoes, is the
rig. Plus the floppy hat and suncream. Great for the banishment of coughs
and colds. Potato bread for fortification.



Tim has an amazing "Sheik of Arabeee" sea kayaking hat. Especially fetching
in round crown pastel green with pale peak to match. I think it is unique.
But he tells us he bought it in a shop in Tasmania. If we landed on the
Spanish Sahara all wearing these hats, we'd be clapped in jail for piracy.



Only one Yellow-nosed Albatross seen all day. Calms are hardly their bag.
But still a few Petrels and Shearwaters.



The grib files show us sandwiched between two weather systems.



Dolphins are about but usually feeding furiously a couple of miles away,
Igor passed a damaged fish which looked as if it might have been a casualty
from one of these forays.



We have a waxing moon, a thin crescent at present. It's at its brilliant
best just after sunset and each evening the plump planet Venus is a little
further clockwise in close attendance.



I'm wondering if our society doesn't make heroes of greedy people: a big
mistake for the Albatross.



Into the mist......


John Ridgway

Date: Friday 26 March 2004

Day: 246, Day 14 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-3

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores


Position - Latitude, Longitude: 36/58'S, 33/20'W

Position relative to land: 900 miles east of Rio Plata (Yes, still!).

Ardmore 5,863nm.

Distance travelled in last 24hrs: 39

Distance sailed this Leg: 1,385nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 21,454 miles

Course: 072T

Speed: 3.0 knots

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: 4,506 nm (straight line/great circle route -
it'll be further the way we go to make the most of the wind)

Wind: SSE F3 (7-10 knots)

Sea: Gentle, smooth

Barometer: 1018 steady

Air Temp: 20C, with wind chill 17C

Sea temp: 20.5C

Cloud cover: 80%

Bird sightings over the day:

- Albatross: Nil

- Petrel: Spectacled;

- Shearwater: Great, Cory's;

- Storm-petrel: Wilson's, White-bellied;



Notes: So calm. We made 39 miles in the 24 hours noon to noon, and that
with a lot of sliding along at only 1/2 or 1 knot. Very few birds about.



The time around dawn was dominated by black clouds dotted here and there
around the horizon which brought drizzle and breezes to 12 knots if they
passed close enough. But a base wind from the south did gradually establish
iteself and we reached 2 to 3 knots.



At 1115 Tim croaked "Shark" and we all rushed to look as we cruised past a
6'-8' shark some 30 yards out on our starboard side, the tip of its tail
waving gently behind its small triangular dorsal fin.



This shark was no real threat to MC's hair-dressing salon up by the
main-mast as Nick's locks were shorn. The rest of us had taken precautions
for a long haul up the Atlantic, back in the Falklands. Tim had No 1
clippers all over and I had No 4. Igor's cut was around No 4 but from the
hand of an female amateur tonsorial artist from the Azores.




Into the mist......



John Ridgway

Date: Saturday 27 March 2004

Day: 247, Day 15 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-3

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores


Position - Latitude, Longitude: 35/30'S, 31/38'W

Position relative to land: Still way out east of Buenos Aires in the South
Atlantic. Slow progress

Distance travelled in last 24hrs:
118

Distance sailed this Leg: 1,500nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 21,569 miles

Course: 037T

Speed: 4.8 knots

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: 4,430 nm (straight line/great circle route -
it'll be further the way we go to make the most of
the wind)

Wind: E F5-6 (17-27 knots)

Sea: Moderate chop with growing swell on starboard bow. Some whitecaps.

Barometer: 1016 steady

Air Temp: 20C, with wind chill 15C

Sea temp: 20.9C

Cloud cover: 95%

Bird sightings over the day:

- Albatross: Nil

- Petrel: Atlantic, White-chinned, Spectacled;

- Shearwater: Cory's;

- Storm-petrel: Wilson's, White-bellied;



Notes: Bumpy bashing to windward. Sailed 135 miles to get 118 miles nearer
the "Tying the knot" position. Feeling seasick.



Few birds for Tim, who is immersed in a book about a prisoner in San Pedro
Prison, La Paz, Bolivia. Strangely, this is aprison Marie Christine, Isso (our Quechua Peruvian daughter) and I visited several times in 1994. There is a photo of theinternal plaza where a pickpocket stole my folding glasses. I wonder where is Miguel now? A major silver and tin mineowner heclaimed to own six Rolls Royces on various continents. He showed us supportive letters from George Bush Snr.and told us he'dbeen in the prison for 29 months without trial. But he was living comfortably enough, with a couple of inmate servants, a pair of Cocker Spaniels, English Hunting prints and a colour TV.



But that's all far from here, a thousand miles east of the River Plate,
where Igor has finished a monkey's fist for a bellringer. Nick is nearing the tragic denoument in 'A Many Splendoured Thing'.Marie Christine reads at a prodigous rate. She has just finished 'Prodigal
Summer' by Barbara Kingsolver. who wrote The Poisonwood Bible. Now she has gone back for another dip into John Pilger's 'The New Rulers of the World': as my old chum Stephen Maturin of 20 Jack Aubrey novels would say, "times and events change - sadly people don't". I've just finished EricLinklater's "Private Angelo" and Angelo would go along with Stephen. Sometimes I wonder if I really want to reach land ever again. Are you sure we're getting better?



Into the mist......



John Ridgway

Now go on to the next two weeks 28 March to 10 April 2004

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