Leg 6 - Stanley, Falklands Islands to Horta, Azores (cont)

Date: Sunday 11 April 2004

Day: 262, Day 30 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-2

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores


Position - Latitude, Longitude: 16/18'S, 24/38'W

Position relative to land: 993 miles to the Equator

Distance travelled in last 24hrs: 150 miles

Distance sailed this Leg: 2,931 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 22,983 miles

Course: 348T

Speed: 6.1 knots

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: 3,279nm (straight line/great circle route -
it'll be further the way we go to make the most of the wind)

Wind: ENE F5 (17-21 knots)

Sea: Moderate

Barometer: 1012 falling slowly

Air Temp: 23C, with wind chill 19C

Sea temp: 27.9C

Cloud cover: 30%

Bird sightings over the day: Wilson's Storm Petrel



Notes: 150 miles noon to noon. Wind on the beam. With the tropical heat I
need 3 biros to write this. They each write a couple of lines and stop,
then they need to rest a while.



Early September 1966, a sunny morning but still a stiff breeze after the
storm. The old fellow looked out to sea and growled a line in Gaelic,
"There are many white horses in my Grandfather's garden," he translated
smiling. Chay Blyth and I had just rowed across the North Atlantic in 92
days, starting out from Cape Cod we'd ended up on the Arran Isles, off the
west coast of Ireland. Tragically, two other men rowing at the the same
time had died in their attempt. In London, top of the Pops was "We all live
in a Yellow Submarine". What's it all about Alfie?



"There are many white horses in my Grandfather's garden" here today. Alfie
never did really answer.



Marie Christine says the early missionaries to China, as well as practicing
their own particular religion, were also building schools and hospitals.
"It's no good just sitting in bed waiting for the lights to go out," says
Tim, "I've spent ten years of my life observing sea birds - maybe I should
have been a merchant banker?



There are lots of stars up above us tonight. Sometimes it all seems a bit
of a muddle.



Over the past six days, four birds have been sighted. 1 x Yellow-nosed
Albatross, 3 x Wilson's Storm Petrels. Tim is a bit disappointed.



Storm Petrels are sometimes seen as the most numerous bird on the planet,
unlike any other birds they are everywhere on the ocean - but there are
very few in many places as far as I've seen, and they're not all that
numerous elsewhere.



Into the mist......



John Ridgway

Date: Monday 12 April 2004

Day: 263, Day 31 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-2

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores


Position - Latitude, Longitude: 13/56'S, 25/06'W

Position relative to land: 849 miles south of Equator

Distance travelled in last 24hrs: 144 miles

Distance sailed this Leg: 2,3095 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 22,127 miles

Course: 351T

Speed: 6.4 knots

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: 3,177nm (straight line/great circle route -
it'll be further the way we go to make the most of the wind)

Wind: E F6 (22-27 knots)

Sea: Moderate, on beam

Barometer: 1012 steady

Air Temp: 26C, with wind chill 24C

Sea temp: 28.3C

Cloud cover: 50%

Bird sightings over the day: Bulwer's Petrel



Notes: Only one bird sighted today, a Bulwer's Petrel. The first Tim had
ever seen.



Noon found us level with Salvador. This leaves only Recife and Natal to
pass on the NE bulge of Brazil. By then we will be fewer than 400 miles from the Equator, with St Paul's Rocks and the Doldrums just on the other, northern, side.



We are well in the grip of the South East Trades now, which blow all the
way up to the Caribbean from South Africa. It's that wonderful delivery run before the wind, which has done so much for the success of the luxury catamaran building business in South Africa over these past many years now.



I'll not forget Recife in 1968. First to start in a field of nine assorted boats, all bidding to become the first man to sail right round the world alone and without stopping. In fact we were the first people to even try.



In the event, only one man succeeded: the redoubtable Robin Knox Johnston. We others dropped out along the way. Two committed suicide, one during the Race and one shortly after returning to UK.



As first to get away from the start (which had to be from UK or Ireland
between 1 June and I think 30 September 1968) I certainly felt the pressure, in my little 30ft production GRP bilge keel
boat. The mast's shroud plates on the port side had been damaged by a collision with a TV News boat at the outset. I remember being in tears of frustration at the damage to the boat at some point on every day.



I believe the Opportunity of a lifetime has to be taken in the lifetime of the Opportunity. You see, for a young man "Seeking bubble reputation at the cannon's mouth", this really was that Opportunity of a lifetime. I was in the lead for all the 53 days I was out there.



Heading down the South Atlantic towards Tristan da Cunha I persuaded myself that with the mast certain to come down, a bilge keel 30' sloop was not going to survive the Southern Ocean. To this day I
know of no other bilge keeler to have made it all the way round the world on that route, certainly not non-stop.



But without the benefit of hind-sight, things appeared quite differently to me at the time. I had sailed from the Arran Islands off the West Coast of Ireland on 1 June 1968. Having no radio or engine in the boat, I didn't even know how many boats were taking part.



All I did know was the size of the opportunity and the deep sense of
personal shame at having given up. I knew I had let the Prize slip through my fingers.



I turned the boat NW, hoping the mast would stay up, and gently rode these same perennial SE Trade winds that we are on tonight. According to the S. American Pilot, Recife was the most suitable port to find a ship bound for the UK. And it was a pretty glum figure who sailed into Recife. I threaded my way through the numerous American ammunition ships ying at anchor off shore. Liberty ships, like the Clan Kennedy which had carried me to Portuguese East Africa more than ten years before, they were carrying explosives for the Vietnam war.



With my Merchant Navy background I went alongside a British ship of the
Blue Funnel line on one of the wharfs. The Captain was most helpful and lifted my boat onto his deck for direct shipment back to Liverpool.The British Consul arranged for my flight home aboard a returning Comet of the Royal Flight.



The state of Pernambuco at that time boasted it could produce enough sugar for the needs of the whole world. The docks were paved with it, even the Power Station ran on it. But it needed more than sugar to coat the bitter pill I was chewing.



No I won't forget Recife.



Into the mist......


John Ridgway

Date: Tuesday 13 April 2004

Day: 264, Day 32 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-2

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores


Position - Latitude, Longitude: 11/50'S, 25/26'W

Position relative to land: 722 miles south of Equator

Distance travelled in last 24hrs: 128 miles

Distance sailed this Leg: 2,3095 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 22,127 miles

Course: 351T

Speed: 6.4 knots

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: 3,074nm (straight line/great circle route -
it'll be further the way we go to make the most of the wind)

Wind: ENE F3 (7-10 knots)

Sea: Light, but lumpy from earlier wind, on beam

Barometer: 1012 steady

Air Temp: 26C, with wind chill 24C

Sea temp: 29.1C

Cloud cover: 30%

Bird sightings over the day:

- Sooty Shearwater;

- Wilson's Storm petrel;

- Sooty Tern;



Notes: Two ships and a satellite. The fleshpots beckon. Not the best day
however, Marie Christine and I both down with stomach disorder and vomiting
- what more can I say by way of description? Except that it is tropic hot
and we have slept in our steamer of a cabin for 261 of the past 264 days.
Hope it's just one of those 24 hour bugs.



722 nm from the Equator at noon and on course, but the wind is rather
lighter than we had hoped. No ventilation and hatches closed to keep sea
out make for poor sleeping. Still we're getting along nicely.



With MC out of action, Igor stepped boldly forward and made delicious
nourishing onion soup for supper. Tim saw five birds today, 2 x Sooty
Shearwaters, 1 x Sooty Tern and 2 x Wilson's Storm Petrel: more than all
the birds seen in the past week. Nick tunes the rig and we slide forward.



Into the mist......



John Ridgway

Date: Wednesday 14 April 2004

Day: 265, Day 33 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-2

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores


Position - Latitude, Longitude: 09/39'S, 25/47'W

Position relative to land: 590 miles south of Equator

Distance travelled in last 24hrs: 132 miles

Distance sailed this Leg: 3,355 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 23,387 miles

Course: 353T

Speed: 5.0 knots

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: 2,875nm (straight line/great circle route -
it'll be further the way we go to make the most of the wind)

Wind: ESE F4 (11-17 knots)

Sea: Light, on the beam, very smooth easy sailing

Barometer: 1012 steady

Air Temp: 26C, with wind chill 24C

Sea temp: 29.1C

Cloud cover: 30%

Bird sightings over the day:

- Sooty Shearwater;

- Masked Booby



Notes: Gliding north on the SE Trade wind. The first appearance of the
Masked Booby, a bird very similiar to the Gannet of home. We should begin
to see more birds as we near St Paul's Rocks.



Nick remembers sailing along on The Aegre with a wave full of Skipjack tuna
which would follow them for days. But that was 30 years ago - and this is
now - nothing. Sophisticated electronic equipment on modern fishing ships
has put paid to that.



Marie Christine has made a big recovery, another day should see her back on
top form. Igor's lunches are spectacular but about 2-300% more demanding on
ingredients. But he needs that for the afternoon's fashion shoot by Nick,
who once wanted to be a fashion photographer, flashed on the screen in the
Comms Centre. Digital results with hat and sunglasses look hopeful for
Igor, according to Nick.



We have the old Plough on our northern horizon now and Tim is keen to see the Pole Star. The Southern Cross, our companion for so many months now, gets lower each night.



The Booby does his best with his 4' wingspan but he's clumsy. He's got no grace. He looks like he's floundering in the air, as if it's too thin for his wings to grip.



Now the Albatross, he could handle this Trade Wind... isn't it odd how we humans only learn to treasure things after they're gone? Carly Simon used to sing a song about that.



Into the mist......



John Ridgway

Date: Thursday 15 April 2004

Day: 266, Day 34 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-2

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 07/22'S, 25/59'W

Position relative to land: 455 miles south of Equator

Distance travelled in last 24hrs: 135 miles

Distance sailed this Leg: 3,490 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 23,522 miles

Course: 357 T

Speed: 5.3 knots

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: 2,746nm (straight line/great circle route - it'll be further the way we go to make the most of the wind)

Wind: E F4 (11-17 knots)

Sea: Light, on the beam, very smooth easy sailing

Barometer: 1011 steady

Air Temp: 26C, with wind chill 25C, in Saloon 28C

Sea temp: 29.9C

Cloud cover: 30%

Bird sightings over the day:

- White-tailed Tropic Bird

- white Tern

- Bulwer's Petrel

- Madeira Strom Petrel

- Sooty Tern

- Wilson's Storm Petrel

- Masked Booby



Notes: For all the stress and strain, these are days of real perfection. Today was such a one.



Marie Christine fully recovered. Smooth sea with a perfect breeze. By 1130 we had all five sails up. Before the mast: Full No1 Yankee, full Staysail. Between the two masts full Mainsail and full Mizen Staysail. Aft of the Mizen mast: Mizen sail. We were a cloud of red white and blue, sliding across a smooth sea at 140 miles each day, what a bonny sight! It doesn't get any better than this.



We have plenty of space for a team of 4: Nick, Igor, MC and me. We have come a long way and go well together. Tim observes his birds (7 species today, 44 altogether) and fits in very well. In this heat nobody needs any waves.



The highlight of the bird day was a sighting of the beautiful white-tailed Tropic bird. Always alone whenever I've seen it, with it's long white streamer of a tail, it lets out a squeak of identification while circling the mainmast before flying off on its lonely mission. One of the great sights for me, alone in a blue sky a snow white bird of peace it always seems to me.



Nick's Grib files for the weather are encouraging. Keep trucking along to the north, and there we'll find a narrow band of Doldrums just beyond the Equator, which we have saved diesel to motor through. And then it's into the Northeast Trade Winds for a big curve up to the delicious Azores, fresh in Spring of the northern hemisphere summer.




Into the mist......



John Ridgway

Date: Friday 16 April 2004

Day: 267, Day 35 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-2

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores


Position - Latitude, Longitude: 05/17'S, 25/27'W

Position relative to land: 349 miles south of Equator

Distance travelled in last 24hrs: 130 miles

Distance sailed this Leg: 3,620 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 23,652 miles

Course: 010T

Speed: 6.2 knots

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: 2,616nm (straight line/great circle route - it'll be further the way we go to make the most of the wind)

Wind: E F4 (11-17 knots)

Sea: Light, on the beam, very smooth easy sailing

Barometer: 1011 steady

Air Temp: 28C, with wind chill 26C, in Saloon 28C

Sea temp: 30.3C

Cloud cover: 30%

Bird sightings over the day:

- Red-billed Tropic Bird

- Herald (Trinidade) Petrel

- white and Sooty Tern

- Sooty Shearwater

- Storm Petrel: Madeira, Wilson's, Leach's

- Noddy sp



Notes: There's only one part of you which continues to grow as you become older - your ears. I've been measuring and seem regular.



Igor is 41 today. He blew out the candle OK on MC's Walnut coffee cake which she started baking at 0515. Bit hot for a party.



We moved onto our final plotting chart: the North Atlantic. Tim confirms the water is already going clockwise round the lavatory bowl in the Heads. Igor tells of a huge scandal in Lima, when a smart plumber sold a batch of American lavatories with jets facing for N. Hemisphere. Disastrous.



Still no green flash.



Tim well pleased with birds. The visit of the Red-billed Tropic Bird at 0905 leaves us with only a call from the Scarlet-tailed to complete the trio. But Tim says this is less likely than a glimpse of the Marvellous Spatuletail which he last saw on the track to the Abra Patricia in the Andes, some distance to our left.



At 1845, shortly after a satellite crossed the Milky Way, a Brown Noddy persisted in its attempts to roost in the Mizen Spreaders in spite of Tim's dazzling it with the spotlight.



Into the mist......



John Ridgway

Date: Saturday 17 April 2004

Day: 268, Day 36 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-2

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores


Position - Latitude, Longitude: 03/59'S, 25/33'W

Position relative to land: 237 miles south of Equator

Distance travelled in last 24hrs: 78 miles

Distance sailed this Leg: 3698 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 23,730 miles

Course: 326T

Speed: 3.7 knots

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: 2630 nm (straight line/great circle route -
it'll be further the way we go to make the most of the wind)

Wind: N F2 (4-6 knots)

Sea: Light,

Barometer: 1012 steady

Air Temp: 28C, with wind chill 27C, in Saloon 28C

Sea temp: 30.7C

Cloud cover: 30%

Bird sightings over the day:

- common Noddy

- Shearwater: Sooty, Cory's,

- Arctic Skua

- Tern: Sooty

- Storm Petrel: Wilson's, Leach's, Band-rumped



Notes: Wonders of the Deep. Nursing the old shippy as near north as we can
to the very nearest point on the Equator. Hot, hot, hot.



Noddies are calling to one another around us at midnight amid shooting
stars and lightning.



Nick and I put up the big red, white and blue Drifter at dawn, after our
Wheatie bangs, in place of the No1 yankee but it wasn't as efficient.



Then, in mid morning we sailed into the fish. Jumping Yellow-fin Tuna, and
Swordfish, they seem to be pursuing flying fish. Nick develops Tendonitis in right forearm from hand-steering very stiff wheel.



At 1845 a NW-SW satellite passed overhead at the same time as yesterday.
And by 2000 we had 4 Noddies around us, one landed on the Pulpit on the bow, another landed on the Mizen boom within a foot of Tim who encouraged it with cries of "You can do it lady, you know you can!"



Into the mist......



John Ridgway

Date: Sunday 18 April 2004

Day: 269, Day 37 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-2

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores


Position - Latitude, Longitude: 02/50'S, 26/05'W

Position relative to land: 168 miles south of Equator

Distance travelled in last 24hrs: 90 miles

Distance sailed this Leg: 3,788 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 23,820 miles

Course: 006T

Speed: 4.8 knots

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: 2,540 nm (straight line/great circle route - it'll be further the way we go to make the most of the wind)

Wind: ENE F2-3 (4-10 knots)

Sea: Light,

Barometer: 1012 steady

Air Temp: 29C, with wind chill 28C,

Sea temp: 30.7C

Cloud cover: 30%

Bird sightings over the day:

- Brown Noddy

- Tern: Sooty

- Storm Petrel: Wilson's, Band-rumped



Notes: Noddies had gone by midnight. Guano strip-mining commenced at dawn.



Very light wind. Marie Christine slept on deck until driven below by rain. Up early she had flasks filled with hot water and bread baking by 0700.



A breeze came and we were able to twitch-steer with the Monitor self-steering all day.



While we did pass through one school of jumping fish we also passed through many patches of oily, presumably scum from ships after tank washing, somewhere off Africa. Fewer birds seen today.



Just inching north in light airs. Reel-in, reel-out.



Into the mist......



John Ridgway

Date: Monday 19 April 2004

Day: 270, Day 38 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-2

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores


Position - Latitude, Longitude: 01/24'S, 25/33'W

Position relative to land: 84 miles south of Equator

Distance travelled in last 24hrs: 85 miles

Distance sailed this Leg: 3,873 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 23,905 miles

Course: 018T

Speed: 5.4 knots

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: 2,455 nm (straight line/great circle route -
it'll be further the way we go to make the most of the wind)

Wind: ENE F3 (7-10 knots)

Sea: Light,

Barometer: 1011 steady

Air Temp: 28C, with wind chill 27C,

Sea temp: 30.7C

Cloud cover: 5%

Bird sightings over the day:

- Petrel: Bulwer's

- Storm Petrel: Wilson's, Band-rumped



Notes: Slept on deck first part of night which helped Prickly Heat, which
is unpleasant. But it's not for many more weeks.



Few birds but good breeze which lifts everyone's spirits. This could
possibly be our last night in the Southern Hemisphere.



Hand steering 24hrs a day is good for keeping our minds and speeding things
along.



We were all very pleased to hear that Brent Stephenson and Adele Coetzee
got married in the Pembroke Lighthouse on East Falkland on 10 April. At the
moment the lighthouse is 3,450 miles astern.



We all wish Mr and Mrs Stephenson all the best for their new life together.



Into the mist......



John Ridgway

Date: Tuesday 20 April 2004

Day: 271, Day 39 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-2

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores


Position - Latitude, Longitude: 00/31'N, 25/11'W

Position relative to land: 31 miles north of Equator

Distance travelled in last 24hrs: 105 miles

Distance sailed this Leg: 3,978 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 24,010 miles

Course: 005T

Speed: 5.4 knots

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: 2,279nm (adjusted - straight line - it'll be
further the way we go to make the most of the wind)

Wind: E F3 (7-10 knots)

Sea: Light,

Barometer: 1010 steady

Air Temp: 28C, with wind chill 26C,

Sea temp: 30.3C

Cloud cover: 75% - rain squalls all around us

Bird sightings over the day:

- Petrel: Bulwer's

- Storm Petrel: Wilson's, Band-rumped, Leach's

- Brown Booby,

- Sooty Tern



Notes: Midnight. MC and I were hand-steering on a black moonless night,
with a clear starry sky. There were a few shooting stars. At 0025, to our
north-west we picked up another, moving south east. It shot across the sky
and fizzled out. Then it started again and leaving a long bright tail it
shot right across the sky and disappeared into cloud on the south east
horizon. Neither of us had seen its like before.



At 0510, in the first light of dawn, Nick crossed the Equator in 25 degrees
21 minutes West, while the rest of us slept. After several months we were
back in the Northern Hemisphere. Igor reported the forward Heads flushing
clockwise, all was well.



After breakfast, I spotted three big red buoys set in a line SE to NW. The
nearest had a flag on it. "Pelagic Long Line" said Tim, who was up watching
for birds in the early part of the day when they seem at their busiest.
There could have been more buoys over the horizon, to make it more than
just one mile long. We saw no sign of a fishing boat.



Surrounded by six black doldrum rain clouds we ate Marie Christine's
pineapple sponge Equator cake and gently sailed into a big shower which
gave us a refreshing wash-down.



Darkness brought a wind shift to about north and a string of light but
ominous squalls. We remembered the 50 knot squall we encountered on the way
south last autumn.



The heat of it all.



Into the mist......



John Ridgway

Date: Wednesday 21 April 2004

Day: 272, Day 40 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-2

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores


Position - Latitude, Longitude: 02/04'N, 25/38'W

Position relative to land: 124 miles north of Equator

Distance travelled in last 24hrs: 110 miles

Distance sailed this Leg: 4,088 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 24,120 miles

Course: 000T

Speed: 6.5 knots

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: 2,185nm (adjusted - straight line - it'll be
further the way we go to make the most of the wind)

Wind: ESE F4 (11-16 knots)

Sea: Light,

Barometer: 1010 steady

Air Temp: 29C, with wind chill 27C,

Sea temp: 31.1C

Cloud cover: 50% - rain squalls all around us

Bird sightings over the day:

- Storm Petrel: Band-rumped, Leach's,

- Tern: Arctic, Sooty, White



Notes: Overnight the wind died away completely and at 0600 we began to
motor due north across the Doldrums. By noon we were able to sail again in
a fresh SE wind, which was a welcome relief from the heat of the engine.



But the wind proved erratic and by nightfall the surrounding black clouds
had joined into one single mass, providing a two hour downpour and some 20
lightning flashes with majestic thunder. During this daunting display the
wind died and we returned to the engine in eerie pitch blackness. There
were no stars and no horizon. Simply the sporadic blink of the compass with
only one of its two bulbs working. Seamless black, now and then lit by
jagged lightning. The thresh of the deep sea rain accompanied by rolling
thunder which makes us feel very small and vulnerable in our tiny boat
miles and miles from anywhere.



Into the mist......



John Ridgway

Date: Thursday 22 April 2004

Day: 273, Day 41 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-2

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores


Position - Latitude, Longitude: 04/09'N, 25/34'W

Position relative to land: 720 miles south west of Gambia, West Africa

Distance travelled in last 24hrs: 125 miles

Distance sailed this Leg: 4,213 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 24,245 miles

Course: 000T

Speed: 5.5 knots (Under engine)

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: 2,061nm (adjusted - straight line - it'll be
further the way we go to make the most of the wind)

Wind: ENE F3-4 (6-16 knots)

Sea: Light,

Barometer: 1010 steady

Air Temp: 31C in Saloon

Sea temp: 29.9C

Cloud cover: 100%

Bird sightings over the day:

- Storm Petrel: Leach's

- Arctic tern



Notes: At midnight the engine had been running for four hours with all
hatches closed against the sea. Though it had been raining for six hours
the heat from the engine still made for a steamy atmosphere below.



Dawn brought a familiar grey North Atlantic seascape and we persisted with
the engine, pressing north into a freshening headwind.



At 1410 in 04/19N, 25/34'W we cut the motor and set the boat up for our
crossing of the North East Tradewinds. Nick's sailplan of No 2 Yankee,
Staysail and Mainsail, set small and hard to make a vertical tri-plane,
works well. We are making 5-6 knots with the boat staying relatively
upright at this early stage.



We have grown so used to being off the coast of Brazil, it is a little
surprising to find we are nearer Gambia on the west coast of Africa now. It
is some 720 miles to our north-east with the Cape Verde Islands just under
700 miles to our north.



Tim is surprised to see so many Arctic terns around, heading north to nest
in the Arctic. Of all living creatures the Arctic Tern sees the most
daylight in its lifetime, flying from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back
each year. Amazing. But when sandeels are depleted by fishing boats to
make fertiliser and to fuel Danish Power stations the Arctic Terns fail in
their nesting. Funny old world.




Into the mist......



John Ridgway

Date: Friday 23 April 2004

Day: 274, Day 42 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-2

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 05/52'N, 25/34'W

Position relative to land: miles south west of Gambia, West Africa

Distance travelled in last 24hrs: miles

Distance sailed this Leg: nm

Total distance from Ardmore: miles

Course: 321T

Speed: 5.0 knots (Under engine)

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: 1,955nm (adjusted - straight line - it'll be
further the way we go to make the most of the wind)

Wind: NNE F4 (11-16 knots)

Sea: Light,

Barometer: 1009 falling slowly

Air Temp: 27C, with wind chill 25C

Sea temp: 28.7C

Cloud cover: 90%

Bird sightings over the day:

- Storm Petrel: Leach's, Band-rumped, Wilson's

- Arctic tern

- Arctic Jaeger



Notes: Six weeks since leaving Port Stanley in the Falklands. Timmy very
much part of the team now. He thought a well-lit stationary ship just
before midnight, was probably a pelagic long-liner hauling its line.



"They move ahead at about 1 knot" he said, "and the whole boat is lit up so
they can see what they're doing, hauling in one big fish at a time."



Tim has fished aboard these boats off Tasmania and Australia. He says
Pelagic long-liners are fishing lines maybe 100-150km long, with around
3,000 hooks on 40m snoods at 40m intervals. Shooting and hauling is a 24
hour business. Buoyed lines are used, like the set-up we saw three days
ago. The fishing boats are usually those white Asian boats. Their prey is
Big-Eye and Yellow-Fin Tuna at around 2-300 metres deep; Blue-fin
Tuna from Asia at 50metres deep and Swordfish at under 50 metres.



They can kill birds just like the bottom fishing long-liners in the
Southern Ocean. But of course they are not pirates because they fish the
High Seas, outside national 200 mile fishing limits. Control over their
bird killing is non-existent unless they carry an Observer, which is
unusual. Birds are irrelevant, they are no more than a nuisance which takes
their bait.



We have a steady Tradewind now. At 1015 a large, empty SW-bound bulk
carrier hove into view. Minutes passed and its 'bearing did not appreciably
change, so risk of collision could be deemed to exist."



I called it several times on the radio but got no reply. Then another
invisible ship called it - still no reply. I put the radio (mic) on its
clip and left the doghouse to take the wheel. Now, at under a mile,it was
clear the ship was going to hit us.



Over the radio a frightened young Chinese voice called "Say again! Say
again!" Then the ship altered course significantly and the Hong Kong
registerd Tian Yang Feng passed 400m astern. An unobservant young man on
the bridge will remember the occasion. Hopefully, so will we - and remember
to leave the radar on 12 miles range not 6 miles!



We still see migrant Arctic Terns and the occasional Long-tailed Skua, as
well as the ever-present scatter of Storm Petrels.



Into the mist......



John Ridgway

Date: Saturday 24 April 2004


Day: 275, Day 43 Leg 6

Local time: 1200 GMT-2

Leg Number and name: Leg 6, Falklands to Azores


Position - Latitude, Longitude: 07/32'N, 27/35'W

Position relative to land: 800 miles west of sierra Leone, West Africa

Distance travelled in last 24hrs: 110 miles

Distance sailed this Leg: 4,453 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 24,485 miles

Course: 330T

Speed: 4.1 knots

Next Port: Horta, Azores

Approx distance to next port: 1,854nm (adjusted - straight line - it'll be
further the way we go to make the most of the wind)

Wind: NNE F4 (11-16 knots)

Sea: Light,

Barometer: 1009 falling slowly

Air Temp: 26C, with wind chill 24C

Sea temp: 28.7C

Cloud cover: 95%

Bird sightings over the day:

- Storm Petrel: Leach's, Band-rumped, Wilson's

- Arctic tern

- Arctic Jaeger

- Sabine gull



Notes: Nick had a couple of ships on the radar but MC and I had none at all
between midnight and two, just falling wind.



A flock of about fifty Arctic Terns brightened the early part of the
morning for us.



I adjusted the Monitor for a little more speed as the day began to warm up.
A large flying fish lay in the scuppers.



Shortly after nine o'clock we saw a typical white Asian long-liner coming
our way from the east. As usual it failed to come up on the radio and
passed across our stern about a mile off. Streaked with rust the 'Jui Jih
101' looked as if it had been on station for some time.



Tim had worked as an observer on a Japanese pelagic long-liner, fishing for
Bluefin Tuna off Tasmania. "I wouldn't like to be on that one - you'd be
out for ages." He smiled and explained how the boat could be re-fueled and
re-crewed by a Freezer ship which would take off the fish and see it
shipped back to Asia.



Fishing may seem to be the last sort of job any man would want. But it is
hunting. That is a very strong instinct, which is no longer possible to
follow on the land. There is all the excitement of the chase and fisherman
are very often paid in shares of the catch, which is powerful motivation.
Men like to hunt. It is preferable to many less exciting forms of work.



The snag is, the excitement can get out of hand. The glow of lights from
the huge fleet of Jiggers fishing for Illex squid north of the Falklands is
easily visible from Space. The Falklands Government makes millions from
selling seasonal fishing licences. The Argentine Government vows to break
the the Falklands economy by making sure all the Illex squid are caught
before ever they reach the Falklands. Perhaps they'll succeed. And so there
would be no squid left to breed and produce the next crop of the species
which only has a lifespan of two years.



Excitement takes many forms but it's not just man who depends on the
profusion of Illex squid in the season of the year.



The Albatross is known to feed on dead squid which float to the surface at
the end of their life cycle.



Sperm whales consume huge quantities of squid. Three of these leviathans
followed us for ten minutes just before noon, blowing great jets from their
off-set blow-holes before their shiny black tails reared up as they sounded.



On the evening watch, MC and I were in the aft cockpit eating our boiled
potatoes and omelette as slowly as possible to make it last. There is a bit
of a rush on to use up the eggs and butter before they go bad.



Looking out to port, over her shoulder, I saw a searchlight sweeping the
horizon. "That's a long-liner searching for the buoy at the end of the line
- it has a radio-directional beacon on it" said Tim.



At the end of an 80 mile line? "At the end of the line?" How many other
long-liners are out here?



Into the mist......



John Ridgway

Now go on to the next two weeks 25 April to 8 May 2004

Back to the Contents page