Leg 2: Tenerife, Canary Islands to Cape Town, South Africa

Date: 28 August 2003

Day: 34

Local time: 1200

Leg Number and name: Leg 2, 'The Yellow-nosed'

Focus of leg: The long-line fishing industry - its global impact on the albatross population

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 04.13'N, 18.51'W Position relative to nearest land: 180 nm north of the Equator

Course: 187M

Speed: 6.2 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 145 miles

Distance traveled since last port: 1,555 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 3,581 miles

Headed to: Cape Town, South Africa

Distance to next port: approx 3,767 miles


Barometric pressure: 1029

Wind direction: SSW F3

Wind Speed: 10 knots

Cloud cover: 75%,

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 29.5C

Sea conditions: Motoring south into growing sea from the S

Bird sightings: 8 Shearwaters (together on the water), one Stormy Petrel

Notes: 35 years ago I was in almost this exact spot on the boundary between the Guinea Currentand the Equatorial Current and it was my 30th birthday. I was alone and Marie Christine asked the BBC World Service to play Matt Munro singing Born Free, or rather, they were playing it anyway and she persuaded them to include birthday wishes.

Anyway we're here together today, Derby and Joan. Can we save the Albatross?


Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 29 August 2003
Day: 35

Local time: 1200

Leg Number and name: Leg 2, 'The Yellow-nosed'

Focus of leg: The long-line fishing industry - its global
impact on the albatross population


Position - Latitude, Longitude: 002.42'N, 18.04'W

Position relative to nearest land: 430 nm SW of Sierra Leone

Course: 259M

Speed: 5.5 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 100 miles

Distance traveled since last port: 1,655 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 3,681 miles

Headed to: Cape Town, South Africa

Distance to next port: approx 3,667 miles


Barometric pressure: 1028

Wind direction: S F5

Wind Speed: 22 knots

Cloud cover: 90%,

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 28.7C

Sea conditions: Beating W into moderate sea from SSW

Bird sightings: > The Shearwaters are still with us often flying very
close to the boat and sometimes landing on the water, now joined by three
Storm Petrels.

Notes: Nearing the Equator, some way out from Africa,heading toward Brazil. Imagine you have been doing the same thing for the past 35 days. Not all of it comfortable.

Last night, moonless and bumpy, we crossed the line where two great ocean currents grind up against each other. The Guinea current heading East, at up to 1 knot, and the Tropical Current heading West,at up to three knots. Massive forces caused by the earth spinning.

We saw 4 fishing boats, way our there in the blackness.

Now we are pointing towards NE Brazil and so far off Africa we are a third of the way to South America already. When will we see the first Yellow-Nosed Albatross?

Bumpy and baked beans for lunch. Settling down to the new motion.

Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 30 August 2003

Day: 36

Local time: 1200

Leg Number and name: Leg 2, 'The Yellow-nosed'

Focus of leg: The long-line fishing industry - its global
impact on the albatross population


Position - Latitude, Longitude: 001.57'N, 19.47'W

Position relative to nearest land: 112 nm north of the Equator, 1000 nm ENE
of Brazil

Course: 254M

Speed: 4.6 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 115 miles

Distance traveled since last port: 1,670 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 3,796 nm

Headed to: Cape Town, South Africa

Distance to next port: approx 3,552 miles


Barometric pressure: 1028

Wind direction: SSW F5

Wind Speed: 18 knots

Cloud cover: 10%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 28.3C

Sea conditions: Beating W into light sea from SSW

Bird sightings: Our friends the Shearwaters and Storm Petrels are still
with us.

Notes: An exciting day.

We have found four broken wire strands at the top of the lowest section the
Port Cap shroud,just below the lowest of the three spreaders on the port
side of the mainmast. And one broken strand at the corresponding place on
the starboard side.

The job was to fit a 3-fold purchase to support the lowest section of the
Port Cap shroud.

Putting it rather baldly, if the Cap Shroud breaks, the 70 ft mast breaks
and falls into the sea with a bit of a splash.

We're trying to keep calm and compose an email to John Boyce at Hood Spars
at Burnham on Crouch. He'll come up with something, hopefully the name and
the address of the fellow who made up the cap shrouds!

And now to get to Cape Town. It's still some 3,500 miles, mostly to
windward and early spring in the South Atlantic.

How do I keep getting into these situations? Sometimes I wish I was doing
knitting and gardening.

Here we are. It's pitch dark (now 9.20pm) and were 1000 milles from anywhere.


Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 31 August 2003

Day: 37

Local time: 1200

Leg Number and name: Leg 2, 'The Yellow-nosed'

Focus of leg: The long-line fishing industry - its global
impact on the albatross population

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 00.58'N, 21.21'W

Position relative to nearest land: 1000 miles from anywhere

Course: 245M

Speed: 4.6 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 102 miles

Distance traveled since last port: 1,772 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 3,898 nm

Headed to: Cape Town, South Africa

Distance to next port: approx 3,065 miles (Great Circle route from present location, we'll sail further to make the most of Trade Winds and Westerlies

Barometric pressure: 1030

Wind direction: S F3

Wind Speed: 12 knots

Cloud cover: 10%,

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 27.5C

Sea conditions: Beating wsw into light sea from S

Bird sightings: Yes our friends the Shearwaters and Storm Petrels are
still with us.

Notes: A thousand miles from anywhere and three thousand from Capetown, in fact this number is steadily growing as we have been sailing west. I believe several people would be a bit anxious, if, a thousand miles from anywhere, their un-insured 70ft mast looked like
falling into the sea. Today, we feel a bit shamefaced about it. Even to the extent of rubbing out the the pencilled word 'major' in front of 'concern about stranding of the cap shrouds' hastily written in the log by Marie Christine yesterday afternoon.

Nick's three-fold purchase of 16mm rope looks sound, Its sunny (again) and everything 'Looks alright'. Isn't it grand how that calms you down, 'Looking alright'.

At 0615 this morning we heard a bang on the front of the Doghouse. On watch, Marie Christine and I ducked our heads and looked at each other. "Probably a bird!" she muttered, trying to play down any sign of 'Major concern',and thinking of the dead Storm Petrel Nick had found in among the Life-rafts and Emergency jerry cans of water, in the centre cockpit a few days ago.

Later, she threw 25 dead flying fish from the decks into the sea. 'Rie'
found a dead one in the forward Heads but didn't like to touch it.

Bec's email from home tells us our own computer, in our home on the other side of the wood, is calming down. "its mostly just Viagra adverts in the Mailbox now". Funny old life, far away.

Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 1 September 2003

Day: 38

Local time: 1200

Leg Number and name: Leg 2, 'The Yellow-nosed'

Focus of leg: The long-line fishing industry - its global impact on the albatross population


Position - Latitude, Longitude: 00.08'S, 22.08'W

Position relative to nearest land: 660 nm NW of Ascension Island, South
Atlantic.

Course: 232 M

Speed: 3.4 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 96 miles

Distance traveled since last port: 1,772 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 3,994 nm

Headed to: Cape Town, South Africa

Distance to next port: approx 3,048 miles (Great Circle route from present location, we'll sail further to make the most of Trade Winds and Westerlies)

Barometric pressure: 1030

Wind direction: SE F3

Wind Speed: 10 knots

Cloud cover: 5%,

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 27.1C

Sea conditions: Beating wsw into light sea from S

Bird sightings: Still have three Shearwaters with us.

Notes: Crossing the Equator i mid-Atlantic at 21 W


This is to certify that on this day, 1 September 2003, Marie Louise Rogers, of Biggleswade, aboard the yacht English Rose V1, whilst floating in her lilac sheeted pipe-cot, unwittingly did cross the Equator, 12,000 ft above a carpet of oceanic mud and ooze at 21 degrees West, witnessed by; John Ridgway, Chieftain of the Durness Highland Gathering, Marie Christine Ridgway, Batman to Chieftain Robin, and Nick Grainger, Mogul from Melbourne.


And so it came to pass!


An extravagant certificate containing the above was presented at a luncheon of Fried Peanuts and Almonds, Egg Mayonnaise Salad, and Nick's sister Diana's Delicious Derby cake, Nick having now completely recovered from his superhuman feat (with photos) of setting up the three part purchase on the deck to the lower spreader span of the port cap-shroud.

The wind is steadily going round to the South and we hope to be heading a little West of South before too long. Already the Great Circle course to Capetown is slowly diminishing.

We are sccanning our books for any information on the Yellow-Nosed Albaross but its still Shearwaters around here with luminous flashing sub-sea life at night.

Into the mist...,


John Ridgway

Date: 2 September 2003

Day: 39

Local time: 1200

Leg Number and name: Leg 2, 'The Yellow-nosed'

Focus of leg: The long-line fishing industry - its global
impact on the albatross population

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 01.47'S, 22.45'W

Position relative to nearest land: 620 nm NW of Ascension Island

Course: 197 M

Speed: 4.8 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 98 miles

Distance traveled since last port: 1,966 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 4,092 nm

Headed to: Capetown, South Africa

Distance to next port: approx 3,005 miles (Great Circle route from present location, we'll sail further to make the most of Trade Winds and Westerlies)

Barometric pressure: 1031

Wind direction: SE F4

Wind Speed: 15 knots

Cloud cover: 5%,

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 27.5C

Sea conditions: Beating South into light sea from South-East

Bird sightings: 8 Shearwaters constantly flying with us and often landing near the boat to feed.

Notes:


Hello Molly and Hughie

Now, what about the 'Mystery Ship? There we were, Granny and me on night watch, 660 miles NW of Ascension island, in the middle of the ocean. I was standing in the aft cockpit, arms resting on the blue padding around the edge of the Doghouse,looking out to see if there might be a ship coming. But we aren't really expecting to see another boat before we arrive in Capetown, in three or four weeks time.

Fishing boats there might be, but I've been along this way three times before. The others don't know how huge and deserted it really is. It would be foolish for me to go on about it too much. I've got plenty to worry about in the damaged cap shrouds, without causing alarm. Nursing the team to Capetown with the damaged boat is what I must do.

Anyway, I'm thinking about this when I imagine I see the 'loom' of a light on our port beam, a little aft of 15 degrees maybe. "You're imagining things", I thought. But there it was whenever we rode up on the crest of a wave. A faint glowing dome of light.

"Come up and see the 'loom'" I called to Granny. It was 0030 and she was in the galley pouring hot water from a flask onto slices of lemon in our mugs.

"Ooh!" She squeaked excitedly,"Just coming". Marie Christine's hands came up from the darkness, grasping her red plastic mug in her right hand and my shiny silver one in her left. She placed them on the down wind side of the floor, safe against the face of the seat. Then she rattled up the six metal rungs of the ladder, practising her leg gymnastics and propelled herself through the tiny hatch and straight on across shiny wooden floor and through the open door of the Doghouse; twisting round to look out to Port as she came. Granny is pretty as well as bendy.

As usual there was no sign of the 'loom'.

"Yes. I've got it!" She said, just as I was persuading myself it wasn't there.

We both agreed it was. I'd already turned on the radar but there was no mark on the shiny screen. We hauled ourselves back inside the tiny door and gawped half interestedly at the screen.

"There it is!" I muttered. A thin block of yellow appeared well forward of our port beam on the six mile ring of the bright screen.

Five minutes later it was nearer the four mile ring. "Which is it Johnny? The line nearest us or the outer one - they must be a 1/4 mile apart?".

"I think we must take it as the nearer one of the two, to be on the safe side", I replied.

Then it was gone. Not a sign, Not on the screen nor on the horizon outside.

Was it a submarine on the surface,which had now dived? I'd seen just that off the Butt of Lewis once.

Was it a UFO 'An unidentified flying object' from Mars or somewhere up among all those millions of stars in the blue velvet sky above.

Was it two ancient Grandparents imagining things?

The whole thing started at 0030 and was done by log time at 0100. We were on watch for another hour, 'Rie' took over at 2am.

We did see the odd blue mark on the radar screen but they never lasted long.

We went below at 0200 for four hours more sleep before we took over from Nick in the dark at 0600, through dawn, until 1000 in the morning.

Marie Christine, sleeping on the floor in our cabin, had very odd dreams, about a ladder up from the flooded River Ness and into the upstairs of 8, Douglas Row. In spite of the floods she was so happy to be home.

I slept more or less ok. The cool wind from the south is cooling my
prickly heat but pricking my memory with thoughts of the desperate times to come, down there.

At 0615 I was looking at the dawning horizon again, out on the Port beam, and there was the 'loom'. Marie Christine came up from making more hot lemon. She saw it too. But there was no sign on the radar. 15 minutes later it was nearly light.

Sunrise and sunset come quickly in the tropics.

Then at two o'clock in the afternoon we saw a white Asian trawler crossing our bows only three miles off. No sign of by-catch mitigation measures.

In the UK, fishing vessels have to report their position every hour.
Technology is running far ahead of international regulation of fishing
stocks. Every fishing vessel and fish processing vessel in the world should report its position every hour and every landing should be inspected.

I'm writing this for you now, because by the time you have grown up, if the lines on the graphs run as they are now pointing, there will probably be 12,000,000,000 people in the world instead of the 6,000,000,000 there are now and all the fish will have been caught and all the albatrosses will be dead.

You see the sea covers 3/4 of the world and the people need fish to eat.

It is we, your parents and grandparents who are allowing this to happen. The albatross is a symbol. If it prospers and increases, so will the fish and the people. If not, it will be 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'. And that's why Granny and Granddad are out here in the middle of every night.

Grandpa


(John Ridgway)

Date: 3 September 2003

Day: 40

Local time: 1200

Leg Number and name: Leg 2, 'The Yellow-nosed'

Focus of leg: The long-line fishing industry - its global
impact on the albatross population


Position - Latitude, Longitude: 04.06'S, 23.05'W

Course: 197 M

Speed: 5.1 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 150 miles

Distance traveled since last port: 2,116 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 4,242 nm

Headed to: Capetown, South Africa

Distance to next port: approx 2,925 miles (Great Circle route from present location, we'll sail further to make the most of Trade Winds and Westerlies)

Barometric pressure: 1030

Wind direction: SE F5

Wind Speed: 18 knots

Cloud cover: 5%,

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 27.5C

Sea conditions: Beating South into moderate sea annd growing swell from SE

Bird sightings: The 8 Shearwaters are still flying with and still often landing near the boat to feed.

Notes: Well, as I said, "John Boyce, Managing Director of Hood Spars, will come up with something". Richard Creasey, our Comms Director at the BBC has been in contact with John, who has most generously offered to be in Capetown in person with replacement standing rigging when we finally reach port. Few manufacturers can supply that kind of support. After discussion with his team it seems the Cap Shrouds are failing at the swages and John suggests we brace the mast with the port spinnaker halyard in way of the port cap shroud chain plates.

Meanwhile, we have come out into the broad corridor of the boisterous SE Trade Winds and we must find a way to 'ferry glide across them, with failing wires supporting the mast. Accordingly, Long Nick and I spent the morning tuning a new rig, in 20 knots of wind and a rising sea:

1. We rolled up the No 2 Yankee which leave us with an empty fore triangle and no strain on the mast head.

2. We set the full Stay sail which has its own Forestay, tacked way back on the foredeck and rooted 3/4 of the way up the mast. The loading of the Staysail on the mast is directly offset by the port running backstay which is rooted at the same height on the mast as the staysail forestay and led aft to compensate.

3. We have furled the mainsail to the point where its head reaches only
just above the height of the Staysail forestay.

4. We have set the full mizen sail on its entirely separate mast.

Nick is a huge help in all this.

We are down to about 4.5 knots, plus a bit of surface current and sailing well off the wind. The boat is becoming a bit of steam bath, threatening the return of the prickly heat. Although we shall now take a week or more longer to reach Capetown, one of the advantages of reaching the senility of 65 years is that I am a little numbed to the pricks of humiliation to my puffed up pride. It was not always so!

The aim is "To prevent the needless slaughter of the albatross".


Keep on truckin'.


Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 4 September 2003

Day: 41

Local time: 1200

Leg Number and name: Leg 2, 'The Yellow-nosed'

Focus of leg: The long-line fishing industry - its global
impact on the albatross population


Position - Latitude, Longitude: 06.32'S, 23.42'W

Position relative to nearest land: 660 nm east of Recife, NW Brazil

Course: 195 M

Speed: 6.2 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 140 miles

Distance traveled since last port: 2,256 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 4,382 nm

Headed to: Capetown, South Africa

Distance to next port: approx 2,860 miles (Great Circle route from present location, we'll sail further to make the most of Trade Winds and Westerlies)


Barometric pressure: 1032

Wind direction: SE F5

Wind Speed: 20 knots

Cloud cover: 5%,

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 27.5C

Sea conditions: Beating south into moderate sea and fair swell from SE.

Bird sightings: Shearwaters are still flying with us.

Notes: A trying night. Inky black, 10/10 cloud cover and wind gusting to 30 knots. In all the 27 years with this boat we have never been constrained for speed, usually we weren't going fast enough! Now we have to throttle back and it doesn't suit.

We are presently making 2 degrees south each day, while conditions are good for making three. We are 41 days out from Ardmore and if the mast holds I can see another 26 before we see Capetown.

I feel assailed. A good man would relish the challenge. Anyway...

Now, what about the Albatross? He's not showing his shiny beak up this way. But we did have over 100 Shearwaters around us and one or two Storm Petrels at 0930 this morning, just after a white Asian fishing vessel crossed our stern NW-SE at about 1 nm. It was smothered in aerials and domes but did not respond to our call on Channel 16. The name was 3 words, perhaps the central one was Chang, the funnel blue.

Three quarters of an hour later we passed a red buoy with an aerial.
Perhaps they were fishing for tuna. No sign of mitigating measures to
prevent seabird by-catch, and plenty of birds all around.

We are on the high seas, fishermen can pretty much do as they please. Whenever I have been down here, over the past six decades, there have been these white Asian fishing vessels, though less sophisticated than nowadays.

At home, when the lobster men come in to lay their fleets of creels, they say 'I know there are very few left, but if I don't take them, somebody else will. So it might as well be me!'.

The disasters of the Newfoundland Grand Banks, the Barents Sea and the North Sea are soon forgotten.

Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 5 September 2003

Day: 42

Local time: 1200

Leg Number and name: Leg 2, 'The Yellow-nosed'

Focus of leg: The long-line fishing industry - its global
impact on the albatross population

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 08.20'S, 24.32'W

Position relative to nearest land: 600 nm east of Recife, NW Brazil

Course: 235 M

Speed: 5.3 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 120 miles

Distance traveled since last port: 2,376 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 4,502 nm

Headed to: Capetown, South Africa

Distance to next port: approx 2,825 miles (Great Circle route from present location, we'll sail further to make the most of Trade Winds and Westerlies)

Barometric pressure: 1032

Wind direction: SSE F5

Wind Speed: 20 knots

Cloud cover: 2%,

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 27.1C

Sea conditions: Beating SSW across full Trade Wind swell, many white caps.

Bird sightings: Shearwaters, Stormy Petrels, Terns.

Notes: A rather more trying night for Nick. Hugely experienced, (read his background on H2G2), he was on watch alone at 0530 when he found himself becalmed between two black clouds. He pulled on a rain jacket, fearing something unusual, uncoupled the wheel from the trusty Monitor windvane self-steering system and braced himself, steering by hand in the darkness. He was just in time. A wall of rain hit him and the wind shrieked up to what the electronic trip recorded as 43 knots. Nick was able to run off downwind. Three more squalls followed in quick succession.

When Marie Christine and I came on watch at 0600 we helped him reduce sail and set the boat up to sail on the new wind which is pushing us a little more out to westward.

We'd had a lucky escape. If this situation had happened earlier in the night, when 'Rie' was alone on watch between two and four in the morning, things might not have turned out so happily as she would not have had time to call Nick, who was next on watch.

I fished out the old brass bell on its length of plaited line. All she has to do now is to ring it vigorously. It should wake someone!

At 0715, with things in order once more, John Boyce of Hood Yacht Spars called on the Sat phone as arranged by email through Richard Creasey. it was quite an event as it was only our second call in 42 days, and it was reassuring to hear from John who told us he had been in touch with David Cooper of Holman Pye, who had designed the boat. They are both in agreement that we have the correct rigging, It is just that the swages have failed on the wire ends, below the lower spreaders on the mast.

We have done all the bracing we can. While 4 of 19 strands broken is not good, it looks as if we have stabilised the situation and we are sailing at well under full power.

I reflect on how heavily strengthened the boat is and where it has taken us in the past. This whole rig including the mast was fitted new in 2000, specifically to sail round the world. There are always set backs. Be of good heart...etc. Meanwhile the old ship ploughs on SSW and we try a little dogged persistence.

A new bird arrived today. I was hoping for a Scarlet Tailed Tropic Bird but it turned out to be a large white Tern with a
short forked tail, black head and black wing tips. It didn't stay long. Shearwaters still persist around us and the occasional Storm Petrel. But
how I long to see the first albatross steer across
our horizon.

Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 6 September 2003

Day: 43

Local time: 1200

Leg Number and name: Leg 2, 'The Yellow-nosed'

Focus of leg: The long-line fishing industry - its global
impact on the albatross population

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 10.13'S, 25.43''W

Position relative to nearest land: 540 nm east-south-east of Recife, NW Brazil

Course: 197 M

Speed: 6.2 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 135 miles

Distance traveled since last port: 2,511 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 4,637 nm

Headed to: Capetown, South Africa

Distance to next port: approx 2,809 miles (Great Circle route from present location, we'll sail further to make the most of Trade Winds and Westerlies)

Barometric pressure: 1032

Wind direction: SSE F6

Wind Speed: 25 knots

Cloud cover: 2%,

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 27.1C

Sea conditions: Beating SSW across big Trade Wind swell, many white caps, a bumpy ride under half rolled up No 2 Yankee, Staysail with 2 rolls in, Mainsail rolled into mast so head is down to 2nd spreaders, no mizen sail. Sailing under Monitor windvane except during frequent squalls at night.

Bird sightings: Shearwaters plus one Blue-nosed Booby.

Notes: Now we are 10 degrees South of the Equator we feel the Yellow-Nosed Albatross is somewhere up ahead, maybe 1,200 miles, but still we are now in the same Ocean. It was planned for Pierre Pistorious to fly from Capetown to Tenerife to join us, as our resident albatross expert, for this Leg from the Canaries to Capetown. Sadly he was unable to to make the trip and by then it was too late to find a replacement.

Never mind, the trip is really Capetown-Capetown we told ourselves, "Only a minor setback". And a minor setback it is – for us. But maybe not for the Albatross - time is running out for the poor old bird.

We have now passed two Asian trawlers. No sign of any 'mitigating' gear to prevent the by-catch of sea birds on either. But who's checking anything out here?

We have many books on the subject of the Albatross aboard, but the best summary of the mortal danger it faces is contained in a 14-page booklet, easily read in half an hour. It's called 'Conservation through Co-operation' and is published by the NZ Dept of Conservation. To get a copy email Janice Molloy, [email protected], or write to her at Dept. of Conservation, PO Box 10-420, Wellington, NZ. Tell her you are following the John Ridgway Save the Albatross Voyage and that we should be into Wellington for Christmas and we look forward to meeting her then. We feel sure that international co-operation is the best way to ensure the survival of the mighty bird which has graced the oceans almost forever.

Why should our generation exterminate it?

Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 7 September 2003

Day: 44

Local time: 1200

Leg Number and name: Leg 2, 'The Yellow-nosed'

Focus of leg: The long-line fishing industry - its global
impact on the albatross population

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 12.27'S, 26.19''W

Position relative to nearest land: 720 nm East of Salvador, Brazil.

Course: 175 T

Speed: 5.7 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 140 miles

Distance traveled since last port: 2,651 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 4,777 nm

Headed to: Capetown, South Africa

Distance to next port: approx 2,760 miles (Great Circle route from present location, we'll sail further to make the most of Trade Winds and Westerlies)


Barometric pressure: 1032

Wind direction: SSE F6

Wind Speed: 25 knots

Cloud cover: 20%,

Surface sea temperature: 26.7 C

Sea conditions: Still beating SSW across big Trade Wind swell, many white caps, a bumpy ride under half rolled up No 2 Yankee, Staysail with 2 rolls in, Mainsail rolled into mast so head is down by 2nd spreaders, no mizen. Sailing under Monitor windvane except during frequent squalls at night. Max gust last night 47 knots.

Bird sightings: Occasional Shearwater.

Notes: The 44th day, its Sunday and as always, Nick is saying. "How's the Log coming along?". Well, it isn't. It's very bumpy, thewind has been SE 25 knots for days now and at nights it goes up to more than 40 knots in the rain squalls.

It's Sunday and we're being thrown all over the place, it's a day of rest and it's hopeless trying to write.

Marie Christine made corn fritters for lunch and we had coffee for the first time in 44 days. MC made proper coffee and we both had it strong and black with much sugar, to remind us of our dear daughter Isso, who we found in the jungles of Peru 17 years ago where they drink enamel mugs of home grown coffee in this way.

The effect of the coffee and the number of Broken Biscuits I ate enabled me to tackle the sorting and packing of my kit. It's been in a complete jumble ever since we left home. It had to be done, it's getting cooler and warmer stuff is needed for night watches.

The draft of the Save the Albatross Petition has arrived for our approval. I think it's going to be run on the Internet around
the world. Hopefully, if we can get enough signatures, I will fly from the boat in the Azores in June next year, to present the Petition to the United Nations in Rome. I'll come up with the details so please get all your friends to sign it. It would be truly wonderful if after all, together we really did manage 'To Prevent the Needless Slaughter of the Albatross'.

"Nick - I've finished the Log, I'll do the rest of your watch while you type it and send it by Iridium (at £1 a minute – it would be much better if you could send it by SailMail, which is free, but doubtless you won't be able to get through)".

Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 8 September 2003

Day: 45

Local time: 1200

Leg Number and name: Leg 2, 'The Yellow-nosed'

Focus of leg: The long-line fishing industry - its global
impact on the albatross population

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 14.22'S, 26.49''W

Position relative to nearest land: 700 nm East of Salvador, Brazil.

Course: 185 T

Speed: 6.2 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 120 miles

Distance traveled since last port: 2,771 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 4,897 nm

Headed to: Capetown, South Africa

Distance to next port: approx 2,718 miles (Great Circle route from present
location, we'll sail further to make the most of Trade Winds and Westerlies)

Barometric pressure: 1033

Wind direction: ESE

Wind Speed: 25-58 knots

Cloud cover: 90%,

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 25.8 C (cooling down now)

Sea conditions: Now on tight reach across big Trade Wind swell, many white caps, with frequent vigorous rain/wind squalls. Sailing under 2/3 rolled up No 2 Yankee, Staysail with 2 rolls in, Mainsail rolled into mast so head is down by 2nd spreaders, no mizen. Sailing under Monitor windvane except during frequent squalls. Max gust last night 58.9 knots.

Bird sightings: Occasional Shearwater.

Notes: The battle has begun. A little sooner than we hoped. Luckily the massive bracing with a 3-fold purchase of 16mm Yankee sheet makes the mast at least look very solid.

We're sailing 100 degrees off an Easterly wind so we are heading almost South, sometimes a little to the East. The squalls have merged into rather a lot of strong wind. The wind speed recorder showed 59.98 knots of true wind as the biggest gust last night. 'Rie' is finding it something of a little test alone at the wheel at night but she has got into the hang of ringing the brass handbell when her nerves begin to fray. Whether she thinks it's better than the booze industry only time
will tell. She is now hand steering for two hour periods in the dark each night so there is time to think about things.

Marie Christine has started to bake bread as the weather gets cooler.

When he's not on watch Nick battles away at the communication systems. He spends hours trying to get through on Sailmail, (Data over HF radio), through Belgium, but he's not been able to send a message this month so far and we know we have messages waiting to be delivered, some waiting for days. Pity we didn't have time to do more trials with it before we left. I think when (hopefully) we reach Capetown, the local ICOM man will find a fault somewhere in the set up, otherwise it's been a waste of £4,000.

So we send this email Log to the BBC each night via Iridium, but this costs £1 a minute and the £4000 spent on the ICOM would have bought us 4,000 minutes on Iridium.

As old Rockefeller muttered when the US government ruled he had to break up his Standard Oil, "Ain't life a damm!"

Looking through our logs for the 203 day non-stop round the world trip with Andy Briggs in 1983, (in this same boat), I see we saw our first Albatross soon after 20 degrees South, that could be in just four days or so. At the moment it is just the occasional Shearwater and it's a very 'sidey' life, as Isso would say, if she were sitting here with us. It's like a switchback but we are getting there. Down here of course it's like early March would be in the northern hemisphere.

Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 9 September 2003

Day: 46

Local time: 1200

Leg Number and name: Leg 2, 'The Yellow-nosed'

Focus of leg: The long-line fishing industry - its global
impact on the albatross population


Position - Latitude, Longitude: 16.30'S, 27.06''W

Position relative to nearest land: 2,400 nm west of St Helena

Course: 191 T

Speed: 4.9 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 135 miles

Distance traveled since last port: 2,906 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 5,022 nm

Headed to: Capetown, South Africa

Distance to next port: approx 2663 miles (Great Circle route from present
location, we'll sail further to make the most of Trade Winds and Westerlies)


Barometric pressure: 1035

Wind direction: ESE

Wind Speed: 20 knots

Cloud cover: 15%,

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 25.8 C

Sea conditions: Still on tight reach across big Trade Wind swell, many
white caps, with occasional vigorous rain/wind squalls.Sailing under 2/3 rolled up No 2 Yankee, Staysail with 2 rolls in, Mainsail rolled into mast so head is down by 2nd spreaders, no mizen. Sailing under Monitor windvane except during frequent squalls. Max gust last night 34 knots.

Bird sightings: Occasional Shearwater.

Notes: How I hate getting up in the middle of the night to go on watch! I always hated it. Now in later years, I hate it even
more. It reminds me of all the bumps and bruises I've ever had. The torn shoulders, the disc taken from my back 25 years ago
and its accompanying numb left leg, the long shot knees, the over stretched Achilles, the ears that won't hear and the eyes
that won't see, and now a stye over the right one.

At the start of this voyage of rueful self discovery, it looked as if the doddery Chieftain of the Durness Highland Gathering would be unable to rise from his bed - I just couldn't reach across the
aisle to grasp the rail beneath the window into the centre-cockpit. I suppose I was grinning as I belly-flopped onto the deck and hauled myself into a sitting position to dress the sorry sea-sick frame.

Last night there were three grim 'wake-ups'. the first at 2300 was
organised by my wife of 40 years. Having battled with the levers and knobs necessary to crank up the Heads to have a pee, then haul
on the waterproof kit necessary for steering through the squalls, I negotiated the rails of the Generator on my way to the rocky rolly Galley, thinking black thoughts.

Then up ahead, as bloody always, a familiar female voice from up in the Doghouse called down. "I'm awfully sorry, I've called
us an hour early!".

Mutter, mutter. Of course it's impossible to go back to sleep for 50
minutes. But it wasn't. Waking up at midnight was a perfect duplicate of the earlier dress rehearsal. It was blowing 32 knots and we shortened the mainsail. And 0600 was no better.

But it was a perfect night. Crystal sky,diamond stars, full moon. How could anyone lie-abed?

17 degrees south and soon we'll see an albatross. Soon. It's eleven years since I last saw one from the boat. But we did visit the Royal Albatross Colony in Dunedin in NZ four years ago.

Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 10 September 2003

Day: 47

Local time: 1200

Leg Number and name: Leg 2, 'The Yellow-nosed'

Focus of leg: The long-line fishing industry - its global
impact on the albatross population

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 18.20'S, 27.19''W

Position relative to nearest land: 160 nm NE of Ilhas Martin Vas by Ilhas Die Trinidade (South Atlantic)

Course: 148 T

Speed: 5.2 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 100 miles

Distance traveled since last port: 3,006 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 5,122 nm

Headed to: Capetown, South Africa

Distance to next port: approx 2,593 miles (Great Circle route from present location, we'll sail further to make the most of Trade Winds and Westerlies)

Barometric pressure: 1035

Wind direction: E

Wind Speed: 20 knots

Cloud cover: 25%,

Air temperature: n/a


Surface sea temperature: 25.0 C
Sea conditions: Sailing close hauled into light swell, some white caps, blue sea.

Bird sightings: No birds sighted today.

Notes: Yesterday I hauled in the 2ft long heavy black turbine, during a lull in the wind. It hasn't been spinning as forcefully as we expected. It wasn't twisting the 90ft line linked to the white generator hanging off the back of the boat. There was not sufficient vigour to make the needle jump on the ammeter dial above Nick's Communications Centre down in the Saloon.

Even at four knots of boat speed the twisting rope burnt my hands as I hauled it in. Marie Christine piled the line into the aft cockpit to avoid any chance of it snagging the rudder.

There didn't appear to be any kinks in the line and I took this to be both because we were going to windward and because we were streaming a heavier line (10mm rope in fact) than on previous trips. But as I lifted the big spinner over the stern I saw a heavy spiral of deeply scored shiny silver metal gouged out of the shaft. It looked to me as if something very big had taken a snap at the passing turbine. Whatever it was had let go pretty sharply, probably with a few broken teeth. No place to fall overboard.

At last the wind has gone round from SE to E (I think that will be veered in the Southern hemisphere). This has allowed us to head SSE toward Tristan da Cunha some 1380 miles ahead. There are plenty of albatrosses there and the people were very kind to us in 1995, when we came in to photograph a sheep dog sent out from a village near Ardmore the pevious year.

We'd really like to see them again.

Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Now go on to the next two weeks 11 September to 24 September 2003 as we continue towards Cape Town.

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