Leg 3: Cape Town to Melbourne (Cont)

Date: 22 November 2003

Day: 120

Local time: 1200 GMT+6

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

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

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 47.04'S 81.o4'E

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

Speed: 8.2 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 155 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 3,372 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 11,372 miles

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 2,648 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great
Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).

Barometric pressure: 1010

Wind direction: NW

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

Cloud cover: 100%, visibility poor

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 9.6 C

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

breaking waves with cross swell to add to the confusion.


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



Notes: Not a lot to say. three points -



1. 40 years since Kennedy assassination.

2. England won Rugby World Cup.

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



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



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



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



Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 23 November 2003

Day: 121

Local time: 1200 GMT+6

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

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

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 47.01'S 87.42'E

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

Course: 072 T

Speed: 8.2 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 135 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 3,507 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 11,507 miles

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 2,513 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further).


Barometric pressure: 1000

Wind direction: WSW

Wind Speed: Force 9 (41-47 knots)

Cloud cover: 100%,

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 9.0 C

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


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



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



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



Three hurdles ahead appear rather tall just now:



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


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


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

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



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



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



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



Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 24 November 2003

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

"For Mr Gale and Mr Squalls,

and Mr Frost and Mr Snow -

and Messrs Sleet and Hail and Blow.

I've mail for Berg and Storm and Grey.

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

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

(As ever proud and haughty),

"I know where all those blighters live -

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

Date: 25 November 2003

Day: 123

Local time: 1200 GMT+7

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

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

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 46.16'S 94.20'E

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

Course: 054 T

Speed: 4.5 knots

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

..
Barometric pressure: 998

Wind direction: WSW

Wind Speed: Force 3 (7-10 knots)

Cloud cover: 50%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 9.0 C

Sea conditions: Moderate, becoming light.


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



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

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

oilskins weighed a sodden ton.



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

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

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

1,000 miles short of Melbourne?)

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

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

Blimey!



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

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



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

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

endles sea.



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

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

the islands through fog and tempest.



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

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

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

came at a bad time.



Into the mist...

John Ridgway

Date: 26 November 2003

Day: 124

Local time: 1200 GMT+7

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

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

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 45.28'S 98.04'E

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

Course: 082 T

Speed: 7.2 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 155 nm

Distance traveled since last port: 3,927 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 11, miles

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 2,098 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great Circle route, we will not go so far South and will therefore have to sail further)

Barometric pressure: 1009

Wind direction: W

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

Cloud cover: 100%,

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 10.5 C

Sea conditions: Reaching across moderate to rough sea.


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



Notes: Trying to ginger us up.



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



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



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



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



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



JR

(El Hypo Critter)



"The youth of today they've no pride,

grooming and manners have taken a slide.

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

That mutt Igor and his friends,

They're to blame.


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



(with apologies to John Williams, 1988)



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



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



Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 27 November 2003

Day: 125

Local time: 1200 GMT+7

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

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

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 45.06'S 100.59'E

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

Course: 104 T

Speed: 4.6 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 125 miles

Distance traveled since last port: 4052 nm

Total distance from Ardmore: 12,052 nm

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

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

Barometric pressure: 1012

Wind direction: WNW

Wind Speed: Force 4 (11-16 knots)

Cloud cover: 50%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 11.3

Sea conditions: Light


Bird sightings: 5 White chinned Petrels, 1 Prion.



Notes:



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



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



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



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



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



Into the mist....John.

Date: 28 November 2003

Day: 126

Local time: 1200 GMT+8

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

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

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 44.55'S 104.19'E

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

Course: 075

Speed: 6.4

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 145

Distance traveled since last port: 4,197

Total distance from Ardmore: 12,497

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

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

Barometric pressure: 1003

Wind direction: SW

Wind Speed: Force F8, 34-40 knots

Cloud cover: 100%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 11.5C

Sea conditions: Rough and very confused.

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


Notes:



Hello,


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



We have two automatic steering systems:



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

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



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



Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 29 November 2003

Day: 127

Local time: 1200 GMT+8

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

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

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 44.30'S 107.32'E

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

Course: 078

Speed: 6.0

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 140

Distance traveled since last port: 4,337

Total distance from Ardmore: 12,337

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

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

Barometric pressure: 1020

Wind direction: SW

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

Cloud cover: 100%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 11.5C

Sea conditions: Lumpy but gradually settling


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



Notes:


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



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


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



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




into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 30 November 2003

Day: 128

Local time: 1200 GMT+8

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

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

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 44.14'S 110.22'E

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

Speed: 6.2 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 120

Distance traveled since last port: 4,457

Total distance from Ardmore: 12,457

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

Distance to next port: Approx 1,577 nautical miles (nm) (Direct Great Circle route, we will not go so far South and will
therefore have to sail further).

Barometric pressure: 1023

Wind direction: W

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

Cloud cover: 50%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 12C

Sea conditions: Broad reach over light to moderate sea.

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



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



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




into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 1 December 2003

Day: 129

Local time: 1200 GMT+8

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

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

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 43.28'S 113.39'E

Position relative to nearest land: 640 miles south of Perth

Course: 046

Speed: 7.0 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 145

Distance traveled since last port: 4,602

Total distance from Ardmore: 12,457

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

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

Barometric pressure: 1014

Wind direction: W

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

Cloud cover: 10%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: 12C

Sea conditions: Running before rough sea, moderating.

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



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



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

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



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



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



We walked straight into the ambush!



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



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



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




into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 2 December 2003

Day: 130

Local time: 1200 GMT+8

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

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

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 42.46'S 115.47'E

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

Course: 103 T

Speed: 3.5 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 100

Distance traveled since last port: 4,702

Total distance from Ardmore: 12,702

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

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

Barometric pressure: 1025

Wind direction: SW

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

Cloud cover: 0%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: n/a

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Into the mist....


John Ridgway

Date: 3 December 2003

Day: 131

Local time: 1200 GMT+8

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

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

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 41.35'S 118.45'E

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

Course: 062 T

Speed: 6.5 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 155

Distance traveled since last port: 4,857

Total distance from Ardmore: 12,857

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

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


Barometric pressure: 1025

Wind direction: WNW

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

Cloud cover: 50%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: n/a

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

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



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



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


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



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



into the mist...


John Ridgway

Date: 4 December 2003

Day: 132

Local time: 1200 GMT+8

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

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

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 41.50'S 121.43'E

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

Course: 110 T

Speed: 5.1 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 133

Distance traveled since last port: 4,990

Total distance from Ardmore: 12,990

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

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

Barometric pressure: 1028

Wind direction: WSW

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

Cloud cover: 10%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: n/a

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

Bird sightings (At 1200): 1 x Wandering Albatross



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



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



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



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



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



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



Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Friday 5 December 2003

Day: 133 (This Leg Day 43)

Local time: 1200 GMT+9

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

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

Position - Latitude, Longitude: 41.38'S 122.58'E

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

Course: 085 T

Speed: 2.4 knots

Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 62 miles

Distance traveled since last port: 5,052

Total distance from Ardmore: 13,052

Headed to: Melbourne, Australia

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

Barometric pressure: 1028

Wind direction: WSW

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

Cloud cover: 10%

Air temperature: n/a

Surface sea temperature: n/a

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



Into the mist...


John Ridgway

Now go on to the next two weeks 6-14 December 2003 as we head for Melbourne.

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