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Log Updates
Sitrep: 2354hrs 24 Mar 2005 UTC
Stanley, FI Map Ref 123
Sitrep: 1530hrs 24 Mar 2005 UTC
Stanley, FI Map Ref 123
Sitrep: 1430hrs 24 Mar 2005 UTC
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Sitrep: 1000hrs 24 Mar 2005 UTC Stanley,
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Sitrep: 1900hrs 23 Mar 2005 UTC
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Sitrep: 2000hrs 20 Mar 2005 UTC
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Sitrep: 2200hrs 19 Mar 2005 UTC
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Sitrep: 1730hrs 18 Mar 2005 UTC
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Sitrep: 2300hrs 17 Mar 2005 UTC
5141S 05749W Map Ref 123
Stephen(the web bloke): This update is a compilation of a number of
conversations and emails over the few days since Berri reached
There are two current
projects on at the moment. The first is
that Alex has discovered that the annual Falklands Islands Marathon is on this
Sunday, and so he has scammed a pair of running shoes and will run well, will
shuffle the full 42.2k just because it is there. Apparently there is a huge field 30 I
believe and ideal running conditions 7C and drizzle. Will he never learn?
The second project is
setting up a 30 min chat with the International Space Station. Astronaut Leroy Chiao
is keen to talk
with the boys about their trip so far, and they are exchanging photos. There is even some daft scheme to see if they
can photograph each other in the mid
Finally, currently departure
plans are for next Wednesday, but as with most sailing timetables, these things
are most fluid.
Some piccies (use the BACK
button to return after viewing):
Alex: The Falklands - fascinating - land of contrasts - chunks of wrecked or
modified 19th century sailing ships lying around in heaps, absolutely no
facilities for visiting yachties and I was told they try to discourage us
because some visitors have turned up and ripped off the people who were helping
them and one of the highest per capita incomes in the world from selling
fishing licences to the highest bidder. So much so that no locals have to go
fishing unless they actually feel like it.
Wonderful place - we got here in the middle of a cold windy night and
parked just inside the harbour entrance - woke to a bleak windy dawn and had an
awful day trying to get Berri parked somewhere where she would not get damaged
and was sheltered from the easterly that is still blowing.
Then Mike Harte and John Maskell-Bott, Andy Cullen and Bruce Wilkes
turned up and things started to improve - massively. JMB brought the new
generator, BW a case of guinness and some bottles - Thanks Tim - and Mike
brought his presence and advice and local knowledge and in no time at all we
were half way to being organised. And a shower at Mike's place WOOHOO. And
definitely not a B&B - Lafone Guest House is one of the best and most
welcoming places I have ever stayed in.
And then Mike told me about the marathon - the first ever in the FI and,
apart from one run at the S. Pole, I think, the southernmost anywhere and how
could anyone say no. Had to cheat to get in - entries long since closed ,and I
get no 13 - traditionally not allocated, so there's a challenge lads and
lasses. The local radio station broadcast an appeal for running shoes and HM
Govt obliged - a bit big but they'll get me round. I'm really concerned about
the cold - it's 7 degrees and windy and drizzly - but I'll get there. Don't
know how many entries but less than 30, I think.
And the ISS link up tomorrow. As I said to NASA, absolutely gobsmacking.
Cant send you Commander Leroy Chiao's photos but you'd be gobsmacked too.
Supposed to be having dinner - another long story - and will be in
trouble if I dont stop. We loves yez all.
Alex: 16:59
- 17:25 GMT, Friday, March 18th
Well, says he, overdoing the
understatement, we have just spent half an hour talking to Dr Leroy Chiao,
Commander of the International Space Station. A very low tech slow speed
operation in the charge of a couple of grizzled and smelly veterans down here
linked by similarities on the human scale to some very special technology
moving a bit faster and to a couple of courageous people right at the forefront
of their fields and of scientific research. Probably one or the most
interesting few minutes of my life. And, it seems, we will be able to try an
experiment from the south atlantic using our gigazillion candela spotlight to
find out whether Leroy and Salizhan can see us. Coool. We have exchanged some
photos and there will be more. I owe Leroy some video of a big albatross in
full endurance trim - hard to get but I'll do my best. Thanks, Leroy, for your
time and your interest.
And it was all made possible
because Malcolm Robinson took the initiative and sent an email to NASA after my
mid pacific musings about isolation and being closer to the ISS crew than any
other humans. Thanks Mal and you'd better get your Inshore ticket after that
one!.
No way to cap that, so I
won't try. More tomorrow, perhaps.
[ed: Links
to info on the ISS and Leroy. Hit the BACK button to come back here]
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/chiao.html
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/sharipov.html
http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/crew/exp10/index.html
Sydney from the International Space Station last
week
Quick update to wish all the
bashers a happy bash and we'll ring you to say g'day. That's at 0300 here, with
the marathon to follow, so it's an early night here for this kid. Today was a
touristy day - we went to Volunteer Point to visit the King penguins. The road
goes out past all the 1982 battlefields close to Stanley and then meanders
across about 15 miles af very muddy peat bog - the signpost says 'Volunteer
Point through this gate
- if unsure, please ask' and
it's then about an hour of some very serious 4 wheel driving and you'd better
know the way. We were with Patrick Watts, who knows lots of local history and
can talk about it while concentrating on keeping his wagon on all four wheels
in some difficult country.
The marathon course has a
lot more attitude than your average rather tame flat downhill all the way Oz version.
The weather has improved marginally and it may not be quite so cold but if
there is any wind and rain, it will be something of a headbang. Have Pete
organised to be out there laughing a lot and clutching various versions of The
Doctor - call it experimental - one should always do science in adversity. No
doubt there will be photos.
Roger, Wilma wrote a book
and I'm trying to get you a copy - not easy but there may be some still around.
She died a couple of years ago. More later.
Jennifer, Hi and thanks for
kind words and thanks to to everyone else - so many of you - who have written
to us. I'm sorry that events have got a bit beyond my capacity to reply to
everyone but I'm a lot less able to get to a pc than on the boat. Will try to
catch up and answer questions in the next couple of days. That is, if I survive
tomorrow.
And the day dawned overcast
and windy (it's always windy here...) and coldish - maybe 10 degrees - but not
yet raining. Second cup of tea put away I'm just off to the boat to get some
survival biscuits and feel the atmosphere and then off to the start in a couple
of hours. Pete will be wandering the course with appropriate sustenance and
he's off to the fresh fruit and veg market to provision us for the next 70
days. We have to get diesel and water on board too and do some limited shopping
and then it's go when the weather looks reasonable.
Steve and Malcolm, tomorrow
I will post cd's with photos and other files - you might need a copy of Airmail
to read some of them so I will include an early version. Marc Robinson could
perhaps advise (prep. document). Track data to Simon @ digiboat pse.
Isabella, video minidiscs
and windows software also posted tomorrow. Hilary might be able to find the mac
disc if it exists - it will be in the box on the downstairs desk and is called
Image Mixer for Sony DVD handycam for Mac. But may not have had one in the kit.
It was great to talk to all
y'all at the Bash even if it was in the middle of the night. We miss you guys.
[a little later
]
Just had a look - there's a
25 knot headwind for about the middle 30 k and it has started to rain. Oh
whooopeee dooo. And the course winds its way between leftover minefields from
1982. No different from your average
headbanger. Off to the start.
First, some answers and homework - to Annie and David, the Pippin mob,
thanks for your message. Your supply of The Doctor lasted us all the way here
and sustained us in adversity and rejoicing - thanks.
WJR - glad you're still out there - and thanks for your kind words -
also sustaining.
Brian and Jen in Dunedin, it's about as much as I can manage at the
moment to keep the stream of consciousness stuff going without having to put it
into something formal like an article. You have my full permission to use any
material from the website in your newslatter including photos as long as you
quote verbatim - no editing - and acknowledge the source and our
copyright. Hope that helps and you
really didn't need that flagpole anyway. Please say Hi to the rest of our Otago
YC friends both at the bar and in the newslatter.
And the
Nice touch at the end - no finishers medal but you get a space blanket
and a Mars bar. Thanks to Sally, the
dentist, who sorted the hacksaw edge on my front teeth during the week and who
took me seriously just before half way and ran after me with a Mars bar. Good
for trade, I suppose, but just what I needed. And thanks to the lady who lent
me her own gloves as I came back down the same hill in the biting wind. The
wind in some places was so strong that I could hardly move forwards. And thanks
to Pete, who delivered The Doctor close to the end. I spent some of the idle
hours trying to calculate how far Leroy and Salizhan would have travelled in
the ISS in the time I was out on the course, but the brain was too mushy and
failed to deliver. Anyone care to try?
The winner, Hugh Marsden (?), who has run in the Commonwealth Games, ran
about 3.09, way out in front and not challenged.
We're still looking at Wednesday for departure - depends on how fast we
can get the various supplies we need actually on to Berri.
This was going to be a 'here we go again' update but not quite - we've
postponed the dockside party until tomorrow morning because we still have a bit
of stowing and shopping to do. The wind has changed to the NW and there's a big
high sitting splot in the middle of the
The
Another silly memory from Sunday's toil over the hills - there are a lot
of military personnel here and there were a few running, with many of their
oppos out there rooting for them. As an old geezer with grey locks dangling
dank around my ears, I probably stood out a bit, but they all called me Sir.
Odd really - haven't been called sir ever since about 1964 and to be encouraged
in a marathon by loud cries of 'Come on, Sir - you're looking good' in broad
Geordie and Scouse is novel and surprising when the brain is basically non
functional - do they really mean me??
Hi Cyril - not too many leaves to burn out here! And Graham H and Kris
and AlexL and Mick and Rob. Kris, I like excontinence - excontinent is just how
one feels at the end of 42k. Or, I suppose, when the cat leaves home.
We have just about got
everything oo to Berri and expect to be able to leave later today. Just fresh
bread and some eggs to get.
And today is Hilary's mums
90th birthday - it's a big year for big birthdays - Happy Birthday, Olive.
We're thinking of you.
Looks like a nice day out
there - northerly wind forecast so not ideal but we'll just have to go with
what we get.
Next one from sailmail, I
hope.
Sadly, it's all gone rather
pearshaped. 40+ knot wind came up during the night, long before forecast,
blowing Berrimilla directly on to the jetty and making big swell so we are
trying to hold her off and limit the damage. Not safe to try and drive her out
- too close to rocks if it goes wrong, and it could, very easily. Just hanging
in there for what may well be a very long day.
Will keep you posted.
We are taking it in turns to
babysit the boat - I'm now sitting at the nav table with the laptop, just like
old times with the wind howling in the rig and bouncing up and down, but this
time we are very much alongside. It seems survivable although extremely
uncomfortable, and the gel coat on the starboard side, plus most of Berri's
nice teak toe-rail, will never be the same. Luckily, we have been able to
borrow some ship-sized fenders and we have them up against the three big
tractor tyres that hang from the jetty. Because of the swell, they tend to work
their way up and out from between boat
and tyre and we have to push the boat out and jam them back in. Not easy, in
constant 40 knots. Our own fenders are far too puny for the job and are just
about useless. We have two huge aft springs holding the boat, and a skinny 6mm
spectra halyard line going 50 metres across to another jetty to hod the bows out.
The boat is lying to those 3 lines, most of the time. Dead low water, and not
sure how things will work as the tide rises. We are stuck here until it abates,
probably late tonight, and we will have to sleep on the boat to make sure she
stays safe.
So I am not sure exactly
when we will get away. We must co-ordinate departure with Customs and I am
about to call them to ask whether we can clear and then leave when the wind
drops.
Penguin news is on the
streets, with the
Article in the Times of Malta: http://www.timesofmalta.com/core/article.php?id=180930&hilite=Whitworth
With thanks to Natalino
Fenech, a journo friend of Berri in
What a day. I think we have
preserved Berri more or less undamaged and the wind has finally abated a bit.
It was blowing 45-50 for most of the day and for a lot of that, blowing Berri
directly on to a big rubber tractor tyre with about a metre and a half swell so
no way to control anything much. About 15 degrees of hell too, which didn't
help. Late in the afternoon, Paul, Owen, Mike and the FIC launch turned up and
we set it all up so that they could hold us into wind as we ferry glided about
40 metres across to the lee side of a floating jetty. Pretty hairy manoeuvre
but we got there and Berri is now not snug but at least relatively safe - touch
wood. Thanks guys.
I have some photos but I'm
too stuffed to work through download at the mo - just need to get to bed. If
the forecast wind change arrives, we will clear customs at 0930 local tomorrow
and be out of here. Sad but necessary.
Will try to get photos done early in the morning but no promises at this stage.
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