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2-13. Equator-Cape Town
Track
Logs ( 124 )
By Berrimilla on November 3, 2009, at 0610 UTC
Topic(s): Things that worked Position 1900/2nd 0050 02357
Things you learn out here – tricks of agility and dexterity – in pearshapedness, Berri may rise and fall rather violently as much as 30 feet in seconds, while at the same time rolling, pitching and yawing often in jerks – classic corkscrew motion accompanied by appropriate crashing, sloshing, creaking, howling blasts. Outside, you can see it all happening and you brace instinctively often without even needing to hold on by hand. For instance, it's relatively easy even under those conditions to time it carefully and get from the cockpit to the foredeck perfectly in tune with the boat with quick hand over hand swaps – never, unfortunately, in tune with your tether, but that's another story and something else you learn. Inside, no frame of reference and you learn to feel and listen to the boat and again, instinctively, almost always get it right when moving around. I've got lots of scars to show the exceptions however. One of the things that really works inside is the system of fully weight bearing hand holds and you can find them in the darkest of nights. And dexterity – I can hold almost my full weight against one of those hand-holds with 3 fingers of one hand while the pinky delicately holds a couple of Sao (cream cracker) biscuits against the palm without breaking them on the way to the cockpit. Sometimes though, you wish that evolution had delivered about 46 prehensile toes plus nose and a tail.
And in those conditions you can't eat pasta or anything really even from one of Berri's elegantly appointed dogbowls without getting food down your front. Just been trying to get the results of a recent blow out of a couple of T shirts. Nope! Not nohow.
Last night Mintaka did its thing at almost the right moment too except that there was a cloud in the way. Mintaka, for those that asked, is the leading star in Orion's belt.
Other things that really work – Chefsway Dried Meals from Hobart – Onya and thanks Nathan. We took lots on the first voyage as backup and didn't need them and ate a lot at home. This time we took 30 through the NW Passage again without needing them but Pete and I have decided to alternate them with the usual sludge from cans on this leg as a bit of a treat. All now well past their use-by date but still much better than anything else we have.
I'll try to do a 'what works/doesn't work/what we've learned' bit every few blogs. Sometimes I find myself writing things that I'm sure I've done before – if it becomes a habit, someone tell me please. None of this 'Hallo Fishy' Hallo Fishy' 'Hallo Fishy' old fart stuff if you please.
By Berrimilla on November 3, 2009, at 1810 UTC
0700/3rd position 0134 02408 trip 92/24
Still tracking westwards – partly because we are still in the westerly setting South Equatorial or the South Sub Tropical Currents – they divide around about here and as we get further south, the South Sub Tropical will start to take us south down the South American coast. Ilhas Martin Vaz is at 20 S 29 W and I think we will probably pass quite close to the east of it. Sydney is at about 154 E so from Martin Vaz we will have 183 degrees of longitude to sail – a smidge over half the world and we will ignore great circles for the sake of a good story.
I gather the pissing-in-the-wind blast of squall, rain and lightning that I described some days ago made it into the Fitz Files in the Sydney Morning Herald. My Everest is scaled! Further down this fishpond we should also pass quite close to Tristan da CunhaA remote volcanic group of islands in the south Atlantic Ocean. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world. Tristan da Cunha is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. More on wikipedia. and Pete has reminded me that last time we were in the big storm down there it lasted for 9 days, all the time over 40 knots and often gusting 60 with some of the biggest breaking waves we saw on that voyage. An indifferent destroyer of boats and psyches. Check it out in the first Berrimilla blog.
The moon is high above the masthead but dimmed and masked by high cloud. No stars. The world has no colour, only form and density and diffident sparkle under the moon. The sea is relatively gentle – SE swell, perhaps 2 metres, rolling not steep and Berri is flowing – 12 knots of breeze and about 4 over the ground – there's about 1.5 kts against us for a bit yet. We haven't adjusted the sheets or KevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others for 24 hours – noiceAlexism for quite a lot of things which taste good or are going especially well!
I think I may have the glimmer of a work around for the recalcitrance of this radio. Marc is checking with Icom and time will tell. I'll post the idea if it keeps it alive for a week or so.
By Berrimilla on November 3, 2009, at 2014 UTC
Sometimes a simple message has the power to inspire.
Congratulations on crossing the line from all at Crosshaven Lifeboat. The
fabulous panorama you sent is now framed and hanging in all its glory in the
Ops room
stay safe
Jon Mathers
RNLIRoyal National Lifeboat Institution (UK & Ireland). Run mostly by volunteers, heroes all. Lifeboat Sea Safety Officer
Crosshaven RNLIRoyal National Lifeboat Institution (UK & Ireland). Run mostly by volunteers, heroes all. Lifeboat Station
Hugh Coveney Pier
Crosshaven
Co Cork.
Jon, Thanks! We remember you all with huge respect and affection. And, of course, think of you while we despatch every Proper Breakfast, as we’ve just done. ExaminerShe who asks awkward questions of the crew and tests them with difficult tasks. permitting, we are looking forward to cracking a Murph or 800 with you one day in front of that panorama.
Idle speculation – I wonder if any of the water we are sailing through has touched Berri’s sides ever before. There’s an anticlockwise flow in the S. Atlantic so lets assume a circle of diameter 2000 miles, giving a circumference of about 6280 miles. Say an average flow of 1 knot-- Speed: definition of speed at sea. One knot is one nautical mile per hour. The nautical mile is about 1.15 % longer than the "statute" mile used on land. A knot is about half a metre per second.
-- A knot is also the result of winding a rope around itself or another rope to make a join or a loop .
, making the round trip roughly 6280 hours or about 262 days. Doesn’t seem long enough intuitively but that means in the 4 years or so since we were here last the gyre has gyrated about 5.6 times so we are about half a revolution out of phase. But that doesn’t take into account the voyage up the fishpond from the Falklands to Falmouth through that monster storm off Montevideo where we lost the liferaft. That storm is on the first blog too, (link
IzzAlex's sister Plizz?) and there’s an analysis forming the final chapter of the 6th edition of Heavy Weather Sailing by Peter Bruce, published a couple of years ago by Adlard Coles, London. Anyway, seems there’s at least a chance the old barge is shaking hands with old molecular friends again. Maybe we’ll find bits of the liferaft as well!
Malcom, which way does Jessica plan to go? Don’t remember Minerva Reef-- As a verb – to shorten sail, to use reefing lines or other techniques to make the working part of a sail smaller and so reduce its power as the wind rises. --- As a noun, (1) the part of the sail that has been shortened, folded or rolled. May be referred to as a slab or a slab reef which is a particular way of forming a reef.
-- As a noun (2) – a bank of coral, rocks or other obstruction usually close to a shoreline and potentially dangerous to sailors.. And you’d better check my maths for the gyre!
———-
radio email processed by SailMailSailmail is the system that Berrimilla uses for email communication. It is a non-profit association of yacht owners operating a network of private coast stations in the maritime Mobile Radio Service.
for information see: http://www.sailmailSailmail is the system that Berrimilla uses for email communication. It is a non-profit association of yacht owners operating a network of private coast stations in the maritime Mobile Radio Service..com
By Isabella on November 3, 2009, at 2131 UTC
In responses to Alex’s recent Plizz: this link will take you to the life-raft sequence (All posts on topic: liferaft): http://berrimilla.com/wordpress/tag/liferaft/
The story from January 2005 to January 2006 is here (First Circumnavigation Logs):
http://berrimilla.com/wordpress/1st-circumnavigation/logbook-first-circumnavigation/
By Berrimilla on November 4, 2009, at 1826 UTC
Topic(s): Bus shelter, Conspiracy Theory 0700/4th position 0321 02423 Trip 110/24
And other matters fundamental. Berrimilla is a moving object – moving through spacetime but also moving relative to her inhabitants and quite violently at that. I’ve written about this before in the first blog – starting with the first of the bus shelterExplanation here analogies. Imagine you are sitting in a bus shelterExplanation here in Sydney or Oxford Street and a cherry-picker comes along and picks the whole thing up with you still sitting on the bench and starts to fling it up and down and around in all three dimensions. Fast and jerkily. You are braced with both hands clutching the bench, feet hard against the floor (or in Berri’s cockpit, braced against the seat opposite) shoulders rigid, spine and adjacent muscle ridges and pelvis trying hard to maintain some contact with the bench and the side of the shelter. Extraordinarily uncomfortable and your arse bones start to bore and buffet their way through your glutes – or at least that’s how it feels – and you certainly get very sore patches on the bum. Much worse if you add salt water blasting into your eyes and soaking the sore patches.
So who but an Ass would cart his arse-bone all the way out here just to have it treated with such cavalier disrespect and abandon, to coin a cliche? Actually needs careful treatment or it can get really nasty – I use betadine and savlon applied about as often as we apply other medicinal compounds to fix the disorders of the psyche and the innards.
Which reminds me of another theme of that first blog – the one based on the Great American Myth in which NASA never really got to the Moon, it was all created in a Hollywood studio – so Berrimilla was never in the Southern Ocean talking to Spacemen, it was really just a couple of Sydney deros in a bus shelterExplanation here outside Fox StudiosConspiracy Theory: the epic is simply a mock-up-boat in Fox Studios. (See also Bus Shelter) – Based on the nutty idea that NASA never reached the Moon but faked the whole thing in the Hollywood studiosConspiracy Theory: the epic is simply a mock-up-boat in Fox StudiosConspiracy Theory: the epic is simply a mock-up-boat in Fox Studios. (See also Bus Shelter) – Based on the nutty idea that NASA never reached the Moon but faked the whole thing in the Hollywood studios. (See also Bus Shelter) – Based on the nutty idea that NASA never reached the Moon but faked the whole thing in the Hollywood studiosConspiracy Theory: the epic is simply a mock-up-boat in Fox Studios. (See also Bus Shelter) – Based on the nutty idea that NASA never reached the Moon but faked the whole thing in the Hollywood studios prodding a battered laptop and creating monkey-jumble text on the internet translated by the Babelfish into Universal Language as the dead leaves blew around the shelter and the pile of beer cans and empty bottles grew and grew. So here we are again, I suppose. And now that I think about it, it was only a couple of BUs from here that we had our last conversation with LeroyLeroy ChiaoLeroy Chiao: International Space Station Commander, Expedition 10, at time Berrimilla first made contact. Bio here.: International Space Station Commander, Expedition 10, at time Berrimilla first made contact. Bio here. Chiao in the ISSInternational Space Station before he and Salizhan Sharipov departed the ISSInternational Space Station for Kazakhstan in their Soyuz module and our eventual meeting with LeroyLeroy ChiaoLeroy Chiao: International Space Station Commander, Expedition 10, at time Berrimilla first made contact. Bio here.: International Space Station Commander, Expedition 10, at time Berrimilla first made contact. Bio here. in Falmouth.
Which led to our meeting with Pascal Lee in Louisiana and his invitation to sail the North West PassageThe Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. More here. which became www,berrimilla.com/tng and here we are.
We have a bird as a passenger – too dark to try to identify it but will have a go in daylight if it stays with us – perhaps small Petrel or Shearwater. I have photos. Pete actually slowed the boat to allow it to get a foothold – see above re cherry-picker…
By Berrimilla on November 5, 2009, at 0556 UTC
1900/4th position 0415 02433 still headbanging the current and creeping westward.
A friend wrote to say that some years ago she had scattered her Aunt's ashes on the Seine in Paris and wondered how long it might take for them to get back to Boston, where she had lived. Ann, here is a whimsical adventure for her, laughing all the way – left or right into the Channel depending on the tide, up into the top of the Gulf Stream (a bit iffy, that one – cd be stuck around the British Isles for years) and on into the Arctic Circumpolar drift past Spitzbergen and eventually down through the Bering Sea into the clockwise flow of the N Pacific, down the North American coast, across the Pacific from California to the islands east of Indonesia,through Indonesia (iffffyyyy!) to the Indian Ocean, anti-clockwise down past Madagascar and into the South Circumpolar Current across the Southern Indian and Pacific Oceans, through Drake Passage past Cape Horn, NE across the Atlantic into the Benguela, up the coast of Africa, across in the Equatorial to the W. Indies and back into the bottom of the Gulf Stream past Boston. With a few probable diversions on the way! Short cut might be the Agulhas current around southern Africa and into the Benguela…Another short cut perhaps going south from the Pacific down the coast of Australia and into the South Circumpolar south of Hobart. Lots of possibilities!
By Berrimilla on November 5, 2009, at 1835 UTC
Topic(s): Birds 0700/5th position 0508 02441 trip 110/24
Almost exactly half way between the corner of S. America and Ascension Island. Progress, but slow. Wet, lumpy and uncomfortable. Arse-bone complaining to the Ass.
Nocturnal visitor returned last night – not in the bird book and just possibly a land bird – brownish all over, lighter head, dark eye patches wingspan about 40 cm long thin black beak no hooked end. It departed when I had to put the second reef-- As a verb – to shorten sail, to use reefing lines or other techniques to make the working part of a sail smaller and so reduce its power as the wind rises. --- As a noun, (1) the part of the sail that has been shortened, folded or rolled. May be referred to as a slab or a slab reef which is a particular way of forming a reef.
-- As a noun (2) – a bank of coral, rocks or other obstruction usually close to a shoreline and potentially dangerous to sailors. in and get soaked for my troubles.
It’s been said that we sem to be enjoying this one rather more than the others – probably right, no deadline, we’re going somewhere on the way, and we certainly haven’t got to the hard bit yet. I think that’s about 3 weeks away, down near Tristan and then all the way to Hobart. We’ll see – it has certainly been astonishingly easy so far and I’m sure the ExaminerShe who asks awkward questions of the crew and tests them with difficult tasks. is polishing her whip
By Isabella on November 6, 2009, at 0910 UTC
Posted by I & G in the UK.
By Berrimilla on November 6, 2009, at 1133 UTC
Topic(s): Barnacles Trade wind sailing – apart from all the tropical aspects without which I can earnestly do – is great if you are off the breeze and can ride the very lumpy sea at the optimum angle. When you are trying to keep the wind just ahead of the beam, it’s a different ballgame. Lumpy, thumpy, wet, noisy and uncomfortable. And hot! But we’re on the move.
We have been towing 40 metres of light floating line as a possible safety line if someone falls overboard. As Pete discovered last time, the generator impeller line we had trailing out the back was a powerful incentive to use his considerable swimming skill to get across and grab it. Yesterday, I looked at the bright yellow line and it seemed oddly different – I tried to pull it in and the drag was surprising but it had thousands and thousands of little barnaclesExplanation here (Wikipedia) growing on it – from a couple of millimetres to about 4cm long and so densely packed that it looked like a 40 metre bottlebrush. We spent the morning cleaning them off. They looked like baby versions of the big goose barnaclesExplanation here (Wikipedia) we sailed into Hobart with last time. My doddery eyes told me that each one had a tiny blue patch on it. How do they exist out here and how do they grab the ride?
More wild life – a couple of Trinidade Petrels. Big fishing boat a couple of days ago but no other humans air, space or waterborne. Except perhaps a laughing Aunt out here with us?
It appears from the latest GRIBWeather files.
Graphics in Binary file: GRIB files associate a specific weather datum (eg wind velocity or atmospheric pressure) with a geographic position. Because the resulting file is a collection of these points they are extremely small and so ideal over slow links such as sailmail. that the S Atlantic High is at about 25 degrees directly south. I hope it moves east so that we can cut the corner a bit. Sagittarius and the galactic centre – or where the galactic centre isn’t – clearly visible last night before the moon rose. And Mintaka satisfactorily astern.
We’ve just done some practice noon sights to get back into practice, using the Winastro package on the computer to do the sums. Considering the conditions, not bad results. Tomorrow, the MerlinMerlin calculator.
By Berrimilla on November 6, 2009, at 2046 UTC
Topic(s): Birds 0700/6th position 0705 02513 trip 123/24. Day 35 and the GPS says we’ve sailed 4144 miles. Rhumb lineSee wikipedia (Wikipedia). See also Great CircleSee here (Wikipedia). to Falmouth is 3613 but with due deference to the cursor.
Seems our little bijou res. in a plastic tube has a stalker. The bird that has been visiting us has been back foe three nights at least – too dark once again to get colours but has the wings and silhouette of a small Petrel but not the head and beak. It turns up in the dark and is gone by daylight. We have sailed nearly 400 miles since it first arrived so it must be keeping us more or less in sight during the day. I have occasionally thought that I spotted it way out in the peripheries – little brown moving speck merged into the murky dapple.
Things you learn – a week or so on the port tack is very hard work. Bijou res. this little boat may be but it’s awful short of comfy places to sit and if the cockpit is continually getting doused by crashing spray the only place, and not for long, is the cabin sole which gets pretty hard, unforgiving and cornery.
‘Nuff whingeing – we’re moving south. Rainsqualls, drenching spray and 25 knot-- Speed: definition of speed at sea. One knot is one nautical mile per hour. The nautical mile is about 1.15 % longer than the "statute" mile used on land. A knot is about half a metre per second.
-- A knot is also the result of winding a rope around itself or another rope to make a join or a loop .
gustsShort increases in wind speed – or people who signed the Gust Book. in an ‘orrible short steep jerky sea. Not a lot of opportunity for washing and powdering the self so the pit and crutch feral collection is thriving. The boot variety is just festering in the heat up in the forepeak so there will be an interesting reunion out there in the future.
Time to make a cuppa and then do the 0700 position.
I’ve lost my iridium connection from the laptop. It’s a com port problem – the computer crashes every now and again and loses its dial up connection settings for the 19200 modem but the set-up wizard then loses/doesn’t see the original com port and for some reason although the wizard says it’s connected through another port, Telnet cannot see it. Drives me absolutely raging insane but I cant fix it. Any ideas? Work around may be to use backup laptop for sailmailSailmail is the system that Berrimilla uses for email communication. It is a non-profit association of yacht owners operating a network of private coast stations in the maritime Mobile Radio Service.. Absolute PITA.
By Isabella on November 6, 2009, at 2048 UTC
Topic(s): Communications Friday 6th November, 0930 GMT (don’t know UTC), 0721S 02516W.
Alex rang to say that his Iridium internet connection has stopped
working and that Berri is at the extreme edge of possible SailmailSailmail is the system that Berrimilla uses for email communication. It is a non-profit association of yacht owners operating a network of private coast stations in the maritime Mobile Radio Service.
contact.
The message is, then, not to worry if new blogs don’t appear. He’ll
obviously be trying to make everything work again, but breath should
not be held. Appendage crossing would be very welcome, however.
This message relayed by IsabellaAlex's sister in UK.
By Berrimilla on November 7, 2009, at 0340 UTC
Topic(s): Communications FenwickA friend and clearly a colourful character – you’re a dopey old fart too – see below – thanks for the kind words but you and SarahPete Crozier's daughter picked up the guy and saved his life – nowt to do with me. Hope your boat not too damaged. Congratulations at least for having one operable grey cell at your age. Keep spreading the word – and passing the open windows.
Iridium panic over for the mo, I think. The laptop was misbehaving yesterday – seemed that it had crashed and restored itself surreptitiously. Tried iridium this morning and would not connect – that awful here-we-go-again feeling I’d almost forgotten -so I went through all the set up procedures for the dial up modem – score 1, the crash had deleted the 19200 modem completely. But the set up wizard was not seeing com-ports except the 4 from the USB to serial gizmoSome kind of gadget or other, normally infuriating – fiendish and unstable unless you kill a ball point mouse with a steam hammer – anyway, about 3 hours later, rather sweaty and grumpy, I had been back through everything I could think of and decided that Dr Murphy1- The inventor of Murphy’s Law which states (in various ways) that if something can go wrong, it will.
2- Irish beer was required at the double with restorative compounds. Restorative ? Restorative – you dopey old fart – where the hell do I find system restore in this thing? Certainly not through windows help (!) but there it was perched at the wispy end of a branch line in Accessories and I took the beast back 2 days and yeeeeehaaa! there was my 19200 modem back on com port 12 where it used to be. And it worked. Meantime I had also cranked up one of the backups and sent a test to Steve which also worked. So we should still be in business. As a non geek who is utterly brainwashed by previous failure into expecting the worst with these things, I feel just a bit chuffed.
There’s a chance the Australian Broadcasting Commission program ‘Australia all over’ will call us this Sunday, 0730 their time, 2030 tomorrow Saturday 7th UTC. The ABC does a live internet stream – I think – if anyone is interested.
Ann – I’m sure I heard cackles of laughter out there in the gloom last night. Poseidon may have a fan for his nursery jokes.
And Norm K out there in the old Queensland boonies – the Cuskelly tells me he has poisoned your mind with this guff – Vogon poetry even – and you are out there compounding the felony. G’day and glad you’re there. Write to us – send us a poem perhaps.
Carla – I think you might be right and our visitor is a young noddy – not in the book but your description fits. Almost got a photo in full flight last night. Lerizhan g’day! Re break up entry – yep – I thought the trajectory was wrong for a deliberate destruct or any normal launch. Was a goody though – white light, when they are more often yellowish. Pete is wearing his LSU Event Staff T – the pit feralsInteresting biological colonies that grow and fester in seaboots. There are left foot ferals and right foot ferals and occasionally they get to cross breed and create fierce hybrids. chattering but happy.
Things you learn – for cordon bleu cup-a-soup, add a teaspoonful of dried mashed potato. Spud is thicker than water. Erk – did I really say that?
no-footer.
By Berrimilla on November 7, 2009, at 0654 UTC
A ship – first for days. No aircraft – we are a bit far to the east of of the major routes from Europe to S America. I don't know about routes from Africa.
I think the first organised humans to come this way would have been the Portugese. Chabral was the first to reach Brazil and Bartholomeu DiasPortuguese explorer. He sailed around the southernmost tip of Africa in 1488, the first European known to have done so. More on wikipedia. followed him across and around to the Cape of Storms. Vasco Da Gama followed them and sailed on past the Cape to India. DiasPortuguese explorer. He sailed around the southernmost tip of Africa in 1488, the first European known to have done so. More on wikipedia. himself died off the Cape in a storm some time later. Da Gama crossed the S Atlantic further north than we do today and arrived somewhere off what is now southern Namibia whence he had to tack into the prevailing winds and the Benguela current to get around the corner into the Indian Ocean. Interesting – people say that those sailors must have been fearless – not so – I think that if you are fearless you are either bone ignorant or brain dead. Fear is the catalyst for courage and I dips me lid to the lot of them. I've been thinking too about how they found their way out here and I think Orion is the secret, with the Southern CrossDefining constellation in Southern hemisphere later. The lower stars are not often visible in the constant murk.
Later, of course, the Portugese Tourism and Colonisation Marketing Board gave the Cape of Storms to their Nomenclature Committee with directions to fashion the dream — sex up the Chart – to deceive the punters who were to be persuaded to follow the pioneers and colonise the new territories on behalf of the King. The Nomenclature Committee came up with the grossly misrepresentative but highly dreamy Cape of Good Hope and so it came to pass.
Pink sunset reflecting off a biggish swell and the cascading spray of our progress through it – still very uncomfortable.
By Berrimilla on November 7, 2009, at 1802 UTC
0700/8th position 0912 02535 trip 130/24
We're eating the miles, port tack 2 reefs, about a third of the heady and a nasty steep 3 metreish swell that poor old Berri has to thud through occasionally.
To continue the theme of the early navigators – once they had the knowledge that to get to the Cape, all they really had to do was follow the prevailing winds from Lisbon to the doldrumsInter Tropical Convergence ZoneInter Tropical Convergence Zone, also known as The Doldrums, also known as The Doldrums, struggle through and back on the wind again, following it around in the big arc across the S Atlantic passing north of Tristan (and as the name suggests, a Portugese sailor doing just that but perhaps a bit further south than intended actually discovered the island). And Tristan to the Cape and past the tail of the Agulhas Bank is the place where the storms are. Like us, they must have anticipated that bit of ocean with some serious trepidation. And these days, with satellite measurements, scientists are logging the 'freak' waves caused by current, long fetch swell, wind and amplification from the meeting of two wave sets. Just like the SE corner of Australia, where we got rolled ourselves. 3 big ones every 1000 sticks in the jelly of my memory and one huge one every 10,000. Googls selkirk settler for some photos.
Huge ship in the night – Pete didn't think he'd seen us so gerzillion candlepower light into the sails and he altered.
Shave and a clean T shirt if I can find one for Macca this evening.
By Isabella on November 7, 2009, at 2123 UTC
Re the gigantic waves Alex was just talking about, here is a link to some astonishing images
Story of the ship Selkirk Settler: storm photos are at the bottom:
http://www.boatnerd.com/pictures/fleet/spruceglen.htm
Here are possible explanations of gigantic waves:
http://gcaptain.com/rogue-waves-a-call-to-action/
By Isabella on November 8, 2009, at 0403 UTC
For Brits, Macca is usually Paul McCartney and I must admit I have
been puzzled as to why a former Beatle might want to speak to Alex and
Pete. Clarification came direct from the high seas this afternoon. I
now understand that for Australians, Macca is Ian Macnamara. You need
Windows Media or Real Player and the link for Ian’s programme
“Australia All Over” is here:
http://www.abc.net.au/australiaallover/
You can listen live, or to previous programmes. I will add a link if
and when it happens.
Iz in the UK
By Berrimilla on November 8, 2009, at 0603 UTC
Topic(s): Computer crashes, Washing & Toilet 1800/7th position 1006 02540, trip 4330 by GPS
This laptop has now crashed twice, inexplicably, in the last 2 days, both times destroying the iridium settings, losing com ports and who knows what else. It has recovered itself each time but not to its previous status. Restoring it to Nov 4th has so far done the trick but I now write these wondering whether I will be able to send them. Profoundly frustrating – If I were MarvinThe manically depressed robot with a “brain the size of a planet” from HHGTTGThe Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams; essential reading for those trying to understand these logs. You may be none the wiser once you’ve read it, but at least you’ll have tried. More here I’d even be depressed. And the HFHigh Frequency – usually refers to HF radio which is long range digital radio that Berrimilla used to send all but a few of the logs on both circumnavigations. The radio was connected via a Pactor 3 digital modem to Alex’s laptop and used the Sailmail software application called Airmail to send emails and pull in emails, weather and GRIB files. Airmail also supports Iridium satellite telephone messaging and Alex used this as backup when the HF radio died approaching England. radio died again a couple of hours ago too. Massive glooom. It would be wondrous to have a stable system or at least to know what the problem might be.
The ocean is that deep azure so intense that it is almost purple. Turns steel grey when the sun goes behind a cloud. Continuous series of little squalls – 25 knots max – some with splash of rain. Big swell, whitecaps 20 feet long. Grinding it out, metre by metre. About 15 k in the marathon to Cape Town. Drink stop with Dr Ingyrd at 1700, Macca if he gets around to us at 2030. I reckon about another 28 days to CT so around Dec 5th.
First day we could do any washing for at least a week – put 1 litre of freshly squeezed Atlantic into bucket with a bit of green liquid soap. Drop T shirt into liquid, wring the soapy water through it, repeat with next shirt and lastly shorts. Water becomes instantly salty and a dirty yellow colour – all the little scrofules having a party – discard water and by now breeding scrofules. Refill bucket with 1 litre freshly squeezed ocean but no soap and repeat. Hang clothes on lifelines or wherever they are out of the salt spray. Basic process, minimal use of water, gets the sweat and most of the salt out but doesn’t clean – my Ts are not pretty! But you get used to it.
We have just passed 10 deg south and will overtake the sun probably tomorrow. This means that Berri’s cockpit will become uninhabitable without some sort of shade. A beach umbrella would work – but we’ve got various bits of canvas and we’ll rig something as we go.
Not a cloud in the sky is usually a rather loose statement – but here, apart from some tiny flecks low on the horizon, it’s true. Amazing how open it looks – not used to the feeling of space – light silvery blue on the eastern horizon, deepening to hazy smokey lapis above and then down to blazing gold in the west as the sun drops out of the sky.
By Stephen on November 8, 2009, at 1427 UTC
10 minutes of great audio with Alex and Pete, and Macca from Australia’s national broadcaster, the ABC. The interview is the podcast from 8th Nov, about 4:55 into it for about 10 minutes.
Go here to hear it. [broken link]
The best bit? Macca talked to Pete, proof that he is really aboard!
By Berrimilla on November 8, 2009, at 1742 UTC
0645/8th position 1109 02544 trip 121/24
Sailing day 38 from Falmouth.
Things you learn – Macca really doesn't know who is on the other end when he says 'G'day, this is Macca!' Wonderfully typical ABC low budget production that succeeds through the appeal of the guy at the mike and the power of the tradition that the program has generated. Very Australian and no bullshit. SJ – thanks for setting it up. Hope we didn't fluff the lines!
The middle watch again, but on a night for the little box of special memories one tends to take along somewhere in the gelid vault between the ears. Almost cloudless, no moon yet. Haze, so the tiny stars that fill the gaps are there by suspicion only in the background glow. The constellations – Orion, Cassiopeia, Sagittarius, then Sirius, Canopus, Jupiter, Formalhaut – all intense and piercing and lovely. The Southern CrossDefining constellation in Southern hemisphere yet to rise. Sadly there must be generations of people in the industrialised areas of the world who have never seen the night sky – have no idea of the beauty of a star or the luminous depth of the Universe. Perhaps not just recent generations either – there is early Roman lead in the icecaps of the world.
Some of you may remember the VoANot the Voice of America, but the Viscosity of Anusol. Sophisticated and innovative system of onboard temperature assessment. Full explanation here, my whimsical indicator of first voyage latitude. 0.1 at the equator, 0.9 and you're frozen in the Arctic ice with 3 months to wait. Here it's about 0.3 and the water temp is down to 32 degrees. Manageable but the fact that it is back in the list of daily observations is an indicator in itself of the potential discomfort of Berri's passage through the moguls. I was astonished last time when I invented it at how many people jumped in and said 'wow! I'm so glad I'm not alone (would that you were!)- how bad are yours?' And so on. The freedom of knowing you can at last talk about something that is socially off limits. For the newbies, VoANot the Voice of America, but the Viscosity of Anusol. Sophisticated and innovative system of onboard temperature assessment. Full explanation here stands for the Viscosity of Anusol. Not available to Da Gama, but he seems to have worked out his latitude by other means. I wonder what he used for his piles – oil of newt? Roquefort? Bacon fat? Necromancers' unguents? Doesn't bear thinking about. Hope you enjoy your breakfasts!
Pauline, your cake has fulfilled its noble purpose – thanks! The Cake is dead! Long live The Cake! Maureen, we will unpack the quarter berth to find yours in the next day or so.
0236/8th and we've passed Cape York, half a world away.
By Berrimilla on November 9, 2009, at 0322 UTC
Another blue in perspective – hey Norm, welcome in from the maroon hots. One for you, (for everyone else, this probably only works in 1960's Australia when I first heard it so if you don't get it, don't stress) – same flight deck, this time female first officer to make it Qantas, the usual 24+ round dials on the console, levers everywhere, not too many buttons. Daggy Captain, obviously ex Fleet Air Arm, scratching his scrofular regions: 'Hey Shirl – what's good for crabs then?' First Officer, wishing the old bastard would smarten up: 'Um – Captain – I've heard that methylated spirits does the job' 'Nah! Silly bugger! That kills 'em!'
FenwickA friend and clearly a colourful character – dozy old fart in chief – kind words again but so much for the one operational grey cell – you forgot the first principle in the lesson. I'll quote you in full just to make the point:
Alex as you well know that at our age, we all walk around in a fog. but in
an emergency somthing from the past kicks in, in this case the lessons
learnt in yours and Jerry's course kicks in, so it's not a wast of time as
many think, and I have been putting that retrieval float on the boat now for
the last 22 years and that was the the first time it had been out of its
bag.
Pete you should be very proud of SarahPete Crozier's daughter she was great in the emergency, I was
very proud of her.
Alex, remember you paid for my course I do and was much appreciated
Regards Allan.
SarahPete Crozier's daughter is Pete's daughter. If you have a MOB retrieval sling on the back of your boat, it's a good idea to get it out of the bag every year just to make sure the feralsInteresting biological colonies that grow and fester in seaboots. There are left foot ferals and right foot ferals and occasionally they get to cross breed and create fierce hybrids. haven't eaten it and to get the kinks out. Your survivor was lucky. Pete will have something to say on this too – but actually, congratulations from this DOF to the three of you. Bloody well done. Did it make the papers?
Thanks to everyone who wrote about our Macca gig, especially some of you who found the website as a result. Really glad it worked – not easy from out here. We'll try to get on again every few weeks if his producer will have us. Keep writing – makes our day out here. SJ – perhaps invite her to call any time she has an empty slot.
This morning at 25.44.680 W (dd.mm.decimal mm) the wind had freed a bit and I tweaked KevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others a smidge to the east to try to stop our drift westwards and perhaps take the first step towards cutting the corner between here and Tristan. We are now at 25.43.614 so SFSG. Watch this space.
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By Berrimilla on November 9, 2009, at 0332 UTC
Topic(s): Computer crashes Seems to happen every 24 hours or so. I’ve saved the bare error report by printing the screen and after I’ve sent these I will close the thing and try with a back-up laptop. That might not work with Iridium. Us’ll see.
Frustrating just doesn’t cut it.
By Berrimilla on November 9, 2009, at 0609 UTC
Topic(s): Computer crashes Doug M – could you please send me Henry’s co-ords again? His waypointA fixed location with specified latitude and longtitude co-ordinates maintained by GPS not in backup laptop and too hard to find in archive.
One for the geeks. There’s clearly a problem between the Panasonic CF18 Toughbook and its version of XP and the driver for the USB to Serial device and Software on Board and possibly also Airmail. Once the usb gadget is connected it seems to obliterate all other com ports so unable to connect iridium. SobSoftware on Board, from Digitboat – navigation software used by Alex for both circumnavigations. operates sporadically and I think it may be the continuous data feed from the GPS and the instruments that the computer can’t handle but something must have triggered the instability. Now crashing every 24 hours or so. Not the serial ballpoint mouse – that was disabled tho it might be back.
How do I find the missing com ports? How do I troubleshoot the thing? I now have this laptop (CF18) disconnected from the USB gadget and will try to keep it talking to Airmail and iridium. SobSoftware on Board, from Digitboat – navigation software used by Alex for both circumnavigations. on one of the backups (Aspire one netbook but also have another ancient toughbook as further backup) – has already crashed once so I’m not too sanguine. Same com port problem on that one – just doesn’t show available ports in the set-up wizard for the dial up modem. Seems something is interfering with the set-up program or not releasing com ports once assigned if that makes sense.
The anguish of the ignorant plodder. Would matter less if the HFHigh Frequency – usually refers to HF radio which is long range digital radio that Berrimilla used to send all but a few of the logs on both circumnavigations. The radio was connected via a Pactor 3 digital modem to Alex’s laptop and used the Sailmail software application called Airmail to send emails and pull in emails, weather and GRIB files. Airmail also supports Iridium satellite telephone messaging and Alex used this as backup when the HF radio died approaching England. would work consistently.
By Berrimilla on November 9, 2009, at 1303 UTC
We are still creeping infinitesimally eastwards. The numbers are going down, more or less steadily and we are now about 10 miles east of my alteration this morning – a mininanopooptillionth of a pinprick in universal and even terrestrial distances. Way too early yet to know but just possible we have turned the corner for home. The flea trekking amongst the crevasses and gunk on the elephant's rump now gets the occasional glimpse of the ground.
And now into the bleak middle watch and it's the most glorious of nights – no cloud, stars right down to the horizon to the south and tonight we even have little prickles of phosphorescence to mirror the sky. Magic. Achernar to starboard and Canopus to port ahead, Jupiter low in the west. Orion and Sirius magnificent to port. Jupiter so bright it has its own light trail on the water. There is a whitish cloud to the west of Canopus – gas or dust? – same altitude. We're heading about 175M and it's dead ahead.
The numbers are still good, still creeping east. Plenty of swell and wind waves – enough to send the occasional blast of spray across the boat and I've just copped a faceful – eyes stinging from the salt.
Norm, you mentioned the boy on the burning deck – did you know he is supposed to be based on the son of one of the senior officers of the French flagship L'Orient in Aboukir Bay at the battle of the Nile? Apparently he'd been told to stand by the mast by his father who was subsequently killed and the boy kept standing there, unable to disobey an order. L'Orient vanished in a huge explosion taking the boy with it. The wreckage has been identified recently – probably googlable.
GroupamaIn this context a massive trimaran attempting a round-the-world record for the Jules Verne Trophy. They overtook us twice – once before we reached Cape Town on their first attempt which they abandoned after damaging a hull. They preceded us into Cape Town and we visited them there. They sailed back to France and set off again and overtook us way to the south before we reached Hobart. More about Groupama here (Wikipedia) 3 is away – thanks Sue – they should overtake us in about a week, but probably a bit to the east and then south – more wind – but would be awesome to see them storm past – 35 knots to our 5. If anyone is following them, please let us know where they are as they get closer. Steve has our satphone number if necessary. I have their email address and can send them our position if it looks as if they will pass close.
Val and Jill – g'day from the vast Atlantic – or the old bus shelterExplanation here – take your pick!
FenwickA friend and clearly a colourful character – forgot to ask how you hoisted the survivor on board. Useful to pass on.
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By Berrimilla on November 9, 2009, at 1313 UTC
Hi, Its Pete here this time. I’ve tried to write a few times this trip but for whatever reason it hasn’t happened. My last attempt was about 6 hours ago when after about 5 lines of text the blue screen of deathWhat happens when the computer crashes appeared.
We had an email a few days ago from an old mate Allan FenwickA friend and clearly a colourful character who sails an S&S; 34 called Morning Tide. Over the last 5 or more years he and my eldest daughter SarahPete Crozier's daughter sail to Lord Howe Island about 2 weeks after the finish of the Sydney to Lord Howe Island yacht race. Sometimes they make it there sometimes they don’t. Anyone who has done the LHILord Howe Island. LHI is situated 700 kilometres north east of Sydney. A race to from Gosford to LHI takes place every October and Berrimilla has taken part for several years - obviously not in 2005! race will tell that this is one of the most spectacular places to finish a race and because of this there are a lot of ex racers who love the place but don’t want the hassle of racing there. The solution The Lord Howe Island Cruise. A date is set for all to meet at Ned’s Beach on the North side of the island for a barbeque. A lot of the old racing boats make the trip, the crew are a generous lot and money is raised for the local primary school.
A few days ago Morning Tide left Lake Macquarie about 40 miles north of Sydney heading for the island, on board were Allan SarahPete Crozier's daughter and a friend of hers Jonathan. They were about 15 miles offshore when Allan saw an orange smoke flare set off from a large ship about a mile away. They altered course dropped the sails and motored towards the ship. After while they located a crewman in the water. Allan had attended one of Alex’s Safety and Sea Survival courses years ago and he said that’s when the information learned there kicked in. He had a MOB rescue sling on the back of the boat, it has about 50 mts. of floating line with a buoyant sling at the end. This was thrown off the stern and Allan motored in circles around the crewman till he could grab the line and get the sling under his arms. SarahPete Crozier's daughter and Jon pulled the line in and heaved the man on board.
They got him below wrapped him in a Sea Rug, gave him some warm tea with sugar and SarahPete Crozier's daughter talked to him to make sure he stayed conscious. Allan contacted the water police and then headed for Newcastle. Off the harbour entrance the water police met them and put a paramedic on board. Morning Tide continued up the river to a jetty where an ambulance was waiting for them.
The crewman had chest and back injuries from his 20 metre fall to the water and was suffering from shock and hypothermia.
Well, what can I say hats off to the three of you bloody well done. You have probably saved the man’s life its something not many people get to do and for that reason you are now special.
Al I’m not sure but I guess the cruise is off for this year, maybe next year we can get Zoe, Berri and the S&S; over there.
Best wishes Pete.
By Berrimilla on November 9, 2009, at 1855 UTC
0700/09 position 1318 02524 trip 133/24 so a good run and still east of yesterday's position.
Falmouth is 3970 miles away but that is now pretty meaningless. We have sailed 4528 miles to get here and we have 2690 miles to Cape Town in a straight line. In 30 miles, we will have a Pete Goss moment with the Talisker to celebrate 4000 miles in a straight line and then I will start looking the other way and measuring progress towards rather than away.
I've been thinking about the nature of risk since Macca asked my opinion about the Jessica phenomenon. I'm sure there is a raging debate in Australia about whether she should have been 'allowed' to go or even 'encouraged'. I don't want to buy into that one and anyway it will all have been said by someone else. Instead, I think we could play with a new word – jessication (n) to jessicate (v) – meaning the taking of potentially lethal risk for the thrill of it, or to prove one's heroism, or to break a record that perhaps does not merit the breaking. And a jessicateur might be one who encourages such endeavours. Pete and I are probably at one end of the scale – we are experienced, have been there before and can handle most of what Murphy1- The inventor of Murphy’s Law which states (in various ways) that if something can go wrong, it will.
2- Irish beer and the ExaminerShe who asks awkward questions of the crew and tests them with difficult tasks. toss at us. At the other end – I understand that statistically, for instance, attempts at the deepest under water dive on a single lungful of air are at about even money and the record is held by someone who died in a subsequent attempt. Not sure about base jumping but it must out there somewhere too.
Purely scientific risk in the same broad context but where the benefits are to humanity, not just to the risk taker don't count. For example, injecting oneself with a new vaccine to test its effect or the man who believed in his new invention sufficiently to jump from a balloon with it so giving us the parachute.
By Berrimilla on November 10, 2009, at 0029 UTC
For the non-sailors and the meteorologically challenged: the weather in the central South Atlantic tends to be dominated at this time of year by a high pressure system that is centred broadly south of St. Helena. It stretches across from the S. American coast almost to Africa and sometimes down to about 35 south at its biggest. We won't go into why it's there and definitely not into coriolis force but a high in the southern hemisphere is a system in which air descends from the upper atmosphere and radiates outward from the centre in an anti-clockwise direction. There is always a soft windless patch in the centre. That means that the wind on the western side of it blows down the S American coast from the north or north east and on the other side, up the African coast from the south. Along the southern edge, it blows from the west, roughly along latitudes 25-30 south.
It follows that to get from the NE corner of Brazil(where we were a week or so ago) across to Cape Town, it is much easier to head south or SSE down the western edge of the high and turn left or east as you get towards the southern edge, taking advantage of favourable winds all the way. If you try to take the straight line you are likely to be heading into the southerly wind on the eastern side – and also the Benguela current which flows north up the African coast. We are now trying to smooch the best course from here to the Cape by cutting the corner around the south western edge of the high but not losing the wind by getting too close to the centre. This big arc is also closer to the great circleSee here (Wikipedia) or shortest distance across.
Sailing to Australia by this route has its inherent penance. A bit like an out and back marathon, where the entire first half is sheer brain and tissue damage just getting you to the turn around point, you set out from Falmouth for Australia by going south west to get around West Africa and the effective turning point as you pass west of the Cape Verdes at about 27 W. And then you have to go a long way east to get the best angle to cross the convergence zoneInter Tropical Convergence Zone, also known as The Doldrums and the SE tradesBands of NW and SW winds either side of the equator that blow with more or less constant speed and direction all year. – a zig and a zag so far, plus another zig to get across and down to the base of the S Atlantic high which is what we are doing now. But – big but – yesterday morning I now think it safe to say, grabbing the nearest bit of wood, we made the final turn for home and we are heading SE towards Tristan da CunhaA remote volcanic group of islands in the south Atlantic Ocean. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world. Tristan da Cunha is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. More on wikipedia. and the base of the high. Yeeebloodyhaaa! And so far, nothing difficult – just 'orrible in the CZ and uncomfortable for the arse bone down here. We may still have to trek a bit west on the way, to adjust our course around the high but I think we're looking towards a very distant barn doorMetaphor for whatever we were aiming at. Derived from the saying “Couldn’t hit a barn door at five paces” used to describe anyone who can’t shoot straight. south of Hobart.
Appendages please, everyone!
By Isabella on November 10, 2009, at 0506 UTC
By Berrimilla on November 10, 2009, at 1759 UTC
0700/10th position 1526 02456 trip 133/24 2595 to Cape Town
Still a'hooningAs far as I can gather, if Berri were a horse, she’d have the bit between her teeth to be hooning, heading south along longitude 24.58 W to get down to where we hope the back of the high will be. To continue yesterday's explanation for the non-sailors, south of about 35 degrees the westerly winds begin – you're in the top of the roaring fortiesA region of westerly winds in south temperate latitudes. These are most developed south of 40°S. in the forties, a line of low pressure systems tramps around the globe at various intensities and frequency. A southern hemisphere low rotates clockwise and draws air in towards the centre – think water going down a plughole – and the closer you are to the left front quadrant of the system you are the stronger the wind. The combination of the anticlockwise high to the north and the clockwise low to the south tends to promote and intensify the westerly winds where the two meet and the trick for us is to trek along the bottom of the high and the top of the low.
More on this later – must send it and get on with ritual. Post on ritual to follow too.
By Berrimilla on November 10, 2009, at 2210 UTC
Lots of acknowledgements: Maureen, your cake has been deployed to great effect – thanks!. It will sustain us most of the way to the Cape.
Doug, thanks for Henry. He has a new waypointA fixed location with specified latitude and longtitude co-ordinates maintained by GPS and we'll get the jelly snakesNatural fruit-flavoured sweets carried on board.
out in a few days. Morro – thanks for work-around for USB thing – we use similar technique to start and try to disable or kill the serial ballpoint mouse as well – the real problem arises when the thing crashes without warning or explanation having apparently been running perfectly for days. CF18 now disconnected from USB and just running Airmail and iridium and SFSG. Daren't fiddleFiddle: a little wooden wall to stop things sliding off a flat surface with it in case I destroy iridium set up and can't restore. Will be interesting to monitor success or otherwise of toy netbook which is now doing the USB and SoBSoftware on Board, from Digitboat – navigation software used by Alex for both circumnavigations.. Basic problem there is that netbook has truncated screen and cant get Bottom edge of SoBSoftware on Board, from Digitboat – navigation software used by Alex for both circumnavigations. screen with important cursor info. But a work around for the time being. Only using it because have separate 12v charger for it – have three toughbooks of different vintage but all have to share same charger.
Norm – tks for kind words and the other bit. I think you may have read correctly between my lines. Would appreciate your keeping posts a bit shorter – half a page or so – as sailmailSailmail is the system that Berrimilla uses for email communication. It is a non-profit association of yacht owners operating a network of private coast stations in the maritime Mobile Radio Service. can only cope with 11kb at a time and Steve has to break up his sends to us. Haven't turned left yet – won't be for about a week somewhere down between 25 & 30 S
Allan – ok – you redeemed yourself! But you're still a DOF! Glad the engine works – sounds a bit like a bigger version of mine.
Chris J – Andy? Actually, I hope we don't get anywhere close enough to Tristan for VHFVery High Frequency radio. Short range radio equipment for voice and other applications such as AISAutomatic Identification System. An automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels.. but good to have your info – thanks.
Sue – Berri doing fine – El Pinko behaving – now getting cooler so not so scratchy under fur.
By Berrimilla on November 11, 2009, at 0158 UTC
Just had a hard boiled egg for lunch that I certainly wouldn't have looked at at home! Big air cavity, black yolk end and sort of flaky – very hard to peel. Interesting pong. Disguised it with mayo – the real thing, not the insipid goo that passes for it these days – and some pickled beetroot. Loverly! I could eat beetroot all day – smashing veggie! And it makes peeing into our little plastic bucket such fun.
Norm – one for you – I think it was Helena Rubinstein who said that her product represented the triumph of hope over reality. Or words to that effect.
Daily rituals: very important for marking the passing of time and ensuring, for instance, that things don't get forgotten.
0900 – I'm coming off watch and Pete is coming on. 'You awake, Pete?' 'aarghmpfh yes' ' It's time' So he gets out of his pit and I work my way around the dodgerAn awning that covers a small part of the forward part of the cockpit (about 30cm). It makes a small sheltered place that the person who's on watch can cower under as waves go over. -tricky in these conditions – with a bucket containing 2 cans of Dr Murphy1- The inventor of Murphy’s Law which states (in various ways) that if something can go wrong, it will.
2- Irish beer's excellent medicinal compound all the way from Crosshaven. I work my way forward to Berri's fridge – CoolgardieCoolgardie Fridge: Improvised cooler using the heat transfer that occurs when water evaporates. Invented in Coolgardie in Western Australia. variety, milk crate with wet towel wrapped around 2 Murphy1- The inventor of Murphy’s Law which states (in various ways) that if something can go wrong, it will.
2- Irish beer's similarly delivered yesterday and exchange the warm for the cold. Surprisingly effective fridge if you keep it primed – see below – and in the shade and the breeze. The evaporation of the water from the towel requires heat and this is extracted from the cans. Great care required on return journey so as not to shake cold cans and exacerbate widgetary effusion – see below. Pete gets out special tankards from the sliding cupboard, carefully deals out small handful from last bag of molto toothsome crisps from Lisbon. Then the careful positioning of can – for me, inside the tankard – so that the instant widgetary effusion at the moment of unzipping goes mainly in the pot and then I pour it and – sweet nectar of the gods, it slips away with gentle fluid caress of the olfactories and the other thingies on the tongue.
Then I go to bed and last about an hour before the pee bucket calls. Bugger decrepitude!
Fridge priming – at least three times a day it is necessary to pour sea water over the towels to keep them damp. Pete usually does the final one in his 2100-midnight watch. There is also a bottle of tonic cooking quietly in the fridge awaiting its fate at 1700 – see part 2.
By Berrimilla on November 11, 2009, at 1405 UTC
Port tack, my bunk elevated. I'm lying on my left side, elongated S shaped, back pressed into a long roll of clothing and bunny rug, itself filling the curve of the lee clothNetting or canvas along the side of a bunk arranged to prevent the sleeper from falling out in violent weather. under its aluminium support bar. My head is pillowed on my double thickness Finisterre fleece jacket on top of a scrunched pillow, locking it in place so that my neck muscles can relax, arms bent away from me trying to keep circulation unchecked. Dozy, having just come off watch in the dark and drooping for sleep. Woolworths pyjama pants (yes! and they are perfect for sleeping in the tropics) and a T shirt. Boat gently rolling and pitching. I'm conscious that – well, I'm conscious that I'm conscious, awake, and Berri, as always, is talking to me in her own special language, grammatically and syntactically unique and so dense with implied and nuanced self confirming cross reference. Tiny, irregular 'click' 'click click' continuous, barely audible yet also transmitted through the fabric around me. Sleep denied – what is it? Brain surfaces through dozy daze – first, there's none of the usual roar and clatter of Berri's passage through the Atlantic moguls – just the music of water burbling past the hull a few inches from my ear. And the undulating pitch of the wind generator in the back of the orchestra. The wind has dropped and the seas have subsided. Nice!. So…what is it? Audit and inventory of everything around me, reluctant to wake properly and find head torch. The boat feels balanced and happy, no longer thudding through the swell – so for the first time, perhaps since we left, I'm able to hear this click? Careful mental review of everything around me capable of making the sound – doesn't seem very important but I must identify it and file it so that when I hear it in future it's part of the natural background. Ahhh! There's a fire extinguisher above my feet on the bulkhead and it has a little metal label with the date of last service that is usually captured by the strap holding the extinguished into its bracket – could it have come out? I sit up, feel for the label and yep – that's it. So is the extinguisher secure? Seems ok. Uncoil back into sleeping S and let the dozy daze envelop the swede.
I think it is this flow of the subconscious, a subliminal sensing of the unfolding pattern of things that makes it so difficult for me to listen to music or to read anything more demanding than escapist whodunnitry. Each requires a level of concentration that drowns the subconscious and the subconscious keeps fighting back. It's a form of obsession but it has saved our bacon several times that were obvious and I'm absolutely sure umpteen times before they became obvious. It is aural, visual and tactile – like the aircraft pilot whose eyes see broken patterns on her instruments or who feels that tiny buzz of resonance and is instantly warned, I hear and see and feel the boat. Today the click, yesterday the tweaker on the wrong side of the sheet, years ago the feel of the almost broken forestay. Makes me highly unpopular sometimes! I remember getting cross with McQ last year for being so absorbed in whatever her ipod was doing to the inside of her head that she had not noticed the leech flutter or something equally trivial in itself but part of a larger pattern – the butterfly's wing on the other side of the world.
And I still miss heaps – the disconnected windvaneStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others when Pete went overboard 4 years ago, for instance. Complacency sucks but it's so easy!
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By Berrimilla on November 11, 2009, at 1843 UTC
0700/11th position 1733 02456 trip 131/24 and 2524 to CT
From the cloud patterns it looks as if we are dropping into the top of the S Atlantic high. The barometer is rising and the gribWeather files.
Graphics in Binary file: GRIB files associate a specific weather datum (eg wind velocity or atmospheric pressure) with a geographic position. Because the resulting file is a collection of these points they are extremely small and so ideal over slow links such as sailmail., while still showing us as in the tradesBands of NW and SW winds either side of the equator that blow with more or less constant speed and direction all year., has the high below us at about 25 S
As I said in the last one, below thr high you get down into the line of lows – depressions – that march across the world all year round and go all the way down to the ice at times. To be avoided unless you are deliberately looking for a slingshot into the next dimension, as GroupamaIn this context a massive trimaran attempting a round-the-world record for the Jules Verne Trophy. They overtook us twice – once before we reached Cape Town on their first attempt which they abandoned after damaging a hull. They preceded us into Cape Town and we visited them there. They sailed back to France and set off again and overtook us way to the south before we reached Hobart. More about Groupama here (Wikipedia) will be when they get down there in a few days. Then they will start to go very fast indeed and will sustain those speeds for thousands of miles as they follow the great circleSee here (Wikipedia) to the Horn as far down towards the ice as their data tells them is safe.
I have been in 4 really severe storms and the '98 Hobart with winds over 60 kts and at least 2 of them gusting over 80. Two were approaching Cape Horn 4 years ago and the other two were in the S Atlantic, off Montevideo and just a bit further along our current track towards Cape Town. All but the '98 Hobart (where we were just behind it) found us in the dangerous (left front) segment of one of these depressions and if you haven't experienced the ferocity of an even relatively mild 60 knot-- Speed: definition of speed at sea. One knot is one nautical mile per hour. The nautical mile is about 1.15 % longer than the "statute" mile used on land. A knot is about half a metre per second.
-- A knot is also the result of winding a rope around itself or another rope to make a join or a loop .
southern ocean storm it is very hard to describe – a combination of wind and huge breaking waves, gut wrenching knockdowns, the screaming of the wind in the rig, violent movement with no frame of reference and the crashing of water against, around and over the boat. Plus your own fear. Grown men have been reduced to tears – and at least one has been brave enough afterwards to make his videos public. You sustain yourself from wave to wave, knockdownWhen the boat is severely rolled or knocked over sideways, normally when beam on to big rolling breakers. to knockdownWhen the boat is severely rolled or knocked over sideways, normally when beam on to big rolling breakers. by remembering that no storm lasts for ever – they just seem to – and you have to outlast them and hope the boat is strong enough to last that long too. I seem to remember that the one we went through over here had winds over 45 knots for 9 days and we were bare poledExplanation here (no sail up, trying to keep the wind and waves on the quarter and sometimes surfing at 10+ knots) for most of the time. While there's never nothing you can do, you are pretty much helpless and it feels that way. Not funny. I hope the ExaminerShe who asks awkward questions of the crew and tests them with difficult tasks. is kinder to us this time.
David – interested. We may be in touch shortly.
Allan – more interesting than ever. I guess you have to ask how often it happens around the world and never gets reported.
By Berrimilla on November 12, 2009, at 0729 UTC
2000/11th 1850 02454
Armistice Day – a day of significant ritual for some. For me, it is Laurence Binyon's poetry -' and they shall not grow old as we who remember them grow old ' – hope I've got it right – and the memory of my father, who survived WW2, as a man who could not reinvent himself in his middle age and who, I now think, was sad and disillusioned. I wish I had known him better. And Dave and Mike who was in my seat and all the others I knew and trained and flew with long gone and still young in my memory.
And renewal and rebirth – Binyon again and his poem 'The burning of the leaves' – Prof, I owe you for that one. And too, your namesake and his heritage, scarred into history outside Bailliol College.
To the mundane – daily ritual list for Berri: The Murphy1- The inventor of Murphy’s Law which states (in various ways) that if something can go wrong, it will.
2- Irish beer ConsultationA regular engagement with alcohol. One might say this whole epic is a Consultation with a bit of a sail round it. See also Conservation Mode; Linear and Parallel Methods of Consultation at breakfast, the Priming of the Fridge three times a day, the 0700 report to the blog and the expectation that there might be mail waiting as I send it, watch changes every three hours, the 1700 ConsultationA regular engagement with alcohol. One might say this whole epic is a Consultation with a bit of a sail round it. See also Conservation Mode; Linear and Parallel Methods of Consultation with Dr Grindy and dinner together. The daily walk around the deck, the routine of day after day slogging it out and watching the miles go by. Sticking ones head up and looking around the horizon for ships – and cloud formations. Gourmet cup-a-soup in the night. And just living inside ones head and remembering that, like storms, long days pass and each is its own notch in time, its half kilometre in the marathon, one that is done, gone, scored on the scratch pad of life out here.
And we're getting close to the shipping lanes out of Rio.
By Berrimilla on November 12, 2009, at 0856 UTC
Now is the time for the burning of the leaves,
They go to the fire; the nostrils prick with smoke
Wandering slowly into the weeping mist.
Brittle and blotched, ragged and rotten sheaves!
A flame seizes the smouldering ruin, and bites
On stubborn stalks that crackle as they resist.
The last hollyhock's fallen tower is dust:
All the spices of June are a bitter reek,
All the extravagant riches spent and mean.
All burns! the reddest rose is a ghost.
Spark whirl up, to expire in the mist: the wild
Fingers of fire are making corruption clean.
Now is the time for stripping the spirit bare,
Time for the burning of days ended and done,
Idle solace of things that have gone before,
Rootless hope and fruitless desire are there:
Let them go to the fire with never a look behind.
That world that was ours is a world that is ours no more.
They will come again, the leaf and the flower, to arise
From squalor of rottenness into the old splendour,
And magical scents to a wondering memory bring;
The same glory, to shine upon different eyes.
Earth cares for her own ruins, naught for ours.
Nothing is certain, only the certain spring.
Laurence Binyon
posted by Iz – who didn't know the poem before Alex quoted it today
By Berrimilla on November 12, 2009, at 1750 UTC
0630/12th position 1947 02454, trip 137/24, CT 2453nm.
Norm – yep, 3 x 3. Doubt whether there's a ghost but possible. Would fit with commercial aspects.
Brian, thanks – I like it too. I watched him go past at Charing X. Feb 1966 I think.
IzzAlex's sister – gotcha and tks for BoLpost
HilaryAlex’s partner and Katherine’s mother – good to hear. Pse tell Hillross to go ahead as per your note. SJ sent us SMH extract. Pre China hug for K. More later.
By Berrimilla on November 13, 2009, at 1754 UTC
0700/13th 2141 02432 trip 132/24 2378 to CT These positions almost always come at the end of the blog, which gets stitched together in the middle watch and sent around 0700.
We've passed the 5000 mile mark on the GPS. We haven't seen a ship, aircraft, bird or heffalump for days and days and days. Port tack since about 4 deg N.
Another of those nights in which it it impossible not to feel that one is part of the universe. Not a very big part. As I peer myopically into spacetime, there seems to be depth and perspective in the huge slice that is 'now' under an almost clear night's sky. In the hazy clarity you can see how densely packed the place is – so many tiny stars in the gaps between the big ones – Orion, for instance, could be spangles on a cobweb across the lights of a city – other galaxies, other lives? Through the binoculars just gobsmacking. And we have dinoflagellatious twinkles all around us to echo the sky. Quietly wonderful.
We've passed east of Martin Vaz – also known as Trinidade I think, though my chart doesn't say so – and we are nearly level with Rio. 2 degrees or so north of the Tropic of Capricorn – and therefore Rockhampton. About 420 miles north of where Henry KnightHenry Knight died of starvation on the emigrant ship Java (from England to Australia) and was buried at sea on the 6th Feb 1853 in the S Atlantic - 28.35 S, 26.09 W. On the way home from Falmouth (1st circumnavigation) Berrimilla passed about 100 miles to the north and sent him some chocolate in a paper boat. Henry's sister Susan died in sight of Cape Town and was buried at sea 8 miles SE of the lighthouse. We waved to her on the 2ncircumnavigation from very much closer. More here
was buried at sea in February 1853. We will pass closer to him and we'll send him some jelly snakesNatural fruit-flavoured sweets carried on board.
in the next couple of days. 2400 to the Cape. Crossing the Atlantic Trench.
And Donald Crowhurst spent some time sailing up and down out here and is believed to have landed on Trinidade as he constructed his fictitious log in that first single handed race.
I pulled in a big gribWeather files.
Graphics in Binary file: GRIB files associate a specific weather datum (eg wind velocity or atmospheric pressure) with a geographic position. Because the resulting file is a collection of these points they are extremely small and so ideal over slow links such as sailmail. file a few hours ago to try to get a feel for the uncoiling mess of high and low pressure systems just to the south of us and we decided to believe the predictions and take a punt. At 25.07 west, around 1900 yesterday evening we altered course towards the SE to try to stay in favourable winds and cut the corner to the Cape. We are making about 145M at the mo, so heading between Tristan and Africa. If we've got it right and it all hangs together, about three weeks to Cape Town.
We hardboiled the last of the eggs yesterday. 12 slices of bacon left – quite talkative it is too and starting to de-laminate but not at all green.
Hey Gordy – and the other seekers after the truth in the Chain LockerWaterside pub in Falmouth, UK – sounds a bit bleak over there. Our refrigerated Murphs would be a lot warmer than a pint of Doom from the tap.
By Berrimilla on November 14, 2009, at 1316 UTC
Middle watch – Berri rolling gently in the swell – quiet shhsssh sshoossshh of the water slipping past the substantial colony of barnaclesExplanation here (Wikipedia) along the starboard side – stars, planets, galaxies and nebulae in their gigazillionsAn awful lot of something: usually stars in an almost luminescent sky – poled out on the port tack in wallow mode, main slatting uncomfortably and may have to drop it and get the red sail out, just shooshling (Kimbra's NE Passage word?) along at about 3 knots – NE swell and about 8 knots of breeze. Will be a couple of days before we know whether yesterday's punt will work out or not – we are at the top of a complex series if swirling high and low pressure systems and the gribWeather files.
Graphics in Binary file: GRIB files associate a specific weather datum (eg wind velocity or atmospheric pressure) with a geographic position. Because the resulting file is a collection of these points they are extremely small and so ideal over slow links such as sailmail. predicts that there are a couple of dominant lows to the SW. I think GroupamaIn this context a massive trimaran attempting a round-the-world record for the Jules Verne Trophy. They overtook us twice – once before we reached Cape Town on their first attempt which they abandoned after damaging a hull. They preceded us into Cape Town and we visited them there. They sailed back to France and set off again and overtook us way to the south before we reached Hobart. More about Groupama here (Wikipedia) will be further down on the second one going like the clappers eastwards – I hope so – keep stoking the boilers guys! If we are lucky we will just sneak into the top of the first one and it might carry us into the second. But there are big holes all around so it's anybody's guess. At 0140 on the 14th, we're pointing directly at Cape Town with 2292 to go.
Meantime, sometime today we will reach our closest point to young Henry KnightHenry Knight died of starvation on the emigrant ship Java (from England to Australia) and was buried at sea on the 6th Feb 1853 in the S Atlantic - 28.35 S, 26.09 W. On the way home from Falmouth (1st circumnavigation) Berrimilla passed about 100 miles to the north and sent him some chocolate in a paper boat. Henry's sister Susan died in sight of Cape Town and was buried at sea 8 miles SE of the lighthouse. We waved to her on the 2ncircumnavigation from very much closer. More here
who will be about 400 miles to the south. I am preparing a little box of jelly snakesNatural fruit-flavoured sweets carried on board.
and chocolate tied with IsabellaAlex's sister's red and green ribbon to send down to him. It'll be a week or so before it gets there, Henry, and 156 years too late but it's a small tribute to you and all the others who have died out here.
Otherwise – ennui. Hot shadeless days, no other signs that humans live on the planet. And suddenly not so. I've just been up to have a squizz and there was a light on the starboard quarter. I watched it for a bit and it vanished. That doesn't happen unless the light was switched off – why? Scary these days and I'll keep the satphone handy. Time 0215/14th position 22.16.3 S 023.07.5 W COG 120M @ 3kts
SJ tks for GroupamaIn this context a massive trimaran attempting a round-the-world record for the Jules Verne Trophy. They overtook us twice – once before we reached Cape Town on their first attempt which they abandoned after damaging a hull. They preceded us into Cape Town and we visited them there. They sailed back to France and set off again and overtook us way to the south before we reached Hobart. More about Groupama here (Wikipedia) post. G'day John McC – I remember and glad you found us again.
By Berrimilla on November 14, 2009, at 1812 UTC
Topic(s): Henry Knight 0700/19th position 2221 02252 trip 98/24 Little bit of breeze and creeping along.
Whoever might have been out there during the night isn’t there now. We will send Henry’s box off downwind at 0900 and contemplate over a refrigerated Murph. We are 400 miles from him this time but it will get there – why else do we placate the old fart with a trident?
Cloud to the SW could be the top of the first low – hope so but we are still a bit far to the north. Watch and wait seems to be the go.
C. – IsabellaAlex's sister told us about your very generous donation towards the iridium bill. Thank you! Very much appreciated.
———-
radio email processed by SailMailSailmail is the system that Berrimilla uses for email communication. It is a non-profit association of yacht owners operating a network of private coast stations in the maritime Mobile Radio Service.
for information see: http://www.sailmailSailmail is the system that Berrimilla uses for email communication. It is a non-profit association of yacht owners operating a network of private coast stations in the maritime Mobile Radio Service..com
By Isabella on November 14, 2009, at 2115 UTC
Posted by I & G in the UK.
By Berrimilla on November 14, 2009, at 2233 UTC
Topic(s): Henry Knight At 0905 UTC we launched Henry’s little box at 22.26.1 S 022.44.5 W with instructions to the hairy old fart with the trident to ensure that it gets delivered by his favourite mermaid. Jelly snakesNatural fruit-flavoured sweets carried on board.
, jelly beans and chocolate tied with red and green ribbon from Isbella and sealed with gaffer tape. As you do. Onya Henry!
Then I put my pot of contemplating Murph on the cockpit seat and Berri rolled and wallowed and – SPBF – another dent in the pot and only a mouthful of the stuff left. Serves me right – how long have I been out here??
Still in wallow mode, giving the red sail its first southern hemisphere outing. Twin poledAn explanation from Malcolm: It is quite normal for a yacht to 'pole out' its jib (the foresail) on the opposite side of the boat to the mainsail when running downwind - this is called goosewinging'. A spinnaker pole is attached to the mast at one end and the back corner (clew) of the jib at the other. That holds the jib at the right angle so that it catches the wind. On Berri they've found that they can often get good performance and a comfortable ride by taking the mainsail right down and setting a second jib poled out on the opposite side to the first. at about 2.5 knots dragging our barnacle colony along for the ride and to get fat. Maybe not for long. If the wind drops, we’re over the side with a knife.
Norm wrote about all the named corners in Australia where the State boundaries meet – Doeppels, Surveyor Generals etc. – and noted that there is no name for the point where the Greenwich MeridianAn imaginary great circle on the surface of the Earth, passing through North and South geographic poles. All points on the same meridian have the same longitude. Meridian can also be used to describe either half of such a circle from pole to pole crosses the equator and did I have any suggestions? Best I can do Norm is Pi for Primary Intersection, AntiPi on the Date Line? Or perhaps Mercator Central which it wasn’t when he was alive but now is on most Mercator world charts. Pathetic really, but the best I can do.
By Isabella on November 15, 2009, at 0414 UTC
Topic(s): Henry Knight For those new to Berrimilla’s voyages, here is an explanation about Henry KnightHenry Knight died of starvation on the emigrant ship Java (from England to Australia) and was buried at sea on the 6th Feb 1853 in the S Atlantic - 28.35 S, 26.09 W. On the way home from Falmouth (1st circumnavigation) Berrimilla passed about 100 miles to the north and sent him some chocolate in a paper boat. Henry's sister Susan died in sight of Cape Town and was buried at sea 8 miles SE of the lighthouse. We waved to her on the 2ncircumnavigation from very much closer. More here
. In the 2005 round-the-world trip, Alex and Pete passed close to where a young boy called Henry KnightHenry Knight died of starvation on the emigrant ship Java (from England to Australia) and was buried at sea on the 6th Feb 1853 in the S Atlantic - 28.35 S, 26.09 W. On the way home from Falmouth (1st circumnavigation) Berrimilla passed about 100 miles to the north and sent him some chocolate in a paper boat. Henry's sister Susan died in sight of Cape Town and was buried at sea 8 miles SE of the lighthouse. We waved to her on the 2ncircumnavigation from very much closer. More here
died in 1853 and was buried at sea. He was emigrating to Australia from England with his family.
The co-ordinates for the sea burial were given as 2835 S, 02609 W. The story about the Knight family was passed to Alex by a friend who was a descendant of Henry’s father. This friend gave permission to quote online from the diary of the voyage, which is now housed in the Mitchell Library in Sydney. I read a transcript of the diary when Alex was in the UK back in 2005 and it was a harrowing and moving account of a most appalling journey. Many passengers died on the voyage due to illness, malnutrition or starvation. If I remember correctly this was in part due to the fact that the provisions they had paid for were not made available to them on board.
The extract copied below was publshed in the 2005 blog on 29th September as entry 392. You can access it in its proper context here:
http://berrimilla.com/wordpress/henry-knight-key-explanation/
5th February 1853
5Fine day very Hot Calm Henry very/ Ill could not take but very little Susan A little better betwixed 8 and 9 O’Clock/ Henry went down stair’s took A Counterpane down with him that he had/ been laying on all day previous to this he had been to the Closet but once all day/ as soon as he got down to our Berth he started to the Closet I followed after him was/ in the Closet with him we talked together a good bit I then went up on the upper/ Deck same time Henry went down I stayed a short time up on Deck because my/ wife was washing the children and she could do better with the little Girl when I was/ out of sight as she used to cry after me, mean time Henry had gone to the Closet/ again and for the last time he was heard to groan but no one it appears Knew what/ it was or who it was he had fasten himself in the Closet with the Hasp as was the / way of most of the Emigrants and therefore could not be got at under 15 or/ 20 Minutes no one had suspected a death had taken place untill the Door was opened/ but so it was poor fellow he was quite dead sitting on the seat & perhaps my/ friends can be a better judge what my feelings were than I can express I took/ George to see him after he had been carried into the Hospital which was the place/ where all the Dead were taken poor fellow he wept over him most bitterly nor/ was he the only one that wept for none of us expected/ all this
Posted by Iz in the UK
By Isabella on November 15, 2009, at 0512 UTC
Topic(s): Henry Knight 
Posted by I and G in the UK
By Berrimilla on November 15, 2009, at 1747 UTC
0700/15th position 2255 02129 trip 5247=87/24 Cape Town 2190 This post started yesterday afternoon.
Seems we might just have hooked our fingernails into the top of the low hoofing east below us and we're hanging on as best we can – wind dropping and fickle, twin poledAn explanation from Malcolm: It is quite normal for a yacht to 'pole out' its jib (the foresail) on the opposite side of the boat to the mainsail when running downwind - this is called goosewinging'. A spinnaker pole is attached to the mast at one end and the back corner (clew) of the jib at the other. That holds the jib at the right angle so that it catches the wind. On Berri they've found that they can often get good performance and a comfortable ride by taking the mainsail right down and setting a second jib poled out on the opposite side to the first. and rolling in the swell. If we can hold on to it – lucky – and we look good for tomorrow as well, then a bloody great hole for a day and then the next low. They are further north than I expected which seems to be a bit of a helping hand. We'll see – we still have to get ourselves 600 miles south across their paths and the second one has attitude.
Hot and tedious out here. Another 45 miles south and we're out of the tropics – hoooley doooley. Then the difficult bit starts. But those 45 miles are not going to be easy either.
We've been playing with the sextant – or Pete has and I've done the MerlinMerlin calculator bit – but at civil twilight I'm going out to see whether I can grab Jupiter to add to Pete's earlier sun sight. Lots of fluffy cu so may be difficult.
Later – Jupiter was difficult – but got something else yet to identify. Possibly Achernar but the sight may not be good enough to decide. And then remembered that we need a current almanac to reduce planet sights so no Jupiter anyway. Cape Town perhaps.
Later still – middle watch again – I can't remember ever seeing stars in the night sky from horizon to horizon – there's always a layer of haze low down and cloud somewhere. Tonight is almost Khayyam's Bowl of Night – a little thickening of the density to the north and the stars don't quite make it through but a soft transition from the reflected starlight and phosphorescent twinkles on the water to the real thing above everywhere else – Jupiter in the west with a brilliant trail over the water like one of those christmas cards of the three kings following their star. I sit in the cockpit, chin resting on a winch, Berri in gentle shooshle with the gap between the big dark triangles of the poled out headsails rolling its arc from Rigel through Sirius past Canopus. The gas cloud is a bright fuzz almost to Achernar. The Cross just above the horizon. I will remember these nights as long as my three neurons continue to converse through their torpid synapse. Clear, awesome, overpowering wonder at the beauty of it all and my own insignificance. I'm just a few gerzillion organic molecules soon to be dispersed again along with their momentary cohesion of consciousness, my track through spacetime infinitesimally tiny and irrelevant.
We're not really in the complicated system to the south – the fingernails scraped along the turbulence and lost it so we're just trickling along in the swirls of soft breeze stirred up by its passage. Tomorrow will be a hole but there's a chance that the next low – the serious one – will give us a boost as it rolls past us. It has at least 50 knots close to its centre about 900 miles to the south. I hope GroupamaIn this context a massive trimaran attempting a round-the-world record for the Jules Verne Trophy. They overtook us twice – once before we reached Cape Town on their first attempt which they abandoned after damaging a hull. They preceded us into Cape Town and we visited them there. They sailed back to France and set off again and overtook us way to the south before we reached Hobart. More about Groupama here (Wikipedia) hooked into it and are riding their slingshot eastwards.
I'll send this with the 0700 position to save on iridium. Steve W has gone bush for the w/e probably with no mobile signal so we won't get any mail until at least then anyway.
By Berrimilla on November 16, 2009, at 0542 UTC
Hornswoggle – the HFHigh Frequency – usually refers to HF radio which is long range digital radio that Berrimilla used to send all but a few of the logs on both circumnavigations. The radio was connected via a Pactor 3 digital modem to Alex’s laptop and used the Sailmail software application called Airmail to send emails and pull in emails, weather and GRIB files. Airmail also supports Iridium satellite telephone messaging and Alex used this as backup when the HF radio died approaching England. radio just came on – must be something loose or a dry connection somewhere. I'll try to send this before it dies again. 1330/15th position 2309 02103. No send – no propagationIn the logs, this refers to the radiation of signal energy and is customarily qualified by the words abysmal, ratshit or lousy.
The world hasn't stopped out there – our first ship for what seems weeks crossed astern of us at about 0730 – I turned on the VHFVery High Frequency radio. Short range radio equipment for voice and other applications such as AISAutomatic Identification System. An automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels.. and he actually called us – a first, I think – to check whether all was well. I asked him to report seeing us and watched him sail away. bound from Africa to Buenos Aires. Another first – there are fish all around us – about 2 ft long, jumping occasionally and rather more oval in silhouette than small tuna. And a bird at sunrise – could have been our noddy of some days ago – small, brownish, flapping, wedge tail.
Heaps of mail – Steve back from the bush: Carol G – yep, I've read as much as I could stand but frankly, I think most of it is nonsense – the evidence just doesn't stand up and I remember being highly critical of some of his sources years ago at uni while doing a paper on Cheng Ho. Duyvendak for a start. Happy to take it all apart but not via iridium! Cheng Ho one of the people I would have liked to have been able to meet for dinner, Babelfish engaged for the translation. Fiona – so there really is a universe! Gerry & Donna – g'day! Carol R & the Richmond Julia Creek mob – g'day and glad Macca reaches even the Queensland boonies! Brian and Jen – Yay! Good to hear you are still with us. Sue – thanks for GroupamaIn this context a massive trimaran attempting a round-the-world record for the Jules Verne Trophy. They overtook us twice – once before we reached Cape Town on their first attempt which they abandoned after damaging a hull. They preceded us into Cape Town and we visited them there. They sailed back to France and set off again and overtook us way to the south before we reached Hobart. More about Groupama here (Wikipedia) and news of UK, Norm, Blue nosed and in order out here! Agree re Mercator. Would love to know exactly what was destroyed in Lisbon in 1755 – someone will have been to MC first – and anyway, its significance is a human construct.
In case you are wondering, stuff-all wind here, big hole as predicted, hot, humid and not pleasant but we are carrying enough spare diesel to motor for a couple of days and we're giving ourselves a little carefully rationed slingshot of our own. Should get some wind off the top of the low tomorrow if we are far enough south.
Later – 1730/15th with Dr Grindy standing by to assist with any medical emergency – there's wind. And fog!! In the distance, cold air over warm ocean under biggish cloud – wooohoooa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOO
WOOOHOOO!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOO
WOOOHOOO!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!! Right at this moment, 6 knots directly down the rhumb lineSee wikipedia (Wikipedia). See also Great CircleSee here (Wikipedia).. GC just a bit too tricky to play with for minimal gain. Won't last anyway and there's still that businesslike low below us that should be through tomorrow and a high behind it.
By Berrimilla on November 16, 2009, at 1722 UTC
The HFHigh Frequency – usually refers to HF radio which is long range digital radio that Berrimilla used to send all but a few of the logs on both circumnavigations. The radio was connected via a Pactor 3 digital modem to Alex’s laptop and used the Sailmail software application called Airmail to send emails and pull in emails, weather and GRIB files. Airmail also supports Iridium satellite telephone messaging and Alex used this as backup when the HF radio died approaching England. radio is back but flaky and the Pactor modem drops out sometimes mid connection – don't know why. So this will be interesting. I'll send it now with our 0615 position 2342 02012 trip 5337 and CT 2107 to go
At 01.54.56 UTC November 16th we left the Tropics. Wooohoooa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOO
WOOOHOOO!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOO
WOOOHOOO!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!! I wonder whether Berri will ever be back.
When we set off on the first of these silly extravaganzas in January 2005, we were using the Firefly New South Wales sailmailSailmail is the system that Berrimilla uses for email communication. It is a non-profit association of yacht owners operating a network of private coast stations in the maritime Mobile Radio Service. station run by Derek and Jeanine Barnard and remained in contact about half way across the southern ocean to the Horn. Then we transferred to the Chile station and held it around the corner up into the Atlantic until it went off line for repair. I have just re-established contact with Chile and sent the last message through the station. Full circle, in a way. In between, we have been in contact with all but a couple of the 20 stations around the world – more, I suspect, than most people.
By Berrimilla on November 17, 2009, at 0450 UTC
Baked beans ferment once you open the can. Without going into the enormously long winded and engrossing possibilities of this interesting fact (just think Blazing Saddles with fermentation..Slim Pickens on rocket fuel…Always appreciated Slim Pickens – such a nice self deprecatory name for a no bull actor) I have eaten more than a small gerzillion baked beans cold from the can with a teaspoon in the last 5 years or so but I've never managed a whole can even when conditions have been particularly adverse and peary. So – always buy your beans in half cans unless you really really like them or you have more nefarious purposes for the left overs.
We've got KevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others set up on the back of the old barge with turning blocks and bungy cord for the tiller lines – several years of playing with it all and there don't seem to be any improvements left. Except – we have always used 6mm sheathed braided line for the tiller lines and these have always chafed in two places and they tend to jump out of the sheaves on the actuating arm when there is violent movement. This time we are using 3mm unsheathed plaited spectraSpectra™ : - a highly modified polyethylene fibre with many applications such as ropes and sails and it works beautifully. Minimal chafe and because it is so skinny it doesn't jump out of the sheaves as long as the bungys are properly set. Found a roll of the stuff in Dave Carne's back office in Falmouth and thought it worth a go. Breaking load about 600 kg – easily enough for the old Kev.
The first half cup of water from the watermaker each time we use it is always brackish from the back pressure in its guts. Read the instructions! I'm sure they shows the proper set up with bypass valve etc but we haven't got room for all that stuff so fill a cup before putting the tube in the first bottle. It's taken us years to work that one out.
Salad oil, cooking oil or even yer extra virgin is great for keeping the marine version of the old one hole dunny working smoothly – if you have a can of sardines in olive oil, pour the oil into the porcelain and next time you go, you will feel the difference in the pump action. Otherwise, a tablespoon every few days keeps the pump barrel slidey.
By Berrimilla on November 17, 2009, at 1744 UTC
0700/17th position 2518 01845 trip 130 2000 to Cape Town so a Talisker moment later perhaps.
Sorry to hear about GroupamaIn this context a massive trimaran attempting a round-the-world record for the Jules Verne Trophy. They overtook us twice – once before we reached Cape Town on their first attempt which they abandoned after damaging a hull. They preceded us into Cape Town and we visited them there. They sailed back to France and set off again and overtook us way to the south before we reached Hobart. More about Groupama here (Wikipedia) but glad they are all safe.
We're in mini hoon mode twin poledAn explanation from Malcolm: It is quite normal for a yacht to 'pole out' its jib (the foresail) on the opposite side of the boat to the mainsail when running downwind - this is called goosewinging'. A spinnaker pole is attached to the mast at one end and the back corner (clew) of the jib at the other. That holds the jib at the right angle so that it catches the wind. On Berri they've found that they can often get good performance and a comfortable ride by taking the mainsail right down and setting a second jib poled out on the opposite side to the first. sitting in the NW flow at the top of the low and pointing more or less at CT. Perhaps another day then into the high and we'll slow down big time. Cold enough now for a blanket at night. Been running along the same roll of squally cloud for about 24 hours.
Saw what looked like a small yellowfin tuna swimming alongside us for quite a while.
Carol G – Forgot to include thanks for book offer yesterday sorry. Got out the recliner and put it on the grassy lawn on the afterdeck but too cloudy for Leonids. Thanks and G'day to everyone else – Good propagationIn the logs, this refers to the radiation of signal energy and is customarily qualified by the words abysmal, ratshit or lousy so will try to send this by HFHigh Frequency – usually refers to HF radio which is long range digital radio that Berrimilla used to send all but a few of the logs on both circumnavigations. The radio was connected via a Pactor 3 digital modem to Alex’s laptop and used the Sailmail software application called Airmail to send emails and pull in emails, weather and GRIB files. Airmail also supports Iridium satellite telephone messaging and Alex used this as backup when the HF radio died approaching England..
By Berrimilla on November 17, 2009, at 1822 UTC
Nice one from Carla in Baton Rouge:
Watched the movie Serenity and thought of you and Berri. The lead character
tells the first rule of flying (a spaceship): "You can learn all the math in
the 'verse, but you take a boat in the air that you don't love, she'll shake
you off just as sure as the turning of worlds. Love keeps her in the air
when she oughtta fall down, tells ya she's hurtin' 'fore she keens, makes
her a home." Fair winds and lots of love, Carla.
Reminds me a bit of Arthur's instructions to Fenchurch about flying – I've lost the exact words…
Barometer still falling but I think we're about to reach the bottom of this one. Hoping to get to CT by Dec 5th for special invitation to friend's post FastnetFastnet Race: 608 mile biennial race from Cowes, UK, Isle of Wight, to the Fastnet Rock off Southern Ireland, finishing in Plymouth. Berrimilla took part in 2005 and 2009. meeting. Just do-able if we can negotiate the high behind this little blast. We are due to meet it tomorrow near the top where there are easterly winds – adverse, for the nautically challenged – but I'm hoping we've finessed it so that we can head just east of south for a day or so until we see what's behind it. Big following sea at the mo – perhaps 3 – 4 metres and breaking where it is amplified over the swell – and Berri is rolling horribly. Sometimes in the really big ones we go through gunwale to gunwale with a bit of corkscrew as well. Very much one hand for the boat, one for yourself and don't you forget it. Pete wedged into his bunk with beanieKnitted hat and airline face mask oblivious. ConePlastic roll-down curtain to protect nav table /instruments from water if silence down and lower stormboard in, making water with the engine charging the battery. In these following winds, the Whizzer can't keep up with the discharge so we have to supplement its efforts.
Ritual: Every Wednesday, Pete collects bucket, soap, fresh water and towel and goes to foredeck, gets naked – pimply wrinkled old fart that he is – and throws sea water over himself, then washes the flakes off with soap and fresh. I tend to do the APC deal – uses less fresh and much quicker but each to his own. We don't really smell!
Random rewards – any time there is cause for celebration – passing 10 degrees, El Pinko reappearing, talking to a ship, whatever – we celebrate. Usually a somewhat stiffer ConsultationA regular engagement with alcohol. One might say this whole epic is a Consultation with a bit of a sail round it. See also Conservation Mode; Linear and Parallel Methods of Consultation with the good man from Cork.
And we also have Regular Rewards, the most obvious being every thousand miles knocked off the tally – a bit of a hiatus here because I switched measurement from Falmouth distance to Cape Town distance but today's the day thanks to Pete Goss and his 18 year old bottle.
Andrew and Sue – Hi
Love yez all
n0-footer
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By Berrimilla on November 17, 2009, at 1926 UTC
Another occasion for a Random Reward – soon, DV & WP, we will cross 5 degrees West, the longitude of Falmouth, so we will have sailed the massive arc of ocean necessary to get around West Africa and we will really be heading for home. Then there's 1.15W, the longitude of CowesSeaport town on the Isle of Wight (UK). A home for international yacht racing., the furthest East we have been. Then there's the Greenwich MeridianAn imaginary great circle on the surface of the Earth, passing through North and South geographic poles. All points on the same meridian have the same longitude. Meridian can also be used to describe either half of such a circle from pole to pole. Each a potential cause for celebration should one be needed. The GPS trip reads 5478nm – roughly the distance we have sailed from Falmouth, but still 13 degrees of longitude to go to complete the arc.
Just surfed off a breaking wave at 10 knots – twin polingAn explanation from Malcolm: It is quite normal for a yacht to 'pole out' its jib (the foresail) on the opposite side of the boat to the mainsail when running downwind - this is called goosewinging'. A spinnaker pole is attached to the mast at one end and the back corner (clew) of the jib at the other. That holds the jib at the right angle so that it catches the wind. On Berri they've found that they can often get good performance and a comfortable ride by taking the mainsail right down and setting a second jib poled out on the opposite side to the first. in these conditions is such an easy way to go – stable and mostly fail-safe. But we have the lower stormboard in and the conePlastic roll-down curtain to protect nav table /instruments from water of silencePlastic roll-down curtain to protect nav table /instruments from water down. For those who don't know Berri, the cockpit is unusual in that it has no sill or barrier between it and the inside of the boat so if a breaking wave crashes over the top, the cock[it will fill and the water – a couple of cubic metres or two tonnes of water – could all do a Niagara straight into the boat, all over the electronics here at the nav table and potentially into our bunks, the engine, even, in a real disaster, the fuel tank if we happen to be filling it. So, we have stormboardsIn this context, the two sturdy wooden half ‘doors’ that close the companionway entrance when things get pearshaped and we need to keep the greeniesWhen waves come over the boat as solid water rather than spray they can exert massive force. Usually the water runs down the sides of the boat and out through the scuppers. Your more determined greenie (not to be confused with a conservationist) will send a flooding wall of water across the cabin top, over the dodger and into the cockpit and it may smash anything it meets on the way; see also Dodger, Scuppers (qv) out of the cabin. Made specially by Pete., lower and upper – very substantial shutters that fit exactly into the 'doorway' or companionway and seal the inside of the boat from the possible deluge. The lower one is sufficient for these conditions but we often need both in the southern ocean. As backup, there is the ConePlastic roll-down curtain to protect nav table /instruments from water of SilencePlastic roll-down curtain to protect nav table /instruments from water, a curtain of thick plastic sheet that hangs down across the navigation and electronics space when needed. This has saved our bacon countless times when random and unexpected water sloshes through the companionway. But it's airless and sticky and 'orrible inside it prodding the keyboard.
And – most notably crossing the Atlantic from Greenland last year – in these following seas we have twice flooded the engine with water backflowing up the exhaust hose even though we put a stopper in the outer end and there's a one way silencer box that should prevent this but after some agonising, I concluded that cooling water in the exhaust must pool in the box and in a steep and violent pitch, this water flows back into the engine, so we – Gordy did most of it – fitted a big valve between the box and the exhaust manifold. If we feel it necessary to close this, we take the key out of the ignition first and hang it over the GPS. Then – and only then – we close the valve. The key stays there until after the valve is reopened.
Time for the breakfast ritual.
By Berrimilla on November 18, 2009, at 1215 UTC
If you sit in Gordy's usual spot on the corner of the bar in the Chain LockerWaterside pub in Falmouth, UK (Waterside pub in Falmouth, for the Australians and other Oddlanders) with your back to the fireplace, you would be looking more or less south with a smidge of west. That's where we are now but in a week or so – AGW – you will have to stand with your back to the fire as we pass you to the south, range 5000 nm as near as makes no difference, straight down the meridianAn imaginary great circle on the surface of the Earth, passing through North and South geographic poles. All points on the same meridian have the same longitude. Meridian can also be used to describe either half of such a circle from pole to pole. Celebrate with us – how about a nominal time of 1800 UTC on Nov 24th – a week today? Somebody please tell Dave Carne – we'll assume he might be in the top office – and Oz and Tall Paul and Adi and Lara and anyone else who might be around. Teleport us some ice for the G&Ts.;
Today I used the last 4 slices of bacon to make onion, garlic, bacon, olives and parmesan rat to go with pasta and ok it was too. Paul and Pauline, please send our compliments to your butcher – bloody good bacon despite the oozy water, beautifully packed and it has lasted since about September 7th. Finished the eggs last week.
By Berrimilla on November 18, 2009, at 1225 UTC
Enter, stage left, the ExaminerShe who asks awkward questions of the crew and tests them with difficult tasks. in her hot pink leathers. We’ve been twin polingAn explanation from Malcolm: It is quite normal for a yacht to 'pole out' its jib (the foresail) on the opposite side of the boat to the mainsail when running downwind - this is called goosewinging'. A spinnaker pole is attached to the mast at one end and the back corner (clew) of the jib at the other. That holds the jib at the right angle so that it catches the wind. On Berri they've found that they can often get good performance and a comfortable ride by taking the mainsail right down and setting a second jib poled out on the opposite side to the first. happily for a couple of days riding the top of the low down hill towards Cape Town but all good things etc. First a rapid change in wind direction NW back to SW along with barometer bottoming and starting to rise. Here beginneth the High, it seems. Then rain and squally gustsShort increases in wind speed – or people who signed the Gust Book. and time to roll in the red sail – Black murky night, Pete coming off watch, Old Fart no 2 goes out to do it – no prob – roll it in and tie it off, unroll a bit more genoa and adjust the pole, back below to get dry and make cuppa. Not so Fast, says Herself, all softly snarly like. Another gust and the top half of the red sail unrolls and starts to flog itself out if its little knickers. O.F. no 2 back out to sort – no easy way so try easing the halyard right off which does ease the flogging so OF2 to the foredeck in driving cold rain, naked except for skinny shorts to gather in flogging sail – all ok until mostly gathered in and – wouldn’t ya know? – didn’t ease enough halyard so can’t get it all and now cant get back to ease more without losing control of the sail. Pete comes out and we eventually get it under control, squeeze it down the little ventilation hatch, put the pole away, tidy the string and get the genoa rolled in as well, remove the pole, tidy up and back below. OF2 by now shaking with cold and needing lukewarm cuppa from half an hour ago. Unseamanlike, you may well say – correctly – but things seldom happen according to Hoyle and you sometimes have to muddle through.
So now we’re bare polingExplanation here to the NE in pitch black night, both stormboardsIn this context, the two sturdy wooden half ‘doors’ that close the companionway entrance when things get pearshaped and we need to keep the greeniesWhen waves come over the boat as solid water rather than spray they can exert massive force. Usually the water runs down the sides of the boat and out through the scuppers. Your more determined greenie (not to be confused with a conservationist) will send a flooding wall of water across the cabin top, over the dodger and into the cockpit and it may smash anything it meets on the way; see also Dodger, Scuppers (qv) out of the cabin. Made specially by Pete. in to keep out cold rain in gustsShort increases in wind speed – or people who signed the Gust Book., waiting for daylight when we will go out properly clad, make sure all the bits of string are properly sorted and get some sail up again. Meantime, write and send this, get another GRIBWeather files.
Graphics in Binary file: GRIB files associate a specific weather datum (eg wind velocity or atmospheric pressure) with a geographic position. Because the resulting file is a collection of these points they are extremely small and so ideal over slow links such as sailmail. to see what’s in store and make another cuppa.
no-foter
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By Berrimilla on November 18, 2009, at 1805 UTC
0700/18th position 2603 01640 trip 129 CT 1877
I'd forgotten what it is like to be cold and wet and complacency was in the air – last night's little fracas was a useful reminder and I'm now properly waterproofed. Big tidy up just finished and we're back pointing at CT at about 4.5kts. Wind easing, barometer rising. Will probably get softer during the day.
By Berrimilla on November 19, 2009, at 1111 UTC
Tomorrow is sailing day 49 out of Falmouth (not counting the Lisbon stop). We have at least 18 to go. I know I have used this metaphor all through these voyages but it works for me and it has a real significance. A marathon is 42.2 kilometres less a metre or so. I've run a few – lost count but perhaps 26 or 27 – and for me the half way point psychologically and often physically as well comes at about 36km. At 36 k I know I will finish and I can almost feel the buzz notwithstanding the fact that my body has started to eat itself and every white line painted on the road feels as if it's a foot high, potholes are like volcanic craters and my eyes no longer focus and my legs are starting to cramp. The three neurons have long since given up trying to engage with sludgy synapse and talk to each other. Those last 6km seem to take as long as the first 36 and every metre is an effort that has to be made, one after the other. I reckon we're closing on half way to Cape Town on that basis – not quite there yet, I think that may really come at the Greenwich meridianAn imaginary great circle on the surface of the Earth, passing through North and South geographic poles. All points on the same meridian have the same longitude. Meridian can also be used to describe either half of such a circle from pole to pole – but close. As a compressed analogy a marathon, over a bit under 3 hours, says it all, though with a much higher intensity, for a sea voyage of 60+ days.
We have just been visited by a Spectacled Petrel – yesterday's prelim jizz said it seemed to have white round the eyes but unable to get my decrepit eyes into gear so not sure but today it came back and no doubt whatever. I bet there aren't too many people who have seen one – they are endemic to Tristan da CunhaA remote volcanic group of islands in the south Atlantic Ocean. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world. Tristan da Cunha is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. More on wikipedia.. Stocky bird but with the most graceful soaring swooping flight, just like an albatross.
Apart from that bit of wonder and joy, it's been an ornery day. Things have conspired – the laptop dropped it's iridium settings again so had to restore it to yesterday meantime big wind change so out on deck to adjust, come back to laptop and spill Grindy's Medical Elixir carefully saved in unspillable spot even in these conditions. Or so I thought. And that series was just one of several so somewhat frazzly, without gruntle, po faced and surrounded on all sides by irk.
Later, a photo I would have loved to have been able to take. Sunset about an hour ago, sky still deep luminous silver blue, fluffy dark grey castellations of Cu along the western horizon, radiant new moon above. Enter, stage right, Spectacled Petrel, black silhouette soaring across the sky and the moon in full 90 degree bank and swoop directly towards me – silhouette changes to tiny circle with razor slash curved enhedral wings. Another steep bank and he's gone. Serene, lovely sight and suddenly I'm unirked, fully gruntled and happy.
By Berrimilla on November 19, 2009, at 1902 UTC
0700/19 position 26.23 01433 trip 120 CT 1765nm
CT now less than 3 BU – Berrimilla units or 630 miles/U or 1 Sydney-HobartSydney-Hobart Race: often described as the most gruelling ocean race in the world, this annual race starts on 26th December from Sydney Harbour and ends in Hobart. The course is 628 nautical miles. race/U – seems much more do-able than 1765 miles. Given about 21 BU from Falmouth to Sydney and we've done about 9 of them – only 12 to go! Woooohoooa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOOa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOO
WOOOHOOO!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOO
WOOOHOOO!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!
WOOOHOOOa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOO
WOOOHOOO!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOO
WOOOHOOO!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOO
WOOOHOOO!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!! This bit from Falmouth has been a bit of a headbang.
Another avian visitor – bigger, just as graceful, light brown – just possibly our first albatross.
By Isabella on November 20, 2009, at 0334 UTC
By Berrimilla on November 20, 2009, at 1127 UTC
Well, that's how it comes out sometimes – try repeating Spectacled Petrel fast. There are now two of them and I have photos of one which might be sharp enough for the blog – very difficult to get focus right with long lens, moving boat and fast moving bird. They are about 700 miles from home on Tristan da CunhaA remote volcanic group of islands in the south Atlantic Ocean. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world. Tristan da Cunha is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. More on wikipedia..
Sitting on the front of the high, VMGVelocity made good – loosely, speed in the right direction. for Cape Town lousy but we are hoping that it will improve significantly as we get further knocked and tack. Just as the Pacific Ocean was trying all the way from Sydney to AdakA city on Adak island (Aleutians, Alaska) and a former US naval base. in the Aleutians last year to push us back into our box, so it seems that the whole of this huge stretch of the South Atlantic is moving North West at about 2 knots – the North West flowing Benguela current is supposed to be much closer to the African coast. So we've done a lot of sailing, tried some tacks to see where the best VMGVelocity made good – loosely, speed in the right direction. happens and there ain't no good combination of wind and current out here just now. The ExaminerShe who asks awkward questions of the crew and tests them with difficult tasks. being snaky.
Malcom, thanks re isinglass – we've always used vaseline which works just as well but the trick is to make sure there's lots of it evenly spread on the shell and doesn't always happen. We only chucked two out of 4 dozen so not bad – so to speak.
Duncan – you've been busy! Red jacket out of hiding and operational. Needs design tweak – I shall write to Henri Lloyd and see whether they are interested.
By Berrimilla on November 20, 2009, at 1829 UTC
0700/20th position 2609 01259 trip 109 and as you can see, we are north east of yesterdays position. The high seems to have slowed or stopped and we are in a variable and undecided SE wind rather than the easterly we were expecting so the best we can do is about 080M at about 4.5 kts over the ground which is about 055T. The centre of the high is still south west of us and what happens next may decide whether we make CT by Dec 5th or even this year! Still in a 2ish knot-- Speed: definition of speed at sea. One knot is one nautical mile per hour. The nautical mile is about 1.15 % longer than the "statute" mile used on land. A knot is about half a metre per second.
-- A knot is also the result of winding a rope around itself or another rope to make a join or a loop .
NW current which really kills progress when your top speed in only around 5 knots. Our VMGVelocity made good – loosely, speed in the right direction. is still positive but not healthy. End of marathon pain and suffering! With the benefit of the clarity of hindsight, we might have been better to have followed a similar track to GroupamaIn this context a massive trimaran attempting a round-the-world record for the Jules Verne Trophy. They overtook us twice – once before we reached Cape Town on their first attempt which they abandoned after damaging a hull. They preceded us into Cape Town and we visited them there. They sailed back to France and set off again and overtook us way to the south before we reached Hobart. More about Groupama here (Wikipedia) – much longer, with big risk of nastiness but overall better wind.
Making today's 5 litres of water, slurping coffee having dunked and waiting and watching. The brownish 'albatross' was back yesterday evening – airy, imperious swoops and soars either side of our track, disappearing into the troughs, changing direction apparently without effort, steep banked turns out to about half a mile either side and very occasionally crossing diagonally from astern to ahead.
Will try to grab remaining smidge of propagationIn the logs, this refers to the radiation of signal energy and is customarily qualified by the words abysmal, ratshit or lousy window and HFHigh Frequency – usually refers to HF radio which is long range digital radio that Berrimilla used to send all but a few of the logs on both circumnavigations. The radio was connected via a Pactor 3 digital modem to Alex’s laptop and used the Sailmail software application called Airmail to send emails and pull in emails, weather and GRIB files. Airmail also supports Iridium satellite telephone messaging and Alex used this as backup when the HF radio died approaching England. this.
Murphyalater
By Isabella on November 20, 2009, at 2048 UTC
Posted by I & G in the UK.
By Berrimilla on November 21, 2009, at 0053 UTC
The GPS has two sets of numbers upon which we gaze with hopeful yearning – our latitude and longitude co-ordinates. Each reads degrees and decimal minutes & right now our latitude is 26.07.897 S read as twenty six degrees seven point eight nine seven minutes south. For the navigationally challenged, one minute of latitude is equal to one nautical mileAbout 15 % larger than the "statute" mile used on land
so we are roughly 7.9 miles south of 26 degrees. The last digit (the 7 of .897) is one thousandth of a nautical mileAbout 15 % larger than the "statute" mile used on land
or about 2 metres so as we sail along, the numbers increase or decrease depending on our direction. We are heading south west, so the latitude numbers (degrees and minutes south) are increasing by roughly 0.005 for every boat length we sail. The longitude numbers (now 012.38.023 W) are decreasing by roughly the same amount. Only roughly because a degree of longitude at 26 south is less that a nautical mileAbout 15 % larger than the "statute" mile used on land
. Purists, please ignore the problems raised by diagonals and oblate spheroids for this little exposition. For the first time for what seems days, both sets of numbers are counting in their respectively correct directions. South is increasing and west is decreasing. YAY!
Another concept is Velocity Made Good or VMGVelocity made good – loosely, speed in the right direction.. This is a calculated number based on our course and speed over the ground relative to where we are going. It is almost always different from our speed through the water and our speed over the ground but it is the best indicator of how efficiently we are sailing the boat and choosing our courses. On the last tack, our VMGVelocity made good – loosely, speed in the right direction. for Cape Town was about 1 knot-- Speed: definition of speed at sea. One knot is one nautical mile per hour. The nautical mile is about 1.15 % longer than the "statute" mile used on land. A knot is about half a metre per second.
-- A knot is also the result of winding a rope around itself or another rope to make a join or a loop .
– then came the wind change we have been crossing all the appendages for and we tacked and now VMGVelocity made good – loosely, speed in the right direction. for CT is 4.2 knots – much better but still not good enough to get us there by Dec 5th. We need a constant VMGVelocity made good – loosely, speed in the right direction. of about 4.8 for that. Our speed through the water is about 6.2 knots and speed over the ground is 5.4 knots so we are in an adverse current of about 0.8 knots. Our required course over the ground for CT is 130M and we are actually making 167M which explains some of the discrepancies. Perhaps another burst on the difference between Magnetic course (M) and True course (T) and variation in another post.
Deborah, thanks for ISSInternational Space Station and Atlantis info. As you can imagine, a big news hole out here – can't even get the Beeb world service without major hassle. I'm about to try using the mast as an antenna. Big Hi to Andrew – the NeedlesA row of three distinctive stacks of chalk that rise out of the sea off the western extremity of the Isle of Wight, UK. The Needles lighthouse stands at the end of the formation. in 90+ knots I can only imagine.
Another word of explanation: Our ISSInternational Space Station viewing times are roughly the 20 minute periods before sunrise and after sunset – while the ISSInternational Space Station can see the sun and reflect its light towards us if they are anywhere near us bur as the sun is below our horizon the sky is dark enough for us to see the reflection quite easily.
Norm – thanks – jeers and ribald laughter from the crowd is what gets one foot out in front of the other again and again in those last 6km.
By Berrimilla on November 21, 2009, at 1230 UTC
In a Eureka! moment, while engaging the neuronic trio in an explanation of the difference between magnetic and true courses I discovered (stumbled across) the origin of phosphorescence. Nothing to do with dinoflagellates, just the detritus of sloppy navigators. Everyone knows that Einstein hated the idea of entanglement in which one of a pair of particles can be shown to be 'known' to the other no matter how far across spacetime they may be separated. He called it spooky and kept trying to find an explanation because it appears to defy his general theory of relativity. Navigators have known about it since Prince Henry set up shop at Sagres – if you draw a line on a chart, all those entangled particles on the chart have their spin established by your pencil and all their partners out here on the ocean fire up and make a glowing line on the water that corresponds to the line on the chart. Then you come out in your ship and sail along it and before you can say dinoflagellisticexpiallidocious you have got to where you were going! Good, conscientious navigators always switch off the excited particles on the ocean as they pass so as not to confuse us lot who follow but we're not all so punctilious and phosphorescence is the result – terazillions of those excitedly spinning particles left behind by sloppy navigators higgledy-piggledy all over the ocean.
The difference between magnatic and true will have to wait – not half such fun.
One for the mythbusters if they haven't done it already, or any competent mathematician who can find the numbers. I have heard it said that there is a significant chance that in any day you breathe air that has been circulated so comprehensively by the world's meteorological systems to the extent that any breath might contain a molecule from Nelson's dying breath, or one of Henry VIII's belches (or worse) or Nefertiti's sneeze or a dinosaur's bellow. Presumably, the further back in time the more likely. So what are the chances that a molecule in the air I'm breathing now was once breathed by a slave building the Sphinx?
Or in similar mode, the human body is mostly water, which is circulated in the same way – what chance any part of me was once in the bilge of Leif Ericsson's Viking ship on the Greenland coast? Or of the puddle that Raleigh spread his cloak over for Elizabeth 1? Or even part of Raleigh before she had him shortened by a head for being presumptuous?
Enough already!
By Berrimilla on November 21, 2009, at 1714 UTC
0630/21st position 2700 01132 trip 110 (all over the place…) and 1596 to CT
SJ – thanks mate and assumed as much – but never any harm in a bit of reinforcement!
IzzAlex's sister 'n'G Kool and gluey doods – thanks too.
By Berrimilla on November 21, 2009, at 2358 UTC
Just possible there may be another Macca gig sometime after 0700 Sydney time Nov 22, 2000 UTC Nov 21. ABC Radio Australia, program Australia All Over.
SJ – instructions not followed! So much for reinforcement – and the HFHigh Frequency – usually refers to HF radio which is long range digital radio that Berrimilla used to send all but a few of the logs on both circumnavigations. The radio was connected via a Pactor 3 digital modem to Alex’s laptop and used the Sailmail software application called Airmail to send emails and pull in emails, weather and GRIB files. Airmail also supports Iridium satellite telephone messaging and Alex used this as backup when the HF radio died approaching England. died again just as I'd downloaded the 3 liner with the half page of unnecessary crud attached. Grateful if you could advise no more emails possible unless relayed through you but phone ok. Iridium too precious for extraneous garbage. Murphyalatermate.
By Berrimilla on November 22, 2009, at 1412 UTC
We are as remote as it is possible to be in this huge ocean. Last ship a week ago, before that, another eight days to the previous one. Not an aircraft, not a space station, nothing human. Macca for ten minutes a tribute to technology and a welcome interlude.
How can I describe this night to someone sitting in front of a bright computer screen at home or in the office? It's as if we are inside a huge faintly luminous grey sock. Shapeless, untouchable gaseous void filler in thin foggy grey. We're sailing on soft grey-black velvet, invisible, shapeless but substantial, with the loveliest of phosphorescent twinkles in a rolling greenish halo of disturbed water flowing past. You feel the motion – it's experienced, without the usual frame of horizon and clouds to mark the boat's passage. The sails a darker mass in the void. Swooshing surging burbling water noise and the swish of the wind generator with its gentle undulating whine as it fires wiggly amps at the batteries, its tiny red LED glowing in the shapeless grey. Instrument lights at their dimmest grey – juuust readable but even with the acutest night vision there's only the feel of the change in density between velvet and gas at the horizon. Masthead lights brilliant arcs of pinpoint colour leaving painted trails on the retina – green light reflected off a masthead aerial making a surface patch in the velvet out to starboard. Sometimes it catches a ripple and turns it into glowing life for a second or two. The usual clunks and creaks that are the atmospheric noises off in any sailing boat. Gentle breeze on the face – tonight a caress but always out here with the hint of
Or just a dank and dismold overcast night if you'd rather do without the hype…
By Berrimilla on November 22, 2009, at 1745 UTC
0630/22nd position 2740 00918 trip 130 and 1470 to Cape Town. Required VMGVelocity made good – loosely, speed in the right direction. still 4.8 for AM Dec 5th.
G'day to the Crosshaven RNLIRoyal National Lifeboat Institution (UK & Ireland). Run mostly by volunteers, heroes all. mob and RNLIRoyal National Lifeboat Institution (UK & Ireland). Run mostly by volunteers, heroes all. crews everywhere. I decided that today's breakfast Murph which I'm quietly savouring as I prod the keyboard, would be in your honour, especially as in the conditions we're told you are getting up there, you have probably been very busy.
Gerry Fitz – give the FenwickA friend and clearly a colourful character a call – if he's not totally stupefied, dozy old fart that he is, he's got a really good story to tell you and you can use it immediately to edify your punters. Buy him a beer – he earned it and someone orta give him a gong.
If this is a short one, the HFHigh Frequency – usually refers to HF radio which is long range digital radio that Berrimilla used to send all but a few of the logs on both circumnavigations. The radio was connected via a Pactor 3 digital modem to Alex’s laptop and used the Sailmail software application called Airmail to send emails and pull in emails, weather and GRIB files. Airmail also supports Iridium satellite telephone messaging and Alex used this as backup when the HF radio died approaching England. radio is back – I never know from email to email whether it will turn itself on when I press the switch. It came back last night for long enough to send the grey rainbow thingy so let's see now..
By Berrimilla on November 23, 2009, at 0444 UTC
I'm a wimp when it comes to flying kites out here – potential for big and unnecessary stress on the rig if things go pearshaped and all the other complications of bits of string everywhere. But Pete was persuasive and we've had our racing assymetric kiteSailors’ slang for a spinnaker up for the last 3 hours and we are hooningAs far as I can gather, if Berri were a horse, she’d have the bit between her teeth to be hooning – trying really hard to stay in a line of wind that I think will die with a line of cloud to the west of us. Last time we flew it was from the FastnetFastnet Race: 608 mile biennial race from Cowes, UK, Isle of Wight, to the Fastnet Rock off Southern Ireland, finishing in Plymouth. Berrimilla took part in 2005 and 2009. Rock back past The LizardThe most southerly point of the British mainland. in the FastnetFastnet Race: 608 mile biennial race from Cowes, UK, Isle of Wight, to the Fastnet Rock off Southern Ireland, finishing in Plymouth. Berrimilla took part in 2005 and 2009. where it picked us up about 100 places (luck as well, of course, with a massive wind change as we rounded Pantaenius)- so, Mr ShillandShilland, Brian: much-lauded sailmaker for Berri, a good little engine and just right for these conditions. Still more or less on target for Dec 5th arrival with 1436 miles to go. KevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others is driving – I'm watching him because there is still some swell and if a big one catches the stern, it throws us sideways and gives poor KevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others a completely false apparent wind which gives him the hiccups.
Later – since I started writing this, I've been hand steering for a couple of hours because it's too much for the electric autopilot as well. The wind is strengthening and I think freeing us and we may have to drop the kiteSailors’ slang for a spinnaker soon. I saw our first Portuguese Man 'o War (Bluebottle for the Australians) quite a big one, deep blue sac with crenellated fringe on the top edge and half moon curve so they drift with the prevailing wind. And a white bird settled on the water – unusual as most of them here are brown or black – orange beak, white head, black slashes around the eyes, grey flecks on top of the body and wings and two long straight white tail feathers – hard to judge their length but at least as long as the body. Not in the albatross book but somebody will know what it is.
Later still – we dropped it in time for a relaxed meeting with the Grindy – was building a nice fat quarter wave so time to douse and get the boat upright again – lost perhaps half a knot-- Speed: definition of speed at sea. One knot is one nautical mile per hour. The nautical mile is about 1.15 % longer than the "statute" mile used on land. A knot is about half a metre per second.
-- A knot is also the result of winding a rope around itself or another rope to make a join or a loop .
but the knuckles no longer grey.
Norm – thanks! Wish we had one of those machines.
By Berrimilla on November 23, 2009, at 1729 UTC
0630/23rd position 2822 00644 trip 143 and 1327nm to Cape Town. Closing on the half way point at 36 k in the marathon.
Still hooningAs far as I can gather, if Berri were a horse, she’d have the bit between her teeth to be hooning – genoa poled out, pointing at CT, averaging about 6kts. Soft spot due later today and much bigger one tomorrow. Dec 5th arrival still on the cards. Will depend on the behaviour of the high behind the one we're about to enter. Big to-do list for Cape Town.
Lots of birds following us – I have so many floaters in my eyes these days that looking at the horizon or trying to focus on a bird is a bit like reading newsprint – takes time and concentration, so a bit of jizzery later.
We should cross 5 degrees west tomorrow so we will have completed the huge arc to the west to get around West Africa and the South Atlantic weather systems and be back due south of where we started. We shall celebrate – if you're reading this Gordy, I'll blip your mobile with the satphone. The journey will start to become very different from here. There ain't no 'Beam me up Scotty!' once you get down into the southern ocean below Africa.
By Berrimilla on November 24, 2009, at 0438 UTC
I have just cranked up the incredibly ancient and scarred old Toughbook from the first voyage and the Bass Strait roll and found some old blogs from the critical bit of our North West PassageThe Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. More here. transit last year. I think they are worth putting up again here. All from 17/18 Aug 2008
Kimbra's post
You've heard of gorillas in the mist, but today we've had belugasThese small whales are superficially more like oversize, white, friendly dolphins.
and snow! I've never seen a beluga whale before, but I have to say it was love at first sight. To me, these small whales are superficially more like oversize, white, friendly dolphins. As Alex said, we saw a small, loose pod of about 6 belugasThese small whales are superficially more like oversize, white, friendly dolphins.
around brekkie-o'clock this morning. One appeared to be stalking us, so maybe word has got around the whale-world about Corrie's close encounter off BarrowPoint Barrow or Nuvuk is a headland on the Arctic coast in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost point of all the territory of the United States. More on
wikipedia and they're out for revenge? Anyway, most cool!
The weather is also (still) most cool. So far, it's snowed on 3 separate occasions today. My Alaska keychain thermometer is still telling me it's 10 deg C, but I'm rapidly losing faith in it. My cold-toe-ometer is telling me that it's probably a little less than that. Cold enough to break out the hot porridge with dried apricots and maple syrup for breakfast. Yum.
While I hate fog, I'm really kinda fond of snow. There's not enough of it (yet!) for it to settle, and we're definitely not talking snowmen either, but it's very peaceful. And makes a nice change from the rain. It's starting to settle on the hills bordering Peel Sound, and dusting parts of them a light grey against the dark blue-brown rock.
Nearly around the top of Peel Sound. Another 50 NM until we hang right and turn east along BarrowPoint Barrow or Nuvuk is a headland on the Arctic coast in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost point of all the territory of the United States. More on
wikipedia Strait and Lancaster Sound towards Greenland. So 50 NM to go to my mental halfway point, where we stop heading away from the edge of the world and start heading back to civilisation.
Anyway, my fingers are too cold to hit the right keys on this miniature keyboard, so I'm heading for my bunk. Wake me for dinner in bed in an hour or so…wonder what Corrie's cooking tonight?
Night all! K.
No footer
———-
radio email processed by SailMailSailmail is the system that Berrimilla uses for email communication. It is a non-profit association of yacht owners operating a network of private coast stations in the maritime Mobile Radio Service.
for information see: http://www.sailmailSailmail is the system that Berrimilla uses for email communication. It is a non-profit association of yacht owners operating a network of private coast stations in the maritime Mobile Radio Service..com
By Berrimilla on November 24, 2009, at 0448 UTC
This is McQ feeling cold
McQ
oh how I wish the oreo cookie monster would leave me alone!!! he hangs out shivering at the end of my bunk while I am off watch, desperately trying to ignore him, though its hard as he looks so blue and fluffy and unmonsterlike and pathetic, then when I come on watch he sort of attaches himself to me and won’t leave me alone, till I relent and eat cookies, despite my constant protesting!!!
To jump on the clothing bandwagon too, which i think I just win, I have on:
1 pair thermal socks
1 pair thick fluffy socks
1 pair ziploc bags (yes these count, they might be the most important items infact!!)
1 pair leaky boots
1 set of underwear, actually bikiniBikini is an atoll in the Micronesian Islands of the Pacific Ocean, part of Republic of the Marshall Islands. More on wikipedia. top and bottoms
1 pair thermal legs
1 thermal top
1 midlayer salopettes
1 fleece top
2 midlayer jackets
1 oilie bottoms
1 oilie smock top
1 pair fluffy gloves
1 pair sealskinz gloves
1 pair waterproof outer shell gloves
1 neck warmer
1 thermal balaclava
1 hobart beanieKnitted hat
1 windstopper balaclava
1 fleece hat with ear warmer bits
1 pair ski goggles
so thats 29 individual items…yes, 2 pairs socks, 3 pairs gloves and four hats… its making me cold thinking about it!!!
Oh how I sometimes wish the oreo cookie monster was a heater instead, then he could hang on to me all day and night long, and I wouldn’t mind at all!!
Hope everyone well and warm
Lots of love
McQ
xxx
By Berrimilla on November 24, 2009, at 0458 UTC
Topic(s): Clothing Me. I seem to be the serious one, as usual. We actually had to go to about 75N to get around a big ice field in Lancaster Sound – sadly, freezing rain and big icebergs meant we were just not able to make it to BeecheyBeechey Island is an island located in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago of Nunavut, Canada. More on wikipedia Island and the NASA HMPNASA's Houghton Mars Project camp on Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic. Camp. At the time I wrote this one it seemed that the really hard bit was behind us and so it was, but there was still a lot of nastiness to come, especially dark nights and ice in Davis Strait (but overwhelmed by swimming polar bears and the most glorious auroras) and the Atlantic crossing which destroyed the old engine. It’s all there on this website (2-7. Cambridge Bay-Baffin Bay) if you can be bothered to wade back past the spammers’ desecrations.
Alex
Kimbra’s watch and we are almost as far north as we need to go to round the northernmost point of Somerset Island, just east of Cunningham Bay. So – in an hour or so we should be able to head east, then south east. No more ice visible, Cornwallis just there on the N. horizon and a lighter patch of cloud where BeecheyBeechey Island is an island located in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago of Nunavut, Canada. More on wikipedia should be, about 45 miles away. Worth just a tiny wooohoooa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOO
WOOOHOOO!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOO
WOOOHOOO!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!! Pascal’s dotted line is ok so far – we can’t test the BeecheyBeechey Island is an island located in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago of Nunavut, Canada. More on wikipedia bit but we’ll pick it up again soon.
As for clothing I thought a detailed list might be interesting. On deck, I wear my brown fisherman’s super tough wellies, aka Sitka Slippers, with sock liners and fleece socks. Glove liners and insulated industrial rubber gloves. From the skin out, a thermal vest with long sleeves, T shirt, no knickers or thermals over the nethers (because they promote the most agonising gunwale bumLesions, looking like pimples on the bum, caused by pressure, chafing, heat, damp etc; sometimes known as spotty botty, skipper’s seat or barnacle butt. . Unbelievably painful and irritating.) so a fleece mid layer known as salopettes, with a fleece hoodie on top. Sometimes a balaclava and neck tube. On top of all that, a Mustang survival suit or a float coat and Henri pants if it’s not too cold. Goggles if it’s snowing or windy.
And it has come to pass – at 1750 UTC Sunday August 17 we turned east, then south east at 74.12.10.3N 093.57.28.2W. Half way ConsultationA regular engagement with alcohol. One might say this whole epic is a Consultation with a bit of a sail round it. See also Conservation Mode; Linear and Parallel Methods of Consultation is occurring. Slightly bigger Wooohoooa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOO
WOOOHOOO!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOO
WOOOHOOO!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!
And keep ‘em crossed please. Looong way to go yet.
By Berrimilla on November 24, 2009, at 1730 UTC
0630/24th position 2859 00428, trip 130 and 1202 to CT required VMGVelocity made good – loosely, speed in the right direction. for Dec 5th now about 4.5kt. It's a bit like limited over cricket – balls left, runs to get, wickets to fall. Drip feed instant gratification, to coin an oxymoron.
We crossed 5 deg West at 0045 this morning – We are now east of Falmouth and 4750nm south after 6314 miles! Gordy notified four hours in advance and we will celebrate this evening. Dank, drizzly, overcast, windless – just trickling along.
I've been checking Berri's systems prior to CT so that we can get recalcitrant gizmos fixed. Have just cranked up the SatCom CSatcom: A worldwide communication system using the INMARSAT satellite network and allowing transfer of text and data (not voice) using compact and relatively cheap equipment – an Inmarsat C device. The equipment seems to work and it logs in to the East Atlantic region but will not transmit messages via the Land Earth Stations predefined in the software so I assume there must have been some sort of amendment since I last used it (probably at least 18 months ago as it is power hungry so only used as emergency backup). Would appreciate advice if anyone knows – else will get on-line latest version of EasymailSoftware application for use with SatCom C devices. software from CT to check for changes.
Steve sent us a list of howlers from the current crop of higher school certificate exam papers in English. I rather like this one: 'The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.'
Shades of a softly Taoist Sei Shonagon and her list of things near yet distant – in her case 'The course of a boat'.
By Isabella on November 24, 2009, at 2050 UTC
Posted by I & G in the UK.
By Berrimilla on November 25, 2009, at 1703 UTC
0700/25th position 2928 00248 trip 97 and desperately slow, mostly powered by diesel 1109 to CT
Radio dead once again.
As I write this, around 1830/24th, (yesterday) we are celebrating passing 5 deg W early this morning. I hope the Chain LockerWaterside pub in Falmouth, UK mob is in session too, preparing for another six pints or so before dinner. Onya everyone!
We are a bit over 3000 miles from Cape Horn which is at 57 degrees south 68 west. South of the Horn is the 600 mile passage across to the Antarctic Peninsula called Drake Passage – Drake was never there (he sailed through the Strait of Magellan) but this passage spans a strip of the southern ocean that extends all the way around the world. It sits astride the westerly current and the band of fierce westerly winds that also extend around the world. Waves and swell in this band have an unlimited fetch so they can become really huge if storm conditions persist over long periods as we experienced four years ago. Here now in Berrimilla at nearly 30S, we are a long way north of this band of ferocity but I think we are just beginning to feel the big southern ocean swells that sweep up from the Horn and the intense low pressure systems down there and across the South Atlantic towards Africa. We have a SW swell with a wavelength of perhaps 150 metres, height perhaps 5 metres with the occasional wave that seems to be very much bigger. Someone will check the satellite data and tell me I'm wrong – always very difficult to estimate wave height from within. Anyway, they are not anywhere near big enough to lose a cathedral in the troughs as you could below 40S but perhaps the top edge of the influence of the maelstrom. A taste of things to come and the ExaminerShe who asks awkward questions of the crew and tests them with difficult tasks. asserting her authority.
Much later – swell now dropped, along with what little wind there was – in serious wallow mode.
Later still – 0600/25th – the swell is still here, but smoother and so less obvious at night but can see it in daylight.
Deborah, thanks! – I'll write to you separately when the radio comes back, meantime you don't need permission!
Ron C and perhaps Carla – an odd sighting: position 29.18 S 003.01 W @ 01.56.30 UTC Nov 25th altitude about 45 deg, azimuth roughly south – a single white strobe, flashing every second or so without the usual flickering red and green and secondary strobes that usually go with passing aircraft. I saw about 10 flashes then it stopped – possibly a patch of high cloud – and did not reappear. It had the feel of being very high or distant and I could not discern movement against the background stars but it was really a fleeting glimpse anyway. Vogon mothership perhaps – do VogonsExtremely ugly, unpleasant and officious, the Vogons emerged from the seas of Vogsphere and became bureaucrats in the Galactic Government. They destroyed the earth to clear the way for a hyperspace bypass; see also HHGTTGThe Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams; essential reading for those trying to understand these logs. You may be none the wiser once you’ve read it, but at least you’ll have tried. More here have mothers?
Malcom – many thanks. Warning noted – just like the Falklands, where kelpTypes of brown algae, which hold on to the rocky sea bottom with root-like structures. Floats in huge mats close to land and potentially capable of fouling a propeller or a rudder. More here (Wikipedia) rafts are like solid islands, some of them anchored to the bottom and marked on the charts.
Sue – Pinkbok says Hi and what were you thinking of when you sent me out with these idiots? Hope the lurgy dissipating.
By Berrimilla on November 26, 2009, at 1225 UTC
Oh wonder of the Universe – can there be anything so lovely anywhere between here and Squornshellous Zeta? I think it's an Atlantic Yellow Nosed albatross – black eyes, grey head, yellow line on beak, white rump, grey uppers and white underparts with black leading edges underwing. The definition and depth of colour of its markings seem closer to the Bullers which lives in the Pacific. All depends on yellow lines on the beak and subtle differences in plumage – I have some reasonable photos but the beak is indistinct, unfortunately but I don't think there's a second yellow line under the beak. Anyway, a joy to behold and I do hope that if life has evolved amongst any of the galaxies that have been around for the last 13 billion years or so, Albatrosses are part of it. Perhaps Herschel will tell us.
And we just crossed 30 S. A bunch of opportunities to listen to Vogon poetry and mother-in-law jokes coming up as we sit with our favourite medical consultant – there's the Greenwich meridianAn imaginary great circle on the surface of the Earth, passing through North and South geographic poles. All points on the same meridian have the same longitude. Meridian can also be used to describe either half of such a circle from pole to pole about a day away and 1000 to go in about 70 miles. Then we will pass Sydney just before we get to CT and maybe even Wollonging if we aim past it to beat the wind and current. Plus our albatross. Yay and wooohoooa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOO
WOOOHOOO!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOO
WOOOHOOO!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!.
Pete saw a ship! So much excitement in a day – I am faint and trembling with whelm.
The moon has just gone down in the west and the night sky has come to life – all those potential albatrosses out there in the universal boonies – Berrimilla's own intimate 14 billion year slice of space-time. Gravity is in the eye of the beholder – s/he who first drew an outline that linked the stars into constellations. Orion's belt now satisfactorily defies its northern hemisphere creator and dangles upwards – Sirius, Castor and Pollux, Procyon and the rest of the mob in attendance and the Pleiades nebulating happily. I'd love to have a stable platform and a telescope out hers! Space is really really big and there's so much stuff to look at! Fred Watson, my favourite astronomer, told me there's a red giant out there with a diameter larger that our Solar system. Coo! Makes poor old Betelgeuese look like a dried lentil.
Carol, thanks – we'll do our best – these systems give us lots of cloud cover so iffy at best.
Scott – no chance we'll make Hobart for the post S2HSydney-Hobart Race: often described as the most gruelling ocean race in the world, this annual race starts on 26th December from Sydney Harbour and ends in Hobart. The course is 628 nautical miles. shindig – most likely end January. Where are you these days?
Enough already. This is going via iridium.
By Berrimilla on November 26, 2009, at 1800 UTC
0700/26th position 3023 00109, trip 109, 1009 to Cape Town so 9 miles to the marathon half way point and a celebratory Talisker moment.
From Gordy:
hi alex pete berri
just a quick one to let you know drinks were taken buy the crowd in the
chain at 1800 24/11 as promised good few in attendance carny paul pauline
tall paul shane tim the fish and a few from ponsarden photos to follow
sign off now ok take care guys
keep her going boys
gordy
A truly inspirational gathering of poets, philosophers and other seekers after the truth – onya chasps! We were right there with you in pious spirituosity!
Correction to my last – Fred Watson's red giant may have been only the size of earth's orbit – still no dried lentil. Idle thoughts about all this were followed by one of the longest burn up plumes from an object entering earth's atmosphere that I think I have ever seen – from our position 30.13 S 001.36 W time 0148/26th November, track roughly SE – NW, perhaps 320, altitude at the start about 30 deg and it flew almost to the NW horizon directly under Orion. Very fast, very thin trail, not a lot of light but spectacular.
Sue of the yellow piggy – erk! But thanks for storm surf info about southern ocean swells – I was close after all and they have been with us all day.
By Isabella on November 26, 2009, at 1934 UTC
With an avian write-up of such rapturous heights, I’m sure we readers
as one, wish to take a squizz at the Atlantic Yellow Nosed Albatross.
Trying to find a copyright-free image of the bird in flight has eluded
me but here’s one of it contemplating its navel, from Wikipedia. It
is posted there courtesy of http://www.plos.org/oa/index.html – to
whom grateful thanks.
To see the bird in flight, go to http://www.arkive.org/atlantic-yellow-nosed-albatross/thalassarche-chlororhynchos/
where there are several more images, and a video sequence of its
breathtaking flight.
By Isabella on November 26, 2009, at 2016 UTC
Fresh from the Falmouth Photos cutting-room floor comes a sequel to
the video “Berrimilla’s Journey Home to Australia.”
For those who missed the first one (or can’t be bothered to slog
backwards through the links) here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-TUJ-J5fgA
For the second one, go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fxdBDRK01U
This second video was made as a result of the Chain LockerWaterside pub in Falmouth, UK Crew in
Falmouth celebrating 5 Degrees West in the bar last night. You’ll see
them all (still upright) at the end of the video. Cheers, me hearties,
and thanks to Paul Harry of Falmouth Photos.
http://www.falmouthphotos.com/
Posted by Iz in the UK
By Isabella on November 26, 2009, at 2045 UTC
Posted by I & G in the UK.
By Berrimilla on November 26, 2009, at 2355 UTC
Pete writes
I've been moved to write due to a distinct lack of something to do. I'm now towards the end of my two night watches, the sun is coming up, Alex has just appeared so I'll make my way to the fridge to extract a couple of Murphy1- The inventor of Murphy’s Law which states (in various ways) that if something can go wrong, it will.
2- Irish beer's for breakfast.
Aggahhhh much better.
We put in a good days work last Sunday. By the end of my night watch the wind had dropped to 6-8 kts and boat speed was down to 3-4 kts, this was perilously close to "turn the key time" so a suggestion was made that perhaps a kiteSailors’ slang for a spinnaker might solve the problem of keeping boat speed above the 4.8 kts required to reach Cape Town by Sat. the 5th.
Up it went a nice new flat assymetrical from the craft of Brian ShillandShilland, Brian: much-lauded sailmaker for Berri. True wind was a little aft of the beam so it wasn't long before we were getting 5-6 kts as the apparent wind increased and moved forward to about 15 to 20 degs ahead of the beam. We had a wonderful run all day but by 4 in the arvoAfternoon wind was above 15 kts boat speed was mostly about 6 7 sometimes 8 and we were still up on course, as they say we were hoooooning along, with a huge grin and a "Whoooo Hooooo".
The problem with Berri and the old style deep keel mid to heavy displacement type of boat is that they have to push a lot of water out of the way to move forward. As a completely bare boat she weighs 5.5 tons, set up for a voyage of 14000 miles she probably weights in at say 7 tons. This means that she has to get 7 cubic metres of water out of her path. Of course pushing water out of the way is easy at low speed but as the speed increases it gets so much harder to displace the water quickly and eventually the boat reaches its maximum hull speed. The boat now moves in a trough created by the bow and stern waves.
If the wind now increases and the boat speed does not and you have a kiteSailors’ slang for a spinnaker up then things start to go decidedly pear shaped very quickly.
The obvious question is how do you get the kiteSailors’ slang for a spinnaker down with one steering and only one other to bring the sail in. How do you control the halyard drop and gather the sail at the same time.
Alex and I have competed the last 3 FastnetFastnet Race: 608 mile biennial race from Cowes, UK, Isle of Wight, to the Fastnet Rock off Southern Ireland, finishing in Plymouth. Berrimilla took part in 2005 and 2009. races in the 2 handed division, you learn a lot from the single handers over a beer after the race. One trick we learnt was to throw the halyard in the water, first it avoids tangles as it streams out the back and a few figure 8s on the end puts just the right tension on to control the drop. The kiteSailors’ slang for a spinnaker is then gathered in through the slot between the mainsail foot and the boom.
We had decided earlier on to pull the kiteSailors’ slang for a spinnaker down at about 4.30 which would give enough time to repack the sail and tidy all the bits of string up before the bar opened at 5 for a G&T.; The wind never got to the point where the sail was threatened and we doused it easily using the above method. I'll write more now as all the good books have been read and all the little jobs that can be done at sea are crossed off the "To do list".
A footnote to Allan. FenwickA friend and clearly a colourful character are you OK we havn't had an abusive letter from you yet?
Woc. So you found me. Is Graeme back for Christmas and will the stock market have recovered by then?
Cheers Pete.
By Berrimilla on November 27, 2009, at 0646 UTC
An insect – appeared to be a tiny copy of a housefly – landed on the computer yesterday. It walked around a bit, climbed over the screen and disappeared – so we have company. I wonder if it has come all the way from Lisbon or even the Chain LockerWaterside pub in Falmouth, UK or did it arrive on the wind? If so, it probably came from S America which seems like a long way for such a tiny beast.
And at the other end of the scale, we sailed through a swathe of ocean perhaps 3 boat lengths by one covered in a sort of greasy film and bubbles. In the Bering Sea and north of the Arctic Circle in the Chukchi and BeaufortThe first effective scale to estimate wind speeds and their effects. Created by Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort (1774-1857). The scale starts with 0 and goes to a high force of 12 Seas, breeching whales left these trails but always with stringy bits of mucous and flakes of skin sloughing around. I did not see the stringy bits in this one but certainly the greasy residue, so perhaps we are in even larger company out here. But I did not see a spout, so could have been a giant squid having digestive problems with a wayward nuclear submarine.
No birds today – hot and cloudless so they are probably settled on the water somewhere and will come back this evening.
And half a chance of a visible ISSInternational Space Station pass tonight – I've adjusted for our actual position and I think we might crack it. I don't think I know anyone who is up there this time but still just a bit personal to watch (probably) our closest humans go by.
Later – We crossed the Greenwich meridianAn imaginary great circle on the surface of the Earth, passing through North and South geographic poles. All points on the same meridian have the same longitude. Meridian can also be used to describe either half of such a circle from pole to pole at 18.36.05 UTC. We have already had one celebration today at 1000 miles to go, so we have saved the last bit of Maureen's cake to sweeten the breakfast Murphys tomorrow. All the numbers in the GPS are now counting in the same direction. Feels good. But not looking good for seeing the ISSInternational Space Station. Big cloudbank on the front of the next system barrelling in from the west.
Dusk but I think we have an albatross back with us.
Paul – "I hear there's a video record of that erudite gathering of scholars and philosophers at the Chain LockerWaterside pub in Falmouth, UK. Thanks – can't wait. We re-enacted our simultaneous ConsultationA regular engagement with alcohol. One might say this whole epic is a Consultation with a bit of a sail round it. See also Conservation Mode; Linear and Parallel Methods of Consultation for the camera this evening, having not thought to do so on Tuesday.
By Berrimilla on November 27, 2009, at 1851 UTC
073027th position 3113 00111 trip 138 and 878 to go.
We crossed Mr Maskelyne's brass line at 18.36.05 yesterday and we're in the eastern hemisphere. Wooohoooa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOO
WOOOHOOO!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOO
WOOOHOOO!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!! The last Maureen's cake (Thanks, Maureen ;-)and a Murph to celebrate this morning and there's wind for a day or so in the right direction, then it gets pearshasped but these systems move very fast. Dec 5th still possible.
May not have been Maskelyne but it's a reasonable stab. Too far south, Norm, for Mercatorian status.
No ISSInternational Space Station last night – 8/8 cloud. Poo.
By Berrimilla on November 28, 2009, at 1328 UTC
Another of those heart-in-mouth nights when Berrimilla's passage through the ocean sets off a trail of luminous green strobe like explosions of writhing radiance in her wake and out to the sides as well – it's as if there is a pressure wave from her bow out to about 5 metres each side and while most of the fun occurs directly in her wake, there are sporadic flashes at least that far out every few seconds. At six knots, that sort of pressure wave in water must be in the nanopooptillionth range so whatever it is is extraordinarily sensitive. Whatever, it is mesmerising and lovely, our own special aurora marking our passage.
A couple of weeks with nowt but ourselves and today two ships, one a big empty tanker heading NW, the other just lights passing in the night. Unfortunately, I can't get my AISAutomatic Identification System. An automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels. gizmoSome kind of gadget or other, normally infuriating to talk to SoBSoftware on Board, from Digitboat – navigation software used by Alex for both circumnavigations. so there is no identifying data. Another of those electronoc mysteries. Ships are an indication that we are getting close – only one and a bit BUs and in the manageable range. Soon, perhaps, we will see land birds and get the local radio stations on AM and then FM instead of the hassle with short wave to pull in the BBC World Service for Africa. The SW radio is now using the whole rig as an antenna and it works rather well but I need a proper antenna jack and alligator clip to stabilise the connection instead of the split pin and clothes peg I'm using. Your frequency list worked, Carol – thanks! And then I will find out whether my Australian TelstraThe Telstra Corporation is an Australian Telecommunications Company dominant in the area of land lines, mobile phones and Broadband, amongst other services SIM works in South Africa, as it should – but I'm not taking bets.
It's the journey, stupid! While we look forward to a friendly face, a cold beer and a shower, arriving will be a huge anti-climax. Back to the marathon analogy – standing in the finishing chute, emaciated, knees buckling, leg muscles twitching and cramping, blisters a dull burn, before even getting the finisher's medal, months of preparation pounding the streets then 42km of graduated effort and increasing pain all done and the let down is almost something solid you can touch. Success has its buzz, which may come later, but it is for me always accompanied by atrophy and a sort of mental entropy. Perhaps that's actually the driving force that gets people back out on the streets or in their boats after vowing never again. In our case this time, we are only half way home and we can't really relax and drop the bundle – there's a very big to-do list.
And anyone who has ever been out here on a such night of swirling luminescence as tonight can't fail to yearn for the uncomplicated serenity of it all.
K in Shanghai – I doubt you are reading this but Hi anyway!
By Berrimilla on November 28, 2009, at 1801 UTC
0700/28th position 3203 00321 trip 134 and 759 to CT. The equation is moving our way – but no predictions.
Wet and lumpy and hooningAs far as I can gather, if Berri were a horse, she’d have the bit between her teeth to be hooning but – the chainplate over my bunk end has started to leak so I’m going to have to deal with wet feet, or a plastic bag, or the foetal position for the next week or so – won’t be too bad as hoonery set to terminate this evening.
2 more ships – Piccadilly Circus looks like an empty parking lot compared to this bit of ocean.
No incoming for the last couple of days so nothing to respond to.
Phil G @ FlemingFleming, KevinFleming, Kevin: manufacturer of stainless steel self steering device, aka KevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others, used on Berrimilla and countless others; (Kevin Fleming, you're an absolute bloody gem! ): manufacturer of stainless steel self steering device, aka KevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others, used on Berrimilla and countless others; (KevinFleming, Kevin: manufacturer of stainless steel self steering device, aka KevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others, used on Berrimilla and countless others; (Kevin Fleming, you're an absolute bloody gem! ) Fleming, you're an absolute bloody gem! ), if you are reading this, I have about 15 minutes of video, all rather bland, and pretty crude as I’ve had to work out the software as I went. It might be useful if you can get hold of a copy of Adobe Premier Elements which is the app that came with the camera and I used to download etc. Will try to post from CT – feedback please and I’ll try to go one better in the southern ocean. Problem is there’s a lot of stuff hanging off the back of the boat so hard to get good coverage of KevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others doing his thing.
[See the videos here.]
By Berrimilla on November 29, 2009, at 1737 UTC
0700/29th position 3152 00525 trip 108 CT 659 – bad knock from the current and SE wind but Dec5 still possible.
Sus, tks for stormsurf data.
By Isabella on November 29, 2009, at 2118 UTC
Posted by I & G in the UK.
By Berrimilla on November 30, 2009, at 0650 UTC
1900/29th position 3135 00643 with 603 to CT and going sideways
We have been trying to work our way south for the last thousand miles or so but have not been able to do so without going backwards. And so it is still. There is a fierce current, the Benguela, flowing NW from Cape AgulhasThe southernmost point of Africa, where the Atlantic meets the Indian Ocean. The real corner, south east of the Cape of Good Hope. south of Cape Town and we are in it and getting knocked sideways at about 3 knots – about half our speed, so about a 45 deg knock. Getting south as far as about 35 degrees would have allowed us to manage this but from up here at 31.36 S there's nothing we can do but accept the situation and hope the wind changes as predicted by the gribWeather files.
Graphics in Binary file: GRIB files associate a specific weather datum (eg wind velocity or atmospheric pressure) with a geographic position. Because the resulting file is a collection of these points they are extremely small and so ideal over slow links such as sailmail. in a day or so. Meantime, Namibia here we come. December 5th arrival in CT now looking very iffy indeed.
Otherwise, nothing to report except a juvenile Yellow Nosed Albatross. And a huge empty bulk carrier that altered course around us a couple of hours ago. Tricky when you can't call them up on channel 16VHFVery High Frequency radio. Short range radio equipment for voice and other applications such as AISAutomatic Identification System. An automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels.. Radio Channel used for establishing initial contact and for emergency purposes only. any more – we do have DSCDigital Selective Calling. DSC radios have the facility to alert another vessel or rescue centre directly. on the VHFVery High Frequency radio. Short range radio equipment for voice and other applications such as AISAutomatic Identification System. An automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels.. but I've never had a positive reply when we have tried to use it so no faith in it yet. With no AISAutomatic Identification System. An automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels. data, I have to make an 'all ships' call which is a bit less effective, perhaps, than an individual call using a ship's MMSIMaritime Mobile Station Identity; used for radios with digital selective calling (DSC), as well as AIS (Automatic Identification System) transponders. It allows two vessels with radios that have this capability to exchange information about who they are and where they're going without need for voice contact . There is a unique numeric identifier for each user of AIS system.. Automated bridges fill me with angst. But it does seem that our new radar reflector is working.
FenwickA friend and clearly a colourful character, ya dozy OF, hang in there for what remains of your dissolute life and the birds will sing again in the trees. Then we will come home and you can buy us a beer. Enjoy the Solomons.
———-
radio email processed by SailMailSailmail is the system that Berrimilla uses for email communication. It is a non-profit association of yacht owners operating a network of private coast stations in the maritime Mobile Radio Service.
for information see: http://www.sailmailSailmail is the system that Berrimilla uses for email communication. It is a non-profit association of yacht owners operating a network of private coast stations in the maritime Mobile Radio Service..com
By Isabella on November 30, 2009, at 0838 UTC
Compare bottom left and bottom right positions to understand Alex and
Pete's frustration.
Posted by I & G in the UK.
By Berrimilla on November 30, 2009, at 1756 UTC
0700/30th position (day 60, excluding Lisbon) 3145 00721, trip 123 (but only 97 closer to Cape Town) CT 562
Meanwhile, back in the old bus shelterExplanation here, Old Fart no.1 asleep on the bench, raspy breathing a sandpaper descant for the rustle of dead leaves and food wrappers in the midnight gloom, the clatter of a rolling can dislodged from the heap of empties in the corner giving the whole symphony a jagged edge. Old Fart no. 2, flaky brow creased in concentration, prodding stone age keyboard with ET contraptionery hooking it into Foxy Rupert's wifi. Here we are, prods he, middle watch, 575 miles out of Cape Town, hoist by our own gamble of two weeks age, crunching through lumpy sea in the closest we can get to a course that will get us home, wind and current and ExaminerShe who asks awkward questions of the crew and tests them with difficult tasks. united against us and Dec 5th a desperate fingernail's grasp away from being lost in the vortex.
An iteration of Old Farts across the sleeping bench later and two more cans added to the pile – we are just crossing the continental shelf. There's what looks like a big steep seamount just ahead – my chart does not give it a name, just lots of concentric contours but I think it might be something like Velmay. Massive movement of current around it – shame it doesn't trigger the phosphorescence. The best VMGVelocity made good – loosely, speed in the right direction. we can manage, directly into the current and big, steep headbanging swell is about 3.5 kts. Cape Town Saturday schmatterday! More like Monday. Berri fantastic in these conditions – the occasional humulomungous crash as she meets a big steep one head-on but mostly just bloody uncomfortable hobbyhorsing corkscrewing along, meeting the sea and negotiating it with minimum fuss and no pounding. KevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others driving.
Anne, just opened your jar of honey. MMM! Tks!
By Isabella on November 30, 2009, at 2058 UTC
Posted, with apologies, by I & G in UK.
G's West and East got in a twist while doing the Google Earth
placemark. Alex does not do these Latest Position illustrations as
Berri's computer suite is a bit too limited and full of empties. The
SOF prize goes to G, definitely not to Alex or Pete.
By Berrimilla on December 1, 2009, at 1200 UTC
Here we are, 500+ miles from Cape Town going nowhere and, furthermore, doing it sideways towards northern Namibia or Gough Island. At about the same speed as you would walk a chihuahua through a peat bogBrolga Owners Group. There's a lovely Lincoln quote that I've kept by me for a year or so since I first read it:
"It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words: 'And this, too, shall pass away.' How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!" – Abraham Lincoln
How consoling indeed. Just about sums it up! Thanks Carla.
ISSInternational Space Station pass tonight, perhaps, if I have read the numbers right.
By Berrimilla on December 1, 2009, at 1819 UTC
0700/01 position 3248 00822, trip 106, CT 496 so real trip = 66. GPS trip from Falmouth reads 7144 sailing miles.
Astonishingle, amazingly, astoundingly – the current just disappeared! We are running along the edge of the shelf heading more or less towards CT. Lincoln's wise men may have known a thing or two. Perhaps. Now we need wind. I think Dec 5th is definitely a bridge too far but you never know out here.
Pink predictor, tks for stormsurf. We'll take what comes. El P in the pink.
By Berrimilla on December 1, 2009, at 2319 UTC
Position 1215/01 3259 00850, 472 to go.
The current has vanished, at least for the time being. Hooooley dooooley! How can this be in a world where the laws of physics rule?
Some observations: We felt what seemed to be the strongest current as we passed the big seamount at 31.40S 008.24W. It sits on a ridge extending from the continental shelf and presumably has a significant effect on the huge volume of water flowing NW past it. We passed over the ridge about 35 miles S of the seamount.
The current ceased abruptly as we crossed the south eastern edge of the ridge and the water temperature rose about 2 degrees. This seems to be a very similar phenomenon to the East Australian Current which also runs along the continental shelf, except that there, the current is warm water flowing south whereas here it seems to be cold water flowing north. I have tweaked our heading to try to stay in the warmer water here and we have every appendage in the boat crossed.
If everything holds, Dec 5th will be tantalisingly close but I think just out of reach given the gribWeather files.
Graphics in Binary file: GRIB files associate a specific weather datum (eg wind velocity or atmospheric pressure) with a geographic position. Because the resulting file is a collection of these points they are extremely small and so ideal over slow links such as sailmail. predictions for the next 4 days. KiteSailors’ slang for a spinnaker at the ready for a tiny snatch of northerly wind if it lasts long enough to reach us.
By Berrimilla on December 2, 2009, at 0221 UTC
Another blog from the desktop on the old laptop. I must have saved it to send later. I remember writing this one, (and Tony’s brisket!) less than 18 months ago, huge sense of achievement but tempered with the knowledge of what was to come and the uncertainty of setting out to do something that really put us out there on our own in the most hostile of environments. As it turned out, Nome and Pat Hahn and his family became the basis for the success of our transit of the NW Passage – and are now lifelong friends – I have an invitation to follow the IditarodAn annual long-distance sled dog race run in early March from Anchorage to Nome (Alaska). An annual long-distance sled dog race run in early March from Anchorage to Nome (Alaska). Approximately 1600 miles and takes the northern or southern route in alternate years. next year on a snow machine with Pat and the team supporting one of the Mushers. Who’d a thought that before Baton Rouge and Pascal’s little chart?
Early am 5th July Nome with what passes in America for coffee:
Strange – eerie? – feeling. I remember vividly looking at Nome on google earth in Sydney what seems now only yesterday yet so far in the past it has no time frame. I remember my feelings at the time – this tiny spot so far away – a harbour – Berri still on her mooring at RANSARoyal Australian Navy Sailing Association; a sailing club located in Sydney, Australia. – so far to go, so much preparation, perseverance, patience and persistence to get there – such a thoroughly uncompromising task to get Berri here and this is only the beginning. And here we most definitely – yet somehow unbelievably – are. On Independence Day – seems fitting.
I sat in Breakers Bar on Front Street as the festivities went on outside – long, narrow dark bar receding into the murky cigarette smoky distance, Mr Zappa and the Grateful Dead on NPR loud in the background, a bunch of goldpanners, construction workers and locals spread along the bar drinking the most amazing concoctions. Ice, cranberry and Vodka with a side shot of Crown whisky is one I remember. I felt as if I belonged – yet the signpost outside the Nugget a few doors away said Sydney 7181 miles (easily the furthest away of all the names). Tony, the barman, had a cookpot behind the bar and he opened it up and put a big black lump about a foot long onto a huge cutting board and started to carve it. My July 4th brisket, said he – would you like a plate? Would I??! How much is it? Against the law to sell it in here – I’m giving it away…so I got a paper plate with slices of marinated sugar glazed brisket, cooked overnight, with crisp bread and a mix of beans and onion. One of the best meals I have ever experienced – washed down with Alaskan Amber. A feeling of something achieved yet the usual apprehension that the ExaminerShe who asks awkward questions of the crew and tests them with difficult tasks. still lurks and we’re really only at the start line. Can’t ever escape that except by getting on with the job. Just needed MarvinThe manically depressed robot with a “brain the size of a planet” from HHGTTGThe Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams; essential reading for those trying to understand these logs. You may be none the wiser once you’ve read it, but at least you’ll have tried. More here along to park the amazing collection of hard country vehicles outside and tell me that his b.t.s.o.a.p. was wasted in Nome and did I have a real job for him?
On which: today is back on the gearbox problem. It’s a linkage problem, I think – doesn’t always seem to engage properly so I will try to dismantle it all again and adjust it – almost impossible to get to the business end of the Morse cable that moves the gear lever but I gotta do it somehow. McQ and K having their usual morning sleep in and will probably appear around lunchtime and start on the other jobs.
Still too much ice up north and we have been strongly advised by the locals who know that we should not leave until it is open at Point BarrowPoint Barrow or Nuvuk is a headland on the Arctic coast in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost point of all the territory of the United States. More on
wikipedia so we will stay here until that happens. So – out of this expensive hotel and into a B & B if it looks like more than a few days…..
And I won’t bore you with the rest. To savour the moment, I have just made coffee using the little blue plastic funnel and one of the last of a pack of 250 filter papers that I bought in the store in Nome – last used, I think, during our rather nasty Atlantic crossing last September.
By Berrimilla on December 2, 2009, at 1336 UTC
Finally – after about four years since we last saw it from Berri from way down in the southern ocean on the other side of Africa – The ISSInternational Space Station – new improved version, bigger, better, brighter with Scott's bit of fishing line on the big solar array to hold the thing together. I was not expecting to see it as it is cloudy and 3/4 moon anyway but it appeared in a gap for about a minute – Yay! Thanks Deborah and Carol both of whom sent me this one. I wonder who is up there now.
While it is tedious, this bit of the journey has been really interesting – seamount, current, water temp etc. We are now re-crossing the continental shelf SE of the seamount ridge and the water temperature has dropped 2 degrees. An ominous sign. The predicted midnight wind change has not happened – we are ghosting along in about 5 knots of breeze at about 3 knots. No obvious sign of the change in the clouds – it may have dissipated before getting to us but so far the gribWeather files.
Graphics in Binary file: GRIB files associate a specific weather datum (eg wind velocity or atmospheric pressure) with a geographic position. Because the resulting file is a collection of these points they are extremely small and so ideal over slow links such as sailmail. has been very good at predictions. Here's hoping. Soon we will pass Sydney – at 33.51S on almost exactly the same latitude as Cape Town but on the east coast of the continent so subject to very different weather conditions.
Then there's WollongongThe town which moves. There is a Berri-joke about having a beer off Wollongong on the return trip from Hobart - and how Wollongong seems to move further south each year., 50 miles further south. I hope we don't need to go that far but if we do there's an ancient Berri tradition dating all the way back to 1994. The journey back from Hobart after a Sydney-HobartSydney-Hobart Race: often described as the most gruelling ocean race in the world, this annual race starts on 26th December from Sydney Harbour and ends in Hobart. The course is 628 nautical miles. race is often really tedious – not much wind and up to 3 knots of adverse current all the way up the NSWNew South Wales. State in the East of Australia. New South Wales' capital city is Sydney. coast. That first time for me in Berri, Floris and I were bringing her home (actually from the Sydney-Eden race that year) and we decided to open a beer once we got to WollongongThe town which moves. There is a Berri-joke about having a beer off Wollongong on the return trip from Hobart - and how Wollongong seems to move further south each year. which we duly did. WollongongThe town which moves. There is a Berri-joke about having a beer off Wollongong on the return trip from Hobart - and how Wollongong seems to move further south each year. has moved a few miles further south every year since – a virtual concept! From here, we could perhaps start to move it north again.
Hi Norm!
By Berrimilla on December 2, 2009, at 1802 UTC
0700/02 position 3340 00954 trip 95, 413 to CT so real DMGDistance Made Good; More here
76. Best guess at ETAEstimated Time of Arrival from here late Sunday, early Monday.
We have a steady wind at last and should keep some if it for at least 24 hours – but no predictions! Almost level with CT and Sydney. Pooey morning so back to back breakfast Murph at 0430 to fortify. Excellent recipe and much fortification added. Been bashing iridium lately so will keep these short for a bit.
———-
radio email processed by SailMailSailmail is the system that Berrimilla uses for email communication. It is a non-profit association of yacht owners operating a network of private coast stations in the maritime Mobile Radio Service.
for information see: http://www.sailmailSailmail is the system that Berrimilla uses for email communication. It is a non-profit association of yacht owners operating a network of private coast stations in the maritime Mobile Radio Service..com
By Berrimilla on December 3, 2009, at 1753 UTC
The radio has come back from the dead. Damn! That will make the problem harder to diagnose.
Position 0700/3rd 3417 01052 trip 98 but vmgVelocity made good – loosely, speed in the right direction. to CT only 59 miles. 364 to go.
We have 10 days worth of doses of Dr Murphy1- The inventor of Murphy’s Law which states (in various ways) that if something can go wrong, it will.
2- Irish beer's medicinal compound and the second packet of real M&Ms; is broached and dwindling. Major incentives to get across this bloody current and into CT.
———-
radio email processed by SailMailSailmail is the system that Berrimilla uses for email communication. It is a non-profit association of yacht owners operating a network of private coast stations in the maritime Mobile Radio Service.
for information see: http://www.sailmailSailmail is the system that Berrimilla uses for email communication. It is a non-profit association of yacht owners operating a network of private coast stations in the maritime Mobile Radio Service..com
By Isabella on December 3, 2009, at 2046 UTC
By Isabella on December 3, 2009, at 2109 UTC
Note that the marker in the south west corner of the lower image is
not a Berri position. It marks the supposed site of Henry KnightHenry Knight died of starvation on the emigrant ship Java (from England to Australia) and was buried at sea on the 6th Feb 1853 in the S Atlantic - 28.35 S, 26.09 W. On the way home from Falmouth (1st circumnavigation) Berrimilla passed about 100 miles to the north and sent him some chocolate in a paper boat. Henry's sister Susan died in sight of Cape Town and was buried at sea 8 miles SE of the lighthouse. We waved to her on the 2ncircumnavigation from very much closer. More here
's
grave. For Henry's story, go to log entries around November 14th.
I and G in UK
By Berrimilla on December 4, 2009, at 1755 UTC
0630/3rd position 3509 01222 trip 108 but DMGDistance Made Good; More here
to Cape Town 69. 295 to go – Monday morning on the cards
Yesterday – On the port tack in Berri with any sort of heel, there is nowhere comfortable to sit and relax. Nowhere. You are constantly braced by legs, arms, eyebrows and the poor old arsebone and we've been on the port tack seemingly for ever. With no prospect, for the moment, of any change. Necessity and adversity being the mothers of invention, Pete had a brilliant idea and our now largely redundant coolgardieCoolgardie Fridge: Improvised cooler using the heat transfer that occurs when water evaporates. Invented in Coolgardie in Western Australia. fridgeCoolgardieCoolgardie Fridge: Improvised cooler using the heat transfer that occurs when water evaporates. Invented in Coolgardie in Western Australia. Fridge: Improvised cooler using the heat transfer that occurs when water evaporates. Invented in CoolgardieCoolgardie Fridge: Improvised cooler using the heat transfer that occurs when water evaporates. Invented in Coolgardie in Western Australia. in Western Australia. milk crate is upended on the floor next to the galley with a folding cushion on top and we have a seat. I know where there's an arsebone overflowing with joy and happiness!
We are 25 miles south of Africa – in the Southern Ocean – and to emphasise the point, we're in big rolling swells with wind waves over the top. Heading SE, more or less directly into the current and picking the time to tack is a tricky and somewhat arbitrary decision. We have 317 miles to go, directly upwind and across the current yet we don't want to get too far south to the natural lay line because the developing low to our WNW seems to be deepening rapidly and is predicted to move north, producing 25 knot-- Speed: definition of speed at sea. One knot is one nautical mile per hour. The nautical mile is about 1.15 % longer than the "statute" mile used on land. A knot is about half a metre per second.
-- A knot is also the result of winding a rope around itself or another rope to make a join or a loop .
easterlies down here. And, to make it even harder, we just got a little lift, so the other tack will be a bit less efficient in the VMGVelocity made good – loosely, speed in the right direction. department.
Middle watch this morning – Anyway – all seemed cool and froody so tried a tack and – oh joy! – the combination of wind and current gave us a 90 degree tack and we're pointing at southern Namibia instead of the Gulf of Guinea like last time and there is the prospect of a lift later. But it may not last – things seldom do out here! Lots of very big ships going around the end of Africa each way. Spoke one going east – surly and uninterested but confirmed he could see us at 7 miles on radar – reassuring! The new reflector seems to work.
With the radio once again randomly functional, I have a Cape Town MW station and the Beeb world service dialled in and we have human voices again. The very first voice I heard was some guy reporting in broad Australian from Melbourne. So there ya go.
Sue – would you like me to despatch Pinkbok for Xmas tree? I think he'd be relieved!
John and Sherryl – great to hear and good luck with Matangi and new lodger!
Robin – gotcha – Pete will write
Tim – thanks for generous offer – separate email follows/precedes this post.
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radio email processed by SailMailSailmail is the system that Berrimilla uses for email communication. It is a non-profit association of yacht owners operating a network of private coast stations in the maritime Mobile Radio Service.
for information see: http://www.sailmailSailmail is the system that Berrimilla uses for email communication. It is a non-profit association of yacht owners operating a network of private coast stations in the maritime Mobile Radio Service..com
By Isabella on December 4, 2009, at 2024 UTC
Posted by I & G in the UK.
By Berrimilla on December 5, 2009, at 0735 UTC
2015/4th position 3419 01307 pointing directly at CT but we are getting a 25 degree knock to the NW from the current. SPBF. the GPS trip log reads 7517 miles from Falmouth and we've got 252 to go at a vmgVelocity made good – loosely, speed in the right direction. of about 2 knots. Monday not looking good.
I didn't like this bit of Africa the first time we were here in 2005 and I still don't like it. We are bashing into 25 knots apparent in big SW swell with steep wind waves from the east in rain squalls and grot. I've just put the second reef-- As a verb – to shorten sail, to use reefing lines or other techniques to make the working part of a sail smaller and so reduce its power as the wind rises. --- As a noun, (1) the part of the sail that has been shortened, folded or rolled. May be referred to as a slab or a slab reef which is a particular way of forming a reef.
-- As a noun (2) – a bank of coral, rocks or other obstruction usually close to a shoreline and potentially dangerous to sailors. in and got a faceful of water for my trouble. Bleeah! Almost time to get out the helmet and facemask.
In the daylight overcast, the water looks light grey and it seems to be soapy – Berri's passing seems to create sudsy froth. Odd. Portuguese men of war in their thousands, their tentacles tangled and wound into knots around the safety line we tow astern. Pete put on the rubber gloves and cleared them off but they will be back.
Happy arsebone in the ascendant! That milk crate makes such a difference, as does having the BBC world service.
Doug, if it's not too fraught when we can see the Cape Town lighthouse, if we ever get that far, we'll send Susan Knight some jellybabies – kept some specially for her.
Carol, thanks for passes – thick overcast and grot and no chance at the mo.
By Berrimilla on December 5, 2009, at 1756 UTC
0700/5th position 3348 01321 trip 98 but Distance Made Good only 34 and 241 to CapeTown. ETAEstimated Time of Arrival around the time ZarquonThe Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - the prophet who arrived too late to predict the end of the world. turns up with his speech…
This has to be high on the list of things in the 'not having fun' category. Poor old barge being thrown wildly and violently all over the ocean – 3 reefs, not much headsail, 30 kts apparent massively short steep boatbreaking swell – mostly easterly wind waves piled up on top of the big SW swell from the southern ocean – bloody awful conditions and not in the tourist brochure
About 4 hours later – I started writing this with just wet feet from the leak over the end of my bunk. Then pearshapedness in spades too much crashing, no point in breaking the boat just to get to Cape Town before Christmas – into full party gearFull wet weather gear and out into the blasting spray to drop the main and lash it to the boom. Murphy1- The inventor of Murphy’s Law which states (in various ways) that if something can go wrong, it will.
2- Irish beer's first law of statistics of course in full force and I got soaked, blasted, tossed and turned as I fixed all that and sorted some other snafus at the same time. In and out of the cabin several times but all eventually sorted but one very wet – and knackered – old fart. Ordinary wet weather gear in those circumstances is about as effective at keeping the water out as an umbrella. Time soon to break out the TPS drysuit and helmet…
So a sleep later, the wind has dropped from 30 to about 22 knots, Pete pulled the main back up to the third reef-- As a verb – to shorten sail, to use reefing lines or other techniques to make the working part of a sail smaller and so reduce its power as the wind rises. --- As a noun, (1) the part of the sail that has been shortened, folded or rolled. May be referred to as a slab or a slab reef which is a particular way of forming a reef.
-- As a noun (2) – a bank of coral, rocks or other obstruction usually close to a shoreline and potentially dangerous to sailors. and we are pointing once again directly at Capetown and going sideways – the current is giving us a 60 – 80 degree knock and instead of East, our course over the ground is about 020T and our VMGVelocity made good – loosely, speed in the right direction. is less than a knot-- Speed: definition of speed at sea. One knot is one nautical mile per hour. The nautical mile is about 1.15 % longer than the "statute" mile used on land. A knot is about half a metre per second.
-- A knot is also the result of winding a rope around itself or another rope to make a join or a loop .
. And we have 241 miles to go – but cant get east. ETAEstimated Time of Arrival Capetown after the 2012 world cup? No options but wait for change in conditions – nothing useful in sight on the gribWeather files.
Graphics in Binary file: GRIB files associate a specific weather datum (eg wind velocity or atmospheric pressure) with a geographic position. Because the resulting file is a collection of these points they are extremely small and so ideal over slow links such as sailmail.
I could give you detailed description of the simple things in life getting complicated – like having a crap facing forwards and downwards and only occasionally connected to the seat as the boat gyrates and crashes – but I don't want to spoil your breakfasts.
Malcom, thanks.
Sue – ok, he stays.
By Isabella on December 5, 2009, at 2059 UTC
Posted by I & G in the UK.
By Berrimilla on December 6, 2009, at 1928 UTC
Trying to hand steer in rolling sea, about 5kts breeze, just poled out genoa. Tricky.
0715 position 3336 01404 trip 41 but DMGDistance Made Good; More here
35 and 2056 to CT
Was a Soft Plumaged Petrel doing aerobatics in the 35 kts the other night – breathtaking amidst the blasting spray – Port. M. o' war everywhere.
Carol, tks – puts new perspective on canonisation don't it?
Hi Gerry and Doug
Tim, thanks for generous kick of the Iridium tin.
gotto try send this and back on deck
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for information see: http://www.sailmailSailmail is the system that Berrimilla uses for email communication. It is a non-profit association of yacht owners operating a network of private coast stations in the maritime Mobile Radio Service..com
By Berrimilla on December 7, 2009, at 0604 UTC
Position 1900/6th 3329 01418 and 197 to go
What a day – frustrating, therapeutic in an 'it's nice when you stop banging your head' sort of way, fierce concentration just to stay in the same spot, just enough wind in the sails to pass the bubbles but desperately disappointing when you've spent three hours hand steering, playing every little shift, every blasted wave that throws the boat around and stops her dead, doing doughnuts, fogging and rolling and you find that you have gained – nothing. I have a couple of screen prints of one session and I'll post them if we ever get to CT. I was looking at 200 miles to go for about 12 hours – we cracked it, I hope finally, about three hours ago.
And the water really is soapy – there's a greasy film over the surface, easily visible when it is oily calm like it has been today and there are bubbles, formed I know not how because there are no white caps and they hang around – they don't seem to pop. Can this be yet another example of us humans trashing the planet?
Radio dead again so this by Iridium and short. So much to write, but really too busy steering or trying to get some sleep. We have now what I hope – and the gribWeather files.
Graphics in Binary file: GRIB files associate a specific weather datum (eg wind velocity or atmospheric pressure) with a geographic position. Because the resulting file is a collection of these points they are extremely small and so ideal over slow links such as sailmail. predicts – is the top of a big low forming around us and deepening below us tomorrow and Tuesday and – I hope – giving us just enough to stem the current for 197 miles and through the barn doorMetaphor for whatever we were aiming at. Derived from the saying “Couldn’t hit a barn door at five paces” used to describe anyone who can’t shoot straight.. But I'm not too confident.
What it must have been like for the emigrant ships and the slave ships stuck out here for weeks in these conditions is beyond my imaginative tolerance – rationed, tainted water, maggoty or mouldy or just no food, hot, no cooling breeze, people dying around you, their corpses often floating beside the ship until they burst and sank and worst of all, not knowing when it would end. I just don't want to think about it.
By Berrimilla on December 7, 2009, at 1726 UTC
Position 0630/7th 3335 01456 trip 49 DMGDistance Made Good; More here
42 and 164 to go
We have the assymetric kiteSailors’ slang for a spinnaker up, VMGVelocity made good – loosely, speed in the right direction. about 4.5, iff the wxShort for ‘weather’ system holds for the two days forecast, it should get us home but no predictions! BarnaclesExplanation here (Wikipedia) not helping.
Last night: Looking back over the last 66 days of sailing – the first 36 k of this little marathon – I'm astonished at how lenient the ExaminerShe who asks awkward questions of the crew and tests them with difficult tasks. has been with us. 7500 miles of downhill, easy sailing most of the way, except for some small bursts of the pearshaped up in the convergence zoneInter Tropical Convergence Zone, also known as The Doldrums. So, desperately frustrating though it has been to be out in the gridlock within sight of the pub and no MarvinThe manically depressed robot with a “brain the size of a planet” from HHGTTGThe Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams; essential reading for those trying to understand these logs. You may be none the wiser once you’ve read it, but at least you’ll have tried. More here to take over, I don't think we have grounds for complaint as we wallow here. On the contrary, in fact. But we are not in the bar yet – not nohow and I might change my mind at any time.
Middle watch again – we have just enough breeze to be making headway, or we had when I started writing this but it's dropping out rapidly. Massive to-do list for CT if we ever actually get there. Battery down to 65% – lowest I can remember ever seeing it – so a bit of diesel and we can make some water too. Just not enough wind for the Airbreeze whizzer to keep the charge up.
I've been idly engaging the neuronic trio in contemplating the preconceived, taken for granted notion of size, of the vast stretches of this little blue green blob in the universe in human terms. Berrimilla and I have been at the northernmost point of mainland America, on the southern shore of Bellot Strait in the NW Passage and at the opposite end, at Cape Horn which is on an island south of the end of the mainland. At both places I was conscious of the huge distance to the other end. We are now just short of one of the fiercest Capes of all, Cape AgulhasThe southernmost point of Africa, where the Atlantic meets the Indian Ocean. The real corner, south east of the Cape of Good Hope. at the southern tip of Africa. The enormous spread of the continent fills the whole of my perspective from Berri's bow around to past her port quarter, yet it is over the horizon, low, relatively flat and so far invisible – a quirk of geography class at school and completely unreal. Big, mysterious and unknowable. And Agulhas, not Good Hope, is the real 'Great Cape' and one of the five. So ends as rather mixed up contemplation. The next couple of days – and perhaps several more – are going to be very long. More dead leaves in the bus shelterExplanation here.
David W – Dutch Harbour sounds pretty much par but I'd like to see that facebook page – would you please ask for me? You should read Steve Tompkins' blog – I think it is 'a sense of place' and there's a link on the old /tng site.
By Isabella on December 7, 2009, at 2036 UTC
Posted by I & G in the UK.
By Berrimilla on December 8, 2009, at 1217 UTC
Twin polingAn explanation from Malcolm: It is quite normal for a yacht to 'pole out' its jib (the foresail) on the opposite side of the boat to the mainsail when running downwind - this is called goosewinging'. A spinnaker pole is attached to the mast at one end and the back corner (clew) of the jib at the other. That holds the jib at the right angle so that it catches the wind. On Berri they've found that they can often get good performance and a comfortable ride by taking the mainsail right down and setting a second jib poled out on the opposite side to the first. rather slowly towards the barn doorMetaphor for whatever we were aiming at. Derived from the saying “Couldn’t hit a barn door at five paces” used to describe anyone who can’t shoot straight.. I've just gybedGybe - A sailing term for turning the boat so that the stern passes through the wind. Potentially dangerous if not controlled because the wind can fill an uncontrolled mainsail from the wrong side and crash it across the boat, possibly causing damage to the rig and anyone getting in the way. us – a welter of sheets, downhauls, topping lifts, strops and the works, a difficult manoeuvre with Berri's current set-up but I think we can make some mods in CT. One armed paperhanger is close. Looks as if I might have to go out and reverse it all – let the 10 minute rule apply. Glorious night out there.
Pete is a sparkling clean person and he washes his clothes. Me, I kind of like the foetids so I tend just to wring them through and it doesn't use as much water but it does catch up eventually. I've been preparing a washing bag of interesting feral colonies in varied technicolor (the colonies – the bag is black plastic to keep them in the dark) and I'm hoping Derek the washing inspector in the CT customs shed doesn't discover the second last non extinct pair of breeding Barking Toads in the bag – I don't want to have to wear it all until they breed in two years time and be inspected daily by Clive the biologist. And I hate to think what is occurring inside the bag as the colonies mix and match.
Yesterday's airing for the neuronic trio led to the thought that there can't be too many people alive who have been to the opposite ends of mainland America – and I bet there aren't too many who have stood on the Greenwich MeridianAn imaginary great circle on the surface of the Earth, passing through North and South geographic poles. All points on the same meridian have the same longitude. Meridian can also be used to describe either half of such a circle from pole to pole at the Observatory (51 N 00 E)and been able to say that they stood at the exact opposite end of the earth a few months earlier, on the international date line east of NZ (51 S 180 E) near the Antipodes Islands. And I may well be the only person around who can claim both. But an interesting possibility for a roomful of people. And another one – the opposite end to the AmchitkaAmchitka Pass:a strait in the Aleutian Islands, between the Rat Islands group to the west and the Delarof Islands to the east. Amchitka Island was the site of the Cannikin nuclear test – the biggest underground explosion ever conducted by the USA (as far as we know). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amchitka passage through the Aleutians into the Bering Sea and on the date line is only about 3000 miles south west of here on the Greenwich meridianAn imaginary great circle on the surface of the Earth, passing through North and South geographic poles. All points on the same meridian have the same longitude. Meridian can also be used to describe either half of such a circle from pole to pole. We nearly crossed that one last time around. Across Peel Sound from that northern point of America is Strzelezki Harbour. I wonder whether that is the same Strzelezki that named the mountain in Australia.
Idle nonsense.
By Berrimilla on December 8, 2009, at 1854 UTC
Pete writes
We're soft pedaling downwind towards Cape Town at about 2kts, the main is down, two headsails are up and poled out. I've just come up on watch, the breeze is soft and perhaps a little crisp for this time of year. The sky is completely clear down to the horizon except for a low patch of cloud out over the port quarter, the moon is not up yet so the stars are brilliant. Orion is about 40 degs high on the port beam and the Southern CrossDefining constellation in Southern hemisphere has not long risen off the starboard bow, we now have a little over 100 mls to the Cape.
Sitting in the cockpit just now I realized there are very few of the stars up there that I could name now. When Jeanne and I sailed across the Atlantic and Pacific about 30 years ago, I would have known a lot of stars, as navigation was by sextant. The stars I knew then were those 1st magnitude stars which would be visible with the horizon at dawn and dusk, in the area we were sailing. I knew nothing of their history or which constellation they belonged to. To me then they were just a signpost, something I used daily to work out the boat's position, handy but of no real interest.
Recently, as I had run out of good books Alex gave me one of his secreted specials to read. Its called "Fabric of the Cosmos" by Brian Greene. The author is Prof of Physics and Mathematics at Columbia University but don't let that put you off, he talks in easy to read layman's language using metaphors we can relate to. His book is a history and explanation of the universe from the early thinkers, Galileo, Descartes, Newton to Einstein and on to the present day. It's brilliant stuff and as much of it is about philosophy as physics. I'm about half way through the book now but I've left it alone for the last week as you need to devote time to get your head around the concepts of space and time especially when he is moving onto the idea of a 10 dimensional space/time i.e. something can be located with its time in a 9 dimensional space and I'm just lost for time with all the hand steering we're doing at the moment…still I look up at the stars now and wonder.
Now onto the literary segment. Our HFHigh Frequency – usually refers to HF radio which is long range digital radio that Berrimilla used to send all but a few of the logs on both circumnavigations. The radio was connected via a Pactor 3 digital modem to Alex’s laptop and used the Sailmail software application called Airmail to send emails and pull in emails, weather and GRIB files. Airmail also supports Iridium satellite telephone messaging and Alex used this as backup when the HF radio died approaching England. radio has died so no BBC World Service, I left home without my cds so none of my favorite music or world news. Good books preserve sanity and give an escape at this stage.
A couple of the books I really appreciated were, The KiteSailors’ slang for a spinnaker Flyer by Khaled Hosseni about Afghanistan under the Taliban; Havana Bay by Martin Cruz Smith a well told spy thriller and Woodlands by Thomas Hardy an excellent novel of English country life written in the 1880's.
The woodlanders was a step back in time, how's this for the beginning of chapt.4.
"There was now a distinct manifestation of morning in the air, and presently the bleared white visage of a sunless winter day emerged like a dead-born child." The weather hasn't changed but I don't think you could use a metaphor like that now, they were obviously more used to early childhood deaths at that time. Here's another little gem, a young girl has returned to her parent's house in a small village after several years at an elite boarding school, she has just finished a walk around the house and grounds that she grew up in. "Having concluded her perambulation of this now uselessly commodious edifice, Grace began to feel that she had come a long journey since the morning; and when her father had been up himself, as well as his wife, to see that her room was comfortable and the fire burning, she prepared to retire for the night."
They don't write them like that any more. Try teaching this book to second form English Lit. Cheers Pete.
———-
radio email processed by SailMailSailmail is the system that Berrimilla uses for email communication. It is a non-profit association of yacht owners operating a network of private coast stations in the maritime Mobile Radio Service.
for information see: http://www.sailmailSailmail is the system that Berrimilla uses for email communication. It is a non-profit association of yacht owners operating a network of private coast stations in the maritime Mobile Radio Service..com
By Berrimilla on December 9, 2009, at 1256 UTC
But we are not there yet. 56 miles to go, dying wind, massive knock from the current. Next time, I'd do it differently.
For the sailors: things that work:
Berrimilla's propeller, a Kiwi Feather Prop – elegant bit of kit, like KevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others, also living down at the back. Simple, really easy to adjust and fix, pitch adjust can be done with an allenA friend and clearly a colourful character key under water. Replacement blades are easy to fit and the whole caboodle is very efficient at moving the old barge through the water. What's more, there's a really good manual that comes with it and the guys in NZ are responsive and helpful. Berri has had hers since 2003 – one of the early ones – and it has worked perfectly for nearly two circumnavigations plus all the Sydney-Hobarts and Lord Howe races in the meantime. This has included some very rough treatment at times. We have to adjust the pitch in CT after test running it for 100 hours or so with the new engine and it will be a simple matter of turning an allenA friend and clearly a colourful character key on each blade and then squirting grease into it.
48 miles to go – metre by metre – almost no wind.
44 miles to go and I think I can see the loom of the lights of the big city. Woohooa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohoooa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOOa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOO
WOOOHOOO!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOO
WOOOHOOO!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!
WOOOHOOOa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOO
WOOOHOOO!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOO
WOOOHOOO!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOO
WOOOHOOO!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!
WOOOHOOOa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOO
WOOOHOOO!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOO
WOOOHOOO!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!
WOOOHOOOa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOO
WOOOHOOO!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOO
WOOOHOOO!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOa primitive, exultant, gibbon-like call given out by an old geezerDictionaries define a geezer as an old person, generally an eccentric old man. Its origin likely in the word masquerader (colloquially, guiser) from Middle English gysar. Go figure, as the Americans say.; many variations as listed, in order of emphasis:
Woohoo
Woooohooo
WOOOHOOO
WOOOHOOO!
WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!! – small one in case I'm wrong. Amazing night – not a cloud anywhere except tiny one reflecting the lights – oily calm so all the stars reflected too off the water surface – which way is up? And the filmy phosphorescence that comes from algal blooms or so I understand. But the most vivid and wonderful night I can remember – no moon yet and each star and all the gas clouds and nebulae piercingly bright.
We are burning the last of our carefully conserved diesel – there's just enough to get us there with a pooptillionthA very little bit; see also MinipooptillionthA very, very, little bit, and definitely smaller than a pooptillionth, which is even smaller. to spare as long as it stays calm. If we start rolling too much, the fuel uptake tube in the tank will get bubbles in it and life will become tedious. The lighthouse has a range of 25 miles so not just yet but it's close and then we will send Susan Knight her little tribute, 155 years too late but in memory of all those people who died on the way. Just a few jelly babies and some M&Ms; tied up in a handkerchief with a bit of green ribbon from the shrouds.
24 miles to go – engine stopped, mirror calm, brilliant moonlight, the sea reflecting the universe and the gentlest of caressing zephyrs as Berrimilla ghosts into an African dawn in her own rippled image. This is one of the great corners on Earth – a part of the ocean where ships and people have converged for at least 600 years – imagine! Of the Europeans, Bartholomeu DiasPortuguese explorer. He sailed around the southernmost tip of Africa in 1488, the first European known to have done so. More on wikipedia. was probably the first, almost by mistake and he's still here somewhere with his crew in the remains of their little ship. Slavers, colonisers, gold diggers of every kind, the greedy and the godly, the cruel and the saintly, all with their dreams and their convictions have sought this corner. And the ships – rugged little Portuguese caravels, possibly Arab dhows, even Cheng Ho with his junks may have reached this place – a bit of sea unmarked, insignificant, unremarkable except for the effort, the resources, the desperation perhaps that has been thrown into getting here. And today, almost no-one passes this way – technology has made it almost irrelevant.
But here we are, in tiny Berrimilla, our own hopes and dreams drifting into the history of this place.
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radio email processed by SailMailSailmail is the system that Berrimilla uses for email communication. It is a non-profit association of yacht owners operating a network of private coast stations in the maritime Mobile Radio Service.
for information see: http://www.sailmailSailmail is the system that Berrimilla uses for email communication. It is a non-profit association of yacht owners operating a network of private coast stations in the maritime Mobile Radio Service..com
By Berrimilla on December 9, 2009, at 1737 UTC
Or we would be if it wasn't hidden in the haze. It seems that I must have forgotten to send a position report yesterday.
Position 0630/9th 3356 01755, trip 148/48 DMGDistance Made Good; More here
138 Capetown now 25 miles to harbour entrance.
Crystal dawn – glassy water, reflections of the moon, the sky, pinkish cloud – and Table Mountain. Almost windless – just enough to move us. Basking seal waved his flipper at us.
Doug – we will send Susan's tribute on its way when I have sent this.
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radio email processed by SailMailSailmail is the system that Berrimilla uses for email communication. It is a non-profit association of yacht owners operating a network of private coast stations in the maritime Mobile Radio Service.
for information see: http://www.sailmailSailmail is the system that Berrimilla uses for email communication. It is a non-profit association of yacht owners operating a network of private coast stations in the maritime Mobile Radio Service..com
By Berrimilla on December 9, 2009, at 2230 UTC
Perfectly rationed dosage of Dr Murphy1- The inventor of Murphy’s Law which states (in various ways) that if something can go wrong, it will.
2- Irish beer's throat clearing elixir – we have 5 miles to go and we are about to open the last two (of 144, over 69 days). I'll do another post tomorrow with the stats and other news and will keep them going while we are here.
Small glow of happiness.
Love yez all and thanks for being out there.
By Isabella on December 9, 2009, at 2232 UTC
Posted by I & G in the UK. Nearly there!
By Berrimilla on December 10, 2009, at 0044 UTC
By Isabella on December 10, 2009, at 0048 UTC
At 13.30 UK time we received a call from Alex who was in the bar with
Pete at the Royal Cape Town Yacht Club, medical refreshment firmly in
hand. He won't be able to get to a computer until tomorrow and asked
that we confirm their safe arrival.
Posted by I & G in the UK, together with the images below. We don't
really know where Berri is moored at the Royal Cape Town Yacht Club:
we've just guessed that they'll be as near the bar as possible.
By Berrimilla on December 10, 2009, at 2341 UTC
Trying to get organised – being looked after ratehr well but it takes time to get it all working in a strange city…The photos never seem to load in the same order I want them so I'll put headers with the next send
By Berrimilla on December 10, 2009, at 2346 UTC
Basically – going down the Tagus leavint Lisbon – Prince Henry monument on the right, then close up of monument and Himself with two seagulls providing appropriate comment, then Spectacled Petrel and Atlantic Yellow Nosed Albatross but they are all ou of order sorry!
By Berrimilla on December 12, 2009, at 0323 UTC
I've been playing inexpertly with the images – might not work but don't know how to check until I see them on the blog. El PinkbokkerZeb having a ride in the sun.
Radio has gone off to Icom looking very much the worse for wear – rusty, corroded case, even though it lives in the driest part of the boat. Udo has condemned the AISAutomatic Identification System. An automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels. gizmoSome kind of gadget or other, normally infuriating – a dead parrot – so have to decide whether to buy a new one – slightly better but seems much more expensive that the original. Pete off saying goodbye to old friend who is off to UK tomorrow and I'm contemplating the prospect of a cold beer after I have been out to Berri to bring in the washing.
When the south easter blows here it has attitude – nearly 50 knots around the mountain yesterday. We visited GroupamaIn this context a massive trimaran attempting a round-the-world record for the Jules Verne Trophy. They overtook us twice – once before we reached Cape Town on their first attempt which they abandoned after damaging a hull. They preceded us into Cape Town and we visited them there. They sailed back to France and set off again and overtook us way to the south before we reached Hobart. More about Groupama here (Wikipedia) – amazing machine! 30 metres by about 23, weighs 18 tons fully crewed, one winch of the many worth more than Berri – pete has photos and I'll post some when he gets back. The crew anxious to get away – Manuel, our host here responsible for getting the new generator shipped out to them and it arrived as we were there and the crew were all over it in an instant, unpacking, adjusting – they plan to leave tomorrow if all goes well. Nice, laid back guys, despite their awesome toy and happy to talk to the dinosaurs.
Packages received from Malcom, IGgle, Sue and Doug M – thanks everyone – will try to write separately soonish.
By Berrimilla on December 13, 2009, at 0655 UTC
Manuel Mendes – the bearded one – boatbuilder, fixer, sailor extraordinaire – is looking after us in royal fashion. He was up at 0330 this morning sending GroupamaIn this context a massive trimaran attempting a round-the-world record for the Jules Verne Trophy. They overtook us twice – once before we reached Cape Town on their first attempt which they abandoned after damaging a hull. They preceded us into Cape Town and we visited them there. They sailed back to France and set off again and overtook us way to the south before we reached Hobart. More about Groupama here (Wikipedia) off into the 25 's knot-- Speed: definition of speed at sea. One knot is one nautical mile per hour. The nautical mile is about 1.15 % longer than the "statute" mile used on land. A knot is about half a metre per second.
-- A knot is also the result of winding a rope around itself or another rope to make a join or a loop .
SEasterly that is blowing now and funnelling down the mountain past Manuel's house at 50 – 60 knots. The cloud rolls down the side of the mountain in huge swathes and as it cools here, it will start to drizzle.
Fixes all under way but nothing resolved yet.
We had a supporting breakfast Con on Friday as the sun went down at RANSARoyal Australian Navy Sailing Association; a sailing club located in Sydney, Australia. and Bill W did his thing for us. Thanks everyone!
And thanks too for all your messages – rather too long a list for this note.
Doug – fascinating stuff – and there's a book, now out of print by Raymond Rallier du Baty called Aventure aux Kerguelens which you might enjoy. He has the SWestern peninsula named after him. Malcom, thanks for red circles around the mines. I'll bear them in mind!
By Berrimilla on December 15, 2009, at 1904 UTC
What a place – of confronting contrasts, of fierce winds, of the Mountain dominating everything, of friendly people, of security everywhere.
We've been full time busy fixing Berri in the gaps between the easterlies – the top gust a couple of days ago here in the marina was 79 knots and mostly over 60 – worse in Hout Bay further south where 3 boats sank. The wind carries with it tons of 200 grit sand – black dusty sharp sand that blasts away gel coat, anodising, paintwork – everything. It gets into mast tracks, bearings, lines and sheets. Don't none of you Sydneysiders ever complain about the wind and weather – you ain't seen nothing!
Progress – the HFHigh Frequency – usually refers to HF radio which is long range digital radio that Berrimilla used to send all but a few of the logs on both circumnavigations. The radio was connected via a Pactor 3 digital modem to Alex’s laptop and used the Sailmail software application called Airmail to send emails and pull in emails, weather and GRIB files. Airmail also supports Iridium satellite telephone messaging and Alex used this as backup when the HF radio died approaching England. radio is back and working – was a faulty relay in the on/off switch but the relay is on a PCB inside the transceiver…Oh for the days of simple lever switches! Thanks to Udo – contact details available if anyone is coming this way.
The laptop also had problems, as I knew, and Raashid is coming down this morning to re-install it and test everything – Raashid details also available for anyone needing a nerd in CT. A couple of great guys who really know their stuff.
Apart from that, we have had a mini glimpse of the place but hope to get the boat sorted and spend a couple of days driving around before we leave. Complicated by Christmas and the usual pressures on tradies to get stuff done. Berri gets lifted and hung in the straps on Friday fr barnacle scrape, prop pitch adjust, anode check and quick inspection of rudder bearing and general bottomy things.
Raashid arriving – must go. Will post more photos later. I understand there may be another Macca session this sunday, if they can reach us.
By Berrimilla on December 17, 2009, at 1633 UTC
Imagine! you spend a good chunk of your life conscious of the history and the romance and the sheer emotional grip of the Great Capes and one day you drive to the Cape of Good Hope – second only to the Horn as a place of fear and pilgrimage and you see it out there off the road and you ask where the path is to get to it – 'Walk or car, sir? Walk. OK sir -there's a path over there behind the toilets…
So you set off from behind the toilets to walk to one of the great corners of the world…
The COGH is almost at the southern end of the peninsula but but quite – Cape Point, .much bigger. higher and more impressive. is the real southernmost point before Caper Agulhas, the real corner and the divide between the two oceans, 100 miles or so further east.
By Berrimilla on December 19, 2009, at 0338 UTC
By Berrimilla on December 19, 2009, at 0341 UTC
A day of things happening – rain early calling for classic EeyoreThe lugubrious donkey in AA Milne’s Winnie the Pooh., but cleared just as we were called in to the crane. Berri strapped, hoisted, dangled and turned while the old farts and Manuel did the paperhanger trick with pressure spray, scrapers and allenA friend and clearly a colourful character key – all the while being urged to get a move on because there was a queue for the crane. All done in about 40 minutes. FeralsInteresting biological colonies that grow and fester in seaboots. There are left foot ferals and right foot ferals and occasionally they get to cross breed and create fierce hybrids. galore – goose barnaclesExplanation here (Wikipedia) ? – all happily living on the antifouling. Not any more. And I made a truly agricultural adjustment of the pitch on all three prop blades, made harder because I forgot to leave the engine in gear but a good approximation of fully available pitch tweaked into the old Kiwi and did it ever make a difference! First thing I noticed when we were backing out of the crane berth was the prop walk in forward gear, then the speed with the engine idling. NoiceAlexism for quite a lot of things which taste good or are going especially well!
Back on the berth and into the other stuff – Pete making a folding seat to go in front of the galley, me setting up the gizmology for Udo, packing the forepeak and trying to get my head around where we will put everything for the southern ocean. I had intended to ship all the arctic gear back to Oz but turned out to be too difficult so it's coming with us.
Then Udo arrived and we have AISAutomatic Identification System. An automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels.! – see next post. And more wind and grit. And the sailmaker arrived with re-inforced mainsail and little red sail with hanks – I fitted the old outer forestay a couple of days ago and we'll go with the hybrid Berri – hanks on the outer, furlerA device fitted around the length of the forestay(s) of a sailing yacht that enables the crew to roll the headsail partially around the forestay and so make its effective area smaller (the same as reefing) or to roll it up completely (furling it). The sail would be furled when at anchor or otherwise not being used. There is a full description here . on the main forestay set for twin polingAn explanation from Malcolm: It is quite normal for a yacht to 'pole out' its jib (the foresail) on the opposite side of the boat to the mainsail when running downwind - this is called goosewinging'. A spinnaker pole is attached to the mast at one end and the back corner (clew) of the jib at the other. That holds the jib at the right angle so that it catches the wind. On Berri they've found that they can often get good performance and a comfortable ride by taking the mainsail right down and setting a second jib poled out on the opposite side to the first. all the way home…
Time for a cold Con in the bar with Pete and I'll do the AISAutomatic Identification System. An automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels. post later.
By Berrimilla on December 19, 2009, at 0549 UTC
Topic(s): AIS 
AISAutomatic Identification System. An automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels. – Automatic Identification of Ships – gizmology with attitude and relevance. Big ships (>300 DWT for the techies) are required to transmit AISAutomatic Identification System. An automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels. data on VHFVery High Frequency radio. Short range radio equipment for voice and other applications such as AISAutomatic Identification System. An automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels.. radio (Ship’s GPS position, likelihood of collision, name, MMSIMaritime Mobile Station Identity; used for radios with digital selective calling (DSC), as well as AIS (Automatic Identification System) transponders. It allows two vessels with radios that have this capability to exchange information about who they are and where they're going without need for voice contact . There is a unique numeric identifier for each user of AIS system., course, speed, destination…..lots more) and carry expensive equipment that reads, integrates and plots the data from other ships using GPS so everyone has a position for everyone else, plus a lot of other information. Us little boats can clock in with the right gizmological goodies and use the data and it’s brilliant. If it’s working! Berri’s AISAutomatic Identification System. An automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels. black box died somewhere between Lisbon and here but we now have a better and, I hope, more durable one courtesy of Udo. Pics are of Udo installing the box and two screen dumps of the data – first one shows the list of ships whose data we were receiving plus the specific data from one ship, in the right hand column. Second one has the plot of the Cape Town harbour with the ships we were receiving in their correct positions.
And Pete, fixing the leak over my feet at the same time.
By Berrimilla on December 21, 2009, at 0338 UTC
Macca late last night – I had difficulty saying anything interesting. Hope we weren’t too boring. [The interview with Macca is here (mn 7:50 to 14:30)]
Then we climbed Table Mountain this morning, early before the crowds, on the first really sparkling day since we arrived here. It’s a steep, rocky climb from about 300 metres at the start up to about 1100 at the top. I was reminded forcefully of how the old corpse has atrophied since I last tried any serious running – a climb that would once have been a breeze was not easy. Pete carried the backpack most of the way. Wonderful view all the way to the Cape of Good Hope from the top, and around to Cape Town and Table Bay. At the top there’s a very swish restaurant and fast food and trinket establishment – odd really – just like being in any airport terminal rather than the top of such a spectacular mountain. We required rehydration – of course – and worked our way through a couple of doses of Grolsch – third best eer in the world after CoopersCoopers Sparkling Ale: - according to Alex: “brewed in the bottle, so a bit of sludge comes with it - best beer on the planet - beats a Pan Galactic Gargleblaster hands down”. Also a home brew from a Cooper’s Kit, perfected by onboard master-brewer Pete. See Pete’s interesting equation and Carlsberg Elephant. Then down by the cable car – fast and disconcerting as the interior rotates and if you are leaning aginst the side trying to take photos, your feet go one way and the camera the other.
The photos are here – 100 downloads or 7 days, as usual. I used two cameras but try as I might I could not get the folder to zip them in the correct order – all the ones beginning with PC21…should be first. K, the view when your call came through was PC210001 – noiceAlexism for quite a lot of things which taste good or are going especially well, and even noicerAlexism for quite a lot of things which taste good or are going especially well to talk to you. Photos 2362 & 3 have the COGH almost dead centre though it is really hard to see.
http://www.yousendit.com/download/MVNma3NaTlFveE9Ga1E9PQ [link invalid]
Then we refuelled the boat and started to try to get the insides in order to start packing it…now it’s time for Dr GordonGordon’s Gin in stiffish mood for two thoroughly knackered old farts.
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