Dollink – imagination in recess at the mo – you could post this as is if you like…We’re back in amorphous grey – squall following squall following squall. So far, no Vlad sharpening his stake but still a pain. Can’t see Polaris yet – he’s still down in the murk line around the northern horizon. The equator has receded into the background radiation – Half way is less than 600 miles ahead…Was thinking – might interest the punters if you post my notes to Kimbra and her replies – apart from anything else, saves me having to explain and therefore airtime. Iridium costs money! and we’re just about out of 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. range of Oz and only marginally in Hawaii.

Yesterday was May 1. That means that the eclipse on Aug 1 is 3 months away – 91 days in fact. In that time we have to get to Dutch, fix some things, reprovision, get lots of advice, charts, warm clothing etc – and then get up to Nome 600 miles or so north, wait for favourable ice reports 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 and go north and, if we’re lucky, around the corner and across the top at least as far as Cambridge Bay by Aug 1 so that we are in the path of the eclipse. I think the Haughton Mars Camp people – Pascal and his crew – leave Devon Island around Aug 15 so we need to be up at BeecheyBeechey Island is an island located in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago of Nunavut, Canada. More on wikipedia by then if possible. Talk about water under keels!

Dutch fixes: the laptop; perhaps a strip and refurbish of backup watermaker motor; the ST 4000 tiller autopilot (which seized yesterday and I’m awaiting advice before taking it apart – where are ya Matt Reyes-McGyver?); major repack of boat to squeeze Kimbra in; maybe fit checkstay points on the mast – seems to be flexing forwards rather a lot and I’m not used to bendy masts so feel a bit unsure of what is reasonable flex and what should be stayed. We have to buy a bear rifle, guinness, other medicinal compounds and soul food. Cold weather diesel and maybe an extra external tank. The rest will depend on what happens between here and Dutch and what facilities there are up there.

So, so far so good but it’s a finely balanced enterprise – massively so – and we still need a lot of luck. Keep ‘em all crossed for us please.

dtdDistance to Dutch (Harbour) 3475 dmgDistance Made Good; More here 106.

What she said! I thought I was dreaming, but I seem to have this lightbulb sticking out of my head…

DTDDistance to Dutch (Harbour) 3392 so dmgDistance Made Good; More here 83 and none of them fun

Nastier and nastier, said Alice. And so it came to pass. Almost solid tropical downpour with 25 – 30 kts for the last few hours. Dark grey slightly translucent sky merging into silvery craggy moonscape sea with soft white texture as the surface seems to float above itself as bouncing raindrops. Vis about a boat length, but there’s no way you can look into wind without goggles. On the assumption that we must get north to get free, we’re motoring as fast as seems reasonable in the conditions – about 3.9 – 4 kts OTG – must remember to keep the fuel tank at least half full to avoid bubbles in the uptake line. Will be hard to top up in these conditions – wild gyrations even with the main up and a couple of reefs to steady her. We must get at least 100 miles further up 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….YUK! Later – now sailing again – conditions no better – Kimbra says we have this until Monday, worst tomorrow. Bleeeah!

Captions – we both liked the last one (will Alex tidy up…) because it related directly to the pic, but we decided that no 9 (there’s bound to be a tin opener) wins. By a whisker. Highly commended was the reference to FenwickA friend and clearly a colourful character.

Kris – I hear you are playing anorak games with Speedy – have you told him about your 0500 beer in Berri?
DW – belated happys. Might see you in Dutch.
Ann – illegal (I’m told) and certainly negligent and insane not to have a rifle if you are ever likely to meet a hungry bear. Of the various options then available to you, you could try talking it out of eating you as your opening gambit, if you want to. Nice to have a fall back though, as bears can outrun humans. We might easily get stuck in the ice somewhere and have to walk out. We will have a rifle, as a last resort.

DTDDistance to Dutch (Harbour) 3282 dmgDistance Made Good; More here 110 from half way in 324 miles, there should be open water – no islands – between us and dutch.

There seems to be a lot less time on this one for idle musing. It’s all work or sleep, unlike in the southern ocean, where we set a sail, trimmed it and left it for days at a time.

And no sooner do we put our little pug nose out past the squally bit but the ExaminerShe who asks awkward questions of the crew and tests them with difficult tasks. turns up again and decrees that the stitching along the leech line of our small furling headsail should die. It’s a pre loved sail, came with the 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 . and looked fine before we left, but the U.V. might have got to it – or some other rats in the boot room. Anyway, not a catastrophe and potentially fixable, over time, with the sailmaker’s needle and palm. Tedious though. We’re bobbing along under engine, storm jibA very small jib, usually made from bright orange material, used in storm conditions. and 2 reefs just watching the wxShort for ‘weather’ for 3 hours, then I think it’s back to the big sail and fingers crossed it will last the distance – furlers seem to flog their leeches something awful and no amount of tweaking seems to fix the problem, consequently high stress area.

Well done Barrett. Obvious really, I guess!

Anyway, we are certainly in, or in striking distance of the tradesBands of NW and SW winds either side of the equator that blow with more or less constant speed and direction all year.. I’ve no real feel for what to expect when we do get there in terms of the combination of wind and sea state. I just hope we are not headed too much and can sail reasonably free so as not to overstress the headsail any more than necessary. And soon it will be out with the needle and palm.

Big sail back up – hooningAs far as I can gather, if Berri were a horse, she’d have the bit between her teeth to be hooning more or less north at 5+ kts. Passed an island 60 miles to the east – 10 miles across, has an airfield but no name on my digital chart. Anyone?

Today’s boat job – just hardboiled 34 eggs – we didn’t vaseline them before we left and I don’t see why we should throw them away. When they cool, I’ll vas them just in case. Egg salads for the future.

Just had a full can of wd 40 discharge into the bilge and all over the floor, lethally slippery and not pleasant. Poo!

One should never set oneself deadlines – or even targets – in this game. It’s still 2 and a bit days to half way and seems as if it has been for days. There’s no real pattern to the tradesBands of NW and SW winds either side of the equator that blow with more or less constant speed and direction all year. yet – perhaps there wont be. Nasty – not vicious – squalls 25-30kts with an associated short steep closely patterned sea state – about 3-5 metre waves, very steep, only about 10-30 metres apart and on the beam for our preferred course. Uncomfortable to bloody uncomfortable. In between, moderate sea, 15-18 kts and reasonably workable. Was hoping – as you do – that we’d do better that the 4-5 kts more or less north that we have at the mo.

Kimbra, average track seems to me to be just a bit west of N magnetic, and the sea stops us getting much higher.

Was playing with the concept of the flogging leech. I am told that the Chinese used to pay their doctors only when they were well, as the Doc was then doing his job properly. Perhaps in Hogarth’s London, the rich and dandified sent out to have their Leeches flogged when they (R & D)got sick. And flogging my Consultant leeches out here just means attending to more and more of their potions and elixirs. Dr Jasper, have started magic potion for endless daylight and very good it is too. I just hope it’s efficacious.

Wildlife – was leaning over the side a bit, adjusting the jib sheet winch, and saw this greenish gold shape in the water, quite deep. I first thought we must be dragging a sail or something but it was a fish, perhaps 2 metres long, greenish on top, gold stripey sides and vertical yellow tail. Several more, smaller. A few,indeterminate seabirds.

Ian and all at RORCRoyal Ocean Racing Club, located in London, thanks for good wishes and all the best to you for a successful season. If Berri hangs together for long enough, we might see you for 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. 09. Berri wants her dogbowl back for a reunion.

Speedy, tks for propane warning . I didn’t know(WD40 uses propane-isobutane as a propellant and not the sort of gas you want in a bilge, 20% in air is explosive – ed). Suggest prize for GB should be a copy of your ‘arry and the pursuit of excellence mp3. He’d understand, as that sort of teacher.

Must get out of this sweaty hellhole behind the ConePlastic roll-down curtain to protect nav table /instruments from water.

Now, I am not Australian (though I would very much like to be!!) but I do know that wee Berri is quite special to have such a superb piece of kit on her bow, that is Love and War’s old 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 . and sail. It’s funny though that it is our headsail and headsail 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 . but L&W;’s little hankerchief of a staysail and 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 .!! Well the whole system has been doing us proud until we realised yesterday that the leech was coming apart.
On closer inspection today it appears that the stitching is rotting under the UV light, so today we have meticulously and lovingly sewed it all back together. I only had one little tantrum (to myself) during this sail fixing- most who know me know that if there is one way to make me have a grump it is to put me on a boat that is lurching around violently in the ocean, and give me a back to front and not quite happy palm, needle and thread and make me sow a sail!!! I get so frustrated cause I like things to be neat and perfect and it is pretty impossible to do that along the entire leech in this sort of lumpy sea!!! Anyway, our little sail got flaked and bagged at failing light and we shall finish her tomorrow, hopefully with no battles and she’ll be good as new- she’s almost finished and looking good.
Kimbra- thanks for such detailed weather info- it al looks pretty positive really, thanks. I expect we will end up a touch west of your route due to sea state/ sail choice/ wind but it doesn’t seem that’s a bad thing in the long run. Either way, really really helpful, thanks.
Speedy, I forgot to thank you for the crossword too- brilliant distraction!!! thanks hope everyone is well and happy too on dry land…
must go take my vitamins whist I remember as I have forgotten all day today.
very tired and ready for bed now!!!
lots of love
McQ
xxx

dtdDistance to Dutch (Harbour) 3075 so dmgDistance Made Good; More here 207 in about 24 hrs as we didn’t send you one yesterday. Sail finished, will try it when needed and see how well we did. If there’s a sailmaker in Dutch – and we get there – we’ll have it all undone again and properly sorted.

Not possible to say with any certainty where we will go in the next few days – wind backs in squalls for hours at a time and we’re all over the ocean. I think we will pass west of the atoll more or less on our direct track, so a bit of a climb to K’s waypointA fixed location with specified latitude and longtitude co-ordinates maintained by GPS 1. There should be enough grist in t’mill for the ETAEstimated Time of Arrival predictors to start to get some accuracy. I’ll stick to June 3, although I think that’s optimistic.

Hot in the HellCone – Pirsig next time perhaps.

Or a slightly different take on ‘Hi Mermaid…’ – you can go and find the original if you are interested.

Robert Pirsig wrote a book called ‘ Zen and the Art of Motor Cycle Maintenance ‘ beck in the early ’70 s and it was the cult book when I was at Uni. He used Zen as a contextual basis and motor cycle maintenance as a metaphor for life and how it is lived. Lots of bits of it that I remember, but the difference between the romantic and the classic attitude to life has always stuck. The romantic is the person who sees a motor cycle as a glorious sculpture of chrome tubes, alloy gizmos, glossy paint and a sexy leather seat. The classic view of the same object is as a groovy collection of moving parts that just happens to constitute a motor cycle.

We have both extremes in the boat. For McQ, this gig is one big, coool, mental as anything Adventure. For me, it is a series of planning lists and milestones, each of which has to be ticked off in order to see an eclipse in august. And get out again safely. Everyone fits somewhere on the bell curve and, of course, we all carry , inevitably, part of the other. Pascal, I think, might be in the middle somewhere. 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. and most of his colleagues out at my end, Speed – interesting – probably out towards Mcq even though he’s a brilliant inventor of very clever gizmology. Kimbra – dunno – towards the middle? But enough speculation.

And on to some more. In 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 Pete – onya mate – I’ve just been listening to the Bruch and Mendelssohn violin concertos – I bet for the first and only time they will ever be heard in this part of the ocean. I do not understand music – As the way out classicist, I love it for the virtuosity and the skill – wow! how did he get that violin to do that?? and the conductor – all those people, all so together…but I still get some sort of emotional experience from it, as long as I am not distracted and have time to actually listen to the music and not the boat babbling away at me. Someone Who Knows once told me that the Bruch is Baroque and Boring. No bloody way! Flogging leeches, again, unfortunately, got in the way just enough too distract. Going to have to learn to live with them for a day or so if 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. is right, then this 18 – 20 kts will ease and we can roll out the sail again.

MJC- So it is BikiniBikini is an atoll in the Micronesian Islands of the Pacific Ocean, part of Republic of the Marshall Islands. More on wikipedia.! I had a feeling it might be but has no name on my chart. We’re 90 odd miles SW and should pass it about 40 miles to the west. Will advise on nighttime son et lumiere. All googlable, but I think it was the first H bomb test, in about 1954…We’d be passing 40 miles dead downwind of a very big bang. I seem to remember a photo of old warships anchored in the lagoon being tossed in the air by the early part of the explosion. And, I suppose, Wake just up the street as the base for it all. Eerie – I’ve been to Woomera and close to the Monte Bellos but somehow not the same historical grip as this one. Did I read recently that they have just allowed the original Islanders back again?

Brian – thanks for very kind offer – I think the old sail is fine, but the UV protector is dead and all its stitching. And it’s the UV protector that seems to be holding the leech line – no reinforcement. Tacky! Oh what a shoddy pun! I’m sure there will be someone in Dutch that can fix it. So as long as we actually get to Dutch, we should be ok. But I have learned a big lesson. We should have taken it for a sail before we left…. Your big sail is great – just the right size – and it works really well – but there just ain’t no way to stop the leech buzzing once it’s rolled in a bit. I think it must be something that happens to them all. Sends me bananas, but I’m learning to live with it! I’ll call you on the satphone tomorrow.

Duncan – lanolin is definitely part of my daily routine – industrial strength stuff that we use to waterproof everything electrical and grease shackle pins and the like. And my hands. Savlon for the 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. though.

Not much to report – had the three or four most profound consecutive sleeps ever in the last day or so, but now up and around again mid off watch sleep time. My arbitrary 11 degrees N half way point is about 200 miles too short in actual straight line distances, so we won’t celebrate just yet – nevertheless a big milestone. I’ll try to call Pascal once we’re past 11 N.

The first almost cloudless night for ages and ages. Still humid and some haze but the universe is out there with attitude. Because of the haze, the stars don’t have that magic clarity and definition you sometimes get out here but wonderful to behold. The Milky Way – that slash of dolphin phosphorescence across the whole sky, with (I think) Saturn just below it to the SE, Squornshellous Zeta up high and the Frogstar lurking green and slimy in the Coal Sack. Kakrafoon just rising in the east and I’ve just heard the first bars from the band…No sign of Prostetnic Jelz and his fleet of yellow ships filled with ruthless poets, but we do have McQ down here offering strong competition – if you can’t find a Vogon, she’s clearly in good trim. Early each evening, we have Polaris ahead, under the great BearGreat Bear / Ursa MajorGreat Bear / Ursa Major / The PloughGreat Bear / Ursa Major / The Plough / The SaucepanGreat Bear / Ursa Major / The Plough / The Saucepan: names for the same defining constellation in northern hemisphere: names for the same defining constellation in northern hemisphere / The SaucepanGreat Bear / Ursa Major / The Plough / The Saucepan: names for the same defining constellation in northern hemisphere: names for the same defining constellation in northern hemisphere / The PloughGreat Bear / Ursa Major / The Plough / The SaucepanGreat Bear / Ursa Major / The Plough / The Saucepan: names for the same defining constellation in northern hemisphere: names for the same defining constellation in northern hemisphere / The SaucepanGreat Bear / Ursa Major / The Plough / The Saucepan: names for the same defining constellation in northern hemisphere: names for the same defining constellation in northern hemisphere and climbing every night, with the Cross astern and dipping. Orion in all his splendour out to port and dear old Betelgeuese doing his red giant act in one corner.

We’ll cross 11 N in about 6 hours. Too early for a full on 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!! but perhaps a little anticipatory one. We keep being headed – average track at the mo back to a bit west of North. Interesting to see how far we can climb if the wind drops a bit and the seas abate.

Crikey folks, its tomorrow already- where do the days go??? It has been a typical ‘Simpsons’ sky all day today- light baby blue with blobs of white cloud all over and it stayed like that for most of the day. Another magnificent sunset, presided over by the merest fingernail sliver of a moon way up above. The sky fully glowed bright bright orange for ages and the sea was lit up, flickering blue, then green then pinky red all the way from us to the horizon. Magic!!

Earlier we saw this big dolphin leap out of the water a bit ahead of us and went right across from starboard to port gliding through the air, landed and did it again, a bit away to port, literally flew through through the air at afair rate of knots!! We wondered if something was chasing it??? Which makes you stop and think: here we are quite happily trundling along across the sea, occasional fish, flying or otherwise, some debris on the surface but completely disregarding the fact that not one metre below, and then miles below that, a whole ocean world is vibrantly thriving!! Its good to be reminded of that once in a while, as we traipse across the roof of someone’s home!!! Just to remind us how small and insignificant we still are out here!!

Love to all
Bol
xxx

DtdDistance to Dutch (Harbour) 2867 so dmgDistance Made Good; More here 101 and dmgDistance Made Good; More here overall 2952 out of 5819nm. All approximate…

At about this time in any long journey – for me, in a marathon, it kicks in around 25 k – one becomes conscious of distance travelled, which focuses the mind on distance yet to go and, for me anyway, there’s always a tendency to anxiety and depression. I’ve never started a marathon, let alone anything like this, knowing absolutely that I would finish it and there’s always that corrosive doubt travelling in company – what if…Then, in a marathon, perhaps around 37-38 km, certainty takes over and while the body slowly eats itself, there’s an end and an achievement in sight and the pain is diminished. We’re not anywhere near there yet on this gig.

As you may have gathered from my last, the downer is upon me. Everything is now so finely balanced and the feather brush of an sparrow’s wing one side or the other could make the difference. So it’s grind it out, metre by metre and keep grinding.

Have just finished ‘ Frozen in Time ‘ for the second time. Fascinating book – the victorian ideals of adventure, imperialism and self sacrifice examined through a 20th century analysis of what went so desperately wrong. And there’s an untold story behind it that I did not notice first time around. The victorians were pioneers in so many ways, some of them, like imperialism, no longer recognised as acceptable. But they were industrial pioneers as well and the hidden story seems to me to be that of Stephan Goldner who supplied the canned food for FranklinSir John Franklin, arctic explorer who died with all his men in 1847 while seeking the Northwest Passage. and many other Admiralty ventures. He must have been an interesting man, honest or dishonest, principled or unprincipled. How must he have felt under the criticism he must have endured? Was he stubbornly convinced in the face of the evidence, that he was right – canned foods do preserve the properties of the fresh version – or didn’t he care as long as he made a profit? How did he get started, did he go on to found an industrial giant or did he die in poverty after the danger of lead poisoning perhaps killed his business? I’d love to know more about him and will follow up when I can get back on line. There’s a project lurking in there somewhere.

And I think there’s a burst on ‘adventuring’ germinating somewhere as well. Time for daily Con – I feel a need for the Alchemist today – I need gold! Dr Steve, extract the elixir!

On which – real gold to talk to 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. half an hour ago. Perspective all over again. Onya mate – keep kicking the can for us! That’s an Oz expression – hope it doesn’t offend any one else.

Hey there Berrimilla!
We brainstormed a whole stack of questions and came up with the three most popular…
1. Have you seen any sharks yet?
2. At night when there is a storm, what does the boat do and what does the water look like?
3. What do you eat? Some of our favourites are: pizzas (Monait), carrots (John L) bbq chicken and mashed potato (Sonia). It’s a bit hard for you guys to go out and get something for dinner. What do you do if you don’t like what’s on the menu?

We’re enjoying seeing your position on googlearth and are looking at your site at school each day- talk 2 u L8r, LOL. We have a BIG test next week. Every student in Aust. in Year 3,5, 7 & 9 are doing this- we’ll let you know how it goes!
FunstersA team from Belmore Public School who suggested the best caption in Speedy’s caption competition. at BelmoreSydney School corresponding with Berri SouthSydney School corresponding with Berri.

(in the interests of clarity-these are the questions posed by the FunstersA team from Belmore Public School who suggested the best caption in Speedy’s caption competition.-ed)

More on current – I had taken the EAC into account in the original back of envelope calculation, but ignored the equatorial current transit, thinking (actually assuming – silly child) the effect would be negligible. But it all gets taken into account by my conservative average of 4 knots overall – we’d be averaging close to 6 but for the current and we’re getting about 4.5 now, in it.

More Funsterism – and storms at night: Of course, it also depends on what the sea state is (what sort of waves, what shape they are, how high, how far apart) which depends on which way the wind is blowing, whether there is a current and things like that. And finally, on the direction you are trying to sail relative to the wind and the waves…But phosphorescence in a storm almost – almost – cancels out the scariness! You seem to be surging along in huge cascades of diamonds, vast fans of blasting sparkling spray, sometimes just diamonds, sometimes rubies and emeralds as well as the drops and the dinosDinoflagellates - Microscopic, (usually) unicellular, flagellated, often photosynthetic protists, commonly regarded as "algae". More here. take on some of the colour of your red and green masthead lights. And in very special storms, dolphins are sometimes swimming along as well.
Food – we filled about 10 trolleys at Woollies and Coles – almost anything that is canned, plastic packed or waterporrfed or otherwise opreserved. But no glass bottles! (Why?)so we have biscuits, cans of stew, cheese (but doesn’t keep – we have no fridge)bacon (also has to be eaten as soon as you open the pack – did you see my description of eating it when it’s rotten?). Yesterday, McQ cooked a hash of bacon, tinned stew, creamed corn and maybe other stuff. Looks like dog food, but it tastes ok! And we brought some spuds, tomatos, a pumpkin, onions and red cabbage. Only spuds and onions left. And some eggs, which we hard boiled to preserve them.

Enough for the mo – I am having difficulty sending these long ones so will try to keep them shortish.

Exactly… WEST equatorial current not southwest!!! grrrrrrrrrrr….
Anyway, just have to tolerate as nowt we can do!!!

Q&A;:
1. No Sharks, as A says. I have only ever seen one shark at sea, near the cost of Japan on a drizzly, grey day. And I saw a basking shark in a bay in Scotand once, it seemed to be nearly as long as the boat I was on (36foot) but I was quite little!!!

2. As for A. The most scary is a lightning storm though. When you think that the metal mast would very much like to be a giant lichtning conductor it is even scarier!!! At night, oin a lightning storm there is usually lots of rain and when the lightning flashes the whole sky lights up purple. mental!!

3. Food… yep, bit hard too go to the shops- if we don’t like the menu, which is a variation on tinned brown stuff or tinned red stuff then we add lots of tabasco and hope its dark so we can’t see what we are eating!!! (and remind ourselves that out here food is fuel!!) I always miss steak and salad and ice cream most!!!
Monait, we have bread mix and pizza tomato sauce so we could make a sort of pizza, we have pepperoni and tinned sweetcorn that could go on top, but as alex said no cheese left!!! John L, We had some carrots in our veggie box when we left but most went rotten- surprisingly quickly!!! We have tinned carrots now though. And, well, Sonia, BBQ chicken, out here, thats in a different world!!!!

Lots of luck in the BIG test, everybody, Love McQueen xxx

My father, bless him, who taught me to sail, was a naval pilot in WW2. He told me the story of one of his Captains, who was a respected horse breeder in his spare time, and who was writing his annual flimsies – reports on the conduct and efficiency of his officers, written on very thin ‘flimsy’ paper. Of one particular officer, he felt it appropriate to write, copied to the officer and the Admiralty : ‘I would not breed from this man.’ Only bettered, I think, by Dorothy Parker and ‘No Leica.’

To all my three Consultant Physicians – DRs. Jasper, Dr. Pete and Dr. Steve, – your potions and elixirs have matured superbly. It is a shame you are not all here to sample – and therefore perhaps evolve and improve – your offerings. However, emphatically, I would breed from you all!

Now – to the smelly, daggy stuff – mostly for BelmoreSydney School corresponding with Berri SouthSydney School corresponding with Berri. Do we wash? – no. Do we smell? maybe, but you wouldn’t notice if you lived here. I have been wearing the same two shirts since we left Sydney – I rinse one in salt water every couple of days and squeeze it out carefully while wearing the other. Unlike McQ, I don’t wear knickers because they do dreadful things to my bum when salty. Just the same two pairs of shorts, rinsed likewise. I shave every three or four days and my whiskers have almost stopped growing. The bum gets treated daily with Savlon and, when sore, as now, with Betadine and I’m being rather careful to sit on it only when essential. We sweat rivers – Niagaras – especially here inside the ConePlastic roll-down curtain to protect nav table /instruments from water – and we drink lots of water. I pee into a plastic bucket, (instead of the energy sapping alternative of actually fighting my way forward, opening the two toilet valves, going through the process of pumping out and flushing and closing the valves again) so I can actually look at and assess the colour of my pee. Really useful as an indicator of general health and hydration level – if it looks pale and straw coloured, it’s perfect for Sydney, but I’m drinking too much water for out here (or perhaps better expressed as drinking far more water than necessary for survival out here). If it looks dark golden, it’s about right. I don’t do supplementary vitamins, so no odd variables there.

Hope all that’s useful!

BogBrolga Owners Group
Wind has increased, but manageable. Our sewing job on the small headsail seems to be surviving being rolled in and out and it’s the perfect sail for these conditions. Looks as if we will go very close to Wake – but still 90 miles away and plenty of time for adjustments. Some tiny signs that we are getting closer – the nights are noticeably cooler, so sleep is easier and the Great BearGreat Bear / Ursa MajorGreat Bear / Ursa Major / The PloughGreat Bear / Ursa Major / The Plough / The SaucepanGreat Bear / Ursa Major / The Plough / The Saucepan: names for the same defining constellation in northern hemisphere: names for the same defining constellation in northern hemisphere / The SaucepanGreat Bear / Ursa Major / The Plough / The Saucepan: names for the same defining constellation in northern hemisphere: names for the same defining constellation in northern hemisphere / The PloughGreat Bear / Ursa Major / The Plough / The SaucepanGreat Bear / Ursa Major / The Plough / The Saucepan: names for the same defining constellation in northern hemisphere: names for the same defining constellation in northern hemisphere / The SaucepanGreat Bear / Ursa Major / The Plough / The Saucepan: names for the same defining constellation in northern hemisphere: names for the same defining constellation in northern hemisphere is tickling his tummy on the masthead early every evening. Soon we’ll be directly underneath him.

Speed has an official birthday tomorrow – ConsultationsA 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 and good wishes all around please. There will be Consulting going on out here for sure.

Interesting patch of water we are crossing – the divide between Wake, bomb test HQ and the bomb test range in the Marshalls. Would have been well travelled in the ’40s and ’50s and some famous names – Oppenheimer, Teller, Szilard, Strangelove, Fermi, Beeblebrox and probably some of the rocket scientists too – von Braun, perhaps. Was Einstein ever part of the test team?

One for the sleuths; at 1254 UTC on May 11 2008, an aircraft passed directly overhead Wake Island (and Berrimilla). It was very high and tracking about 255 M. Who was it? Probably a commercial flight from Hawaii to Singapore?

We are passing 12 miles west of Wake as I write, and directly downwind. No wafting PBX smells, no nothing. I can see the loom of lights – but that’s about all. Tried to call them on 16, but no answer. I wonder if they know we are here. Easy to see how the early explorers could have sailed on to reefs at night – La Perouse for one.

dtdDistance to Dutch (Harbour) 2396 dmgDistance Made Good; More here 123

Prob best day’s run so far. Still headbutting – really clobbers the vmgVelocity made good – loosely, speed in the right direction..

About to have Daily Con – today with the Apothecary, the excellent Dr. Jasper. Not much else to report and too hot anyway, though does seem at last to be getting a bit cooler. Sea temp has been 33.4 – 33.6 since Solomons if not before.

On shaky ground here, but ponder this, if you will. Seems to me that we are working our way across an immense body of water that appears to be moving westwards. What perhaps is closer to what is really happening is that the body of water is trying to stand still while the earth rotates underneath it, leaving the water lagging behind and giving the impression to a little boat on its surface that the water is moving to the west. So tiny Berri is trying to keep up with mother earth, while tangled in mother earth’s skirts all flowing backwards because inertia and low viscosity ‘unstick’ them from the base rotation. And that has to be the silliest attempt to explain coriolis that I’ve ever read.

Just passed a lobster pot float – in 5000 metres of water – so probably not attached to the bottom. Had lots of growth on it and the only place it could realistically have come from is one of the Hawaiian Islands 2000 odd miles up current and up wind. It might make it to the Phillipines or Taiwan or South China any time in the next few years, or get diverted up the Japanese coast and around to where we are going – in a few more years.

Two seabirds – one twin tailed, delicate and beautiful, the other, which I was able to photograph, basic grey brown petrel or gannet or ..Otherwise, nothing obvious, tho the dinosDinoflagellates - Microscopic, (usually) unicellular, flagellated, often photosynthetic protists, commonly regarded as "algae". More here. are still around and glorious at night.

We have been on starboard tack for as long as I can remember, heading north, E/NE tradesBands of NW and SW winds either side of the equator that blow with more or less constant speed and direction all year., beam reach, close reach, some combination thereof but starboard tack. We are going to carry on like this for a good few more days, then the wind is going to ease and gently veer and we are going to gybeGybe - 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. as it goes behind us and then it is going to fill in from the W/SW adn then we will screeching reach up to the finish, (Aleutien waypointA fixed location with specified latitude and longtitude co-ordinates maintained by GPS!!!) in a matter of 22 days…
This is of course, given the predictable nature of the sea and the weather gods, EXACTLY how its going to happen!!!
But certainly my starboard eye is looking forward to being on port tack, as is my starboard leg (it feels like its shrinking, or maybe the port leg is stretching!!!) and the starboard eye gets the brunt of the waves so is a wee bit bloodshot and gunking up worthy of Papi after two days on a coconut. Anyway, trying to keep the salt out of it, a thankless task, but am trying nonetheless!!

Anyone who sails will know how intensely irritating a waterproof jacket hood is… for a start anything that obscures you beoing able to feel what the wind is doing on your face, is pretty unhelpful. If you are going up wind, it just keeps blowing ooff unless its tied up so tight that you can’t hear or see anything. extremely frustrating and at the moment the staroard side of my hood keeps irritating the starboard side of my irritated eye… all very frustrating!!!!

Right, offski to deck, to salinate.

Lots of love and hugs
McQueen
xxx

ps the Three Chimneys is the my favourite, favourite restaurant in the world and the best in Scotland, so I expect and hope, Philippe that it was expensive for you but that it was worth every penny? and hope you tried the marmalade pud… for everyone else, its hard enough to get a table so I urge you not to go!!!! It might be my fave but its hardly worth bothering with that long, off the beaten track hike to get there… and the marmalade pud is definitely not worth the effort!! (but try it if you do go, and go once and once only and make sure its before I get back!!)

pps Rach A: can you believe its a whole year since it was May last??? Anyway thinking of you and how great you are. love you. cor x

ppps: Mum, any chance of a copy of ancient mariner to Dutch, inscribed by Web of course- if you think that could be there by 12th June when we leave?? I left mine at home and the copy on board is only extracts and it is a whole book of poetry and I keep getting distracted by Lear and Anon (Jumblies and Cormorants) xxx

PpppS Andarks by appointment as supplier of all relevant accessories to McQueen too…They are probably glad I am away at sea as I can’t harrass their fabulous selves for discounts from here!!!

Hey folks,
This afternoon I read two New Scientists!! Now, you might wonder how we hapopen to have New Scientists Magazines on board- well, Alex has been saving his copy and Guardian Weekly too (for crossword!) for a few months so every so often we have new reading material. So, I’d never read a New Scientist before today but what fascinating stuff!!!! My little brain is still trying to compute all the knowledge i have acquired this afternoon. Its mental!! I always wanted to be a professor cause It means you can get away with being a bit eccentric, I think!!! but I read an article by a man who is a Professor of Theoretical Physics, which, from what I can gather from the article is a recognised branch for Physics they don’t know about yet!!! Imagine!!! Well, now I know all about the Large Thingummy (HAdron) Collider. I’m still trying to get my head round it but some(scientists) think that we have unwittingly invented the first time machine with the LHC…and, logically, it would be impossible to go back further in time than the first time machine, this means that this could be prove to be year zero for time travel. However, while we don’t yet have the knowledge or technology to utilise our makeshift time machine other people forom the future, say 50 years time, might be able to and thus come backin time to now. Mind boggling stuff. Truly, my head is whizzing!!! So we might get some visitors, cause obviously year zero would be an interesting place to visit on a time travel itinerary!! But this begs the question, if they can use the LHC to get here but we can’t use it to get there (the future) how can they use it to get back to the future?? Or indeed could they show us how to use it to go to the future??? And then, if we did go to the future could we not come back armed with info about how technology has advanced etc and then is the future still the future or just part of the extended present??? Or would it take until that point in the future that we came back from to utilise the information that we have obtained to make it work, in which case the information must surely have come out of nowhere, but just loops about in space between now and that point in the future, since that means it never really gets developed??? Are you still following??? Its all properly bonkers. Maybe I will hypothesise more articulately and write to the NS and they will make me an honorary professor in something!!

Today I also threw overboard some rotten potatoes. Rotten potatoes smell of fish, if anyone wanted to know that. And then on the menu for this evening was beef in red wine casserole and non-rotten potatoes.

Lots of love
McQ
xxx
ps Marcus, I have a GRAND idea for our birthday party.
pps Carie, hows things????, send an email via speedy!!! Whats going on in the village? Are you in the village, even???? Singapore??? France??? What you up to??? Is no 10 ok??? Miss you. xxx

We have been given dire warning, indirectly, by someone whose opinion deserves the utmost respect, that this is a foolhardy gig. While I agree with some of the points made, I see them differently. Here are a few:
- to get through this year you need to be up there now. I don’t agree – We have the annual stats from the NOAA website for the entire passage and the ice doorway starts to crack 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 at the earliest in mid june, more likely early July. I have timed this part of the journey to get us up there round about then. Once up there, we are utterly dependent on a set of circumstances occurring that would make the next stage possible. We need to be able to get around 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, we need an open lead to the east and we need the prospect of an offshore (southerly) wind to keep the ice to the north and to give us a boost along the Alaskan coast. Lack of any one of these is a showstopper and we wait at 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 for as long as seems sensible, then come home. However, if all 3 do occur, we have to be there to take advantage.
- we need a crew of heavies. Why? Just more mouths to feed and no real benefit as far as I can see.
- we need an ice strengthened boat. Yes, would certainly help, but I decided quite deliberately not to try to strengthen Berri on the basis that anything we could do would be largely useless and we’d be a lot more careful knowing that we don’t have it.
- we need a cage around the prop. Yes – and this is something I intend to investigate in dutch, but again, it tempers any go/no go decision if you know the extent of the risk.
- the coastguard won’t allow us to proceed. So be it. they know best and we’ll come home. However, the stories from people who have recently been through, or failed, indicate that the local authorities in both the US and Canada were extremely helpful and encouraging. Further, we have a number of very experienced local contacts, fishermen and marine scientists, all of whom have been positive and helpful and will continue to advise us as we progress. No one has yet tried to talk us out of it.
- the boat needs to be big and strong enough to winter in if we get stuck in the ice. Yep – and Berri isn’t and that’s the bottom line. I do not intend to risk getting stuck but I know that a wind change at a critical time is all it could take. The Canadians have an excellent icebreaker service up there and, while use of the icebreaker would represent failure to me, it may be available to get us out as a very last resort. We will need to find out a lot more when we get to Dutch – we need a friendly voice at the Canadian Hydrographic Service, for a start.
A real problem might be that Berri draws about 6 ft and there is a lot of shallow water along the way. Also means we cant use shallow water to escape big ice. But a much bigger boat went through last year, East to West, with no difficulty, owner a farmer from Minnesota, but I don’t have a link to his article. For us. will depend on whether last year’s ice melt was a one off or the sign of things to come.

So we’re not going into this blind to the risks, or obstinately disregarding them. We will take all the advice we can get and I am prepared to pull the plug at any time the signs are negative. Once around the corner at 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, the die is cast to some extent, but I think it is far less risky, again using the NOAA data, to be going West to East. But we don’t know until we get much closer what the ice predictions are for this year and I have no internet access out here so am relying on Kimbra’s knowledge and judgement for advice.

Finally, please, everyone keep it short from here. We are out of effective 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. range for at least the next couple of weeks and I’m using my dwindling number of expensive iridium minutes to send these and to pull in and read your gems. Thanks!

Difficult to imagine perfect sailing conditions but these get close. The downside is the current, still negative 1.5 kts. However, not a Golgafrinchantelephone sanitiser, not a marketing executive, not a snake oil preacher – just no-one else around, 15 kts on the beam, gentle sea, Berri pottering along at 6kts SOG, 7.5 log. LizzieLizzie the Whizzer: Berrimilla's wind generator whizzing and keeping the batteries ahead of the drain and KevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others in charge down at the back and in happy commune with the Lizz. The electric autopilot has died again – not sure whether I have successfully resurrected it but it’s asleep.

Absolutely no news of the outside world except barest details of tragedy in Burma and Chinese earthquake. Nothing, but nothing else – no US primaries, no olympic torch, no wars, no climate change….which reminds me, I have a short wave radio – must try to get it operating while things are relatively calm.

H – glad K is safe – little does she know! We are now north of Taiwan – I think – so getting closer to Beijing. The dried fruit you found for us is sensational – no other word for it. Thee rock melon and the pawpaw soften up beautifully but the kiwi goes to mush. The rest as expected.

Doug M – tks for reminder about La Perouse. A bit of Australian/French history that could so easily have gone the other way. Do you have a short version of the story as you have found it that you could send a link to Speedy for the website?

MJC – yep, and thanks, but that’s the maths for the deflection, which I’ve always understood. What I was trying to get at is why this huge – gobsmackingly enormous – chunk of the earth’s surface is effectively going backwards and taking us with it. Obviously, it curls the ‘wrong’ way intuitively (for us non geeks) when it gets deflected by Australia or Asia and becomes the Brown Snake or the EAC but why does it move in the first place?

Nearest 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 is now Hawaii @ 1924 nm, then Brunei @ 3260, then Firefly NSWNew South Wales. State in the East of Australia. New South Wales' capital city is Sydney. @ 3461 and then 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. HQ Friday Harbour WA @ 3545. Will be a notable milestone if we ever get to connect to them. Lots of time for Jim and Sue and the Saimail team. Perhaps an Accolade, Speedy, By Appt. to the world wide 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. team for wonderful, dedicated hugely efficient service around the world. Just reaching Hawaii sometimes, but this is the first time I think that I have ever been effectively out of range.

We’re now north of the Tropic of Cancer. Hoooley dooley – next big milestone might be the Arctic Circle @ 66.5N. Am about to go up the mast to create a mousing line either side to get the running part of the staysail halyard over the lower spreaders and back to the quarter so as can use it as a check stay when things get violent again. It emerges from the mast inches below the inner forestay so is in just the right place. Will consider a tang when in dutch. There’s a lot of boat speak for the nautically challenged!

Blogg
dtdDistance to Dutch (Harbour) 2140 so dmgDistance Made Good; More here 138. Good one .

Now getting very soft. Kimbra predicted the motor from just north of here. She’s pretty good! Drs Jasper, I think, is summoning me. I think I’ve earned it too – checkstay sorted and I think it’s a neat solution that will work. Murphy1- The inventor of Murphy’s Law which states (in various ways) that if something can go wrong, it will. 2- Irish beer, of course, intervened while sorting but now done.

Have I given you Jasper’s website? www.waarisantares.com for them that can read it. Wonder whether they are still in Sydney on Berri’s mooring.

For kimbra (& blog?) – yea! – we’re now on P tack in feather breath of wind. Still motoring. How far north do the lows go – gribsWeather 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. indicate around 45N plus or minus. Any word from small boat hbr? Wd also like to try to get on slip to see whether ice basket for prop possible. If in contact, cd you pse investigate? Would need stainless welder, prob, and perhaps f/glass in the feet/supports but I’m sure they make them regularly. Tks for good info.

Too hot for more.

Still motoring. Wind very slowly coming in from the SW. Big, confused swell from all points. It’s been a long, hot day. Put the trisailA tiny storm sail that is set on the mast instead of the mainsail. Full explanation here up in its new track to make sure no adjustments needed. Looks good – always better to do these things when conditions benign. Swapped checkstay to port side. Put bungee on starboard shrouds (to . prevent the leeward, loose shrouds from swinging around and fracturing at the lower swages). Rather tedious and dull report – sorry!

Kimbra – for D & K & T,
Gents, thanks for your wise counsel. Several things to run past you, if I may – Karl, I don’t know what tracking system the fishing fleet uses, but we have SatCSatcom: A worldwide communication system using the INMARSAT satellite network and allowing transfer of text and data (not voice) using compact and relatively cheap equipment which can be tracked – our mobile number is 450302047 and I’ll leave it turned on for the duration. It’s a passive system and we can’t track other boats.
Our to-do list for Dutch includes the following:
- Buy 800 beers or the local pan galactic equivalent for Dave, Karl and Tom if he’s in town
- Slip the boat and try to get an ice guard fitted around the prop. Thought it better to get local experts to do rather than second guess from Sydney.
- Find a sailmaker, for relatively minor repairs (or at least someone with an industrial sewing machine)
- Also an electrical engineer to refurbish the motor on our backup watermaker. Not essential.
- Find a computer geek to help restore laptop – not essential but would like to have for backup.
- Get internet access – at the small boat harbour perhaps?
- Find a chandler – lots of stuff
- Buy a 2 or 2.5 hp outboard
- buy a rifle
- plus refuelling, restocking, contacting local and Canadian weather and ice forecasters, and all the other stuff that we’ll need to do to get out of there by June 14 at the latest.
- buy another 800 beers….

Any comments or advice would be appreciated.

Carla:
Looks as if we’ll be north of the good ISSInternational Space Station flypast. Pity. And it will almost certainly be cloudy where we are going.

Lord Howe on the left with Mt Gower to the left, Mt Lidgbird on the right, Wheatsheaf Rock in the centre and Ball’s Pyramid on the right.
Still motoring (0900). Tiny breeze from the SW – I think we have about 90 miles to go to get into a reasonable gradient, along with its attendant depressions. Last night, we motored through a patch of thickish cloud, rain falling out of it, but astern. The moon was behind one of the bigger ones and silhouetted it – stark, black, ominous, full of Vlads with impaling stakes and a solid wall hanging below it – impenetrable and opaque. Very TurnerTurner, John Mallord William (1775 - 1851); one of the founders of English watercolour painting renowned for his studies of sea and sky in every weather. This morning, there’s a line of just such clouds behind us – soft white fluffy lambskin totally unthreatening and even quite inviting for the shade they bring. Night and darkness hide vampires, ghastly predators, fearsome ghoulies – daylight restores faith in the best of all possible worlds. Boat jobs today – I’ve just completely repacked the forepeak, extracted the emergency kedging line and lashed it on deck in case we need to anchor in a hurry near AmuktaA small yet mountainous island in the Islands of Four Mountains group lying between the Fox Islands and the Andreanof Islands in the Aleutian Islands. and so that I can splice a thimble into it as we potter on. Still plenty of diesel in reserve, but if 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. is wrong, we’ll have to start conserving in a day or so. Found some other stuff, and put a snatch block on the vang bracket for the trisailA tiny storm sail that is set on the mast instead of the mainsail. Full explanation here strop.

End of first watch. Time to wake McQ.

now 1230 AEST
dtdDistance to Dutch (Harbour) 1923, so dmgDistance Made Good; More here was 108.
Now sailing – just…This is the headbang stage. There is the feeling – the suspicion only – that somewhere out there is a finishing line but tempered by the knowledge that it’s a very long way away. Grind out the metres one by one. I had a list of ‘P’s in the last website – planning, patience, persistence, perseverence, providence, pig headedness, pain – can’t remember them all but here’s where it is at. Looks like a good list for Sei Shonagon ‘Things that contain The Other’ And you can add ‘courage and fear’.

Out there to the NW there is the faintest suspicion of a line of cloud that just might be the bottom of the next system. If so, then, pace the ExaminerShe who asks awkward questions of the crew and tests them with difficult tasks., it’s westerlies followed by northerlies and then SW and 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. beckons. AmuktaA small yet mountainous island in the Islands of Four Mountains group lying between the Fox Islands and the Andreanof Islands in the Aleutian Islands. is 35 miles wide, foggy in the middle with a volcano on either side. Berri does volcanoes – Lord Howe and Balls Pyramid are the remains of a giganormous crater – pics perhaps, via Speedy.

Duncan C – tks for good wishes.
Peggsy – stand by for a phone call one of these days…

Things change fast around here. Pulled in new 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 said more wind and here it is. Not a lot yet but due 35kts. Down to small headsail and first 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. as precaution, pottering @ 5 kts North. Water temp down below 30 deg for first time since Oz coast – and getting noticeably cooler, esp at night. Now that SatCSatcom: A worldwide communication system using the INMARSAT satellite network and allowing transfer of text and data (not voice) using compact and relatively cheap equipment permanently on, getting all the cyclone warnings for S China Sea, plus warning for the low forming to our NW. Great service, but the software is not user friendly for small boats with intermittent opportunity to check laptop and hugely unstable platform.

dtdDistance to Dutch (Harbour) 1812 so dmgDistance Made Good; More here 111

I think we heard our first Alaskan voice this morning – there are regular wxShort for ‘weather’ broadcasts on 4125 mhz – extreme range for us but there was definitely someone there – 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!!!

Still just in range of Hawaii 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, then, perhaps Friday Harbour in Washington (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. HQ – hi guys!) and then it will be iridium all the way.

Hot, sweaty, nasty joggly sea, very big swell from NW – motoring to keep up speed through sea. V unpleasant – and seems our little fan may have died – very unpleasant…

Noon pos 3143.07 17028.41 DTD1679 dmgDistance Made Good; More here 133

This one may develop as the day goes by… the dragon’s tail is a quivering – 25 kts, still from the SE, sea building, 3 reefs and the small heady. Berri, and KevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others handling it fine. The dragon will fart sometime – there will be a front and about a 90 deg wind change to the SW and up to 35 kts. We’ll assess the stench, probably drop the main till it all dissipates a bit and keep on hooningAs far as I can gather, if Berri were a horse, she’d have the bit between her teeth to be hooning. Still got a bit of current under us and cracking 7’s. Small 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!! – exhilarating after all that headbanging but wont get us back much of the distance lost. And we still have to keep it all together for at least another 10 – 15 days.
Done some precautionary things around the boat – rigged a backstay tackle in case the ram goes – unlikely, but it’s been doing odd things. Filled the tank with diesel, sponged the bilge, did stocktake on the Medicinal Compound remaining. Would not do to arrive in a foreign port without my three Consultant Physicians in attendance. There will be enough if we keep hooningAs far as I can gather, if Berri were a horse, she’d have the bit between her teeth to be hooning and I maintain my self discipline. Made lots of water, but we have a full tank of Sydney water as well (with a bit of squeezed ocean added occasionally to keep it full).

More later.
An hour or so – smells a bit farty. Pulled in some heady, had a bit of a feel and decided to gybeGybe - 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. – from about 040 to – as it turned out, about 355. Very careful gybeGybe - 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., put the checkstay back on, eased it all, sorted the heady. 28 kts, seas still building and the wind now definitely SW. Have just taken photos of farty looking blast roiling up astern – white, fluffy, tightly rolled series of cloud lines, catching us fast.

More later. Will be several hours before I can send this, according to propagationIn the logs, this refers to the radiation of signal energy and is customarily qualified by the words abysmal, ratshit or lousy application. A coffee, I think.
And post caffeination – McQ came up for her watch just after we got our first cockpit full of water. Good practical lesson in why I’m so obsessed with keeping the drains clear of peanuts and other jetsam. We rolled the heady, dropped the main in 30 kts while KevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others bare poledExplanation here, unrolled the heady again and back to 6’s and 7’s but with big breaking waves and dragon pong all around. And now it seems to be abating. Nice dragon – go somewhere else please! I wonder whether dragon spray would deter 92% of these guys.

But – heading North instead of about 030 and we’ve got current against us again. My befuddled brain just cant sort that one. Water temp 27 deg. Still at least 2 hours before I can send this, so watch this space, smell this pong.

Well the wind is doing exactly what it said on the tin folks!! Fully filled in 30knots from the SW by ten this morning. Big, huge rolling seas, but we’re hooningAs far as I can gather, if Berri were a horse, she’d have the bit between her teeth to be hooning on through, munching away at those miles- am just so impressed once again as to how the fabulous wee Berri just storms on through, thoroughly enjoying herself!! Dropped the main and barrelling along with just headsail… I tried to take some pics but you never quite get it in photos, then I went for a bit of video, definitely not going to be a career move there, and I felt a bit sick watching my movie of us surging through these seas, while surging through these seas, but you do get a better sense of the scale of the waves!!! Never again will I complain about all those waves coming crashing over us earlier in this voyage either- the sea is now 25 degrees and that down your neck feels positively icy compared to a balmy, salty 36C!!!
Had to break out the Cats Meeoow (The Sleeping Bag!!) last night and I am a touch fearful that I am getting into the cold weather kit all a bit early… I also discovered everything has gone mouldy… mid layers, jacket, vest, shorts, purple hoody, etc, and not just inoffensive black pin mould either, I’m talking about full on fluffy, white, foosty blobs, all over everything!!! Nice!!!
Lots of love to everyone.
Mouldy McQueen
xxx
ps Can someone please give me a short report as to how Hannah J is getting on?? TY.

Later – 3243.24 17126.41
We’re hove to waiting for this swirl of dragons blast to go away. Wind 25 kts 050M, our heading is 310M and we’re fore reaching 283M towards northern Japan at 1.2 kts. Just might make it in time for the finish of the next Melbourne Osaka race in three years time…There was no way we could make reasonable headway into a truly awful sea – nothing severe, but short, confused, steep, occasionally breaking and dumping on us. Poor Berri pounding and flexing and not happy. So we’re parked until something improves. Could be a day or so, but 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. indicates tomorrow morning. McQ asleep, I’ve had a shave, done the boat chores and will work away at some other things on the list.

Last night full on – I’ve never seen cloud rushing past the moon like that – cloud base must have been about 500 ft to get the perspective. You know, perhaps, how a non stop train blitzing through a station seems to be going very much faster than you expect, sometimes. This cloud was like that. One lovely few moments – tiny clear patch, moon in full glory, silver sky all around and ice crystal halo. Tiny wisps of high cloud, the whole patch surrounded by black, beetling blasting monsters – and then it was gone. Next watch spent out of the cockpit taking out reefs, re running tweakers, sorting messes and tidying up – immensely hard work, because every movement needed bracing against wild gyrations and dumping waves. Soaked. And next watch, McQ in charge, wind came back from the N and put it all back in again. So we considered the options and here we are. Quiet and peaceful, although, inevitably, some wild rolling occasionally.

H – can’t think of any snail mail stuff, thanks. xx

Carla, thanks so much for sorting the email. Moot point as to whether it was spam – to me, all unsolicited commercial email is spam and anathema! Will write today – post caffeination. And perhaps part 2 of 1000 years in a day.

Kimbra – for Dave and Karl – again, huge thanks for all that useful info. If we ever get to Dutch, or Seattle, there will be 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 and Discussion.

We sat and rolled around for about 6 hours while the dragon played with his blast vents. Now under way again, still pretty awful but psychologically better. Creeping NNW with heady alone, hoping 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. is right and we get a NWly tomoz. Still a bloody long way to go and if it’s all uphill it will be just like the last 10 k in a marathon – only worse, if that’s possible.
Lots to write about but connections very flaky and my iridium data connection has died, which severely limits us.

3322..20 17116.19 and parked again.Mon 19/05/2008 22:17
I just don’t understand this iridium business. I have 2 motorola 9505 satellite handsets and a data kit that connects one or the other to the USB port on the laptop. Airmail (the 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. application) has a brilliant iridium connect facility and – if the phone has a signal – it should be just a matter of dialling the iridium data call number, establishing the connection and using Airmail to send and receive messages – plain text only – no effective internet access. One 9505 has my old faithful Falklands Islands Cable and Wireless SIM card in it – a contract service and quite expensive but it has never failed. The other 9505 has an Xsatusa SIM with a 500 minute voucher on it that theoretically should give me voice and data at a cheaper rate. This is still not properly set up, but that’s a different problem It worked fine for data until yesterday but now will not connect to the iridium data service – it tells me that the remote computer will not allow the connection. I have carefully checked all the settings and even created a second dial up connection. The C&W; handset sent the last blog and – I hope – will send this one. I can’t access the Xsat support service – too long a story but I cant. Anyone got any ideas?

The sun is out, sparkling day, quite noticeably colder – water @ 22.9 degrees, which slows down the watermaker – and the wind coming from exactly where we want to go at about 25 knots. Because of the sea state, there is no angle that we can sail at that gets us closer to Dutch – the closest, either way, is about 5 degrees away from what we need. And bloody uncomfortable too! The engine will thump into wind and sea and move us slowly and stressfully in the general direction but there’s very little gain per litre of diesel and we now must conserve. So we’re hove to, rolling around, but quiet, boat unstressed, sleep possible.

Heaving toSetting the boat so that it lies roughly parallel to the waves and at right angles to the wind and moves slowly forwards. This movement is known as ‘fore-reaching’ and is usually achieved by backing the jib, freeing or lowering the mainsail and lashing the helm to leeward. It is often an effective way of slowing everything down and sitting out bad weather but some boats will not heave to because of their underwater shape or other factors and must be sailed out of trouble. Heaving-to is not the same as lying a-hull where all sail is dropped and the boat is left more or less to its own devices. – without getting too technical, means setting the boat so that it lies parallel to the waves and at right angles to the wind, both give or take 20 degrees or so. Some boats, like Berri, do it easily, with no sail up, others won’t do it at all. When hove to, it drifts downwind and sometimes forwards or backwards and generally, apart from the rolling, is snug and safe. In really huge breaking seas, it’s not a good option – you really have to try to sail the boat to minimise the effect of the waves and wind, as we did rather a lot of in the southern ocean, but here, it’s fine. Occasionally a wave breaks and crashes across the boat or fills the cockpit – as just happened, but no drama.

Inside the boat at floor level, everything is damp if not outright wet – you can’t keep a tiny boat dry while you tramp in and out in soaking, dripping party gearFull wet weather gear, which you then have to get out of and stow somewhere, with the litres of water it is holding dripping out of it. As I sit at the nav table, I’m thrown violently (and I mean violently) around as the boat rolls and have to wedge and brace myself to keep the keys going.

Will try to iridiumise this – we’re out of 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. 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. range at the mo.

dtdDistance to Dutch (Harbour) 1567 dmgDistance Made Good; More here 29 I guess there’ a always the possibility we could get stuck down here – the prospect at the mo is not good given the current forecasts. If it really does get pearshaped, the next best option might be Hawaii. This bit did not look so difficult off the NOAA stats and we might have got it seriously wrong least for this year. That would be a shame, but if is going to take us too long to get to Dutch, there’s no point in pretending. Kimbra and David W, watch this space.

3324.43 17118.36 @ 1020 Sydney time, I’ll save this blog for the noon position for what that will be worth!

Back under way. The wind has abated slightly, same direction, still the short lumpy sea, maybe 4 metre waves 15 metres apart, about half of them breaking and one or two much bigger, often arriving in trains of three with cross waves. Half the heady unrolled and we’re tracking a smidge N of W at about 3kts, intending to get over towards the advancing high and the predicted veer and softening wind, followed by the front of the next low and 35 knots again, from the SE. 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. and SatCSatcom: A worldwide communication system using the INMARSAT satellite network and allowing transfer of text and data (not voice) using compact and relatively cheap equipment predict that we’re going to have to negotiate at least one full on low pressure system with up to 55 knots in it somewhere to the north. Not a pleasant prospect. We can try to loiter till the nasty bit is past, but that puts us back in these northerlies again. 1300 miles to AmuktaA small yet mountainous island in the Islands of Four Mountains group lying between the Fox Islands and the Andreanof Islands in the Aleutian Islands. – 2 sydney – hobart races but this is harder and I don’t – of course – want to destroy the boat just for the sake of progress. When we have sail up and are moving, the boat’s motion is immediately much easier, because the pressure in the sail dampens the rolls and keeps the boat heeled.

On iridium, the last blog went Cable & Wireless. I don’t want to be swapping SIMs around between handsets in these conditions to try to diagnose, so I will retry Xsat periodically and just pay the money to C & W if still dead. Irksome, though, because I’ve already paid for my 500 minutes what I don’t seem to be able to use as intended and an absolute pain to have to fiddleFiddle: a little wooden wall to stop things sliding off a flat surface with the wiring and connections each time I do a data call. The iridium hardware was designed for stable, dry platforms, dry hands, no salt…..

It’s going to be a looong night out here in the boonies. Glimpses of very TurnerTurner, John Mallord William (1775 - 1851); one of the founders of English watercolour painting renowned for his studies of sea and sky in every weather moon, wind fitting and starting, but never less than 20 and often closer to 30. We are now closer to Japan than to Dutch and the next couple of days will be critical. If the wind does soften and veer and – big and! – we can make headway safely to the NW, we will at least be starting to go in the right direction, tho prob only at 2- 3 ks. Then the front of the next depression is due the following day with 35 from the SE – another big iff we can make headway safely, that should get us a couple of hundred miles N and I don’t yet know what’s behind it but if more of this, then I think we could be in for another long park.

My only data link is good old C & W satphone – the xsat one still refuses to connect (iridium says the phone’s number is out of service when I dial it from the phone, even though I can make voice calls) and 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. is completely out of action at the mo – must be excessive sunspots or something, but there’s no green anywhere on the propagationIn the logs, this refers to the radiation of signal energy and is customarily qualified by the words abysmal, ratshit or lousy charts.

I said this thing was finely balanced way back – it sure is!

We’ve had a look at 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. for the next three days for the area to the NW of us and it seems that we can keep going north. The wind should come around to the south, 25 – 30 by tomoz evening and stay for a couple of days. As long as we can sail downwind in the change without busting anything, we’ll go with it and then try to stay in the bottom of the string of lows to get some easting and duck around one when we get a chance and go for 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.. So that’s the plan.

Caroline – great minds! And don’t they boggle. Must ask Matt one day.

Kimbra – guesstimate for potential bolt holes still useful – but not so urgent, I hope.

Kris – Your driveway with Berri in it might be an interesting photo caption competition!

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. propagationIn the logs, this refers to the radiation of signal energy and is customarily qualified by the words abysmal, ratshit or lousy extinction was finger glitch on my part – must have entered the wrong longitude in the dark and not noticed. Interestingly, there are little fail safe indicators if you know the system – I found my error while setting up 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. request because the little boat wasn’t on screen. Apologies to all of you that have never seen 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., but it might help people that do use it.

There’s a temp lull and I have to go up the mast – see yez.

Radar reflectors – small boat variety – research in UK seemed to indicate are almost useless. These are the cylindrical plastic tubes with a honeycomb of aluminium plates inside to provide reflective area. We have the larger diameter version on the shrouds just above the lower spreaders, only because Cat 1 race rules require us to carry one. When I visited it today, I noticed that it is half full of water – and, yes, it is fitted the right way up. How? unless the wind somehow blew it up inside the flange around the ‘lid’. I also have a set of flat plates that can be fitted together into a trapezoidal shape and hoisted in the rig – much better performance, but a pain to manage.

What I had intended to investigate but ran out of time is a gizmoSome kind of gadget or other, normally infuriating called something like a radar echo enhancer – passive device that sits around all powered up, until hit by a radar beam which it then sends back but with a boost. Problem is that there are radars across quite a big frequency range…Might be useful to have one though, tuned to whatever is the most common frequency for fishing boat radars. M’sieur le Fruitelet – est ce possible you could investigate? Would have to be relatively inexpensive and easy to install.

We’re tracking NW at varying knots – 2 at the mo – kevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others having difficulty with apparents. Must go and check.

I think I’m getting the hang of the SatCSatcom: A worldwide communication system using the INMARSAT satellite network and allowing transfer of text and data (not voice) using compact and relatively cheap equipment weather warnings – there is a string of circular storms that form off Eastern Japan and move NE just to the north of where we are. They all have ‘possibility of winds 30 – 50 knots within radius of 500 miles of centre in SE semicircle’. Tends to gnaw at the viscera a bit until you realise that that phrase is a bit of a backside coverer for whichever Met office issued the warning. 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. shows the one moving north of us now is a lot tamer, but no doubt it could develop.

Warm, toasty layered up McQ looks like the Michelin Man with bunches after his third massive plate of Fettucine Alfredo. I don’t know how she can move, but she does. I tend to go for a lot less fabric and lots of air, with good seals to keep as much in as possible. Whatever works, I guess. Must soon brave the starboard upper bunk, delve below it and drag out my bag of warm stuff. Noticeably cool, though we are at the same latitude as Sydney. Water 19 deg. Oily margarine has recongealed in the ice box and the VoANot the Voice of America, but the Viscosity of Anusol. Sophisticated and innovative system of onboard temperature assessment. Full explanation here is at jackhammer level.

Everyone knows – don’t we? – that the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland is going to destroy the world by creating a mini black hole which will suck in the whole shebang and keep all those tax avoiders and thieving dictators just a bit closer to their funds. Whoopee – will be huge fun while it happens. Meantime, it will be creating wormholes in space so that future life forms can come and visit us in their shiny kevlar suits, sucking on their heated pan galactic gargle blasters as they observe our puny antics. I have to inform you that this has already happened. A future life form, a specially designed cow from the Restaurant at the End of the Universe has been detected by a secret CIA spy satellite at the wormhole periphery ellipse coefficient and sent to a place where it can be quarantined. It seems to have escaped and inadvertently found its way into an abattoir and thence to a soup maker. McQ drank some of it in her Hearty Beef Soup so I think quarantine for her once we get to Dutch. Meantime, a designer Beast in a wormhole? Caroline, doesn’t that stoke the boggle reflex?

We’re motoring north as the haze and grot closes in – wind change today sometime. Electric autopoilot at last gasp and may have to revert ot actually steering the boat ourselves as KevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others doesn’t do motoring.

PMcQ, the locals have recommended that we take bear spray…When someone convinces me I am wrong, I change my mind…we’ll take some aboard. Should enhance the flavour of the canned stew at least. Would still like to hear from the errant 8%

Carla, thanks heaps. I’ll try to call you in the next day or so – I want to wait till daylight and, if conditions permit, swap sims between handsets just in case that’s the problem.

It feels like a monday morning, but in a good way, but i don’t think it is! Thursday, apparently, according to my watch, though I’ve long since stopped registering days- they matter not one iota out here!! Maybe its the cwoffee i just had followed by museli and un-dried fruit for brekkie. Awesome!!

We have around 5knotters from the SE… woo hoo!!! So, I guess we watch this space and hopefully it will just build all day. At the mo we have the donkThe engine – a donkey is a beast of burden that does all the work and engines driving winches and other labour saving devices are known as donkey engines. on and are pointing direct to Dutch… woo hoo!! 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. I’ve seen is showing it build to 20knots SE by this evening and maybe up to 25/30ish through the night… should give us a wee boost anyway!! Calm-glassy sea at the moment too, be v nice if it takes its time to build too.

We are currently at 35 14N so we are more north than Sydney is South… woo hoo!!! And boy you can tell, woolly hat on at 1030 in the morning!! Water 18C!! I used to swim off our boat in Scotland (they’d tie a rope to me and I’d go swimming- I think it used to be fun but that may just be cause thats what they kept telling me!!) and I remember swimming, proper laps of the boat, in 11C… which seems very, very cold… 18C splashes send shivers!!

I remembered the sensible, interesting (perhaps) stuff I was going to say.
I was on deck yesterday, and suddenly it struck me as to just how small we are, not relative to the ocean/in the big scheme of things but actually physically, we are a tiny, tiny 33ft boat!!! I was standing in the cockpit- only room for 1 to stand!!(2 can sit, one either side.) and if you lose your balance over a big wave, your neck catches on the spray hood if you fall forward or the tiller pokes your kidneys if you fall back (which makes me sound like a very short and rotund michelin man, I guess!!) The bow, slicing through waves, felt barely arms length away.
It is the sort of boat that my mum and non sailor friends will see at our destination and say ‘crikey, you came all the way here on that???’ Actually, it might be my sailor friends who only ever go anywhere on huge big racing boats, who wonder that!! But Berri is a proper, proper boat, she may be small but she is just brilliant. She might not get polished to gleaming white in the harbour everyday, she might not get her rusty bits Y-10’d and hosed down in a water ban before the owner pops down but I know if I were a boat I would far, far, far prefer to be a proper boat that gets taken across oceans and shown the world!!

My random thought process then goes on to ramble in my head about the Dolphin 3 in Pittwater and the man who brought his mast down on the way in to Lymington- (how they connected I can’t remember but they are the thoughts now floating around in my heid) I’ll save those for tomorrow maybe!!

Lots of love
McQueen
ps Anyone seen or heard from Carie?????

Moving satisfactorily NE 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.. No predictions.

Lurking dangers – passed a white buoy about 10 metres to stbd. Looked as if it was supporting something so looked further and yep – 200 metes away, another one, with a flagpole. Cods and wallops – how deep is this stuff? Did we run over it? Has it escaped from somewhere else or is there a fishing boat around? Half an hour later, big white fishing boat hoons up over the horizon to the SW and towards the gear. At least one answer…
Then, during a very black night, I decided a smock was the way to go too keep warm, took a quick squizz around the horizon and nothing in sight, went down found smock and brought it to the cockpit where I sat to leeward and struggled into it (easier down below, standing rather than sitting)stuck my head out of the top and there off the stbd bow, about a mile away, a vessel’s lights crossing from right to left – so we are the give way vessel. Very quick sort of sheets, KevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others etc and we’re heading east and behind him but a close shave – no idea whether he was trawling, long lining or what, but the odd thing was that I could see a red light all the way to the horizon, so might have been part of a fishing signal. Impossible to work out what the lights mean on some of these boats.
Then, next watch, lights on the horizon, port quarter. Constant bearing, 2 white, one green so we stand on. Watch him closely and about 2 miles away, a definite turn to starboard and he’s headed behind us. Was a very big ship, bulk carrier of some sort, heading roughly east. My AISAutomatic Identification System. An automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels. black box has not worked since leaving Newcastle with it’s hundreds of ships, so I don’t know any more

Can someone please tell me how Scott is going on Everest?

We had spag bol for dinner tonight, it was really very good- the first spag bol we’ve had, would you believe?? So now it has surpassed beef and coconut curry with cashews (and a good dollop of SC) as my fave meal so far, and before we had a beef curry my previous fave was Oirish Stew and creamed corn and some of our many potato supplies. No beef curry left, some spag bol and lots of oirish stew to keep us going, if i remember rightloy from the recent stocktake.

Interesting chat, huh??!! But thats tinned food aboard boat life!!

Currently still stonking north, we had some big SEasters and huge following seas this afternoon- 32/33 knotters for ages- Big Whitters even bunged the exhaust (that phrase means just that!!!)- the wind’s come round quite quick though and merely hours later we now have around 20 from the WNW, so it feels pretty feisty again!! Its amazing how chilled it all is going downwind, even with big ole seas!!

Did I mention Cape Cheerful ever??? Sorry if I have but it is fascinating me: approaching Dutch form the north we have to clear Cape Cheerful, which is just the most brillisnt name- I just keep wondering whether, with all the rocks and current and fog that appears to be the norm whether Cape C is perhaps ironic??? Will let you know when we are near!!!

I just had a look at some other names up north- Imagine naming your local rock Annoy Rock?? just bonkers really and hilarious but perfectly logical nonetheless!!! There is also Teapot Rock, i don’t think we’ll go near but I wonder if thats ironic too and it looks nothing like a teapot!!! Its so nutty, you could sit and look at the funny rock and place names on the chart and amuse yourself for hours (well I could, anyway!!!)

must be time to go get some sleep, perhaps!!

Lots of love everybody
Spag Bollinger McQueen
xxx

I just found another one- Bobrof Island, ‘Hello, I am the King of Bobrof Island’ hmmm no one’s going to take you seriously now are they??
Also, I swear Egg Pt is next to Banger Pt and Salt Pt… was someone having breakfast when they discovered???

I wish I could capture for you the splendour and magnificence of all this. From a black, menacing night with a glorious dino show glowing and sparkling and pulsating in the surge as Berri surfs through her gerzillionth wave to a grey night with soft fluffy, cotton ball clouds in huge swathes across the sky – really just elevated mist patches but with their own presence and attitude when silhouetted by the moon. And the moon – almost directly astern, sometimes just an illusory glow, sometimes a brilliant reflection as its light comes through a hole in the fluff and becomes a silver plate on the water, sometimes a grey disc with a halo of subdued iridescence and sometimes the moon itself in our own gap – the horizon goes black, the sk silvery grey, there might be a star or two and suddenly its all lovely soft/hard texture and dappled sea. And then it’s gone again.

I think what I’m describing is the developing centre of a small low we’re crossing but I’m not sure. Wind now WNW and we’re still on about 020, following cross sea, kevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others in charge and still stonking along, though a bit less enthusiastically as the wind has abated to about 20 kt. Improved by a cuppa and some dunking mcvities.

Speed has blipped the phone – must go gather your gems – excitingest part of the night.

Kimbra, I’ll try to call Dave today or tomoz if conditions allow.

Love yez

Its not so miserable outside now!! Just a bit feisty still but its not black and gunky and murky anymore- theres a wee bit moon fuzzing through the cloud. lumpety sea and charging along still in 20 knotters. All good!! To be fair, at the start of the last watch I did stick my heid on deck and after one look around into the gloom decide that the getting through the next 2 hours would require going under my bunk and breaking out the last remaining Tim Tams!!! Whilst hunting for the tim tams I also found more ryvita!! and Steves emergency chocolate… wooo hooo thank you steve!!! Which Alex was as excited about as I when I told him what I had found and brought out!! AND, there is another packet of SNICKERS!!! So, ha, all you who mocked me by sending those mean adn teasing messages about tucking into more snickers at your desks and stuff. We have rations!!! woo hoo!!! I left them under the bunk for the mo- clearly out of sight out of mind works wonders and I think we’ll need them next week!!!

T’other news, oh yes very exciting- our GribsWeather 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. (weather files) that come in are all in pretty colours- no wind- blue, little wind green, then yeller, then orange then lots of wind red and then pink!! and land is little grey blobs… well at moment there is blue and green for the next 24 hours then lots of red, but the most exciting thing is we now have little grey blobs that represent the Aleutians, at the top of the picture!! Wicked!!!

Its hard to write anything articulate and cohesive when you keep popping up on deck to check whats happening- Merc-you Watch is rubbish, I want to be on Whit Watch- they get all the exciting things- first fishing buoys and afishing boat, next watch big shipo, next watch another boat, then last watch he came down woke me up said it was black and grim but the phosphorescence was amazing, I go up on deck- black and grim yes and not even a flicker of luminous green to be seen anywhere to amuse me!!!Had to entertain myself with singing along to power ballads on the Ipod and one or two recitals to the wind of the first 11 verses of AM.

Hope everyone well and happy.
Lots of lvoe
Cor (AKA: McQueen)
xxx
ps mum, am shorter than big A- he quite tall. No JC’s (obviously, doh!!), why you ask???
message for hannah (via email-thea maybe? are you even there my thea??) if anyone going to jamaica- ‘brilliant, darling, brilliant, just the Atlantic to go, you can do it. go Glasgow, much love and vibes to the whole crew from Bol in the North Pacific’!!! FF, thank you for hannah updates- much appreciated!! Is Ricky 4th now and still hot on heels and were NY and H&H; 1st/2nd into jamaica or has she closed any gap there, overall??

This is a rant, but it’s well intentioned. Out there at the far end of it, it just might save someone’s life.
It’s not intended for people who just sail around the cans, but for those of us who go offshore.

I’ve just made a minor mod to my Henri smock – simple and easy with the trusty sailmaker’s needle and I thought about McQ’s boots and how the Fashionistas and the marketers and the brand managers – the manipulators and the snake oil merchants – have taken over the sport and the minds of the gullible. Very expensive boots – to take one example – look cool at the briefing (how often do you see the rockstars sitting there for the cameras?) – but they have to work out here on the ocean as well. In my experience, they are no more effective than my $40 wellies and I’ve seen and sailed with a lot of people who were wearing them and have tried them myself(borrowed a pair and they were already wet inside and leaked like the proverbial). My wellies do two seasons before the rubber begins to perish and I chuck them and buy another pair – and I have dry feet all the time unless I get water over the top. It is utterly ludicrous that poor McQ has to wear plastic bags inside hers, but maybe she will not get conned so easily next time. This is her second pair – for that money Our Appointed Sailmaker could make me a new storm jibA very small jib, usually made from bright orange material, used in storm conditions. and trisailA tiny storm sail that is set on the mast instead of the mainsail. Full explanation here…how many of you out there are in the same situation? The fishos, who spend their lives out here, wear wellies like mine. Dry feet reduce fatigue and contribute to safety. And, having said all that, perhaps there are some boots out there that are worth the money but I doubt it.

Then there’s wet weather gear. I always used to buy Gill because it is excellent gear, quality control superb and they used to listen to people like me and fix things that didn’t work. Before the last 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., I looked for a Gill smock only to find that they only had silver or black ones. So the fashion statement has taken over from the safety factor there too – the primary function of this stuff is to keep us warm and dry, and the secondary one is to provide maximum visibility to the helicopter pilot who might be looking for us in a 1998 storm. It is not – not – to sell product for a sponsor. Or to look good in the bar afterwards. They come way down the list. If you are in the water in a crashing storm at night and you can hear the chopper, would you rather be in a black or silver top or dayglo orange or red or yellow? And the sponsors are now insisting that crews be dressed in company livery – there’s a well known outfit that puts people in light blue and white kit – if I were an owner at that level, I’d refuse, point blank, just as I did in my own small way to the Gill HQ salesman who tried to tell me that colour didn’t matter – after all, they had a yellow hood. Bollocks. Paint a soccer ball yellow and put it 500 feet away and see how small it looks. Then arrange for waves to break over it. That’s what the chopper pilot sees from 500 feet – then try it at night. So now I have a dayglo red Henri smock, lots of retro tape, plus yellow hood and there’s a pair of pants on the way to Dutch to match it. Sorry, Gill, but I tried. McQ, incidentally, has a black smock, light blue jacket and blue pants. Dame EllenDame Ellen MacArthur, from hazy memory, wore grey.

If us sailors don’t insist on these things, it serves us right if there’s nothing but froth on the market. Tell them, loud and clear and don’t buy it! You will be glad you insisted if it’s you in the water. I’d like to see race authorities taking a stand as well – while it might interfere with individual liberty, the safety issue is so important that it’s worth it. Just a recommendation would be a start. 1998 changed a lot of things for the better – let’s not lose sight of the basic principles just to keep sponsors and the fashion industry happy.

Looking a bit more reasonable out there today. Fitful sunlight through the mist, beck to the big jib and doing 6.5 towards 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 . Our day of painful stitching on the little sail has survived with attitude – will probably get us all the way to wherever so if no big sewing machine in Dutch, we’ll not fret. Berri slipping through the water almost silently – what a change it is to be in benign conditions! The only – and more or less continuous noise – is LizzieLizzie the Whizzer: Berrimilla's wind generator whizzing away at the back – has kept the batteries fully charged all the way – Fantastic. If OK with US Immigration, we might call in at AdakA city on Adak island (Aleutians, Alaska) and a former US naval base. for fuel and freshies if we do go through 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 . Was once a cold war US Naval Air Station – now handed over to local Aleut community.

Still stonking along – wind E about 15 – big jib rolled in a few turns and one 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.. 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. says more of this, all day tomorrow – hope so and hope it doesn’t increase too much. Iff we get lucky, we might just slip between two systems, but that’s serious wishful thinking and I must wash my mouth out with soap – or at least my finger tips. We had six albatrosses wheeling and circling and gawping at us for most of today – all the same sort, black browed, as described earlier. I think at least two of them have been with us for about a week. Lovely to watch them formation flying – sometimes two, sometimes four, lazily soaring and dipping back to the surface, airy grace and symmetry.

Our local advisor says that up here, May through July, the Bering Sea and probably as far down as here tends to be permanently overcast, low cloudbase some mist and fog. That’s what we’ve got. Getting through 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 will be a bit of a challenge – to be met when we see what we’ve got but not to be attempted against the tide and only in daylight. It’d 50 miles wide, but quite shallow in the middle, and the bottom rises from gerzillionsAn awful lot of something: usually stars to tens of metres in a very short distance, very strong tides, often against the wind, so very like the SE corner of OZ, of what we know!

McQ cooking, then I’m on deck for a couple of clank and dammy hours. The nights seem very long in two hour stints – three is almost better, but that last hour really drags, so we’re sticking to the 2 hour routine.

Had in mind to write about some of Berri’s systems for anyone else who is thinking about long distance sailing. Perhaps if tomorrow is reasonably benign, that’ll be the go.

dtdDistance to Dutch (Harbour) 1039 dmgDistance Made Good; More here 115
Kimbra, I’ve left a message for Gary Ramos Been thinking about state of mind, cold feet, endless finishing straights – all more or less linked. Standing beside the Cutty Sark, before the fire when she was fully rigged, I wondered how anyone could get that huge ship with that enormous sail area and unimaginable power up to maximum speed and keep her there for 90 days through the southern ocean rollers, the doldrumsInter Tropical Convergence ZoneInter Tropical Convergence Zone, also known as The Doldrums, also known as The Doldrums, and all the storms and calms in between. How would you feel as the captain, making daily decisions about sail, course, weather and the rest with the ship creaking and straining around you and water crashing across the decks and the rig vibrating and shuddering and flexing with every huge wave? Disaster lurking every moment and with every breaking wave – some bigger than the ship itself. Were those men so confident in their ships and their own abilities that they would sleep easily at night with all that going on – and, above all, a deadline to meet and a race to win in some cases? Or did they, like me, live their lives in a state of nervous, analytical, catastrophising, anticipation? Was their whole attention focused on the ship and its dialogue with them, the subtle changes in tone and pitch, in vibration, in motion through and over the water, the tiny sounds that signalled changes in condition, in the state of a massive brace or a spar and the state of the crew and their capacity to keep driving the ship? That’s me and it’s a big big strain. Only at times when the sea is at its most benign and there’s nothing in the forecast can I ease up and read or do a crossword or listen to music. Inevitably, when I do, it gets interrupted by a random thought about something that needs fixing or that should go on the list for Dutch. I sleep tuned to the boat and when things change, I’m usually awake immediately and trying to sense what has changed. When things are bad, I doze, but don’t sleep, and usually sitting on the floor of the boat at least partly dressed in party gearFull wet weather gear. I guess that in my world, shit happens and I like to feel that I’m prepared to deal with it and am at least partly on top of each possibility before it happens and have taken action to minimise or prevent it. Lots of examples on this trip – checkstays, 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 . mods, backstay tackle. And simple things like noticing that the shackle pin holding the tack on the main to the gooseneckThe fitting that connects the boom or a spinnaker pole to the mast. had unwound a couple of turns, or that my mousing line for the checkstay was about to fly loose in 30 kts – little things that so often get ignored or missed And as I write this, I wonder what I have actually missed as we enter the never ending finishing straight.

The Melbourne marathon finishes next to the Art Gallery almost in the city centre. The last 8 or so kilometres are almost straight – a long straight stretch along St Kilda rd, about 4 k, the long shallow bend to the left at Toorak rd, and back again past the old barracks and then a final kink to the left and you can see the finish. A whole kilometre away at least. If you’ve never run one, you won’t have any idea how difficult it is to keep pushing a screaming body metre by metre along those stretches and the final k is almost the hardest because that’s when you know you have to push even harder and you cant feel your legs any more and your eyes have no focus. The headbangingest thing I’ve ever done and not just once but about 15 times. This little stretch of 500 miles or so to 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 is similar – never seems to get shorter, day to day – GPS always seems to say 5 days 6 hrs to go. Immensely difficult to stay cool and just wait while it all happens – but happen it will.

And cold feet. Dry though they may be, they just don’t ever get warm. I’ve just remembered that Pete and I used plastic beer bottles as hotties and I’m experimenting as I write. But we’ll buy those little metal camping drink bottles in Dutch and use them for the next leg.

Was right first time – its Andak. Moonless, so far, at 2245 AEST, 2345 local. Hazy, first and second mag stars only, grey sky with myriad pinpricks – Great BearGreat Bear / Ursa MajorGreat Bear / Ursa Major / The PloughGreat Bear / Ursa Major / The Plough / The SaucepanGreat Bear / Ursa Major / The Plough / The Saucepan: names for the same defining constellation in northern hemisphere: names for the same defining constellation in northern hemisphere / The SaucepanGreat Bear / Ursa Major / The Plough / The Saucepan: names for the same defining constellation in northern hemisphere: names for the same defining constellation in northern hemisphere / The PloughGreat Bear / Ursa Major / The Plough / The SaucepanGreat Bear / Ursa Major / The Plough / The Saucepan: names for the same defining constellation in northern hemisphere: names for the same defining constellation in northern hemisphere / The SaucepanGreat Bear / Ursa Major / The Plough / The Saucepan: names for the same defining constellation in northern hemisphere: names for the same defining constellation in northern hemisphere was directly over masthead, now off to port – undefined horizon – just a heavy merge from grey to black. Doing diesel sums – how far can we motor this time – we have 130 ltrs in jerries and whatever is in the tank, say 60 ltrs so 190 @ 2/hr = 95 hrs or about 3 days = about 300 miles. My 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 waypointA fixed location with specified latitude and longtitude co-ordinates maintained by GPS is 533 miles ahead, then there’s at least another 400 to Dutch along the inside. In round numbers, 300 miles in the tank, 1000 to go and we need a contingency factor so say 200 in the tank + 100 contingency. I think we’ll keep the motor running for 24 hrs max and reassess with new 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. and actual progress as factors.

I saw an aircraft too – I wonder which route we’re under. Perhaps Seattle to Beijing? My aircraft seemed to be going north, and was to the east of us. US West coast over the pole to Moscow perhaps or am I way off?

Follow up from my last about state of mind – I can’t know, of course, that I actually do wake up when things change – just a pious hope – but I do know that I have done so at a couple of critical times – once just in time to prevent the forestay from parting company with the boat.

180 degrees – the International Dateline – that arbitrary divider imposed by Imperial Britain – last time Berri crossed it was way down at the other end, just south of the Antipodes Islands, so named because they are almost exactly opposite Greenwich on the earth’s surface. That was in January 2005 and about 6 months later I stood at the exact opposite end of the axis, 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. I bet there aren’t many people alive who have done that. Odd feeling too – think about all that mass and heat in between…Will be fitting to cross it again in 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 pass if we do go through that way.

PropagationIn the logs, this refers to the radiation of signal energy and is customarily qualified by the words abysmal, ratshit or lousy here non existent – odd – so will try iridium to see whether there’s goodies for us out there. Speed awol in Dartmouth, so might be change in routine.

Just stuck my head up to check for sea monsters and there’s a soft cheesy moon just above the horizon, yellow through the murk and only the first mag stars visible – but there’s a horizon.

dtdDistance to Dutch (Harbour) 948 dmgDistance Made Good; More here 91

dmgDistance Made Good; More here much better for 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 as we are heading more or less straight towards it. Now only 250 nm from US territorial waters – we’re only a couple of days from Alaska at least, touch wood and lick me nose…

What to report – good wind, benign sea for the last 2 days – unimaginable. Real progress, although the bloody GPS keeps telling us we’re not getting any closer timewise. Blood red sunrise – rather like sydney bushfire effect – obviously particulates in the air but what and where from? Indonesian forests? Chinese industry? I took a photo of the sun with an albatross just about to cross it – perfect timing but out of focus and just a splodge so worthless. Pity.

Found a way to get the fuel filter off the engine to fix the oil leak, which had been getting worse (obvious really – put a hose clip around it and was able to turn it by hand) and cleaned up the contact areas and replaced it with a new one so I hope that’s sorted.

We’re in a propagationIn the logs, this refers to the radiation of signal energy and is customarily qualified by the words abysmal, ratshit or lousy hole – not a patch of green anywhere on the calculator and almost no orange. Checked the co-ordinates and all ok – anyone heard about unusual sunspot activity?

Carla – yay! re Phoenix. What it is looking for? And thanks re Dall’s porps. They were dazzling.

Kimbra – thanks for Gary R stuff – really useful contact – and for fleecy inners. Have mine in my Chinese slippers from Beijing that keep my feet off all the damp floor inside.

Duncan – thanks heaps for all that research – basically confirmed my own opinions – I have raincatcher as well and have just assembled it. Will remove the cylinder in dutch. Also have AISAutomatic Identification System. An automatic tracking system used on ships and by vessel traffic services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels. gizmology, but it seems to have gone to sleep so will have it checked.

Looks as if we will be at or close to 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 on saturday. we have tidal data from argos stations either side but not for pass itself – seems low water slack is around noon utc sat 30th = 0400 alaska daylight time so if we’re there it will be a dawn entry – locals advise not at night. Can anyone pse confirm low water time sat, sun, mon – Kimbra/Tom perhaps?

water temp 8 deg and now more current from NE so probably in the Aleutian slope flow, though still a long way out. Hands too cold for more – will do another in daylight. Water at Cape Horn was 7 deg.

Anyone for a tour of old nuclear testing sites? Jump aboard! First the Marshalls, now 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 . I doubt whether we could get to New Mexico, but there’s Mururoa and a few others to go.

For ages now, I’ve been hearing a strange squeaky chirruping noise at night. Unable to place it but assumed that it was not threatening and probably coming from some part of KevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others’s wheels and pulleys. A couple of night ago, in the yellow cheesy moonlight. I saw a ghostly, tumbling black shape silhouetted against the moon’s reflection – yay! got it – it’s the Stormy Petrels talking to eachother. They must congregate around the boat at night attracted by the lights.

We’re now nearly at 46N – way past Tasmania and approaching Stewart Island in our southern equivalents. Berri’s highest latitude was Cape Horn at 57 and a bit south, and 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. at about 51N so we’re getting close to one and closer to another. Shame there’s no gin.

Through the water log now reads 6343 after starting at 342, so 6000 miles – would be at Dutch if no current -we couldn’t have gone much straighter. Must work out our average speed ttw – must be better than 5 kts.

A cold, wet, grey gloomy morning out here beyond the boonies. Manchester as I remember it, every Tuesday. Supposed to be midsummer – but I like it heaps as long as it keeps bringing us wind and keeping the nasties south of us.

Hey, Austin – glad you’ve found us again – pass the word around! Would be really interesting to know who else is out there – sign the gust bookThe Guest Book on the Berri site, so named to prevent spammers finding it to offer, or request unusual services and medications. The Gust book is here. please everyone!

dtdDistance to Dutch (Harbour) 852 dmgDistance Made Good; More here 96 – still going sideways relative to Dutch. 136 to Alaskan waters.

From this rather uncomfortable, cold and damp little grot behind the ConePlastic roll-down curtain to protect nav table /instruments from water, things ain’t so good. IFF we can climb high enough to make it through 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 without having to park and wait, we’re about 9 days from Dutch. If we get lucky, that is!

Real headbang stuff. Engine running, heady now rolled in, boat set up to just slide the swell rather that pound into it and stop with every third wave. So we’re still 10 deg. below the direct track required of 028. Small chance from 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. that we will get a lift tonight and then again a couple of days out off the big low but it will be a close run thing. We have about 120 litres of diesel so in deep conservation mode. That is about 70 litres for distance and the rest for contingency – 70 litres is about 150 miles if we get the right conditions and we’re 400 from the other side of the pass, so AdakA city on Adak island (Aleutians, Alaska) and a former US naval base. is looking like a definite if they will allow us to enter. And if we can pay by credit card – all our $US is waiting for us in Dutch. Been trying to contact our local friend but no luck – would be a real help if someone could please let us know if AdakA city on Adak island (Aleutians, Alaska) and a former US naval base. has credit card facilities, so that we know whether we can burn diesel to get there.

Pearshapedness looms large! All applicable appendages crossed for the next week or so please.

I’ve taken the punt and rolled out the headsail, cranked it right on with the autopilot following the windvaneStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others to chase every lift and 33 deg off the wind with the engine running. We’re getting 015 – 025 with 5+ knots so while it doesn’t get us uphill far enough, it’s a lot more efficient than before and I hope we’ll get the lift tonight and be able to climb far enough under sail to make the pass. Iff all goes well, we’ll be in Alaska sometime late tomorrow with 220 odd to go to 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 .

The time has come, the Walrus said, to speak of other things: of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of mushy peas and kings…

As I write, there’s a can of mushies sitting on top of the cooling engine (yes!)getting its preliminary charge of heat before I stand it in hot water too really get it hot. Then it gets slipped into a polar fleece sock and down to the end of my bunk and – magic really – warm feet.

JG, thanks for camera advice – problem is that when you half press, it locks the focus and when you don’t know the distance or if its further than a boat length, it gets tricky. My albatross in the sun was about 50 metres away and there’s nothing that far out to focus on…bummer.

And if I’d had my brain in gear for the last few days I’d have realised that we have the phone number for US Customs in Dutch in the digital chart info. I will call them first thing tomorrow ADT and ask about AdakA city on Adak island (Aleutians, Alaska) and a former US naval base. entry and they might even know about credit card facilities. There’s no AdakA city on Adak island (Aleutians, Alaska) and a former US naval base. data in the chart.

McQ’s lift arrived and we’re sailing reasonably above our required track for 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.. As McQ says though, the ExaminerShe who asks awkward questions of the crew and tests them with difficult tasks. has a real chance to get fancy with us if she plays fast and loose with the big low forming ahead. We’ll see, I guess. It’s all grind from here.

Soft, woolly darkness – a bit like reading under the bedclothes with a fading torch as a kid – there’s almost no light from above so the sky is only just grey – uniform, dark, dull grey and the horizon merges into it so there is almost no frame of reference either – the boat’s movements seem randoom and you can’t anticipate and brace. Gyrations subdued in a fairly gentle sea but difficult nonetheless. Thick, dense overcast, base almost at sea level and we’re in and out of misty low cloud all the time – vis from perhaps 1/2 mile out to maybe three at best so constant vigilance needed. Berri’s masthead is a little platform about 6 inches wide and 9 long. It has the tricolour light at the aft end with the windex behind it, 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.. stub aerial in front to the right and the lightning conductor to the left and the anemometer sticks out ahead of the mast. In the mist, the effect is eerie – the tricolour streams its green, red and white sectors which reflect from the mist, and each bit of equipment casts its own shadow, so we seem to be sailing along under a glowing set of spokes and coloured lights. Very good check too, that the tricolor sectors are properly aligned. Looking up, I saw a ghostly glimpse of a big bird – unexpected and surprising – and there are the very occasional but very bright dino sparkles out to the sides in the surge – we’re doing 6 knots and long may it last!

All quite soft and gentle, but LizzieLizzie the Whizzer: Berrimilla's wind generator makes it seem a whole lot more serious – she whizzes and whirrs and howls down at the back and it sounds just like quite strong wind in the rig so I’m always slightly edgy until I’ve got the different sounds isolated and sorted. Berri would be almost silently slipping along just now but for out tame banshee!

Given all this, I must get the raincatcher radar reflector up into the rig in daylight – I have already checked that all the christmas tree lights on the mast are working in case we get into a close encounter and we need to advertise with attitude.

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. ain’t so rosy – the low is deepening and we need to get through that pass by Friday evening or we may have to sit it out this side. Not really much better the other side either, but the passage through is critical. Then AdakA city on Adak island (Aleutians, Alaska) and a former US naval base. or Dutch depending on conditions and our diesel reserves.

Thanks to everyone who has sent us information on AdakA city on Adak island (Aleutians, Alaska) and a former US naval base. and tides – Chris, H, Mjc, Speeds – and I’ll try to contact various authorities tomorrow ADT

Ann – assume you meant N Pacific – Dutch is on N side of island, so must pass through Aleutian chain to get to it. 3 passes close to it are all very dangerous for small boats – google Unimak, Akutan – so approaching through a less dangerous one – originally intended AmuktaA small yet mountainous island in the Islands of Four Mountains group lying between the Fox Islands and the Andreanof Islands in the Aleutian Islands. but current & wind have pushed us way west and 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 beckons. Sort of.

Australia operates 2 massively powerful transmitters, VMW @ Wiluna and VMC @ Charleville to coordinate distress, safety snd wxShort for ‘weather’ info- they have to put them on the edge of the desert s they doon’t fry all the local sheep. I was listening to VMC loud and clear and undistorted on 4149 earlier this evening. Must be nearly 6000 miles away. We’re now closer to Belgium 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. stn than NSWNew South Wales. State in the East of Australia. New South Wales' capital city is Sydney..

[Just before receiving this, got call from Alex, to reassure everyone that they’re okay – a little local difficulty. -ed]

We just crossed the 200 mile territorial waters line. USA it is….Kind of special to have actually done it. vTiny remnant of Dr Brian’s Med. compound shared between us to celebrate. So far soo good

Interesting how a bit of adversity changes the perspective – before The Event, I was all tenterhooks and anticipation – what will we find at 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 ? Now I don’t care – we’ll get there, we’ll sort it and maybe call in at AdakA city on Adak island (Aleutians, Alaska) and a former US naval base. – I’d like to do that anyway and we now have an excellent reason if customs are nervous – and then dutch and one more fix than intended.

Much later and a sleep – just re-run various lines across the deck to free up a couple of winches and the trisailA tiny storm sail that is set on the mast instead of the mainsail. Full explanation here is now working as intended. Satphone has just beeped so will go for 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. and send this – lots more for later.

Love ysz all. That’s a Polish ‘yez…’

Does anyone remember reading a scientific paper on the physics of biscuit dunking? May have been one of Karl Kruszelnicki‘s – certainly his style anyway. Really interesting stuff, but it seems to me that my McVities absorb tea at a greater rate than the very ordinary coffee I’m using. Certainly, my coffees are more treacly than my teas – anyway, an observation for the record – has no scientific value without lots more experimentation and I’m into the last pack of dunkers.

I think our bit of excitement will slow us down by about half a day to 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 – could be a crucial half day if the weather closes on us but that is yet to be seen. We are al

Crikey, its all very confusing. Today it is four o’clock yesterday (instead of 10 in the morning today, or indeed midnight, tooday) Not a worm hole or Large Hadron Collider to be seen and we have decided it is yesterday!!! We haven’t got to the date line yet, just seemed wise to go to Alaska time as it was broad daylight at 3am last night and for local tide info etcit makes sense and when communicating with people on land, it stops the probloem that we might be satphone at antisocial hours!!! Fortunately my rather fab pink (to match my thermals) watch has a button you press and the top left hand corner changes from ‘SYD’ to ‘ANC’ (Anchorage I guess, its the right time anyway!!) Our noon position is now 6pm pos though!!
So all is well this arvoAfternoon- even the sun came up out of the sea and is shining bright… we have more sail up, tacked too- so motorsailing upwind on port making about 060 ish, COG same on the tack- darn typical!! still easting no bad thing. going faster too!!
Boiled eggs for brekkie (lunch)- pretty mushy by now tho’!!! And HilaryAlex’s partner and Katherine’s mother, amazing cake thank you, we broke into the first this morning and pretty confident that if all else fails, this cake will keep our spirits up and bellies and brains nourished all the way to Dutch!!!
Also broke out my heavyduty norwegian hat that Marten gave me (well, I borrowed then refused to give back) during the Hobart…thank you Marten!! It is the best hat in the world. Thick and fleecy and perfectly snug and now staying firmly on my head!!! the turquoise o’neill is nice and fluffy but not quite adequate during the chilly nights anymore (has become my bedhat!!) Notalot else to report. still on v11 of AM, but recite aloud on deck regularly so know them pretty well, indeed am getting a touch bored of the first 11verses- looking forward to finding out what happens next!!!
Think AdakA city on Adak island (Aleutians, Alaska) and a former US naval base. (approx 51ishN) is roughly in line with Cork- must be Cork week quite soon???
Now my fingers and nose are nicely warmed up, back to deck i go!!
Lots and lots of love
MCQUEEN
xxx

Just saw seaweed!!! Which is very exciting- means one of two things- either we are in the Sargasso Sea and thus lost or, or we are nearing land!!! How exciting!!! How exciting!!!
Theres a big lolloping swell about too- lake district size perhaps (as opposed to Himalayas), big undulating rollers. Notalota wind but headsail out and making good progress motor-sailing. All good.
Cold outside and its that time of the afternoon where its getting that way inside too, despite the engine. Probably too late in the day for a knicker change- means peeling off lots of layers to get to them, definitely a warmest-point-of-the-day job at this latitude (49 33N- woo hoo!!!) The sea is a general sort of grey colour with a kinda greeny-browny tinge to it all over, shiny though and clear and bright, so not an unpleasant muddy colour, more slightly metallic, dull chrome, in need of polishing, sort of colour, maybe. Sky is pretty much 8/8 cloudy with a twinge of blue occasionally. mostly white with long layers of low grey lines out towards the horizon.
Can’t quite believe we’ve been at sea for 50 days!! That’s five-zero!! mental!! That’s a long time.
Wondering really whether a knicker change is in order- its a bit like hoping that you’ll have your best knickers on if you get run over by a bus- imagine if something happened and we are close enough to civilisation now to be rescued and I got rescued wearing 50 day-old (slight exaggeration!!) knickers?? would be a wee tad embarrassing!!! Right, have decided- knicker change at watch change!!
Lots of love,
(Soon to be wearing clean knickers) McQueen xxx

Its getting dark. We are a bit out time wise, would have been more appropriate to change clocks in a couple of stages- say 3 today and 3 more hours in a few days time, but bit confusing really to do that and apoart from the fact it will be quite dark till about 9am for a bit, and its midnight and jsut getting dark now!! makes no odds to us really in the big scheme of things- on watch is on watch whatever time of day or night!!! (which hopefully answers a question I often get asked: do you anchor at night and go to sleep? (No)) I have clean knickers on, you’ll all be relieved to hear- so can sleep easy now- perhaps a rash decision given we may well go to AdakA city on Adak island (Aleutians, Alaska) and a former US naval base. and have the opportunity of a shower- we shall see, but had to be done nevertheless.
AW saw whales on his watch. I haven’t seen any on my watch yet. boo! Up until this watch I haven’t spoken to myself (never mind the walrus) except to recite the Ancient Mariner out loud, which I think is acceptable in society, and doesn’t count as talking to yourself. This watch,however, I have been talking nonsense to the whales…chat that goes along the lines of ‘whalefish whalefish whalefish’ Fortunately, i know that there is one person out there that would believe I haven’t gone more mad!!! (Its a song, sort of) but I guessed anyone with their satellite trained in on me from space would think i was mad, hopping about the cockpit to keep warm and muttering ramblings about whalefish to myself!!! And still no sign of any real whales come to say hello!!!
Well, all I really wanted to tell you in this blog was that I have new knicks on, but I said that already in the subject.
Am I going barmy, who knows???
love
McQ and other McQ and other McQ
xxx
PS: i’ve just invented a new word, ‘BLURKY’ Its not quite black and not just murky- its that smudgy, fuzzy darkness where there’s no discernable horizon but just faint wavy boundary lines in the clouds distinguishing between different shades of dark grey. Its a blurky night out there tonight. Now if everyone could incorporate ‘blurky’ into everyday usage, eventually I might get my own entry in the OED- cool!!!

We’re 73 miles from my waypointA fixed location with specified latitude and longtitude co-ordinates maintained by GPS. 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. says that the wind goes north tomorrow morning with some attitude (therefore potentially wind over tide so opportunity for renewed pearshapedness), we have flood tide tomorrow morning, we are due there around 0100 ADT – iff I’ve got the time right – I’m juggling with UTC, Speedy time (UTC + 1) Kimbra time for tides (UTC -10) and ADT (UTC – 8) and my cheesebrain gets confused. But it does look as if we have one good chance of pushing through early tomorrow AGW. Every appendage crossed please, applicable or no! Still no worthwhile wind and I’m playing the tiny bit there is for all its worth to squeeze inches out of it. Motor just above half revs from the feel and sound and I hope being very frugal while keeping 4 knots clicking over. McQ just off watch and asleep so can’t ask re BAPTO.

Water sludge brown – must be the edge of the tidal flow from the Bering. Still lots of 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) around. Woolly overcast, patches of light on the water, long rolled almost tubes of fluff SE to NW, rain cloud to the west. Thin dark line of cloud on the horizon to port that wishful thinking tries to make into 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 Island but cheesebrain knows that we won’t be able to see it from 60 miles.

Have spoken to Lacy Plummer, Harbourmaster at AdakA city on Adak island (Aleutians, Alaska) and a former US naval base. – we have permission to enter from US Customs – yeehaa. Apparently there are 2 sailboats (when in Rome!) in AdakA city on Adak island (Aleutians, Alaska) and a former US naval base. from Australia. Amazing.

MJC – of course! How could I have forgotten!

Speeds – agree absolutely about some aspects of sailing engineering. There’s also the ego side that shaves tolerances in order to win…

I’ll try to keep these updated but it may get busy, particularly in the pass.

Just tacked out from about 12 miles south of 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 Island – lousy angle, only making 120 but we’ll play with it as things progress. We will see what sort of ground we can make from here until the tide turns tomoz and then go for it. Everything crossed please. Still bleak overcast, thick mist towards 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 so no actual sighting.

We’re still shuffling along on about 110 – intending to keep going until 0400 at least which should put us about on the IDL. Then we’ll tack on to about north which should take us straight up the middle. The tide should be negligible by 0600 and we can – I hope – push on up to the tricky bit about half way through where we can use the engine if necessary to opt for the deeper western side or the shallower east. Daylight around 0600 as well, or what passes for daylight here. Flood tide – again, I hope – from 0900ish. I feel cold and a bit seasick – not nice. Can’t sleep and I’ve lost my Olga knitted beanieKnitted hat that I sleep in. Major tragedy.

Terns are back, and another puffin before dark. Phosphorescence subdued – more cream than fire, but with big sparkles. Grey black night again – merging horizon, bleak, cold overcast. McQ has broken out the emergency snickers and given me my half so that I can hide them from her.

0345 – reassessed and we’ll go on a bit longer. Been lifted so changes angle for next tack.

Tacked 0615. Stick fully forward, right rudder, mosh pit here we come, accompanied by heavy metal from Kakrafoon. Too tight to sail, so heady rolled away and motoring on about 350 @ about 4kts. Should get us abeam waypointA fixed location with specified latitude and longtitude co-ordinates maintained by GPS with lots of sea room and can tack again to lay GareloiA volcano in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, USA. More on Wikipedia. Island – looks like a volcanic conePlastic roll-down curtain to protect nav table /instruments from water on the chart. Tracking back towards the IDL – could be one of those days …sday esoht fo eno…one of…

Tom G – please describe the Right Whale – unfortunately we don’t have our cetacean recognition kit. We’ll do our best with fishing gear as well – I hope without any actual contact!
And Chris – thanks for advice – confirms our thoughts – which Chris, incidentally? – and there will indeed be a Con if we make it through. Just not exactly sure I’ve got the tides right, but we’ll find out soon!
Ann – thanks!
E & P OC about 450 ltrs, mostly in jerries also flex tanks on cockpit floor and coachroof.

Don’t want to mess with the chart but we must be almost as far north as 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., so another first for Berri sometime soon. Glims of daylight – always better when you can see what you’re doing. I need a cuppa and some ritual dunking to while away the next few hours. More as the day unfoldssdslofnu…

Well, nobody expected it to be easy. This is freckle clenching boat breaking stuff and I’ve just parked the boat at this position. We’re pretty much stationary, rolling horribly but otherwise, I think, snug. We’re drifting roughly 170 – 200M, no speed on the GPS. Wind is 20 kts dead bang on the knocker, short (about boat length) steep 2-3 metre waves and poor Berri with 3 reefs and about a mars wrapper of heady + engine was thumping and banging into it, on the damaged shroud. Not severe by Sydney – Hobart standards, but not sensible and no way to go with damaged rig. 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. shows some promise for tomoz, so we’ll sit here until something changes. Prob at least 24 hours. I’ve called Dan at Westward in Dutch and asked him to warn all his fishing boats in the area and I’ve put out a securite call on 4125 and 4149, which are the local frequencies of choice. I’m going to make another cuppa, seeing as we haven’t any gin. McQ blissfully asleep – don’t know how she does it!

This was going to be a dissertation on Party GearFull wet weather gear – may work up to that later but will send this to liven up your breakfast muesli.

About ten minutes ago I tacked exactly 3 mils from the eastern tip of 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 Island, which was just visible through the murk. I took its photo, for the record, but only intrinsically exciting. GPS log read 5687, but has been off at times. Through the water log read 246 – something wrong there unless it recycles itself at some odd number like 7000 miles. We’ve had some glitches and it may just have dropped all its data which is a shame.

We’re looking good to cross the pass on about 075, so won’t clear the volcano 60 miles ahead. Might go inside it if we’re there in daylight. And the tide will change and may affect us.

Anyway, something achieved, now we just have to get to AdakA city on Adak island (Aleutians, Alaska) and a former US naval base.….or Dutch, if the wind gives us a break. But keep them all crossed. A small tot for the 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. is due, I think, courtesy of RANSARoyal Australian Navy Sailing Association; a sailing club located in Sydney, Australia.. Then back to work.

You can’t really think more that an hour or so ahead out here. We’ve been headed by about 40 degrees so nowhere near laying GareloiA volcano in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, USA. More on Wikipedia. any more. In the sea state, the best we can hope for is around 60 degrees off the wind, so a tack doesn’t help. The sea is abating and in a couple of hours (there I go again) we will perhaps swap the main for the trisailA tiny storm sail that is set on the mast instead of the mainsail. Full explanation here and tack north again. We’re about half way across the pass, still south of my original waypointA fixed location with specified latitude and longtitude co-ordinates maintained by GPS put there a week or so ago. But it’s progress.
2 hours and a sleep later – engine going – lots of revs and no speed – hells bells and buckets of blood – 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)! Absolutely something I wanted to avoid. Big thump and something gave and we’re now getting 3.5 kts through the water, 2.5 OTG on 030 towards the top of GareloiA volcano in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, USA. More on Wikipedia.. Use the position in the header for this bit. There may well be more. That would mean about 11 hours to GareloiA volcano in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, USA. More on Wikipedia. – this little vice doesn’t want to let us go! Will not have enough diesel to risk all the way to Dutch unless the wind frees so looks like AdakA city on Adak island (Aleutians, Alaska) and a former US naval base., if we ever get out of here!
Someone tried to ring us on the satphone – if you do try please understand that we can’t get to the phone quickly and it will ring out and go to some strange message (at your end) before we do. Ignore the message, hang up and ring again, repeat until someone answers. Can’t begin to describe how difficult it is to manage the satphone in these conditions and we have to keep it all dry.
For those of you that don’t know the boat, Berri is effectively an open ended tube – the open end sheltered but not covered or in any way insulated, so it’s cold and damp inside and we have to be exceptionally careful with anything electronic.

Faint change in the blackness indicates the sun must be coming up somewhere on the planet but not here – last night was the coldest, blackest, dampest and most dismold that I can remember.
Speed has bleeped – will send these and pull in your gems – 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!!!

North of 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.! And – dare I predict – I think we’re west of the IDL for the duration. Welcome back to yesterday, all you Ocks Down There

Tom G – the beast that surfaced beside me a few days ago did not spout, was black/grey as far as I could tell and I did not see a fin. It seemed to be bigger than the boat and seemed to be sort of flat – difficult to explain and it was only there for a few seconds. And there was the ?pectoral shape before it surfaced. Did not see the tail.

Hey 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. – Fame at last man! Space Toilets on OzRadio. Way to go!

From here, I’m seriously tempted to cut the corner and go south of GareloiA volcano in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, USA. More on Wikipedia.. Would save about 7 miles, we could sail it…We’re in fog – vis about 300 metres. Decision in an hour or so.

Time to wake McQ. Think I’ll stay up and make a cuppa and extract some of my dwindling supply of dunkers – perhaps 10 left in last packet.

Puffin © Dr Graeme Davis from his new book “Vikings in America“

How can I begin to convey the beauty and the wonder of this. We’ve sailed a quarter of the way around the world, from semi tropical Sydney, through the squalls and nonsense along the way, headbanged the current, sweatd through the tropics, plugged our way north to 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 , whales, dolphins, puffins, albatrosses, flocks of little auks and then – GareloiA volcano in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, USA. More on Wikipedia.!

Slowly slowly, out of the murk, the slope got bigger and there was – snow! Of all the most unexpected and gobsmackingly amazing experiences, this rates pretty high. I woke McQ and we just bathed in it all. The most perfect volcanic peak gradually emerged into thin sunlight – patchy blue sky, the snow and ice at the top glowing white and merging into the cloud – lenticular cloud around the top, never actually saw the very top of the conePlastic roll-down curtain to protect nav table /instruments from water, but the shoulders were brilliant white gleaming iridescence. Greenish lichen type vegetation on the lower slopes, black cinder slopes above, streaky snow in the gullies – lots of little ice filled gullies – Berri’s first mini glaciers. Serene, lovely, indifferent and pure joy. Made all the rest fade away and filled the emotional space with happiness.

For a bit anyway! Now we’re almost back in the murk. Cape Horn did the same for Pete and me – the only patch of sunlight in weeks and it was ours. Same here, it seems. Heading for the north end of Tanaga, then AdakA city on Adak island (Aleutians, Alaska) and a former US naval base., perhaps tomoz. If I dare speculate. This short cut was one of the best decisions ever.

Anyone know when GareloiA volcano in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, USA. More on Wikipedia. last erupted? Was not sure but it looked as if there might have been steam mixing with the cloud at the top – certainly different colours. The only glimpse of part of the peak was of black cinders.

After 53(??) days at sea, and a bit of a slog for some of that we sighted GareloiA volcano in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, USA. More on Wikipedia. Volcano. And am quite glad to have missed the thin grey strip of 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 Island and the craggy rocks of Unalga in the mist the morning for my first land to be this Island… Alex called me up on deck and there abeam of us to port, a couple of miles away is this magnificent island rising out of the sea in classic volcano format!!! Various first sightings of land have been memorable: Table Mountain, Mount Fiji, but this was something else. Absolutely breathtaking- leaving Sydney 50 odd days ago in sunshine, tropics, misty foggy grey days with no sun for the past week or so and the sun had glimpsed through the mist at the end of my previous watch and by the time we got to gareloiA volcano in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, USA. More on Wikipedia. it had burnt off enough fog to see the whole side of the island and the top, between the clouds, was bathed in sunshine and streaks oof proper blue sky above!! Awesome. I suppose I hadn’t reallythought about what the first land we would see would look like but I guess after all that time in the heat for a big snowy lump to rise out of the mist was somewhat unexpected- yes, snow!!! Infact the whole thing a geographers dream: layers of black rock, some erosion by wind and rain making relatively gentle slope in to the sea, some sections more vertical, where the waves must have eaten away great chunks of cliff, and then above the black rock the whole slopes are covered in a uniform pale khaki green, AW suggested some sor tof lichen but impossible to tell from out here, a very mossy colour anyway. Green, I find one of the strangest things when I reach land- sure, the sea has its green moments, but not like land green, after going so long without seeing proper, jealous, grassy green, it always seems such an incredibly vivid colour. I think it takes my brain a few days to adjust to processing this, (and brightly coloured flowers too) mental. So green holds this crazy fascination, even pale mossy green, after such a long time at sea. And atop the green bit, rising towards the volcano peak was bright white snow cap, with thin slivers of icy snow reaching down towards the sea (though probably bit thick drifts, if you were standing on the mountain side!!) The very top not quite visible, instead the top third all blending and melting into the clouds with the occasional rocky bit to identify between island and cloud!! Really, truly amazing sight. and as much as I love my wee Olympus, I wish I had my real camera… I think this and all the different birds swirling around us are the first real indication that a proper camera will be sorely missed (though those folk who’ve had to sit through any of my slide shows are probably mighty relieved!!!) Anyway, we had a nice lift round the SE corner and now we are out into the middle of the gap between GareloiA volcano in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, USA. More on Wikipedia. and the next island we are being fully headed so should prob go chat to KevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others.
Hope everyone good and happy too.
Lots of love
Cor McQ
xxx

We’ve passed Pratt Cove, which is tucked in beside Knob Point, and now we are about 8 miles from rounding Bumpy Point which is at the head of Gusty Bay. I say this with complete sincerity. I’ve also spotted Dinkum Point and Dinkum Rock- nowhere near each other!!! Its hilarious, almost as much fun as making up a new language!!
Earlier Whitters said knowing our luck he wouldn’t be surprised if we got headed all the way round the corner… I thought this a touch pessimistic but here we are round the corner… so gradient wind here should still be northerly, albeit not much and our bearing to waypointA fixed location with specified latitude and longtitude co-ordinates maintained by GPS near AdakA city on Adak island (Aleutians, Alaska) and a former US naval base. is 080, so guess where the wind is now coming from??? yep zero-eight-zero. Brilliant!!!!Hopefully its just local off the land- we are only a mile off.
I think midday tomorrow a wee bit hopeful-I’m still going with ETAEstimated Time of Arrival to AdakA city on Adak island (Aleutians, Alaska) and a former US naval base. of 1523 local tomorrow… we’ll see!!!
For those of us whose today is yesterday, today is 1st June… so just wanted to wish everyone who’s b’day it is in june a very happy one- my brain diary isn’t exhaustive or what it used to be so am sorry if I forget you- most important first cause apparently i always forget, Dave Bright, Happy Birthday my darling for 22nd!! Paul, won’t get cake this year unless i find some tomorrow and post, definitely not homemade or decorated with a monkey. I’ll try and be about next year. Marc- gutted gutted to be missing this one as you well know. hope you and Jonah have the most fantastic 30ths and that ‘Whittensethi’ or equivalent, rocks!! might be wise to carry a pair of trainers if you want to go running. Jo and Philippe, happy birthday, no cakes for you guys either, though it might take some pursuading to get me to stay up all night on the 25th ever again and bake and decorate four cakes in one go!!! Hope your first birthday on the island is brill, jo, wish i was there. lots of love to all other birthday people too Coz/Bol xxx Had my second snickers just now… only four to go!!! oooh crikey, thats not many!!!
I’d like to award a BAPTO to the GPS… is this possible???!!!! AW and I were discussing this morning while still in 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 Pass that it was maybe two weeks since we had enough sun (and general vis at night too) to have made a sextant sight possible, so without GPS we would have been DR’ing our way for a long time, and while we would have kept a record of what current was averaging and adjusting our Dead Reckoning pos accordingly (I assume), we would have minimal realistic clue as to which part of the Aleutiens/pass to get between them we had reached!!! Indeed, given the vis, without GPS we could be anywhere!!! Its one helluva thought!!! Full respect to all ocean navigators from pre-gps, makes ‘Frozen in time’ all the more sobering.
Word for the day: Swober- pretending to be sober (was actually a typo in the last sentence, but i like it!!) lots of love McQ xxx

Mount Agadak

Andak ahead – looks like another volcano, but overcast down to 300 ft or so…photo follows.

McQ on watch, Big A just getting dressed – snaps to attention as Mcq cuts the throttle – Alex, there’s steam coming out the back and no water! – MM! OOH Poo! 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. and the ExaminerShe who asks awkward questions of the crew and tests them with difficult tasks. is still trying. So – analysis – first, check the impeller – seems ok. Then take the pump outlet tube off and restart the engine briefly – no water, so must be outboard of the pump, so the inlet must be blocked. If you know where Berri’s raw water inlet is, you’ll find that hard to believe but…
So Big A struggles with engine box, tools and the raw water inlet tube, trying to get it off the valve fitting. Much struggle and just a little profanity and McQ says sweetly, Why not pour hot water on it? Collapse of stout party, Big A chastened, boils kettle and does so and is able to remove tube. Opens valve, no water. Eureka, but there’s a right angled bend in the fitting – how to get around it? Old 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.. aerial too stiff and McQ suggests dismantle hose clip. BA has another think, much struggle and more profanity – silent, of course, and Big A gets act together and works out that the right angled bit unscrews from the fitting inboard of the valve – yeeehaaa. Unscrew, retrieve old 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.. aerial kept for just this purpose and open valve, push out whatever was in it, gushing water, Berri in danger of immediate foundering – put the whole shebang back together, take heart out of mouth and start it – McQ down the back, thumbs up. Yeeeehaaa! Big time! McQ to bed, having spent the last hour shivering in the cockpit, BA clears up the mess, brews one of Pete’s special coffees, once again courtesy of RANSARoyal Australian Navy Sailing Association; a sailing club located in Sydney, Australia., and sits down to write this.

Wind has dropped, we’re rounding Pt Adagdak and about 13 miles to go. Will report when alongside, prob by satphont to whichever part of the world is awake at the time.

Message received from Alex via satphone – “We’re tied up alongside safe & sound have taken on 60 gallons of fuel. Planning to set sail in the morning for Dutch, after checking weather.” Time for a 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 fans……….

Speedy.

Photo by Fred Zeillemaker, 1982 (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, courtesy of Alaska Volcano Observatory).
Where on earth to begin? AdakA city on Adak island (Aleutians, Alaska) and a former US naval base. – old US cold war naval air station, from what we could see of it, rather like Port Stanley, with a lot of ex government facilities now largely unused and falling apart. The jetties – 2 of them – once parking spots for big aircraft carriers, now have grass growing out of them. Difficult to get alongside huge fuelling wharf and even Whitters got knickers twisted first time. Met by Lacy Plummer – BAPTO please Speeds for help way beyond the call of duty of a Habourmaster. We were confined to the boat BY Order of the US Customs so Lacy organised 60 galloons of diesel and took our shopping list and bought us lots of goodies, even getting my glove size right. I now have waterproof lined rubber gloves and toasty hands. She had previously cleared our visit with USC, and also brought us the biggest bag of M&M;’s I’ve ever seen – we now have ready use tub of M&M;’s instead of boring peanuts in the cockpit. Got us the weather and generally fussed over us. Thanks Lacy.

Great Sitkin – whooo! Coming out of AdakA city on Adak island (Aleutians, Alaska) and a former US naval base., there were occasional breaks in the grey gloop and there, magnificent, gleaming, unbelievably close – near yet distant again! – the snow covered slopes of what seems to be a huge volcano. Only saw glimpses of it, unfortunately, and now it’s pinching our wind as we work out way around it, way too close for the two finger rule and the wind, if there is any, goes over the top of us and up the mountain, a cosy for Teapot Rock.

Must now start keeping these short. Still working Hawaii 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, but only just, so mostly iridium. Voucher dwindling fast.

David E.W. G’day! MJC, found the wharves despite google earth.

Anniversary 2005 Falmouth, BarnaclesExplanation here (Wikipedia) , Fishing boat, hat & gloves

This is the anniversary of Berri’s arrival in Falmouth 3 years ago late in the evening – to be met IzzAlex's sister ang G and Dr GordonGordon’s Gin. Would have been fitting to arrive in Dutch, but not to be. We’re on track to be there on Thursday arvoAfternoon AGW, which, on this gig, tends to be the exception.

Berri slow and sluggish – all the underside of both quarters above the antifoul is covered in 3″ barnaclesExplanation here (Wikipedia) . There seems to be something affecting the prop as well. Pete, about the same as when we got to Falmouth – I wonder if they are the children of the ones that got a free 114 day ride from Falmouth to Hobart.

We were overtaken by a small trawler during the night – phosphorescence again, in iridescent cascades. And it’s so nice to have warm dry hands and my old Falklands fridge bonnet which I found as soon as I dug for the errant bag.

Grey gloop continues. We’re a few miles from one of what must be the most spectacular views in the world and all there is to see is the inside of a paper bag. Pity.

Phosphorescence was out last night in full iridescent glory, would have been great big white streaks everywhere if we had been going a bit quicker but instead bubbly squiggly worms leaping about in the water we churn up- different dynamic to great big white streaks but equaloloy mesmerising and, well, nice really to have a bit of a change!!
Only 267 miles to go to our Cape Cheerful wapoint-I can’t wait for C.Cheerful… and what it may bring!!!
Shower remained tantalisingly close yesterday, don’t suppose another 3 days make much difference after 53!!
Congrats to Big A, Pete and Berri on the anniversary of their arrival in Falmouth in 05- It must have felt pretty special!! and this makes Berri’s 2nd huge adventure in 3 years!!
The deck peanut tub has been relegated to the mists of time- even the permanent marker pen has rubbed off- no more a single trace that once it was filled with peanuts. Now replaced by the super colourful and altogether more pleasing Deck M&M;’s Tub…
Love McQueen xxx

About 50 hours to go iff it all continues to hang together. 50 hours during which you all will go to work, read the papers (what is happening out there? We’ve been 51 days with no news whatsoever) sit in traffic jams, polish the baby’s bottom or whatever you normally fill your days doing. I’ll be either dozing in my tiny, slightly angled bunk or in the cockpit in full party gearFull wet weather gear watching the water go by and wishing time was not so elastic. We have been promised 20 kts up the clacker (never thought about it before, but that must be Oz slang for cloaca)from here to Dutch so appendages once more in the supplicant position and onwards, ever onwards.

Huge to-do list for dutch. Mostly seems under control, but will be very expensive and perhaps tricky. Talking of expense, diesel in AdakA city on Adak island (Aleutians, Alaska) and a former US naval base. was $4.10/gall and parking alongside the delicately named Refuse Barge was $80 + 3% per night. Even more expensive than Bucklers Hard! But not a real incentive to hang around.

Thanks to everyone for your messages and good wishes – lovely to pull them in this afternoon and can’t wait to get to dutch and catch up with the world again.

Carla – was not aware of Discovery mission – no real comparison, but I like your idea of symmetry. What is the program? Anyone we know out there?

Doug M – have you seen the map?

El – dvd would be noiceAlexism for quite a lot of things which taste good or are going especially well – ta. pse send email to speed with your plans – he will forward to us. will try to call from dutch.

First, McQ got a really nasty bang on the head this morning when we were putting in a 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. – glancing blow through hood and beanieKnitted hat and non trivial. I checked all the signs – pupils ok, no bleeding from anywhere, lucid, but very sore and angry and badly shocked. We both think she will be ok. I kept her up and talking for an hour – cryptic clues, simple maths – all seemed to be there so sent her to bed to get warm. Woke her 2 hours later to check the signs, all seemed ok so allowed her 1 Nurofen – her painkiller of choice tho wouldn’t be mine – and one every 4 hours since. Wants to get up and help but I’m insisting. Rather her than me.
Second, weather as bad as it has been – 20 kts up the clacker earlier, then 25+, big big building seas, v. uncomfortable, v difficult to manage. Down to poled out heady for a bit, then bare pole, now back to tiny heady as wind has abated to 20 again. At least 30 hours to DH at this rate but gale warning for tomoz, 35+ so may have to park for a bit. Bloody ExaminerShe who asks awkward questions of the crew and tests them with difficult tasks. – two to her for the day.

And third – I could weep with rage, anger, frustration and plain disappointment. My second computer crashed a couple of hours ago as I was sending original blogs. Just like last time – lost everything – digital charts, all emails, downloaded photos, track data – the whole shebang. This set up is so complicated for a non geek that if it goes wrong, I’m stuffed, completely. and, once again, it has and I don’t know why. I hope there’s someone in DH who can sort it. Sorry folks. ExaminerShe who asks awkward questions of the crew and tests them with difficult tasks. 3, Berri 0

Current situation – McQ resting, Whitters trying to ensure that everything possible happening to get us 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. as fast and safely as possible. Tiny sail area just getting us high enough to stay more or less on track. Changed one of kevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others’s steering lines, both checkstays on, everything possible tied down. Have alerted contact in DH re McQ just in case she needs xray or other inspection on arrival, checked Nikolski as possible safe haven. No weather event lasts for ever, but this one is a doozy – exquisitely placed by the ExaminerShe who asks awkward questions of the crew and tests them with difficult tasks. and we’re going to have to negotiate it to get home. Cold, wet, miserable.

And, please everyone, appendages crossed for this computer – my home laptop, not at all suitable for these conditions.

There were lots of messages and thank yous etc, but can’t at this stage remember and don’t have original incoming emails to check.

Can’t believe it – first sun since GareloiA volcano in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, USA. More on Wikipedia. – tiny hole in gloop lighting my keyboard.

Love yez – hope the webcam works, but prob updated every few minutes only.

Wind back up again. Will try to send this – Don’t know from minute to minute whether it will work or not.

McQ still has nasty headache. 1 nurofen every 4 hours is all that I think is sensible. She’s been up, had soup, but now back in bed.

We now have 30 kts dead astern, postage stamp heady, poled out, big building sea and gale warning for tomoz. Oh Whooopeee! We’re doing around 5kts, some big waves, will shorten heady even further as things develop. Very cold, raining right against the back door. Poo! Both stor boards in.

Looks like a long and interesting 24 hours to come. Glad I’ve done a few Melbournes and I know about the last few kilometres, but not a pleasant prospect. Don’t like your chances with the webcam unless the vis improves.

And there’s Bogoslof Island dead ahead, which I will try to miss. Should be there in daylight tomorrow.

Love yez all. Have fun out there!

Later – fortified with soup and a rather revolting mix of baked beans, tinned slushy mushies and steak and onion, plus my last 2 snickers bars, carefully preserved for such an occasion. No weather event lasts for ever, but the examinerShe who asks awkward questions of the crew and tests them with difficult tasks. has placed this one very carefully. Helping us along, but at the same time the building seas are potentially a bit iffy. They’re about 10 feet now and steep – I have kevvoStainless steel self steering device, built by Kevin Fleming, used on Berrimilla and countless others set up so that he takes us slightly diagonally up the face and down the back of each one that he can manage – remember, they are overtaking us, probably twice the boat speed. Also hoping that same course will get us inside Bogoslof in 80 miles or so.

Will try to keep sending these but don’t stress if none or v. few. Is difficult – and sometimes busy. Might set the trisailA tiny storm sail that is set on the mast instead of the mainsail. Full explanation here later if seems appropriate.

Will write this in the hope that I can send it. McQ still has big headache – other signs ok, but I think she should be ashore as soon as possible.

Conditions still awful – 25 kts, dreadful sea but manageable as long as I keep going downwind. Going absolutely as fast as I dare – full small 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 . and trisailA tiny storm sail that is set on the mast instead of the mainsail. Full explanation here, just able to maintain general course towards DH. No way we could make Nikolski. May have to hand steer around Bogoslof. Will be doing skedShort for schedule. A pre-arranged (scheduled) time and frequency for radio contact often co-ordinated by a shore station, such as Penta Comstat, which is monitoring location and safety of boats in their area. Failure to respond to one or more sked can be a sign of trouble with Dave in DH @ 0900. Earliest ETAEstimated Time of Arrival Cape Cheerful around 2200 and will ask Dave to organise someone to meet us if possible as I’ll be alone on deck and not easy to get to chart. No time for more – we’ll get there. No forecast yet – hope Dave will have it and that this is easing a bit – not too much as that would slow us down.

Alex, Corrie and Berri,
Alongside in Dutch, tied up next to a big red thing named “Lucky Island”.
They’re going to book into The Grand and have a quick wash and some consultationsA 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.
All facts & figures will appear over the next few days. They’re also hoping to connect to wi-fi and the usual email addresses may be used to contact them.
And the toast is:
“To Mighty Berri & Her Crew”
Speedy – off watch.