Yesterday morning in Falmouth – looking East from Berri's cockpit and still raining and blowing about 25 kts. Lots of interesting detail – pick the 'man' overboard, complete with run for life medal, the square rigger, the old workboat, the Fosters logo and heaps more. Gerry, if you're out there, the Pilot boat, which is usually in the berth across the jetty, has a permanently rigged MOB system – a small crane with a winch and a scoop which looks like a very wide roll-up ladder with closely spaced rungs. Hence the 'man'.
Berri now almost loaded – she's about 2 tons heavier than for the Fastnet judging by the new waterline. We did a huge shopping trip this morning and that all needs to be packed into all the little odd shaped spaces and wedged in. But the weather in Biscay is still iffy http://www.passageweather.com/ but is predicted to improve mightily next week so, unless things change we intend to leave on Sept 10, which happens to be the day after Pete's birthday and the 4th anniversary of a little swim in the Atlantic off the Cape Verdes.
We are looking seriously at the possibility of going home via South Georgia – a must-visit-once-in-a-lifetime place. Will depend on the weather patterns when we hit the southern hemisphere, but if we do get down that far, it also puts the Kerguelens more or less in range if the Examiner is sloppy.
Tomorrow I will be handing on all my NW/NE passage data, Admiralty Pilots etc to an old friend from way way back who is thinking of having a go. I'll get 'em back if we decide ever to try again with the Russians.
Sue, Z is cool – enjoy the cruise. Naramas – go well. STS 128 yay!
The logs ramblings can be cryptic, so we have added: