Neither Tryffid nor Jackal

The day of the albatross. Several Yellow Noses wheeling and soaring, often in formation and with petrels. Lots of petrels, mostly white chinned, some smaller. Occasionally a Storm Petrel.

A completely black or dark brown bird, albatross sized, massive white beak, not in the book. Possibly a giant petrel.

Another really big one, perhaps a snowy or southern royal - white underparts, dark white speckled top, white patches, flesh pink beak with orange tip, distinctive pinky orange neck band. Neck band not like anything in the book.

And what I think is one of the rarest of all - an Amsterdam - breeds only on Isle Amsterdam 1500 miles away and only 120 thought to exist according to the book. There were at least 2 of them.

Another, not immediately identifiable - dark all over except for head and neck, mottled/speckled brown with brown 'mohican' yellowish beak, darker end. Possibly a variant Amsterdam.

I have photos of all but the black one. Entirely possible they are all maturity or seasonal variants of distinct species.

I hope there's someone out there who is interested. If anyone can offer clues as to correct ID, please do!

Typical convergence zone conditions. Humid, low overcast, occasional drizzle, not much wind. Wallow and flop and roll. Poo!

Seems the Africa sailmail station server is down again. No incoming and I've tried several times to post bloggery and to retrieve gribs and no go. This via Iridium. If you get the earlier posts three times on the blog, my apologies. Perhaps the omnipotent SJ will notice and delete. If so - tks!

Yet another quickie

Position 0630 10th 4036 04501 trip 106, DMG 105 Yay - another ton at last. I think we might be finally clear of Africa. It's been a bleak and very uncomfortable few days and still is but we are moving again.

SW - welcome back!

Malcom, yep! The Nik is a D70s digital SLR with a long lens but it's no way waterproof or salt proof so I can only really get it out of its wrapper when the sun is shining. Then it's fantastic. The vid is a Sanyo Xacti waterproof digital and works fine - except that I can't tell what I'm filming most of the time when outside in daylight - either reflection or not enough backlight in the viewfinder screen.

Sue, fingers crossed for you - no need for further wx updates thanks - enjoy the trip!

All seems very quite out there. Fingers too cold to prod keyboards in England perhaps and all down at the beach or the pub in Oz.

The Slough of Despond?

The middle watch, from midnight to 0300 in Berrimilla. That time when, for most humans, the circadian rhythms are expecting to be restoring a sleeping body. That time when, for one who is awake, doubts, uncertainty, foreboding, dread, guilt - all those corrosive and negative feelings and emotions boil and fester at the edge of consciousness. That time of loneliness and exposure when the neurons are most finely tuned to the unusual - and prepared to interpret the worst from it. That time when the moaning howl of the wind in the rig coalesces with the knowledge that it's cold, wet and raining outside and the mind flinches and tries to hide. That time when the magnitude of the task ahead seems too big to manage, too unending, too frighteningly loaded against our weary decrepitude.

The wind in the rig this watch is a low, tuneful moaning hum - reminds me occasionally of bits of the humming chorus from Nabucco. It's a steady 25-30 knots, way ahead of the grib prediction and my middle watch conditioned mind thinks it's seriously unfair. We've just had a couple of big waves, knockdown size, break over us. They come in threes usually - trains of waves with much more attitude, more bite that the rest. Mostly too, when you think the time has past and things are on the improve. Scary and you can never relax.

The sea state is the result of conditions to the south - big rolling swells with confused wind waves on top, some pointy and breaking as they are affected by the local wind. Berri rolling wildly - difficult to make, let alone drink a cuppa and dunk the restorative McVities. You know you are alive and you wonder, perhaps, why you have chosen to realise it just this way. And we've got about 48 days to go, more if we go via Kerguelen. Here, it's dawn - we are 3 hours ahead of Greenwich. The sea is grey and roiling white and the wind is blowing spray from the tops of breaking waves.

Pete gently snoring.

of mice and men

At this rate, we are about 9 days from Kerguelen which equates to about 3 major changes in the weather system. There's no stability in it - the wind goes from north to south via west on a daily basis with little localised nasties arriving unannounced by the grib. Tricky. The plan: we will work our way SE to 45 S - about the same latitude as Tasman Island and with broadly similar conditions and have a look over our shoulders to see what's coming and make a decision to continue or bale out. Kerguelen starts at 48 south. It's all manageable but we do need to be careful. Would be a huge shame to go past but the boat comes before tourism!

It's been a slow day. rolling and pirouetting violently - water warm again and blue - what's happening? We crossed 40 S this afternoon - the Roaring Forties.

I've just started to read, for the severalth time, Gerald Durrell's 'My Family and Other Animals'- lovely book that works for me but perhaps not for everyone. His opening quotation from 'As You Like It':

It is a melancholy of mine own, compounded
of many simples, extracted from many objects,
and indeed the sundry contemplation of my
travels, which, by often rumination wraps
me in a most humorous sadness.

Mmm!

The tatty old albatross is still with us. Caught up with it earlier sitting on the water working at a big semi submerged plastic bag and not having much luck. It lumbered into the air and quite by luck I got it on video. Couldn't see the screen and no idea where the thing was pointing. But probably out of focus. They look so dumpy on the water and almost lopsided with their huge beaks and much smaller than in their soaring magnificence.

Thinking about some kind of gunsight viewfinder for the video cam. Screen absolutely useless in daylight - do the people who design these things ever actually use them?

Carol G - remind me - I've got a little artifact from B1 for your collection.

Southern Royal Albatross

The Southern Royal Albatross, Diomedea epomophora, has an average wingspan of an amazing 3 m (9.8 ft). This image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons and photographer Mila Zinkova. Posted by I & G in the snowbound UK.

Latest Position

Posted by I & G in the UK.

Quickie position

Position 0630 9th 3953 04257 trip 96, DMG 86. Last night's little bit of drama slowed us down considerably. Sea now abating but still big. No longer pointed semi breaking but still very steep and close together. Heady unrolled, main still lashed to the boom, mess tidied up and just waiting till it seems ok to get some of it up again.

Rather tatty looking Southern Royal albatross pottering around, landed next to the end of our safety line. I could almost feel his disappointment when it discovered there was no fish on the end of it. Must be used to following long liners. Further report later.

A change of direction

Tooling along this afternoon watching the barometer fall and thinking 'odd, that's all a bit quick - grib says much less better watch it' Closed the stern tube valve as a precaution - a good move. Seemed we were much closer to the centre of the system than the grib predicts and so it turned out. Just finished dinner, Black clouds, menacing and grim, already 2 reefed, and wham - 35 - 40 Berri surfing downwind wildly, up to 50, far too much sail - no time to get into party gear, just a lifejacket and harness and out there. Roll in the headsail still on its pole, bring her up beam on and drop the main - thrashing around but controllable, just. Kevvo kept his head and looked after us, as usual. Spray blasting across Pete at the mast, me in the cockpit, all ghostly in the spreader lights, the spray cascading diamonds, Berri rolling wildly but now sorted, everything made fast and back inside - absobloodylutely soaked. the howl has subsided, Berri steady on her feet again, from tracking SE before, now barepoled on NE @ 4 kts wind 35 and dropping. A lot of effort but essential. We'll stay like this until daylight in about 8 hours then sort the rather messy deck we left behind. Barometer up 2hp already. Now to do the washing up.

An afternoon at the zoo.

Ferals - a whale! I saw what I thought might have been a spout about 500 metres away, 3-4 metre swell, 10 kts breeze. Waited and definitely saw the next one and the next with glimpses of body between swells. The spouts were flattish and seemed to be angled - could not establish direction of travel and so possible slant angle of spout. Then it sounded - away from us - spout angle could have been leftwards indicating sperm whale but flukes were rounded at the tips, unlike pictures in the handbook so some doubt.

And a big albatross soared serenely past - and they always seem just a bit scornful - one glimpse only and possibly one of the Royals. Waited for ever with the Nik at the high port but it didn't come back. Groups of Prions in the offing.

Little gaggles of dancing Storm Petrels (Wilson's again and probably Black Bellied) - so fragile yet so wonderfully adapted.

Scrofulous old farts smelling quietly amongst themselves as they await cleansing visit and Consultation with Dr G. Iodine, quinine and vitamin C plus psychological uplift all in the one - well, maybe 2 - medications. OF A has just put pole on - taken it off again - gybed and monitoring correct point for Kerguelen. Sweaty business. Grib has been remarkably accurate for last few days.

Water distinctly greenish. VoA noticeably increasing - water temperature now 17 deg.

Giant shoulders

Position 0630 8th. 3934 04106 trip 95, DMG 91, Day 17 from CT, about 1300 miles to Baie de L'Oiseau.
Pete has done some analysis of the wind data - we know average wind for Port au Francais is 35kph, which agrees with data we have received. Pattern seems to be 3 days around 50 - 60 kmh with two or three softer days in between. 50kmh = 27 knots. Manageable. The plan is to keep heading that way and park or bale out if it gets really pearshaped on the way. We'll get there if we can - too special to pass by from this close. Will need to clear the debris from the anchors and make sure all is accessible.

Baie de L'Oiseau was named by Kerguelen after his frigate Oiseau commanded by Lt. Charles de Rosnevet whose boat, under Lt. Rochegude first landed there on Jan 6th 1774 and took possession for France. This was in fact the second time it had been claimed as Kerguelen had already done so two years earlier on the southern coast of the island. They left a bottle suspended by wire with a latin message which Cook's men found in 1776 and Cook added to the message and returned the bottle. Cook named the place Christmas Harbour, not at the time knowing of the earlier name. It now appears on the chart as Baie de L'Oiseau.

Sue - hope you got to Gatwick. I'm old enough to remember 1947, when there was snow 4 ft deep on the sea front at Lee on Solent. No stress if updates difficult and expensive. We're now close enough to do it from the Gribs. Pinkaraj tenterhooky. Have a Piranha free ball, y'all and report on return.
Carol - missed your 75th - but a grand total. Belated happys.
Thanks to Heggie, Tom and Philip for funnies.

HTTG and other trash

Glassy calm - in the southern ocean yet! - Dagelet's 'luminous sea' and, as he wrote, it's not as bright as in the tropics but it is heartwrenchingly beautiful - we have the engine at idle to keep the old barge pointing SE and not flogging her guts out and she just folds the water around her stem enough to make little greeny blue ripples and there's a long glowing trail stretching out astern with diamond sparkles. The sky is clear, the stars so bright you could touch them, Higgs fields notwithstanding! I've been reading more of Brian Greene's Fabric of the Cosmos - wish I could write like he does - lovely taut use of metaphor and a smashingly gentle line in dry irony. I guess you all know from the HGTTG that the universe is really really big but did you know that scientists have now calculated on the basis of observed data that it is stretching so fast that light shining from an object at its outer edge (not a real place but conceptually useful) will never reach us? The outer edge is beyond our horizon for ever. His metaphor for size - if you reduce the universe to the size of the earth, the bit of it that we can see and observe would be smaller than a grain of sand. Really really small. Our little speck of dust will follow the second law of thermodynamics into a state of higher entropy real soon now in spacetime so eat yer porridge and enjoy it while you can!

There was a clever revisionist piece in, I think, the Guardian before we left the UK reviewing the 30 years since the first appearance of the HGTTG. Way oversimplified but as I remember, it seems that those of us who know, love and understand the jokes are just a bunch of smug yuppies. Ah well! I've been called names before. The sixth book in the trilogy, written by another smug yuppie, Eoin Colfer?, is on the stalls and my copy is now chasing me from Cape Town in the Heart of Gold. Infinitely improbable but it will one day overcome the stretching of spacetime and reach me. Perhaps it already has in another universe.

Dawn just breaking. Yesterday as the cold, drizzly grey front clammily wrapped us, there were Storm Petrels all around the boat. They aren't usually with us in groups and almost never when it's calm enough to look at them closely. Usually, just a spray wreathed glimpse of a tiny apparently fragile dancer in the storm. These were Wilson's Storm Petrels jittering and flopping and bumping the waves and running along the surface, wings stretched to provide just enough lift for a skyhook - and scooping for food. Tried to film them but the camera couldn't cope. Please, whoever designs these things, bring back the viewfinder! Screens are useless especially on video cameras.

Latest Position and An Overview

Poesy orf for ther mo.

Position 0630 7th 3913 03906 trip 115 DMG 116! YAY! Progress and maybe even a smidge of current. Cook arrived at Christmas Harbour, Kerguelen, 25 days out from Cape Town. He did not know until much later that the French had already named it Baie de L'Oiseau after Kerguelen's frigate which got there first. Would be interesting to look at his track - he would have had less difficulty with 50 knot squalls and following seas. The quickest we could do it would be around 29 days if we decide to go.

Queer goings on abroad - there were distinct thick muddy brown streaks in the green ocean at 3906S 03847E. Thought at first I was hallucinating. They were a couple of metres wide, maybe 20 - 30 metres long, parallel, in line with our course of roughly east (T) and several metres apart and seemed to be shallow. No oily spectrum but the water was smoother. No solid matter that I could see. Hard to tell how far they extended. Don't know where they started but I noticed them through the window and went up to have a look. From when I first saw them, perhaps 500 metres till they stopped. Faint smell of something but could not identify. No AIS contacts but could be fishing boat emptying bilge perhaps?

About to pull in the next grib when I send this. The first of the critical ones that will inform the decision about the dive south to Kerguelen.

Christmas Day in Addis. Happys up there!

Not in the brochure

It's bloody 'orrible. Big SW swell, N wind @ 25-30, blowing for several hours to build 3m wind waves against swell. Tiny bit of headsail unrolled, almost bare poled and wind on stbd. qtr to try to keep the boat from getting airborne. 5 knots. Bleeeah! I want my mummy. Sadly, out here in the southern ocean there's no Scotty to beam us up, no Marvin to take over the controls as the spacecraft dives into the sun. Not even a Tardis. It's lump it or lump it. Chocolate fix called for. Grib says another 12 hours or so. The systems seem to be more compacted and variable than last time and the whole lot further north. Not the gentle ride the brochures promised.

Neurons battered and recalcitrant. Poesy unforthcoming - perhaps with position report later. Boot ferals excited.

Sue, thanks in advance for data. Y'all enjoy the Amazon!
Deborah, thanks for John Grunsfeld news. I was wondering what he was going to do for an encore.
Chris H in Eden, thanks for kind words. I think the loo is an entirely appropriate place for this stuff! And yes, I do know your boat - watched her being built over the years...You got a good one, I think. And thanks for kind offer - there is a digit missing from the mobile number you sent us but we will certainly be in touch next time we are in town.

Happy Christmas Hilary 3000 miles to the north. We're waving and we shall breakfast in your direction.

Talking of breakfast - Marcus, are you still out there in the restaurant? I had hoped to visit and have a Berri breakfast with you but never quite happened. Sorry!

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Slowly slowly...

Position 0700 6th 3845 03638 trip 93 DMG 77. Disappointingly slow progress but we're moving in the right direction. Another front behind us - they all seem to be further north than last time and rather more vicious. The Examiner won't let us off the hook if that's not a mixed metaphor.

Talking of which, I'm told Sailing Anarchy has done us proud but do I sense a touch of the oxymoronic? The Anarchists have an Editor - indeed, more than one, as there is an Exalted Person called a Senior Editor. Snake oil in the sky with diamonds!Anyway, thanks Al and we'll try to keep all y'all amused for the next 50 days or so.

Ferals: Yellow Nosed albatrosses arrive alone or in groups - they are not solitary - whereas the bigger ones seem to be solitary or paired only. The Yellow Noses often fly in close formation with another YN and often also with a White Chinned Petrel. I've just seen 3 YNs parked on the water with two more circling - soaring - around them. On the water they are often joined by petrels. Two White Chins together keep up a continuous chirruping amongst themselves. Roughly the equivalent, perhaps of the old formation flying patter.

H - we should be about 3000 miles due south of you some time on Thursday We'll wave!

And today the decorations come down.

Latest Position

Posted by I & G in the UK.

Of pointy bits and whoopee cushions

Position 0700 5th 3853 03442 trip 126 DMG 97 so still zigging and zagging but improving.

Dawn this morning - 0230 ish UTC, two big albatrosses and the usual gaggle of Yellow Noses. The big ones were probably New Zealand but possibly Snowy - the plumage is very similar and proper identification requires a good look at the bill. Breathtakingly gorgeous - and in the golden dawn as they banked away, their white underparts had a golden sheen for the few seconds they reflected the sun directly. If they hang around till the evening, they will be pink in the dying sunset. Drool all y'all at your desks in the big smoke!

In the interests of science and education - ain't we always striving to add to the great store of knowledge? - an experiment that seems to be working. As some of you will know, the best part of a cornflakes packet and of some production boats that arrive by ship in plastic cocoons is the packaging. I have the bits of the soft plastic strip that once wrapped a Beneteau mast doing good things all over the boat. Those of you who have followed this saga from its early days will also know of the awful problem of lacerated bum caused by the pointy bits of your pelvis trying to bore their way out through the glutes as you sit on the hard surfaces and Berri pirouettes and corkscrews around you. Inescapable and Awful! But in a moment of inspiration yesterday, I cut a piece of the plastic strip about 40cm by 20 and then cut two 120mm holes in it at the correct distance to accommodate the arse bones and behold - it seems to work. A two holer version of a piles pad, I think!

So have a noice day. We are about to crack 9000 miles by GPS from Falmouth.

Freaks in the frame?

First Macca, now perhaps Sailing Anarchy. Can this be fame? Notoriety? Just the result of being seen as freaks? Ho hum. Happy New Year to all you anarchists out there if you do get to read this nonsense.

This is a savage bit of ocean, even in summer. The early Portuguese explorers called it the graveyard of ships and no bloody wonder. There's a lot of them still here including Bartholomeu Diaz, one of my heroes. It seems to have even more bite that last time we were here. Hoping that once we get clear of the influence of the african continent, it will come to its senses.

SteveJ asked what happens after a big knockdown - does Berri just spring back as if it was always intended to have a bit of fun. Yep - that's what happens - well, it is what has always happened so far! - her angle of vanishing stability is 146 degrees - she will roll to 146 degrees and still have righting moment so is immensely stiff by modern standards and she just flips back once the wave has past. Different story if the mast goes into the water though as we found when we were rolled right over and dismasted off Gabo Island 3 years ago this week. There's a 2mb pdf of that story here: Dismasted pdf (SJ, if it's gone, could you pse add one to the blog? Ta! ed: link to pdf added

Udo - my apologies - I made a mistake with one of the posts and left the footer on the message, dozy old fart that I am. I don't actually send these from the berrimilla2 address but from our sailmail address. The B2 address is put on the post to stop people just hitting the reply button and sending 10 pages of message strings, caveats and other garbage with their 3 line note and also, the idea is to keep the spammers at arms length and to keep their crap out of our inbox. We're off the air immediately if that happens - this is a radio link and very tenuous. Thanks for your NY message!

Malcom, thanks for advice - if we do make the dive, we will head for Christmas Harbour (Baie de L'Oiseau, NE corner) first and then go the northern route to Port au Francais. However, given yesterday's little drama, the dive is looking iffy. We'll monitor the conditions but no point in risking the boat and ourselves if it stays savage.

Trivia

Variations on a theme of Prufrock. When I was camping out in the bloodhouse on the corner of the main drag in Nome in July 2008, in those uncertain days while we waited for Point Barrow ice to break and melt, I needed to make coffee and I bought a small electric water boiler which came with a little blue plastic funnel and a pack of 100 one cup filter papers. I left the heater with Pat when we departed, but I still have the funnel and 15 of those 100 filters left - that's 85 cups of coffee for the NW passage, the Atlantic across the top and then down to Agulhas and the Indian to here. A silly statistic - rough guess 13000 miles, so a cup every 150 miles or so. Must have drunk a lot in the NWP because almost none from Falmouth to here.

And the not so trivial - as you read this you are probably sitting at your computer, surrounded by all the usual paraphernalia - books, papers, pencils, coffee cups, photos of the cat, the cat itself and all the rest. Imagine if you will what would happen if your house was turned on its side and a bit past the horizontal. All sorts of chaos...That's what has just happened to us - quite a severe knockdown, as usual after the wind had abated considerably and we'd thought it safe to set some sail and get going again. I was perhaps too ambitious with the wind angle, putting it more on the beam than the quarter. Pete was here behind the cone of silence and I'd just got up for a pee and was looking directly through the big starboard galley window and saw it coming. The boat rose and rolled to port and everything not properly stowed in the galley and quarter berth shelves launched itself across the boat and into the cone - tubs of margerine, apples, some kilkenny - chaos. We must have rolled through about 110 degrees - a tub of margerine that started below the waterline in a quarterberth bin made a big splat of yellow goo right at the top of the cone (heavy plastic curtain protecting the nav table and the electronics - it has saved our bacon countless times) and was still going up. Then it and several others fell to the floor and - of course - ended upside down on our bit of hairy matting. Careful stowage looked after the rest of the (heavy) gear around the boat but a timely reminder of our vulnerability. Cockpit a disaster zone but no apparent damage and now all sorted and cleaned up. Pete asleep, I'm on watch and the big waves are still out there. Poo! Makes Kerguelen look very iffy indeed.

Early position

Position 0600 4th 3849 03225 trip 96 DMG 77. Looks as if we will have to zigzag our way along the 39th parallel and suss out the dive to Kerguelen when we get a bit further across. Tedious. We really need a 5 day gap between lows when they are this nasty to get down there safely and it's not looking too good.

Been bare poling all night and I've just climbed out of zoot suit after unrolling a bit of headsail and bringing Berri around from tracking NE to roughly E. The great circle to Hobart via Kerguelen would be about 150 deg T. Thr rhumb line with zigzags will be about 600 miles further. SPBF.

3 neurons too tired to indulge in fancy stuff - but bottle green sea, bright and luminous in the patches of sunlight, several Yellow Noses soaring around the boat - wonderful to watch the aerodynamics of those wings and the use of the body as a counterweight - sometimes the feet extend as airbrakes. And a couple or four smaller Prions, I think. Fione, yep, I know about the other sort.

Bloody hell - still some big waves - often happens as a storm is abating.