Location: 2 weeks at sea and just over half way from Auckland to Cape Horn
Day's Run: (24 hours) 195 nautical miles
Thursday November 23rd, 2000
A large Royal albatross joined us yesterday evening and is still flying around us this morning. It is accompanied by a Giant Petrel that has to flap its wings while the albatross just glides to perfection, its wing-tips just brushing the surface of the waves when it makes a tight turn. The weather is very squally today with the cool south-westerly wind coming to us off the ice fields further south. One minute we have 20 knots of wind, the next close to 40. The sea is quite rough and throwing us around a bit. We reefed the foresail and mainsail yesterday afternoon and then felt a bit wimpish as the sun came out and the wind eased away to a moderate breeze. However, by late afternoon we were happy that we had not gone back to full sail and continued overnight on course, sometimes wallowing, sometimes rolling back the miles at over 12 knots with the surface of the sea whipped off and thrown across our yacht in sheets of heavy spray. Right now the occasional wave slaps hard under the aluminium hull but makes little impression. My chair in the communications room is secured by a climbing clip and some rope to the desk so that I don’t crash around and can still type at the keyboard with my knees jammed under the desk-top for support. The computer mouse has died, so I am using a borrowed one from another – but the lead is too short so I have to stretch to my right at arms reach to use this new mouse.
Breakfast today was the full works of bacon, eggs, fried ham and fried tomatoes and several cups of tea. I came off watch at 0900, have had a morning wake-up game of scrabble to get my mind going, but actually feel like going back to bed instead.
Our watch systems will change at midnight tonight, to give everyone a new companion for the next week, and also to vary the hours of the watches. And this evening is our Southern Ocean Masquerade Ball, about which I have done nothing yet.
Midway to South America. A little over 2 weeks at sea. Another 12 to 14 days to go – more or less, as we are so dependant on the wind strength and direction, and the state of the sea. After we departed Auckland it took us all about a week to settle into the routine of shipboard life and to get comfortable with each other. Now it is easy and the days seem to roll past all too quickly. But in a week or so it will be interesting to watch the “channel fever” develop, when some members of the crew will start to get over-excited about their arrival in South America – not just anywhere in South America but in the Beagle Channel area, with its snow covered mountains and glacier-filled bays.
Sir Peter Blake
"Having vision is not enough. Change comes through realising the vision and turning it into a reality. It is easy to espouse worthy goals, values and policies; the hard part is implementation."
Learn about Sir Peter Blake and his journeys around the globe
