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BT - Official satellite telecom supplier to Clipper Ventures
Antiope Clipper 1149 GMT 17 June
From Mark Hampton (Mate)
All is well onboard today. Spirits have risen in the knowledge that land is only about 200 nm away and ice even less! Iceberg lookout has been set on the starboard watch, but we do not really expect to see any until tomorrow. Conditions are getting cold with stints at the helm rarely longer than half an hour.
Chris and Mike have produced a mutant form of an omelette for breakfast, which we all appreciated greatly. Overall the standard of food has been very high with some fantastic soup being made fresh each day. The flour ration is tight but it is allowing us two fresh loaves a day which are eaten with great pleasure. I believe an attempt at pizza will be made today!
I just overheard Matt, the guide, mumbling to another crew member 'I don't think it's going to warm up now - ever!'. I agree. It is cold, but our spirits are warm.
At night we receive Irish radio, so we are OK for the footie scores
Love to all & regards to the rest,
Mark Hampton.
Comments by CdeM
Poor sods. I thought they were safe from the football.
BT - Official satellite telecom supplier to Clipper Ventures
Antiope Clipper 0302 GMT 18 June
Position at 0230 18 June 98 58.47N 40.16W
Course 300T speed 7 knots
Wind NNE force 3 - 4
From Mike Harry (Skipper) and the Crew
After day of light head winds, the wind has finally veered to NNE allowing us to reach off at speeds of up to 8 to 9 knots. As we start to approach land there is a lot more bird life around the boat. Meanwhile the fins of some small whales were seen at some distance from the boat but they were too far away to identify.
Communications between yachts on the HF SSB is still proving a problem so we are limiting ourselves to two daily links on InmarsatC. This satellite link through BT is proving invaluable - and reliable.
Yesterday Ariel was some 50 miles North of us and at the same Longitude. Hopefully later today we shall meet up with her at the ice around 44 00'W .
Food has become increasing dear to everyone on board along with other important factors such as warm feet and dry sleeping bags.
Mike Street excelled himself at lunch time yesterday when he produced the best Pizza I or any of the crew had ever eaten. He gets the prize for easily the best meal of the trip so far. A worthy honour as the standard of grub has been usually been of very high. There were calls to patent it with any requests for the recipe to our satmail address
Meanwhile regards to all family & friends from the crew of Antiope
BT - Official satellite telecom supplier to Clipper Ventures
Ariel Clipper 0230 18 June
From Sir Robin Knox-Johnston
You asked for some quotes from the gallant crew. Try these!
David Langmuir 'Exhilarating but at times slightly alarming'
Fiona Meikle - 'A kalaiderscope of characters'
Richard Ellis - 'Never thought food onboard could taste so good especially the Mate`s welsh rarebit'
Jeremy Squier - ' the sheer high spirits during happy hours and general comradeship stick in my mind'
Simon Williams - 'Huge sailing adventure filled with all the elements'
Louise Cook - 'Wish the sun would keep still while I take my sights!'
There you are. A great crew. More later today when we see the ice
The ARCS computer charts are proving great and I am really getting the hang of Euronav Seapro 2000 programme.
RKJ
BT – Official satellite telecom supplier to Clipper Ventures
Ariel Clipper 1002 GMT
From Sir Robin Knox-Johnston
Position at 1002 GMT 59.14N 49.54W
Have just rendezvoused with Antiope and are proceeding through loose ice together. We seem to have lots of seals around – I wonder what we’ll be having for dinner tonight?!
It is ffffflipping cold up here, but absolutely wonderful to be back in this fairy-tale land again.
RKJ
Boat Tour 3 Navigation Station
This has changed quite a bit during the refit. We have evolved from lap-tops to fitting PCs. These are known as an Industrial work stations and are mounted in front of the navigator and they replace the old Navplotter.
This is the logical way to go as the lap-tops, clever as they are, will always be vulnerable to damage. If we had a competition as to the different fates that can befall the luckless laptops we would still be here until tomorrow. Suffice to say that the Clipper 96 skippers (and crews) perfected the art but the truth was that we were set up! 'onest Guv. This time it will all be different. The Mitac computers with their flat screens will at least not launch themselves across the boat. I will cover the computer and programmes later. Other equipment is:
The weather fax, HF Single Side Band radio, VHF radio, Garman GPS, the radar, the InmarsatC (which also has a GPS inside it), the Personal Man Overboard locator system, the new battery charging system, the battery switches etc, the main switch panel and contact breakers, the nav light panel and indicators, the new centralised warning panel, the engine panel, the generator panel, the watermaker panel, the emergency bilge pump controls.
Old Clipper hands will think I have forgotten the most important item, namely the stereo and CD player but I have not! This has been moved to a new location under the new bookcase on the bulkhead forward of the galley. The down side is that the skipper will lose control over the choice of music and, more importantly the volume control. The benefit is not having all the CDs and clobber around the chart table. This is a big advantage and unknown to the crew the skipper still has the ability to pull the leads off the speakers behind his head and in his cabin.
One point of interest in the navigator's area is the uncomfortable seat which is usually fitted with a strap as there is a definite danger of a sleepy skipper being thrown out of the seat and being smashed against the ladder. Staying put and working in the chart area becomes a bit of a skill; having a good sleep there becomes an art form.
The log entries are produced from messages sent by both Clipper yachts via their InmarsatC using BT satellite services. The intention is to have them published by 1000BST daily
If you know of people without access to the Web who would like to follow the Clipper please note that both voice-back and fax-back is available on 01234 711550
Comments, feedback and other articles are welcome and should be addressed to me at cdemowbray@clipper-ventures.com
Should you wish to communicate with either of the Clippers please refer to the article 'Satcoms made easy' (Yes, it's a lie) on the Clipper Ventures' Home page
Bingo
Colin
BT - Official satellite telecom supplier to Clipper Ventures
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