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BT - Official satellite telecom supplier to Clipper Ventures
Antiope Clipper 1521 GMT 19 June
From by Martin Johansson (Antiope's Swedish Crew Member)
Have you ever had an iceberg of your own?
We are on day 12 of our voyage and our position is 59'13N 41'54W. We finally got into contact with the ice which is being drawn down the East coast by the East Greenland Current and it then curls round Cape Farvel and starts heading North up the West coast. The belt of icebergs is approximately 30 nm wide and the problem is to find a way round or through it. Our attempt to reach Prins Christian Sund on the South East coast failed due to dense ice so we followed the edge of the ice NW to find an opening. Late Thursday evening we anchored to a smaller iceberg to get some shelter as navigation in dark surrounded by icebergs is too dangerous. During the night we had to leave in a hurry as an enormous big iceberg came drifting towards us on the underlying current. At noon today, Friday, we spotted a possible passage through the ice and we are currently heading towards Nunarsuaq N59`57 W44`35 to enter the spectacular landscape consisting of deep and narrow fjords surrounded by steep mountainsides up to 1600m.
Under our way through the ice belt we were able to chose our own personal iceberg, set foot on it and mark it as our own. Wildlife so far has been rare except some seals.
At present Sir Robin is leading the expedition through the ice from halfway up his mast using a home made mast ladder which they have rigged.
There continue to be many surprises from the galley.
The water temperature is now minus 1.5'C and the wind SE force 4. The air temperature is +4'C.
MJ
BT - Official satellite telecom supplier to Clipper Ventures
Ariel Clipper 2326GMT 19 June
From Sir Robin Knox-Johnston
Position at 2324 GMT 60.08N 44.26W Course 185 Speed 1 Knt
We anchored last night in a small bay called Stordalens Haven which was surrounded by icebergs. We are in the fjords behind Kap Farvel as planned. There are frequent strong, cold gusts of wind that roll off the mountains and hit us so we are keeping an active anchor watch. Some of the larger flows need watching too as they can come and nudge us.
Hopefully we will be able to stay here and tomorrow get some of the crew ashore to scramble around on the glorious land around us. It really is grand and impressive yet the 1600m high mountains around us also make it forbidding. Two glaciers halt just before our bay and have been a subject of great fascination.
RKJ
Comments by CdeM
The two Clipper yachts are presently about 110 miles SSE of Narsarsuaq where the first crew change will be on the 24/25 June. The distance by sea is more like 160-170 n miles but this is a fairly ball park figure as they will not necessarily have the luxury of going direct! Time and distance is totally dependent on the prevailing conditions.
We are waiting for the 0800 report but I will post this now and add to it later today.
Colin 0900BST
Colin's Boat Tour 4 Water!
The supply of drinking water is one of the most critical aspects of the boats especially on the race with 15 people on board. The Seafresh water maker is a vital piece of equipment and makes excellent water. The problem of having a water maker is really of its own making because you can then have smaller tanks. Fine until you have a snag making water and then find that the good old fashion water management and rationing is not in place. For this reason our policy was always to keep one tank full and use the other one. Although this might not fit in with modern racing doctrine it is certainly seamanlike but even so without the watermaker one can still have a problem quite quickly. This happened once on Clipper 96 just before our start to the West of the Galapagos where all the boats transferred jerry cans of water to Taeping. This was a good illustration of the mutual support that is present by having a fleet of boats. (Incidentally this start used the equator as one end of the starting line)
In addition to the two water tanks the boats carry emergency jerry cans of water, after that they are down to the wine stocks. There are emergency water rations for the liferafts and hopefully one would have time to grab the jerry cans also.
When the boats were delivered the water tasted foul but by opening the tanks up and cleaning them several times we (in Chrysolite) managed to get the water tasting fine.
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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