Captain's Log

March 10, 2003

Hello all,

As a solo sailor I have read many books on Mountaineering, Why ?? Well the mental toughness and the ' your on your own ' mindset of a mountaineer is quite similar to sailing single-handed at the bottom of the world. They say when you climb Everest, that getting to the top does not mean the challenge is over, you have to get down. After rounding the sailors Everest of Cape Horn, you have to get out of the Southern Oceans and it has been a tough 3 days so far.

After rounding the Horn in 25 - 30 conditions after battling with a storm of 50 kts that morning, you then head NE to an island called Staten Island and the Straights of Le Maire. I was at that point leading Derek by 100 nm and was slowing down to head on to the Falklands so that we would not separate any further given his keel problems. That evening we both got hit with a monster Low pressure, actually 2 that combined, I experienced 56 kts solid in relatively flat water and we know that Derek had to fight for his life, literally. Pitch polled off Cape Horn in conditions far worse than mine. I can't say you could script a worse event for Derek. Thank god he is OK.

So after that nights gale the wind died to 25 then 10 then 5 kts from dead astern and BTC Velocity was going no where. Then the wind shifted and went dead ahead 5 - 10 kts with large fluctuations, BTC Velocity was going no where, then 30 kts on the nose with the Falklands now in my way. So where was BTC Velocity going, yup no where. For the past 36 hours BTC Velocity has been bouncing off waves and crashing in the troughs, I have had to slow down some in order to keep the boat together. I think I could be forgiven for being a little cautious after all the recent carnage.

Yesterday I spent all the daylight hours hand steering to avoid the worst of the waves as well as dodge the massive clumps of Kelp that are waiting to snag rudders and keels. Wearing all my warm clothes including an awesome pair of Oakley ( not a sponsor ) Jet Ski goggles that enabled me to look straight into every wave that washed over the cabin top rather than the normal ducking motion that never is quite fast enough.

So we are now going between 7 - 8 kts of boat speed barely in the right direction with lead skies and a barometer that has dropped 20 mb in 24 hours. Sea state better but still taking a pounding.

Looking forward to a expected wind shift that will have me headed north.

Alan
BTC Velocity,