Whales and Albatrosses

                    The Albatross           

Sent: 30 Novemeber 2009

Boat time: 6:45pm

Position:
40degs 38'.753 S
48degs 45'.825 E

As we came on watch at lunch yesterday the cry of "Whales" was heard from Anna, to which everybody said "Yeah, right!" But then it showed again about 100m off the port side. We didn't see very much but there were two blowing through their air holes and showing a bit of their backs.

It made a nice change to air-borne wildlife. So far we have seen nothing in the sea, just millions of birds! Its quite amazing how many birds we actually see! Everyday there are loads of Cape Petrels, Giant Petrels and Albatross. I was under the impression that the Albatross was quite a rare bird and that sightings were very special, but at one point we had 4 following us and circling round the boat for hours, and you are almost guaranteed at least a few sightings every watch. They also get really close to the boat and one almost took out Johnny G the other day as he stood by the shrouds!

Poled-out Lily!

This morning's watch was a slow start with little wind. The other watch had prepared the medium-weight spinnaker for us. But as the wind dropped, it was put on hold and soon abandoned as, although the wind was building, the sea was too bouncy for it to keep its shape. So it was poled-out number 2, poled-out staysail and with a full main we were plodding along at a steady 10 knots. Forecast is for the wind to build and the sea (which is flatter than the English Channel just now!) with it so should be surfing tonight!

We're just about a 3rd of the way to Oz now and tomorrow we get to start our Advent calendars! A kind of surreal feeling on the boat, but its definitely cold enough to be getting ready for Christmas! We're chasing hard for the scoring gate (an imaginary line between two points on our route across the Southern Ocean that we have to cross to score extra points) and are desperate to get more points than Singapore who are only a couple of points behind us overall.

Almost teatime now and I am starving! Good news is, its Angel Delight for pudding. My favourite! Thanks to my Dad who is posting on the Blog for me while I'm at sea. I e-mail him by satellite from the boat and he goes on the Blog and sets it all up for me - who says you can't teach an old dog (especially salty ones) new tricks! x

Don't forget you can follow the race at: http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/