SailBlog

Vessel Name: Northanger
Vessel Make/Model: Damien Ketch
About: http://www.northanger.org
15 April 2010 | 53 58'S:064 00'W, South Atlantic
31 March 2010 | 51 33'S:055 55'W, Scotia Sea
29 March 2010 | 52 04'S:050 19'W, Scotia Sea
29 March 2010 | 52 04'S:050 19'W, Scotia Sea
28 March 2010 | 52 24'S:047 43'W, Scotia Sea
27 March 2010 | 52 43'S:043 48'W, Scotia Sea
22 February 2010 | 53 16'S:039 57'W, Scotia Sea
19 February 2010 | 52 14'S:050 04'W, Scotia Sea
12 February 2010 | 51 41'S:057 50'W, Southern Ocean
02 February 2010 | 55 08'N:063 43'W, Southern Ocean
Recent Blog Posts
15 April 2010 | 53 58'S:064 00'W, South Atlantic

Dunbar Farm Astern

Position 53 58.63S - 64 00.39W

31 March 2010 | 51 33'S:055 55'W, Scotia Sea

Popcorn

Popcorn

29 March 2010 | 52 04'S:050 19'W, Scotia Sea

At Sea Food

March 29th

Dunbar Farm Astern

15 April 2010 | 53 58'S:064 00'W, South Atlantic
Keri-Lee Pashuk
Position 53 58.63S - 64 00.39W

April 15, 2010

It's 3 am and the Strait of LeMaire is 43 miles away on a good day. This past few days have been good days, great days in fact. Late morning on the 13th of April, we left Dunbar farm on the northwest coast of West Falkland Island, left our friends, Hugues, Marie-Paul, Marilou and Teo, standing on the deck of their sailing boat, Le Sourire, waving us farewell.

Le Sourire and the family have gone aground. The boat is tied into a creek, floating at high tide and sitting in the mud at low tide. The family, after years of sailing in the Southern Ocean, have moved ashore and taken up sheep farming with a flourish. Magnus and I had the privelege to have a wee taste of their new life, when we stopped by on our way back to South America from Stanley in the Falkland Islands.

We left Stanley on the 9th of April. After arriving there from South Georgia on the 31st of March, we were first delayed by having to stay long enough to get our boom fixed. It broke about 8 hours south of the Falklands. Then, we found ourselves tied up to Jerome on Golden Fleece, who wined and dined us. Bad weather was the excuse for not continuing sooner but I think that it was hard to cut the umbilical cord going to Golden Fleece. Thanks Jerome, Cathy, Christophe, for looking after us so well.

After an overnight sail from Stanley, we arrived in the West Falklands in the fog, following GPS points in until we found what looked to be Dunbar Creek Bay. I was feeling unsure of the exact whereabouts of the entrance but then murk lifted and a house and barn appeared out of the nowhereness of the thick, secretive fog. A whale blew nearby as we were entering the bay. A sailboat appeared out of the haze, then the house was swallowed once again. We wend our way in behind a kelp bank and anchored near Santa Magdalena, with friends Jamie and Casey aboard.

During our whilrwind visit we ate, drank, played music, explored every building on the farm, said hello to the geese, dogs, vultures, chickens, pet sheep; dried out Northanger to inspect the prop shaft which needs replacing; went to try to round up sheep but picked tea berries instead (too much fog to see sheep, tea berries were easier to spot); went to the penguin beach where we played baseball with a driftwood stick for a bat and a knot of wood for a ball while whales spouted in the distance; rode on the back of a motorcycle with a supremely confident 16 year old then ditto for a 13 year old ( after about 15 minutes riding on a rutted dirt trail, he confided to me that I was only the second person he had ever taken - the motorbike was a 200 and his feet barely touched the ground!). Then more eat, drink and music. Then the weather came right and we sadly left. (Breathe).

Our friends seemed to have brought luck to us. We have had the most glorious sail yet in these past two months. Earlier today we were floating along, no swell, northwest winds blowing a steady 20 knots and Northanger was making 7 - 8 knots without a grunt or a complaint. The sky has been clear day and night, only becoming overcast not long ago. The weather looks fine for our arrival at the LeMaire and if all goes as tentatively planned we should be there for the afternoon ebb and back in the Beagle Channel by early evening.

All is well aboard the good ship Northanger.

Keri

Popcorn

31 March 2010 | 51 33'S:055 55'W, Scotia Sea
Keri-Lee Pashuk
Popcorn

Position 51 33.06S - 055 55.14

Over 2000 miles have passed under Northanger's keel since we left Ushuaia two months ago, sailing to South Georgia as support vessel for Hayley Shepard's Kayaking to Save the Albatross Expedition. It has been a long haul and an often testing one, yet also the voyage has been one of learning and discovery. I speak here for myself but I believe we have all been affected, both good and bad, by the events of these past months.

What has all this got to do with popcorn, you ask? Read on.

As I write, Hayley and Beth Anne will soon be boarding one of a series of airplanes that will carry them back home to Canada. Greg is in New Zealand. And Brian, Magnus and I are on Northanger, still hard on the wind on starboard tack, making a frustratingly slow 5.4 knots towards Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands. With only 60 miles to go to reach landfall, I can almost feel the hot water coursing over me from the long shower I am going to take at the Seaman's mission when we arrive.

Greg's accident and our diversion to get him to hospital in the Falkland Islands in early February set the course of the expedition on a completely different path than what any of us could have imagined when we departed Ushuaia in late January. Four days on route, Greg lost part of his finger in a freak accident. One of my most vivid memories of this is the feeling of vulnerability. We were two to three days away from help, the seriousness of the situation being amplified as we were forced to heave to in situ to wait for weather to modify before we could even continue on towards help. We were fortunate. The winds and waves abated and we headed north across the Burwood Bank, arriving in Stanley on the afternoon of the 6th.

As Greg had to be invalided home, the expedition and Northanger was left without one of it's strongest members. Greg and I have owned and operated Northanger for over 20 years. Even though either of us can run the vessel, we were a honed team and work very well together. For this expedition, even though the two of us could manage, we decided early on the need for the extra safety of a third experienced crew member. We were to be supporting a solo kayaked in South Georgia, a place from our own experience there, held no prisoners. With previous Southern Ocean sailing experience aboard his fathers vessel and having sailed with us in Patagonia these past two summers, Magnus became the third point of a very strong team triangle.

The expedition almost came to an abrupt halt right then and there. I was not prepared to continue on unless we had a replacement for Greg. The problem is, there is no replacement for Greg! Not in the Falkland Islands, not anywhere. The expedition continued to evolve, contingencies plans were made and just as Hayley was about to kayak around the Falkland Islands, Brian, a cruising sailor who was living in the Falklands while his wife Lin was on a teaching contract, arrived on the scene. He was interviewed, interrogated, put under the lie detector and though not a Greg, passed muster. We also would have liked Lin to come but unfortunately, she was committed to her teaching job. After meeting with everyone involved, I agreed to continue on to South Georgia but had a list of conditions which everyone agreed with. On the 13th of February, Greg flew to Punta Arenas. On the 17th of February, we sailed for South Georgia.

On February 23rd, we arrived at an anchorage in Elsehul in the north of the Island of South Georgia, continuing down to Cumberland Bay on the 25th. For us sailors, it was a milestone, just the getting there. For Hayley, it was the end of one journey and the beginning of another. Sailing around South Georgia is a challenge on it's own. If the weather is cooperating it is paradise; glacier and snow capped mountains rising straight out from the sea, beaches slathered with seals and penguins, tussock grass covered cliffs full of nesting birds, places to walk, hills to scramble. But, if the Southern Ocean shows it's nasty face, it can be hell. At Christmas, there was 100 knots of wind reported in Cumberland Bay. When I heard this, it made my stomach knot. In 2003, anchored in Ocean Harbour, we had 76 knots of wind and for about 10 hours we had a tenuous hold on what could have been a life or death situation. This wind had come up so suddenly, it caught us unaware. I coul d only imagine what would happen to a kayak in this same situation.

After arriving at King Edward Point where we cleared in to South Georgia, another unforeseen event changed the course of the expedition. Hayley's kayak, which she had shipped down last season, had been severely damaged in transport. Another delay. Another obstacle to overcome. After hasty revisions to plans and gear, Hayley set off on February 28th with the backup plastic kayak. We stayed in Grytviken until March 5th. With the generosity of friends and Magnus, Beth Anne and Brian's labour, the kayak was repaired during this time. The weather was atrocious. Katabatic winds roared out of the fiord. Southwesterly winds prevailed which are notorious for producing some of the strongest katabatics on the northeast coast of the island. The people living in South Georgia commented to us that it had been like this, if not worse, most of the summer.

Meanwhile, Greg was still in Punta Arenas. He was meant to fly to New Zealand where he could be with his father, who was dying. The devastating earthquake in Chile meant that his flight had been canceled. At the same time, infection had spread in his injured finger and he was hospitalized and in yet another operation, had more of his finger removed. Then, while Greg was in hospital, his father, David, died. The flurry of emotions and frustrations I felt at the time must have been nothing compared to what Greg felt. Grytviken has a church, lovingly restored as part of the whaling museum. I spent a few restorative hours there, trying to absorb the quiet and the peace emanating from the place and where I was able to say goodbye to my father-in-law.

In between the persistent gale force winds, we organized meeting places with Hayley. The bad weather had not abated, with brief calms interspersed with roaring katabatic winds. Not very conducive to kayaking. On March 9th, it was again decision time. With flights out of Stanley for Hayley and Beth Anne on the 27th of March and no possibility of changing that with all the disruption of other flights in Santiago due to the earthquake, we had to start thinking about when we would try heading back. We calculated 7 - 9 days passage back, plus up to 14 days total to cover waiting for the weather window and a couple days in advance to be assured not to miss the plane. Not good news for Hayley, who had her vision set ahead of her to reach the north of the island and kayak around onto the southwest coast. It's not easy to slam a dream with reality. For anyone.

The furthest north Hayley kayaked was to Right Whale Bay, a spectacular glacial valley where king penguins, elephant seals and fur seals amass on the beach. What she accomplished in that short time was a huge feat. In driving snow storms, fog, gale force winds and huge breaking swells, Hayley was the first solo kayaker on expedition in South Georgia. She has begun a path that may or may not one day continue. And we are all safe and the expedition is nearing completion.

You are`still asking what has`all this got to do with popcorn? Well, actually nothing really, except that what I really wanted to write was something witty about how good popcorn is especially at sea when one is feeling a bit queasy, eyes are watering ( we call these popcorn eyes) and nothing is better for this than a bowl full of homemade popcorn, butter dribbled over top with brewers yeast and salt sprinkled on top. Mmmmyum. But, I also knew that what I really needed to do was to find a way to put the past few months into perspective and to thank everyone who has been so kind, generous and helpful along the way. So many people have touched our lives and made it all that much better. So thank you. And please do stop in for popcorn when you see Northanger moored near you!

Keri



P.S. Stay tuned for my next subject: Cape Carrot Cake.

At Sea Food

29 March 2010 | 52 04'S:050 19'W, Scotia Sea
Keri-Lee Pashuk
March 29th

Position 52 04.66S - 050 19.77W DTG - 269M

At Sea Food

Food. Hard enough a subject to think about when bouncing and bashing around, making seven and a half knots against the wind, 50 degrees off course, let alone when one has not taken the other half of their seasickness tablet for more than 12 hours. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

But I like food. Real food. And I get hungry, even when I am seasick. I had a craving today for pan fried potatoes. Somehow I convinced Magnus that it was a good idea and he ventured forward to the lurching bow of the boat and dug out the potatoes from the back of the veggie locker, a feat worthy of applause. He then somehow managed to have them peeled and waiting for me to turn into something, I assured him would be spectacular.

I was determined to make a complete, healthful meal, with steamed carrots as a side. I diced up the potatoes, one slice at a time, in my hand as the boat was bouncing around to much to use the cutting board. Turning them in olive oil in a cast iron pan was relatively simple, done between the 5 minute cycle of the radar watch ( it was my watch). I added crushed garlic, and as a treat for the lads, some de-fatted, smoked bacon. And presto! Spectacular, mouth watering pan fried potatoes with no carrots on the side.

We couldn't eat it all, even after I had made Magnus peel me two more potatoes on top of what he had already done. There was a bowl left over, which I think all of us secretly had our eye on, thinking, hmm, that would be good on my night watch. Everyone is asleep and I've been looking for that darned left over bowl of potatoes which seems to have suspiciously disappeared!

I think I'll go now and peel a carrot.

Keri
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