Storm Bound
March 5, 2006
Right now we are storm-bound in the tent at the Lippmann Islands. There's a strong on-shore wind and driving snow reducing visibility to just a few metres. With these conditions we'll sit it out for the day. It's a pretty awesome place to spend a day anyway so life is good! Hot brews, reading, chatting, eating, a spot of photography
and filming... there aren't too many things I'd rather be doing really!
March 4, 2006
I write with the very sad news that Laurie ('Gages') Geoghegan has injured his elbow in a small fall. The repetitive action of paddling is proving problematic and he is unable to continue. Yesterday he made the very difficult decision to leave the expedition. He'll be sorely missed from the team and it is a real blow for him
personally after having put so much time and effort into this expedition. We left him in the Argentine Islands where we arranged a pickup for him with the Spirit of Sydney, the yacht that dropped us off at the northern end of the Antarctic Peninsula almost four weeks ago now.
Today Stuart & Andrew paddled south to the Lippmann Islands. These are a wild & remote group of islands and the paddling conditions were pretty wild also. There was a large band of pack ice to the south - big bergy bits that, in any sort of wind or current, can be quite dangerous. Fortunately the wind had eased considerably from yesterday's fiesty conditions, however there was plenty of swell to contend with. In some places the clapotis (rebound chop & swell) from the bergs made for quite confused seas. After persisting through this band of ice for some time we reached more open water and, eventually, the Lippmann Islands. There is some awe-inspiring scenery here and the area has a really wild feel to it. We'll continue our push
southwards tomorrow.
Right now we are storm-bound in the tent at the Lippmann Islands. There's a strong on-shore wind and driving snow reducing visibility to just a few metres. With these conditions we'll sit it out for the day. It's a pretty awesome place to spend a day anyway so life is good! Hot brews, reading, chatting, eating, a spot of photography
and filming... there aren't too many things I'd rather be doing really!
March 4, 2006
I write with the very sad news that Laurie ('Gages') Geoghegan has injured his elbow in a small fall. The repetitive action of paddling is proving problematic and he is unable to continue. Yesterday he made the very difficult decision to leave the expedition. He'll be sorely missed from the team and it is a real blow for him
personally after having put so much time and effort into this expedition. We left him in the Argentine Islands where we arranged a pickup for him with the Spirit of Sydney, the yacht that dropped us off at the northern end of the Antarctic Peninsula almost four weeks ago now.
Today Stuart & Andrew paddled south to the Lippmann Islands. These are a wild & remote group of islands and the paddling conditions were pretty wild also. There was a large band of pack ice to the south - big bergy bits that, in any sort of wind or current, can be quite dangerous. Fortunately the wind had eased considerably from yesterday's fiesty conditions, however there was plenty of swell to contend with. In some places the clapotis (rebound chop & swell) from the bergs made for quite confused seas. After persisting through this band of ice for some time we reached more open water and, eventually, the Lippmann Islands. There is some awe-inspiring scenery here and the area has a really wild feel to it. We'll continue our push
southwards tomorrow.
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