Report 28 January - Team B on board Pelagic

Thursday January 28th 16pm. Neptune has mercy upon us, it seems. Most of us have recovered from seasickness. The sea is calm by Drake Passage-standards and we all go on taking our turns at the wheel or sleeping and reading in our bunks. Troy and Adrian are at the wheel right now, laughing and singing old English songs about getting drunk at sea and other nasty things. It sounds good and they look like they are born for this job.

There is nothing to be seen around us but the sea, the waves, some spells of sunshine and the huge wandering albatrosses. When we asked Hamish when he thought we would arrive on King George Island he started laughing with a mysterious look on his face: 'Don't ask that, because this is Neptune's House. When he hears us saying that we will arrive in two days time, he can change all the prospects just like that. 'Oh, that's what they think...I 'll show them who's the boss...',and then the god of the oceans will play around with us. So we will try not to have arrogant ideas whilst staying in his waterhouse. Our fate is in his hands.

Also, according to Hamish, you should never whistle aboard a ship nor scratch the backstay. The god of the winds might be woken up and come and chase you. There are so many things to think of whilst sailing the Pelagic. It is another 30 miles before we get at the convergence zone, where two sea currents meet, the cold one from the polar area and the warm one that flows around South-America. Kate, Jerry and Kirsten who will be on watch when we get there, must put on extra clothes and gloves. Once we have passed the convergence zone it will be much colder and more windy and the fog will come up. According to the weather maps of the Chilean navy a storm is coming up, but we don't know whether it will get bigger or almost have vanished when it reaches us. So you who are not at sea, please wish us luck.

Report by Kirsten