News Archive
9 June 2006
19.05N 167.26E
20,000 miles under his belt
No news has not been bad news over the last week. Adrian is making good progress as his message below describes.
Back home things have been busy. Last week I received the DHL delivery Adrian sent from Hawaii. Along with some lovely Hawaiian gifts for the boys and I were lots of personal letters, press cuttings from Honolulu newspapers and 15 hours of footage shot by Adrian during the first 6 months of his voyage. I've watched it all now and it is gripping. It charts the highs, the lows, the tears and tantrums, huge seas, wildlife, cookery, laundry, poetry, haircuts, geography, maintenance, sunshine, sunsets, Christmas and of course a blow by blow account of rounding The Horn. When this is all over it will make a wonderful film.
We've also been dealing with the very complex issue of Russia v Canada. This centres around the fact that the Russians insist on an 'ice pilot' being on board vessels transiting their waters. We are desperately trying to find a way round this as Adrian is not prepared to give up his solo status. There has been a suggestion that it may be possible for the ice pilot to be on board an escort vessel. This however would probably involve large sums of money which we do not have. In the meantime, I have been speaking with the Canadian authorities who I am sure would give Adrian every assistance but this route is far more complicated to navigate and was not in the original plan. By the end of July a definitive decision will have to be made as to whether Adrian turns left or right.
The following message came in from Adrian last night:
"Slowly, I am clawing back some of the miles lost in the stillness I encountered shortly after departing Honolulu. I sailed south in search of wind and am well established in achieving my daily goal of gaining 100 miles plus towards the antipodal point. If current conditions prevail my ETA at the AP is 21 June.
On Friday 2nd June, I crossed the International Date Line at 180 degress longitude and instantly 'lost' 24 hours. I will regain them when I re-cross the line en route north east to the Bering Strait.
Another small milestone: on Tuesday 6th June at ten to eight in the evening local time, my odometer clicked over to 20,000 miles. The important figure is two weeks or so away - 21,600 miles, the distance around the circumference of the earth!"