DAY 29 WAVES

Thank You! (Written on Jan 27, 2014)

 

Even with some stars twinkling – it is pitch black out.  I do miss my white watches, so much can be done when in the light!

At 0109 we crossed back into Australian waters by crossing the 200 nm EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone).  Wow, we’re back in Australia, mate!  ‘How long will you be staying?’ I expected to hear in a few minutes.  Not to be, in the pitch black, no arrival team or officialdom.

Sam joined me on my watch so I could continue preparations for our arrival and can now kindly vouch for me that the wind does pick up between 12 and 3 on my watch.  The Southern Ocean threw one last low at us, just for good measure!

We have only seen 2 vessels on our AIS (Automatic Information System) which plots ships on charts in the last three weeks, so we will need to get used to vessel and radio traffic, once we begin to encounter these in the next few days on approach to the busy port of Fremantle.

It is an honor to carry Explorers Club Flag 69 on our WAVES expedition studying Humpback whales and Blue whales in the Antarctic. By travelling through regions traversed by great explorers of the past, we acknowledge that they paved the way for modern day adventures and scientific expeditions. We thank Eddie Bauer for outfitting the crew in tremendous gear! Photo credit I. Ford

It is an honor to carry Explorers Club Flag 69 on our WAVES expedition studying Humpback whales and Blue whales in the Antarctic. By travelling through regions traversed by great explorers of the past, we acknowledge that they paved the way for modern day adventures and scientific expeditions. We thank Eddie Bauer for outfitting the crew in tremendous gear!
Photo credit I. Ford

A lovely sunny morning changed quickly to be less-than-pleasant by 1000 with heavy, driving rain.  This kept all the observers inside the wheelhouse and still hoping for a sighting.  By 1115 the rain had cleared and we had popped through the low, the last hurrah sent from the Southern Ocean!  Back on course again, after having to bare away, we are on schedule for arrival in Freo on Wednesday afternoon/early evening.  This journey was never going to be easy, and the Southern Ocean has certainly thrown some weather at us, but we are truly grateful for the excellent weather information giving us the ability to make informed choices regarding our course and to escape the worst of each system that presented itself.

With two days of travel, one must not get ahead of one’s self in congratulatory stuff but Curt and I do want to make mention of the many groups and persons that have been involved in this project.  They are as follows:

ADD – Australian Defence Department for the passive acoustic tracking gear positioned on board Whale Song,

SORP – Southern Ocean Research Partnership for logistical support with dry suits, helmets and various other equipment,

Eddie Bauer – for out-fitting our crew in the best hi-tech, soft, warm and light-weight gear keeping us toasty warm,

Curtin University – for on-going collaborations with expert acoustic specialist, Prof. Rob McCauley,

University of Alaska Fairbanks/Alaska SeaLife Centre – for a new collaboration with Prof. Russ Andrews regarding satellite telemetry for humpback whales and blue whales,

The Explorers Club – for granting this WAVES Expedition the chance to carry the Explorers Club 69.  It has been a great honour and privilege for Curt and Mich to carry such an historic and prestigious flag on an expedition to further scientific knowledge regarding cetaceans in the Antarctic.  At the same time, we have been able to acknowledge and honour the explorers of the past realising they have paved the way for present explorers,

BOM/AAD Antforecasters – for providing excellent, daily custom weather information regarding the ship’s intended course, allowing us to avoid the worst of the worst from at least 13 low-pressure systems,

BOM/AAD/UTAS – for providing daily ice edge information, allowing Curt to make informed choices regarding the highly mobile, soft ice-edge and to allow over-plots of our whales’ satellite tracking movements,

The late Grant Wilson and his wife Helene – for making the purchase of Whale Song possible for Curt and Mich,

John and Lynn Lally – for planting the sailing seed, assisting in the building and setting us sailing in WhaleSong, the 13m catamaran, to explore the Kimberley’s,

David and Michelle Davenport – for helping keep us sailing,

Our parents, Ken and Irma Jenner and the late Elizabeth McLaren-Nicole – for loving us, supporting us and believing in our crazy pipe dreams,

Micah Jenner – for bringing this story to you from the shores of Australia and looking after our much-loved hound, Skipper,

Chris and Sally Henderson – for excellent logistical support in Hobart and introducing us to the weather personnel,

Hobart friends – Nick & Taff, Mike & Nadena, Sarah & Andrew and Brian, for good social catch-ups and encouraging this adventure,

Whale Song’s Intrepid Crew – for taking the opportunity to take a trip south, for being unflappable and being our wonderful shipboard family.  Curt and I, COULD NOT have fulfilled our dream without this gang, Dale, Simon, Resty, Sam, Inday, Tas, Rob and Russ.

Interested Blog-readers – thanks for your encouragement, it has been fun sharing this experience each day.  Let’s keep going!  Guess what, the words haven’t dried up yet!

Noon Observations Jan 27, 2014

 

Lat/Long: 370 31.0S 1170 53.7 E

Dry Bulb Temp: 18.10C

Wet Bulb Temp: 18.10C

SST (Sea Surface Temp): 18.90C

COG (Course Over the Ground): 3260

SOG (Speed Over the Ground): 5.8 knots

Barometer: 1007 hPa

Beaufort SS (Sea State): 6

WS (Wind Speed): 22-25 knots

WD (Wind Direction): WNW

Swell: SW 4-6 m, occ to 8 m

Wildlife: Shy Albatross, Flesh-footed shearwaters, 1 brave Storm petrel

WT: JQS – 7.5

Antarctic Fact: Melting ice sheets – it is widely accepted that the effect of warming of Antarctica would have a huge impact on the rest of the world.  Warming would cause the melting of ice sheets and contribute to a rise in sea level of 30-50 cm, which would flood Polynesian island states.  If the West Antarctic ice sheet, which is currently grounded, were to become destabilised through temperature rises and “slide” off into the sea, it could contribute to a rise in sea level of 6 m.

Antarctic Slang: neve – literally translated as ‘last years’ snow’, this is hard granular snow on the upper part of a glacier that hasn’t yet turned to ice; also known as firn.

The Southern Ocean gives us a run for our money – 8 m swells give us a different view on life! Photo credit M. Jenner

The Southern Ocean gives us a run for our money – 8 m swells give us a different view on life!
Photo credit M. Jenner

With the morning observations from inside the wheelhouse, the wind and swell continued to keep us telling jokes together from the ’nerve centre’.  To my watch station in the wheelhouse, Resty brought me two steaming bowls of food for lunch, chicken, I mean skua soup with chillie, leek and carrots, baguette with camembert cheese and beef teriyaki with couscous – just yum!  With all the movement of the swell, we are exercising every moment of the day, so our calorie requirement is actually quite high. Resty has looked after us SO well with all the mountains of food we have munched our way through– thank you!

We continued the afternoon obs from inside the wheelhouse as well.  Unfortunately, with the wind at 30-35 knots and gusting to 45, we have very poor visibility for cetaceans, but we are still looking.  During this type of conditions, we go to ‘Casual Effort’ as we continue to look but are hampered by the visibility.  Right through the day the Southern Ocean still had us in her grip, with 45 knots and 4-6m swells, even to 8 m looking in our wheelhouse windows, it tossed us around now that we are low-ish on fuel… it was a veritable work-out to stay on/near my chair!

This will be a hard-won victory – nothing has been handed to us on a plate.  This has not been for the faint-hearted. I have loved every frightening minute of it.  I was born for this.  My mum would be terrified knowing the fearlessness she gave me…

I want to see everyone, but I must admit – I could just keep going.  I can see why Jon Sanders did.  You get into a wonderful rhythm of the sea and I don’t want that to stop. Walls of water go by the windows, so I go on deck to get photos… the waves are beautiful!

The power of the sea never ceases to amaze. Thus far since Hobart we have bobbed and tossed 4187 nautical miles! Photo credit M. Jenner

The power of the sea never ceases to amaze. Thus far since Hobart we have bobbed and tossed 4187 nautical miles!
Photo credit M. Jenner

I don’t want to play with car-parks or groceries or traffic lights – why would you? I feel lucky to be able to enjoy this, but it is dare-devil and it is addictive… Terrifyingly, addictive.  Four hours on the bow in -16 C wind chill with 12 humpback whales looking down their blowholes and into their arm-pits, surrounded by icebergs IS ADDICTIVE – why wouldn’t you like, no LOVE it? To get this extreme experience, we had to pay on the way there and the way back, 4 lows on the way down and 9 on the way back…

Serving couscous, green peas and corn as well as cauliflower cheese and … whoa, a huge wave hit, suddenly all the rollable items on my plate were heading my way!  My chair moved backward and everything was heading eastwards!  I must have lifted my plate and in so doing, flung some loose couscous onto Russ’s plate opposite me… wow, wild dinner antics!  He looked pretty puzzled, ‘How did this get here?’  Step 1 – drown those peas with gravy to immobilise them!  Southern Ocean eating etiquette allows for one handed eating and white-knuckled glass grasping with the other!  The dishwashing session was wild and woolly as always, with heated discussions and loud songs.  Such a good crew, they make a chore into fun – each and every day.  Thanks guys!  Nice playlist tonight!

This is ‘the last hurrah from the Southern Ocean’, in the words of Tina, one of the fantastic custom weather forecasters, based at Davis Station.  How many lows could this stretch of ocean serve up?  Hot apple pie, if you can keep it on the plate, was on offer for dessert and all were up for the challenge, with ice cream of course, also racing around the dish!

With the promise of landfall two days away, the rough weather makes our progress feel slow… is some-one pulling Australia away from us?  Please let go, we want to come home, now

Mich

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