Berrimilla Down Under Mars Status Report 26 August 2008

6645 05610 AC just over the horizon

We should be back on the Arctic Circle going south in about 4 hours, 31 days after crossing it going north in the Bering Sea. At the other end, I did not dare even think about this moment. I can’t give you exact distances because of the idiosyncrasies of the GPS but my guess would be about 3400 miles. For me they have been 3400 miles of extraordinary intensity – I wrote in the previous Berri round the world blog that I lived in a plastic tube with its own language, grammar and syntax and that the boat talks to me.
6645 05610 AC just over the horizon

We should be back on the Arctic Circle going south in about 4 hours, 31 days after crossing it going north in the Bering Sea. At the other end, I did not dare even think about this moment. I can’t give you exact distances because of the idiosyncrasies of the GPS but my guess would be about 3400 miles. For me they have been 3400 miles of extraordinary intensity – I wrote in the previous Berri round the world blog that I lived in a plastic tube with its own language, grammar and syntax and that the boat talks to me. That blog became part of a BBC programme. This time, the language has been there – Berri and I have subliminal conversations – but the intensity of the experience has been about symbiosis and heartbeat. Every creak, every wave slap against the hull, every crash of a pole against the forestay, every change in the engine note and my heart has thumped with Berri’s. I stand in the cockpit on watch feeling her as a living thing through my feet and every sense – I can absorb the vibrations in the shaft bearing, the flexing of the mast, the slight change in the feel as the boat goes through a wave, the burr of a shroud harmonic. I think that since we were rolled off Gabo, I have been far more conscious of the possibilities and am living a bit more scared.

Then there was the intensity of the experience – the history, Franklin’s ghosts, the scenery, the sheer splendour and indifference of ice and the Central Arctic – Pat Hahn said it much better than I can.

And the tension has got to me occasionally. I’ve been moody and snappy and once, inexcusably, I was far too liberal with the gin and was clearly incapable. I was acutely horrified next morning and decided immediately never again. Consultations since have been juniper flavoured tonic only. I guess I’m no Pope – fallibility is definitely my gig but I think the trick is to understand it and manage within its limitations. That, after all, is how we got this far.

And we’re getting closer to Falmouth – the last sailmail I sent went via the Belgium sailmail station. Yeeehaaa!

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