"I'm a bit worried about the weather!"

If it had been any of the three of us on board Spirit of Cardiff, you might perhaps understand. But this is Bertie, our weatherman, on the phone to Alan during his daily weather briefing. Normally Bertie talks in purely technical terms, relaying the information he's amassed, and his forecast as to what the weather's going to do. But when Bertie ventures into more emotional language, we're worried that he's worried.

We're halfway between Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy and Adak Island, and the conditions are less than favourable. In Alan's words, "the North Pacific is the most inhospitable place we've ever been to". We're in the middle of one depression, and there's another following hard on its heels at 20 knots. Not to mention the one on the boat.

We're in a fairly lumpy following sea, with potential for making good progress, albeit with a certain amount of bumping around. During the night, we have to throttle back - trying to go fast when you can't see the waves is a recipe for trouble, and in any event, we manage to sleep that much better.

We may just have altered our clocks a little soon. Getting used to Alaskan time seemed a good idea in principle, but it culminated with our hours of darkness running from around 1am to 8am. At least tonight, having travelled several hundred miles east, it should get dark a little earlier. And we've replaced our Russian courtesy flag with the Stars and Stripes. Nothing like getting ready...

But for now, the big question mark is the weather. When we arrive in Adak, will we be in the thick of the second depression, and have to sit it out, or will we still be ahead of it enough to try and outrun it?

Clive Tully

Copyright Clive Tully ©2002
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