Brit battles on his polar circumnavigation

This Sunday (5th February 2006), Adrian Flanagan will have been at sea for
100 days and covered approximately 7,500 nautical miles.

During that time
he has coped with dreadful weather starting from the very first week
where wind and bad sea conditions forced him to retreat for several days.
He has survived winds of up to 50 knots and waves of up to 35 ft, he has
lost his spinnaker, ripped his cruising chute irreparably, been unable to
rescue his fouled water tanks, fixed his water maker (twice), sorted out a
complete battery failure problem, mopped up gallons of spilt fuel, dangled
himself under the boat on numerous occasions to fix the rudder, stripped
the engine down after that failed, lost the use of his wind generator,
dealt with total steering failure (about 4 times now).

He has also sailed
with dolphins, tuna, sail fish, albatross and a blue whale, caught his own
fish suppers, finished all his books, basked in the sun, invented new
recipes, been tailed by pirates, had extra terrestrial experiences and
crossed the equator. And he’s only a third of the way in to this.

Adrian’s next big challenge will be Cape Horn which he expects to reach
around the 10th February.

Adrian’s route is south over the Atlantic towards the Falkland Islands,
then westwards around Cape Horn. The track will then head north over the
Pacific towards the Bering Strait. A westward passage through the Arctic
will lead to the final stage, south-westerly across the North Sea and back
into The Channel.

The voyage will take approximately 300 days and cover 35,000 miles. The
expedition yacht is a Trireme 38 Mk IV.

http://www.alphaglobalex.com