Heavy thermals as Daedalus heads further south

by Brian Hancock on 14 Mar 2005 Tony Bullimore and his team on Daedalus are in the very Deep South, sailing along the 60th parallel as they try to catch the only other yacht remaining in the Oryx Quest – Doha 2006.

They are 250 miles south of the latitude of Cape Horn playing dodgem cars with a series of low pressure systems and are sandwiched between two systems; one to the north and one to the south. Five hundred miles astern, a deep low is approaching, forecast to pass to the north of Daedalus late in the day on Monday GMT.

The wind is howling out of the west causing a confused sea state while on board the crew are layered up in all their thermals.

It is real adventure stuff and Tony and his team are enjoying every moment of it. It’s the reason they came. To experience the Southern Ocean in all it’s fury and beauty. At those latitudes the only signs of life are the ever present albatross that wheel and soar in the wake of the big cat as it cuts a course for Cape Horn.

Old seafarers believed that the albatross were the souls of departed sailors and therefore treated the birds with great reverence. There is, however, more to these birds than myth.

A fully grown wandering albatross can weigh as much as 11 kilograms and have a wingspan of 3.5 meters. Like all albatross, the wandering albatross is a very powerful flier that often uses a technique called dynamic soaring to cover long distances.

Dynamic soaring is when birds repeatedly fly in and out of troughs of ocean waves, wheeling above the waves before diving into the troughs of other waves.

There is a distinct technique to this aerobatics.

When the bird pulls up into the wind, out of the still air in the lee of a wave, it suddenly becomes exposed to a headwind which increases the speed of the air over its wings. It then turns in the opposite direction and, with the wind behind it, dives back into the shelter of a wave.

This also results in an increase in its air-speed. So by repeating this ‘wheeling’ pattern, the bird can continue flying indefinitely without having to put in any effort.

This dynamic soaring ability is very important because wandering albatross are pelagic birds meaning that they live on the open ocean rather than waters adjacent to land or inland waters.

They travel thousands of miles in search of food landing only to feed or mate. It’s hard to measure how much distance an albatross covers in a year, but one study tracked a wandering albatross covering 6,000 kilometers in just twelve days.

Fortunately they have a way of ‘locking’ their wings in an extended position which reduced strain over long flights. The albatross effectively blocks its joints with a system of tendons which limits the consumption of energy while ensuring blood circulation and heat regulation.

Pairs mate for life and breed every two years. Breeding takes place on sub-Antarctic islands such as the Crozet Islands, Tristan da Cunha and South Georgia, and the breeding season begins in early November. The nest is a mound of mud and vegetation and is placed on an exposed ridge near the sea.

The albatross lays a single egg. It is white, with a few spots, is about 10 centimeters long, and hatches after two months. Once the chick is hatched it remains in the nest for approximately nine months.

During the early stages of its development the parents take turns to sit on the nest while the other searches for food. Later, both adults hunt for food visiting the chick at irregular intervals.

Once they leave the nest they may not return to land for as much as eight to ten years. When they do return, however, they always return to the same place.

A wandering albatross can live to be 80 years old. Of course the crew on Daedalus are not interested in these statistics; instead they enjoy the simple pleasure of watching these magnificent birds in flight. A long, cold watch can pass much quicker if you have something to look at, and the birds are a constant source of pleasure.

While Daedalus continues toward Cape Horn, Doha 2006 is fast approaching one of the prime breeding grounds for albatross; the tiny island of Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic. This steep sided island measures only five miles across and is midway between South America and South Africa.

At the 07:00 GMT poll on Sunday Doha 2006 was exactly 500 miles due west of the island sailing at 22 knots. On board, Brian Thompson is already scheming how to improve the performance of the boat for the next around the world race.

‘Whilst we are tearing along in these conditions I am making notes on changes that could be done to this boat to turbo it for the next race,’ he wrote in his daily log.

‘I’m also thinking about what would be the perfect boat if we had a blank sheet of paper to win the next race. There are some new maxi-multihulls now, with the cat Orange II on the water about to break our round-the-world record, and the trimaran Groupama 3, in build for launching late this year.

‘There are other maxi-trimaran’s being mooted in France, so there's an exciting future ahead for this class.’ The next race Thompson was referring to is the Qatar Quest scheduled for 2007, an around the world race, with stops open to both maxi-multihulls and maxi-monohulls.

Brian, like most professional sailors, is already thinking of the next event, but he is also thinking about the job at hand. His log ends: ‘Right now it’s time to slip on the Musto foul weather gear, and get on deck for another driving stint. Less than 8,000 miles to go.. Just the distance from London to Fremantle, Australia.’

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