"Shhhhh, you'll wake Mr. Drake...right now he is sleeeeeping" spurted the captain of our ship after my brilliant comment in the bridge of "we sure have had great weather so far." This is a jinx of epic proportions akin to mentioning that a pitcher has a no hitter with two outs in the ninth. Even the master of jinxes, sportscaster Curt Gaudy, would've shaken his head in disbelief at the timing and location of my comment. That was yesterday as we cruised along uneventfully in clear skies, sun, and level 4 seas, however today is a different story. Grey skies, slanting rain, and level 7 seas are pitching the boat to and fro like a plastic toy boat shooting the rapids of the Rio Grande. Most of us are wearing a Scopoderm patch to prevent sea sickness however those that aren't are feeling worse for wear and can often be seen standing off the back of the boat sharing their most recent meal with Mr. Drake.
It's Friday afternoon and we've now been sailing through the Drake Passage for 42 hours. We expect to make land at King George Island 10 hours from now which will be midnight. From there we'll ready our gear and depart the ship on small inflatable Zodiac rafts at 4:45am for Stage 1.
Stage 1 will actually be a stage measured by time rather than distance. Each runner will be running on land for 15 hours and whoever covers the most distance during that time will win the stage. I just had lunch with Ryan Sandes and he is hoping to cover somewhere between 130-170km while I'm hoping to do somewhere between 100-120km. That said, we have no idea yet about the terrain of the course nor do we have a reliable weather forecast. It's conceivable that the weather could be nice enough to run in tights and a t-shirt and it's just as conceivable that we could end up with snow, high winds, and temperatures as low as -5F. Once we reach shore we'll each leave a waterproof expedition bag behind with emergency kit like bivvy bags, down parkas, food, etc...essentially enough to survive with for a few days should something go drastically wrong. By drastically I simply mean not being able to get back to the boat for a day or two as opposed to Shackleton drastically where we have to eat the dogs and hang out for a year and a half. That said, don't think I haven't already picked out some of the more 'plump' runners just in case...just in case ;)
As of right now the plan for the next few stages is to spend two days on King George Island and then head over to Deception Island. From there we'll humbly trace the path of the Belgica, a Belgian ship commanded by Adrien Victor Joseph de Gerlache in 1897. Our ship will pass through the narrow strait named for the Belgian Captain, skirting Brabant Island and then Wiencke Island, posthumously named for one of the men on the Belgica who was swept overboard by the raging seas. I'm really looking forward to that part of the trip especially as the Belgica's First Mate was none other than Raol Amundsen, the Norweigan explorer who would later discover the Northwest Passage as well as become the first person to reach the geographic South Pole. It will undoubtedly be humbling and epic.
It's almost game time guys--I can't wait. I hope everyone at home is doing well and can't wait to check in following Stage 1.
All my best and good running!
Rp
No comments:
Post a Comment