25/1/08 Midnight

We got away at 9PM having had dinner.  It took quite a while to re-organize our storage to accommodate the new old anchor and all the long mooring lines.  Last summer I was advised it was proper to inform the Foreign office of our intention to go to Antarctica. I wrote to them but never had a reply.  I heard that a permit was required from the skipper of Pelagic and rang two numbers one of which didn’t work and I left a message on the other but my call was never returned.  Yesterday morning I called on the Antarctic Survey Office in Port Stanley and they sent me off to Government House where I met the man who used to do the permits and was just visiting.  Were we going to South Georgia everything could have been done from Port Stanley.   Anyway he in turn gave me an e-mail address of someone in the Foreign Office who responded immediately with a Preliminary Application Form of 5 pages, a full application form of 13 pages, and another Application Form with guidance notes which ran to 21 pages.  I’m going to be very busy for the next couple of days amassing all the information required, but I’m hopeful we can sort it out.  And it seems that: “Carrying out activities without first obtaining a permit, breach of a permit condition or breach of a prohibition is a criminal offence punishable by up to 2 years imprisonment and / or unlimited fine.” Fortunately the files were sent in “NotePad” and therefore  very small to download.

10 AM

We motored the first 1½ hours to get clear of Port Stanley and the approaches.  Since then we’ve been sailing rapidly and the wind has held at North Force 6 gusting Force 7, but as its just behind the beam, its great for sailing, as I write we’re doing over 9 knots.

We have as bit of lee from the Islands so the sea isn’t yet too severe.

12 Noon

We did 116 miles since leaving last night averaging 7.73 knots.  Should do better in the next 24 hours.  335 miles to go.  I’ve got to get back to the Permit Paperwork.