The low pressure system that created all the headwinds and heavy sea has passed over the top of us – the eye was over 756nm wide. We have the wind from the North now and this has created cross cut waves. Our speed remains slow but we hope to be back in full operation by tomorrow afternoon. Another 790 nm to go and I have seen the first whale next to our boat. The water is only 4°C and it is a bit early for the whales to move up North. Let's see if we can spot some more and get a picture…..

One small problem with the rudder and we are left at the mercy of ocean. A hydraulic hose burst last night and we lost all control to the steering mechanism of Pangaea. All hands on deck furl the sails and drift while we started the search for the problem. 4 hours later everything is fixed again and we take control.

One hour later heavy seas and strong headwinds snaps the halyard of our storm jib and we sail under main sail 3rd reef alone.

All we can do now is change course down south and wait for the low pressure system to pass. We will lose 28 hours but we will stay safe.

We were alerted about the earthquake off Japan and the Tsunami warnings but didn't notice anything out here at sea. It seems that everything has gone crazy out here. The weather predictions are completely wrong and we have had to change course northwards to avoid massive waves and strong head on winds. Pangaea's is getting a real shake-up and conditions are particularly hard on the boat. We've slowed down considerably but will continue to battle our way through to Vancouver.

Tiziana joined Mike Horn for the Selection Camp in Switzerland in May 2010 and later for the expedition to the Himalayas in June 2010. Here she talks about her experiences with Mike Horn in her University faculty and in print and online versions of the Tango Magazine.

Tango – March 2011 – Switzerland

University of Zurich – March 2011 – Switzerland

The past four days of my life were marked by yet another incomparable life-experience! I was given the unique opportunity to join Dr. Nicholas Pilcher (Marine Research Foundation Sabah Malaysia) and Markus Ruf, our marine biologist during the Pangaea Borneo Project, onto their research trip to Pulau Mantanani where we would jump onto turtles and conduct some research on them.

And oh yes, we did!

Laparoscopy on Turtles

Unlike the methods of turtle conservation I had been familiar with before (within turtle hatcheries), laparoscopy is a surgical procedure that uses a miniature telescope to view the inside of the peritoneal cavity. Laparoscopy can be used to determine the sex of immature turtles or the reproductive status of adults. Knowing the sex of the animals is essential for turtle population predictions and conservation management.
But of course, before one can proceed with laparoscopy, the turtle has to be caught. And that's where the action comes in! In order to catch a turtle, you have to literally jump on it and grab it by its carapace and lift it out of the water. Sounds exciting, is exciting.

Visit http://www.mrf-asia.org/projects_view.cfm?THE_ID=13 for more details!

Deploying Satellite Transmitters

We were hoping to catch three turtles onto which we could deploy satellite transmitters. It was important that the turtles were of fairly large size as that told us that there is a good probability that the turtle abandons the foraging ground to find a next habitation. We are very curious whether the tracked turtles will reveal the secret and let us know where their lives continue.

You can follow our three turtles, Shelly, Quasimodo and Voyager at http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/?project_id=593

Sponge Bob Diving for the Sake of Cancer Research

And last but not least, research diving!

Owing to the Marine Research Foundation's (MRF) collaboration with the US National Cancer Institute (NCI), I got to dive for the sake of scientific research and collect a number of sponge species.
Marine invertebrates carry particular chemicals for self-defense in which the NCI are strongly interested in. (The samples they are supplied with are tested for anti-cancer and anti-AIDS properties.)
At first the mere thought of ripping sponges apart seemed somewhat different to me but I would turn into a "Reed Raider" in no time. Not only does this project have the potential to save lives but also to expose Borneo's biodiversity including many new species.

It was a very new and enriching experience to collect those samples, pickle them in alcohol and archive them.

Visit http://www.mrf-asia.org/projects_view.cfm?THE_ID=11 for more details!

I want to thank Dr. Nicholas Pilcher for giving me the opportunity to experience this field trip. I am well aware of the fact that not many researchers carry out laparoscopy on turtles and that even fewer are able to witness it. I consider myself very lucky and privileged to have lived the past days aboard Tortuga Madre.
THANK YOU!

Links:
http://www.mrf-asia.org/

We have hit so many waves that the anchor pin came undone. How? I do not know! If you have tons and tons of water washing over the boat for weeks on end a lot happens. Sitting on the bow seeing the water flow underneath you makes you understand you have the best job and greatest office in the world – I would not change it for anything in life!

Christopher and Luana are preparing together for the North Pole Expedition. Their strict training schedule includes endurance as well as strength training. Read here what they were up to this weekend!
We step out of the train and are greeted by smiling Michelle (Malaysia YEP) who has prepared a very special surprise for the two us today. She managed to organize two big black tires which we will drag up and down the mountains surrounding the small village we just arrived at.

Together with Michelle and Tiziana (Himalaya YEP) we start our training. Partly the path gets so narrow that we have shoulder the heavy tires to continue our hike. This is definitely good training and a lot of fun at the same time!

Michelle and Tiziana share their experience and stories with us and along the way we meet many interested people who want to know why on earth we are pulling those tires. “The tire is supposed to simulate the heavy sledge we will have to pull on the ice”, we explain to them.  No matter who – young couples, old couples, families or scouts –everybody gets so excited when we tell them that our expedition is going to the Magnetic North Pole.

It is indeed all very exciting and we simply cannot wait for this adventure to start. We are amazed when we see how many people get enthusiastic about our expedition – this is a huge motivation for us. Next training session here we come!
 

We had a busy night with a lot happening. I have to ask myself why do things always happen at night, if one of you have the answer please let me know. We are over half way out of the Convergence Zone of the Garbage Patch. We have taken a lot of water samples to analyze. We can not see the debris but imagine, it as a plastic soup, the smallest size is smaller than the head of a sewing pin. Will send more detail later. We are not far from the date line where we will be sailing into the past. Pangaea has turned into a time machine. Amazing – I love it!

3'200 nautical miles to go and we are now over the half way mark! All sails are up and we are in a high pressure system which has slowed us down to around 10 knots. With another low pressure system expecting to come upon us in around 15 hrs we think we'll be able to pick up more speed again, essential if we want to get to Vancouver for the 16th!! It's still touch and go but we'll continue to give it all we've got!

Pangaea is sailing beautifully. Nothing will stop her now! We have had bigs swells the last few days but they are not breaking into waves. The weather is pleasant and myself and Pangaea's crew ( Tristan, Jacek and Sasha ) are all in our element!

We have had a good run the last 2 days and things are looking better at this mid stage of our trip to Vancouver. There is a big low just north of us and I'm trying to stay with it so we can have favourable winds for the next couple of days. If we keep up our speed we can get to Vancouver on the17th but with fingers crossed we could get in early morning of the 16th. I'm pushing the boat hard and we have all sails up. If it wasn't for our new sails we would never have had a chance to reach Vancouver so quickly. I just got off watch at 5 am and we were surfing at 14kn but unfortunately only for small periods of time. At this stage we are covering about 265 nm a day. With 3920nm to go and a bit of luck we can arrive in Vancouver on the 16th. The 12 days of very bad weather that we had initially made us work very hard and we are all tired. As we are moving north we feel  it is getting colder and the days shorter. There is a dark moon and we are racing towards Vancouver with Pangaea fully dressed with her sails up in completely black surroundings. It feels like driving a car full throttle with a black windscreen in front of you. No boats in sight since we left Guam. The Pacific is massive but few boats take this northern route in winter.