News in this edition:
38-01. Safety Boat To Support High-Speed, Multi-Hulled, Race.
38-02 NAE Trekkers Surprise By Continuing Towards Ross Island.
38-03. Blind Skier Retires, Remainder Of Group Continuing To Pole.
38-04. Three Traverse Groups Reach Geographic Pole.
38-05. Yacht Race Fleets Converge In Sub-Antarctic South Pacific.
38-06. Yacht '2041' Undertaking Three Peninsula Voyages.
38-07. IWC Research Voyages Operating North Of Marie Byrd Land.
38-08. High Winds Inhibit Cape Denison Conservation Work.
38-09. Coming Events Relevant to Non-Government Activities.

IN READING PLEASE NOTE: This newsletter is being produced in the interest of improved information sharing in the Antarctic community. Inclusion of information in it should not be taken to imply endorsement, by the publishers of ANAN News, of any company, program or associated activity that is listed, nor that the activity has necessarily completed all environmental impact assessments required under the legislation of the 'home' nation.

Organisers of 'The Race', a non-stop, around the world event for high-speed, multi-hulled yachts which involves crossings of sub-Antarctic waters in late January and February, are to station a guard boat in the Southern Ocean while the fleet is in that region as a safety measure. The multi-hulled race will be the third yacht race to cross sub-Antarctic waters this austral summer, the others currently underway being the 'Vendee Globe 2000' and the 'BT Global Challenge' (see ANAN-38/05 following).

Six boats between thirty and forty five metres in length and up to seventeen metres wide, left Barcelona, Spain, on 31 December. Overall race distance is close to 42,000 km, and race organisers estimate that the multi-hulls, which are crewed by up to a dozen people and are expected to reach speeds of forty-five knots in sub-Antarctic waters, could complete the around the world journey in just sixty-five days.

The course for the event will take the competitors from Barcelona, down the Atlantic Ocean, around southern Africa, across Indian Ocean sub-Antarctic waters, then up to Cook Strait between the north and south islands of New Zealand. After passing through Cook Strait they will travel across the sub-Antarctic South Pacific to Cape Horn, before sailing up the Atlantic to the finishing line off Marseilles, France.

The requirement that the craft pass through Cook Strait is designed to keep crews from pushing too far south towards the Antarctic continent from where rescue would be very difficult should an incident occur, something that is possible given the type of boats involved and the high speeds they are expected to be running at.

Despite this, if the weather systems prevailing at the time are suitable, the boats could travel as far south at Latitude 60°, especially on the leg between New Zealand and Cape Horn, therefore icebergs and smaller, less visible, dangers such as bergy bits, could be encountered. Participants in the 'Vendee Globe 2000' single handed race that is currently underway (see ANAN-38/05 following), reported seeing icebergs as far north at Latitude 49° South in the south-east Atlantic Ocean in early December.

Given the likely conditions and the nature of the race, the event's organisers have arranged for a thirty metre maxi monohull with a very experienced crew to take up station in Indian Ocean sub-Antarctic waters prior to the fleet's arrival there. After the racing boats pass and head northwards towards Cook Strait, plans call for the maxi to reposition to South Pacific waters for the period the racers are in that region.

The winner of 'The Race' will receive a prize of $US2M, however that amount is not expected to cover the costs of developing and preparing the boats for the race. 'Team Phillips', a radically designed, thirty-seven metre catarmaran that was to have competed in the race but was abandoned in a storm in the North Atlantic in December while en route to Barcelona, is reported to have cost around $US5M to build, and other yachts who are competing are believed to have cost a similar amount. Sponsors of the boats are anticipating considerable media attention to be focussed on the race and expect their investments to be recouped by the exposure of their brand names.

The event's web site, which provides daily up-dates of yacht positions, has been overloaded with hits since the race commenced on 31 December and is currently only accessible intermittently.

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Rolf Bae and Eirik Sønneland of the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition (NAE) have reached the South Geographic Pole (SGP) after a sixty-day trek from Dronning Maud Land (DML) and a period of uncertainty about their progress (ANAN-37/02, 20 December 2000). In what is somewhat of a surprise however, the two men are understood to be continuing towards Ross Island in an attempt at a full continental crossing, although details of the progress they have made over the last ten days, and the route they intend to take northwards, are as yet unavailable.

Reports from the U.S. National program station Amundsen-Scott at the SGP indicate that Bae and Sønneland arrived there on 20 December, the first traverse group to do so this austral summer. After a rest day the two men left on the 22nd headed northwards, although no further information is available from NAE headquarters about the progress made since then.

Bae and Sønneland made excellent time in completing the 1,800 km journey from their winter quarters at Troll station in DML to the Pole in only sixty-days. Prior to setting out on 21 October the two men had anticipated it would take them between seventy and ninety days for the trek southwards (ANAN-27/02, 2 August 2000).

During the first month of the journey, when their sledges were very heavy and the climb to the plateau had to be negotiated, progress was very slow and they were only able to average close to fifteen kilometres per day (ANAN-34/04, 8 November 2000). Once on the plateau however, suitable wind conditions allowed the use of parasails which enabled them to travel much more quickly, although little information about their progress was available due to communication difficulties (ANAN-37/02, 20 December 2000).

The report of their arrival at Amundsen-Scott was the first to indicate that a trans-Antarctic crossing was to be attempted. ANAN has sought details from NAE headquarters about the crossing attempt as there had been no hint in previous correspondence with the expedition that such a journey was to be made. The expedition's web site has not been up-dated since early December and no reply to the request for information had been received by the time ANAN was distributed.

Information provided in the non-government section of 2000-01 'exchange of information' documentation issued last month by the Norwegian Government as part of its obligations under the Antarctic Treaty System, says briefly that two NAE members are "skiing to the South Pole", however it does not indicate that an attempt to cross the continent was to be made.

It is possible that Bae and Sønneland are making the crossing as a result of the excellent progress they have made to date, however this seems unlikely as they would have had to have carefully studied their route options prior to leaving Troll. In response to a query from ANAN, the U.S. tour company Quark has advised that arrangements have been made for its ship 'Kapitan Khlebnikov' to pick the two men up from the vicinity of Ross Island around 1 February. Both of those factors suggest that planning for the crossing has in fact been underway for sometime, and it is possible that it may have always been part of the expedition's plans but tht they were not willing to make the information widely known.

While the route that Bae and Sønneland plan to use from the SGP to Ross Island is unknown, the distance involved is expected to be around 1,650 km, therefore the two men will need to average around forty kilometres a day if they to arrive in time to embark on 'Khlebnikov'. The ship, which carries two helicopters, is scheduled to be in the vicinity of Ross Island for three days commencing 29 January.

If the two trekkers are able to reach the ship in time, it will carry them to Hobart, Australia, from where they are expected to return to Norway by air. 'Khlebnikov' is expected to arrive in Hobart on that voyage on 14 February.

While Bae and Sønneland are making good progress in their trans-Antarctic attempt, Anne Bancroft and Liv Arnesen, who are undertaking a similar journey from DML have been slowed by light wind conditions. On the evening of New Year's Day they had just passed Latitude 85° South and were still some 550 km from the Pole, that day's travel of seventy kilometres being by far the best since they made 104 km on 20 December (ANAN-37/03, 20 December 2000).

The pair's web site continues to indicate that they must average fifty kilometres a day from now on if they are to make Ross Island in time for pick up by ship around 15 February (ANAN-33/09, 25 October 2000).

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Blind skier Miles Hilton-Barber was forced to abandon his attempt to trek to the South Geographic Pole on 22 December due to frost bitten hands, however his three companions are continuing to head southwards.

While Hilton-Barber's frost bite was not reported as being serious, the fact that he is so reliant on his hands for every day life and work was the key factor in his decision to quit after travelling some 420 km from Hercules Inlet. He was air lifted back to Adventure Network International's (ANI) summer field camp in the Patriot Hills by an aircraft that delivered fuel and other supplies to the traverse part just north of the Theil Mountains. He has since returned to the U.K.

On 28 December, the remaining three members of the Challenging Horizons group, Jon Cook, Doug Stoup and Damien Gildea (ANAN-30/02, 13 September 2000), had just passed Latitude 85° and they therefore had just over 500 km to travel to reach the Pole. The trio have managed to make around twenty-five kilometres per day over the previous week, a speed which if maintain could see them reach their goal around 17-18 January.

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Three traverse groups are now believed to have reached the South Geographc Pole this austral summer since the arrival of the two Norwegian skiers on 20 December (see ANAN-38/02 preceding).

First to arrive after the Norwegians were the Sasquatch pair of Marc Cornelissen and Wilco van Rooijen. They arrived at what is the half way point of their planned journey on 28 December after a forty-eight day trek from the Patriot Hills. They planned to rest at the Pole for several days before commencing their journey back towards the Patriot Hills.

The nine members of the 'Pole to Pole 2000 ' expedition arrived at the Pole early on 31 December after sking some 220 km from the vicinity of Latitude 88° South where they had been deployed by aircraft on 18 December (ANAN-37/04, 20 December 2000). They had originally planned to commence the traverse to the Pole from near the coast of the Filchner Ice Shelf some 250 km south-east of the Patriot Hills (ANAN-32/06, 25 October 2000).

The Pole to Pole members who reached the Pole were leader Martyn Williams and Dylan Spencer (both Canadian), Jay Choi (South Korea), Devlin Fogg (South Africa), Jessica Casas and Heidi Hausman (both U.S.), Mercedes Rosauer (Argentina), Naoki Ishikawa (Japan) and Renaurd Richard (France). Williams, Spencer, Fogg and Rosauer had planned to ski back to the Patriot Hills, however this plan has apparently been abandoned as all members of the traverse were reported to have been flown back to the Patriot Hills by commercial air operator Adventure Network International (ANI) on 1 January.

On 2 January Danes Gregers Gjersoe and Kristian Joos had passed Latitude 88°, and if they continue to make the 20-25 km a day they have been averaging of late, they should reach the Pole early next week (ANAN-33/10, 25 October 2000).

Thomas and Tina Sjorgen of the Wearable expedition reported on 1 January that the Thiel Mountains, which mark the half-way point of their trek, were in sight and that they hoped to reach them in the next few days. So far it has taken the pair just over six weeks to reach half way, and they will have to make significantly better progress if they are to reach the Pole prior to closure of commercial air operations in the region late this month. Their chances of completing the journey and being able to make an attempt to reach the North Geographic Pole later this year appear to be slipping (ANAN-35/05, 22 November 2000).

No information is currently available on the commercial 'Last Degree' traverse involving nine people. It had been scheduled to be deployed near Latitude 89° South on 16 December, however the group are known to have been delayed in Punta Arenas, Chile, as poor weather at the Patriot Hills delayed ANI flights to the continent.

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Yachts from the 'Vendee Globe 2000' and 'BT Global Challenge' around the world races, which are crossing sub-Antarctic waters in opposite directions, are currently converging on one another in the South Pacific, and the fleets are expected to start passing each other over the next few days.

Eight of the eighteen boats that are still participating in the Vendee Globe are now east of the International Date Line and are travelling east between Latitudes 52° and 55° South, while the twelve BT Global Challenge yachts are heading westwards along similar Latitudes from Cape Horn. Given the vastness of the ocean area the chances that the boats will sight each other as they pass are probably small, especially if weather conditions are poor.

The BT Global Challenge fleet left Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 10 December headed for Auckland, New Zealand (ANAN-36/02, 6 December 2000). They rounded Cape Horn in close proximity to one another on 18-19 December and have since been heading westwards at speeds of around eight knots. On the evening of 2 January the first five yachts were within thirty kilometres of each other in around Longitude 130° West. The remaining seven yachts were strung out to the east, the last being some 350 km behind the then leader 'Isle of Man'. Race officials are anticipating that the fleet will arrive in New Zealand sometime around mid-January.

While the BT Global Challenge yachts are each crewed by between twenty and thirty people, participants in the Vendee Globe sail alone (ANAN-30/04, 13 September 2000). The Vendee fleet started entering sub-Antarctic waters south of Africa in mid-December and since then have had to contend with difficult conditions are they headed eastwards towards Cape Horn. The physical and mental strain of sailing alone in the conditions, including having to deal with a range of onboard equipment problems and damage, all with minimal sleep, is a severe test of each participant's courage and resolve.

On 2 January the Vendee fleet was well spread out across sub-Antarctic waters for while the leader 'PRB' was approaching mid-Pacific Logitudes in around 140° West, the tail ender was some 10,000 km to the west in the vicinity of the Prince Edward Islands south-east of Africa. The Vendee Race headquarters is currently estimating that the leading yacht will reach Cape Horn around mid-January. If the current record for the race of just under 106 days is to be bettered, the first yacht will have to cross the finishing line in France by 17 February.

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The privately funded group 'Mission Antarctica', part of whose aim is to assist the Russian Government in its efforts to remove and recycle some 1,000 tonnes of rubbish from Bellingshausen station on King George Island (KGI), plans to conduct three voyages to the Antarctic Peninsula area from Ushuaia, Argentina, this austral summer, with its twenty-two metre yacht '2041'.

As part of their venture personnel from 'Mission Antarctica' have been visiting Bellingshausen over the past four years. The majority of visits have only lasted a few days, although one group of eight spent several weeks at the station in 1998-99 to help draw up plans for the removal of the rubbish.

Over the last three years the private venture has been attempting, via corporate and other sponsorship, to raise funds to charter a vessel to transport the materials involved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, for disposal. As part of that work it has also provided funds to enable additional Russian national program staff to be employed to work on environmental clean up issues at Bellingshausen, including preparing some of the materials involved for shipment.

Original plans called for a vessel to be chartered this month to transport materials from the Russian facility, however this has now been deferred until 2001-02.

Given its size '2041' has never been part of plans to transport rubbish from KGI, its role being to deliver representatives of Mission Antarctica's supporters to the Peninsula area as part of a wider promotion of Antarctic environmental issues, particular in the educational field. Those who participate in the yacht's voyages are primarily sponsored by corporations.
'2041' left Ushuaia on 23 December on the season's first voyage with three crew and eight 'recently qualified' teachers onboard. It arrived off Bellinghausen after a rough passage on the 28th, two days being spent there, those on board visiting the Russian facility, the nearby Chilean station Frei, and wildlife and other locations in the immediate area. While at KGI Doctors at Bellinghausen and Frei examined one of the yacht's compliment who had dislocated his elbow in a fall during the voyage south. On their advice he was flown back to Ushuaia on an Brazilian aircraft which was then at the Tenente Marsh airfield adjacent to Frei.

Following departure from KGI on the 29th, '2041' travelled further south, a landing being made at Enterprise Island before the New Year was celebrated at anchor off Port Lockroy. From there a visit to the Lemaire Channel was planned if ice conditions were suitable, then the yacht was to head back to Ushuaia where it is due late this weekend or early next week. The craft's second and third voyages, both of whom are also to visit Bellingshausen, are scheduled for the remained of January and early February.

'Mission Antarctica' puchased '2041' in 1999 and following extensive refurbishment in a Dutch ship yard and subsequent repairs in the U.K., sailed it from Europe in time to undertake one voyage to KGI from Ushuaia in March 2000. The yacht, which spent the southern winter of 2000 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is a veteran of the the first two 'wrong way' around the world sailing races under the Global Challenge title, the third of which is currently underway (see ANAN-38/05 preceding).

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Two vessels on charter to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) are to leave Wellington, New Zealand on 5 January to conduct a sixty day voyage to the area north of Marie Byrd Land in West Antarctica as part of a long-term study of whale populations.

The two ships, the 'Shonan Maru' and 'Shonan Maru 2', both of which are former whale catching vessels, have been provided to the IWC by the Japanese Government for use in a research program directed by the Commission's Scientific Committee. An IWC spokesperson told ANAN last week that the cruise has two major objectives, however none of the work planned involves the capture or killing of animals.

The cruise's first objective is to estimate the population, size and distribution of Minke whales in the research area from Latitude 60° South to the edge of the pack ice between Longitudes 110° and 140° West. This will be done by the collection of photographic and other data on the whales sighted.

The second objective is focussed on Blue whales, and aims to find ways by which the 'true' and 'pygmy' versions of that species can be readily identified. This work will include the collection of skin samples for genetic analysis, photographing whales in an attempt to identify individuals, recording whale sounds, and other behavioural data.

The voyage is part of on-going research that is being conducted under the IWC's Southern Ocean Whale and Ecosystem Research program (SOWER). Voyages such as this season's venture have been mounted to similar small sectors right around the Antarctic continent each austral summer on twenty-two previous occasions, and this is believed to be the third time that observations of this kind have been made north of Marie Byrd Land under the SOWER program .

The research onboard the two vessels will be conducted by a team of six scientists of five nationalities. Paul Ensor of New Zealand is the cruiseleader. Koji Matsuoka of Japan is a senior scientist and directs the activities aboard one of the ships. Fernanda Marques (Brazil), Hiroto Murase (Japan), Robert Pitman (USA), and Koen Van Waerebeek (Belgium) complete the research team.

The vessels are expected to end the cruise in Papeete, Tahiti, on 5 March. Results of the study will be presented at the Annual Meeting of the IWC to be held in July 2001.

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Frequent periods of high winds over the past week have made life difficult for the conservation party that is currently working on the historic huts of the 1911-14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) at Cape Denison, George V Land. The group, which was landed at Cape Denison during a lull in the weather on 24 December, is nevertheless optimistic that it can complete its work program prior to the return of their ship, the 'Sir Hubert Wilkins', on 10 January.

The party, which has been organised by the Australian non-government AAP Mawson's Huts Foundation (AMHF), includes a field leader, a carpenter, an archaeologist, a materials conservator, a doctor, a journalist who doubles as a cook, and a photographer. Their work program, which has been designed around a three-week stay on site, includes repairing the internal roof supports of the AAE living hut , recording and preserving artefacts, and removing rubbish and other items from the hut area (ANAN-35/08, 22 November 2000).

The party left Hobart, Australia, on the thirty-seven metre 'Sir Hubert Wilkins' on 16 December, four days later than scheduled, however good conditions allowed a quick passage southwards. The vessel arrived in the vicinity of the South Magnetic Pole (SMP) on the 22nd, a further period of good weather allowed a researcher from the Australian Geological Survey Organisation to conduct measurements to determine the current location of the SMP.

After the conservation party was landed at Cape Denison on the 24th the ship travelled westwards to Port Martin the former French national program station some fifty kilometres to the west, however no landings could be made there due to strong off-shore winds.

'Sir Hubert Wilkins', which is operated by the company Ocean Frontiers, returned to Cape Denison on the 27th however winds of up to seventy knots prevented a landing being made until early on the 31st. That day the ship's Hughes 300 helicopter undertook its first Antarctic flights, aerial photographs of Adelie penguin colonies at three locations in the area were undertaken of colonies that have been censused on the ground in previous years (ANAN-8/06, 10 November 2000). During another flight, what is believed to be one of the AAE's depots consisting of six fuel containers and a piece of timber crate, was discovered on the polar plateau eleven kilometres inland.

The vessel visited the French national program station Dumont d'Urville in Adelie Land on 2 January and is expected to return to Cape Denison, probably via the SMP, late this week as conditions allow.

Following the retrieval of the AMHF party from Cape Denison on 10 January, 'Sir Hubert Wilkins' is expected to head for Hobart, Australia, where it is due around 17 January. The Ocean Frontiers nineteen metre yacht 'Spirit of Sydney' is scheduled to leave Hobart for its tenth visit to Cape Denison on 11 January.

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YEAR 2001

27 January to 2 February (Cape Town, South Africa)
Meeting on measures to protect Albatrosses and Petrels in the Southern Hemisphere

5 February (King George Island, Antarctica)
Fourth Antarctic Marathon and Half Marathon.
Contact: marathon@shore.net (Thom Gilligan)

May [Date to be set](St Petersburg, Russia)
Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting XXIV

July [Dates to be set] (Washington, D.C., United States).
IAATO year 2001 annual meeting.
Contact: iaato@iaato.org (Denise Landau)(invitation required).

20-24 August (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)\
COMNAP XIII (including the sub-committee on Tourism and Non-Government Operations).
Contact: jsayers@comnap.aq (Jack Sayers).

YEAR 2002

February [Date to be set](King George Island, Antarctica)
Fifth Antarctic Marathon and Half Marathon.
Contact: marathon@shore.net (Thom Gilligan)

July [Dates/location to be set] (Europe).
IAATO year 2002 annual meeting.
Contact: iaato@iaato.org (Denise Landau)(invitation required).

13-18 July (Shanghai, China)
COMNAP XIV (including the sub-committee on Tourism and Non-Government Operations).
Contact: jsayers@comnap.aq (Jack Sayers).

YEAR 2003

July [Dates to be set] (Seattle, United States).
IAATO year 2003 annual meeting.
Contact: iaato@iaato.org (Denise Landau)(invitation required).

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