Around South Georgia

In November 2005, five expedition members Circumnavigated the Islands of South Georgia.

Lying in the 'Roaring Forties' South Georgia remains as one of the greatest challenges within the seakayaking world. A group of Islands not much larger than Rhode Island. It's not the size but more the technical difficulties which make this such a great challenge.

The South Georgian Government has stipulated that any expedition attempting this must provide their own support vessel. Previous attempts have resulted in failure and with the absence of any Air/Sea rescue facilities they will not accept any responsibility for expeditions requiring assistance.

The expedition members are Jim Rowlinson who has coordinated the preparations and shall be acting as link man on the support vessel, Peter Bray, Nigel Dennis, Hadas Feldman and Jeff Allen.

For more information on Operation South Georgia 'click' on the link above and follow the progress throughout November and December 2005.

South Georgia Diary

Wednesday 3rd Nov

Message from Ross Kingsford: Jeff Allen and Hadas Fieldman set off for Paddington Station (London) from Truro Station (Cornwall) at 7:45. Jeff is worried that he may not have packed enough socks............

Wednesday 9th Nov

Message from Jeff Allen:

Page 1, 2 Having arrived safely in Port Stanley we are now awaiting the Pelagic
Australis (the support vessel) which has been delayed due to bad weather.
However, we should be joining the vessel on Thursday or Friday and then
heading down to South Georgia. Heavy winds have entertained us during our
stay in the Falklands but the delay has given us the opportunity to make all
our preparations with regards to equipment and we are looking forward to
sailing soon.

Saturday 12th Nov

Message from Jef Allen: Hi, we've just loaded all kayaks and provisions on board the Australis Pelagic and are now ready to sail. we shall be leaving early tomorrow
morning, warnings of much ICE!!!!!!!!!! between here and South Georgia.

Monday 14th Nov

Message from Jef Allen: We sailed from Port Stanley two days ago. Dolphins, Whales, 14
metre Southern Ocean swells, and now Ice Burgs have kept us all excited. Our
present location is 52 degrees 21" 81S 49 degrees 49" 62W. Team is in good
spirits, looking forward to seeing South Georgia for the first time.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005 10:50 PM

Message from Jef Allen: Hi, all's still well. Just had our first sighting of South Georgia, Willis Island on the North West tip. Should be in Grytviken by 8am tomorrow. Will start
paddling a.s.a.p, possibly by early afternoon tomorrow as the weather is due
to change soon.
Give my love to all
Jeff xxx

Report for 2nd Day, 18th November 2005

Message from Jef Allen: Latitude 54 03.6000S Longitude 037 09.2000 W


Started at 0730 and once out of the bay we were into a head wind of force 4.
We paddled hard during the morning then stopped on a beach in Fortuna Bay
for lunch. Getting ashore here we had our first introduction to Fur Seals.
Being on shore and seeing the wild life was too good to miss, Elephant
Seals, Fur Seals, and King Penguins with their young, all dressed in brown
and moulting their fluffy winter coats.

After lunch we saw the yacht and made radio comms. The afternoon took us
along the waters edge face of Fortuna Glacier, what a sight, hundreds of
shades of blues within the ice with towering ice pinnacles, each their own
sculpture.

We moved on to Blue Whale Harbour, an option for our over night base,
however in contact with the yacht, the wind across Possession Bay leading to
Prince Olav Harbour was possible if we pushed on hard. With 4 nautical miles
to go we decided to stay close to each other across this windy, open sea
area. Half way across we encounted wind gusts over force 5, the sky though
was a picture, made up of Lenticular clouds, with shapes like flying
saucers.

It was a hard day, but we had reached our planned objective for the day.
Well fed, we settled in for night to the sounds of seals barking and
grunting all night long.

Saturday, November 19th

Rosita Harbour 54°00’.7200 South, 037°36’.7300 West

Message from Jef Allen: The morning weather forecast told of following winds for the day so we were on the water for 09:30 having run the fur seal gauntlet. The fog had come in overnight and Nigel had worked out two stiff legs for us, a morning paddle to Albatross Island and then on to Cape Buller on the mainland.

Approaching the island the fog came right in and we fought off the fur seals on the beach for a 6’x 6’ lunch spot. In the wind and not working to keep warm any more lunch was a pretty cold occasion so after a quick break it was back into the boats for leg two. Once around the headland from the beach the sky began to lift and it was with good visibility and following seas that we made fine progress in the afternoon.

Later on the fog came in close again and temperatures began to plummet and due to the forecast from skipper Steve aboard Pelagic Australis the previous night we knew that the chances of paddling the following day were non-existent. With this in mind we called the yacht via VHF radio to ask them to pick us up so we could go back with them to a safe anchorage at Rosita Harbour.

The pick up went very smoothly considering deteriorating conditions and the fact that we had not practiced the manoeuvre previously due to lack of time. Despite this it was still getting late as we headed for our anchorage.

Picking up four kayaks in a rolling bay and increasing winds is not the easiest thing and involves a Zodiac being launched alongside the yacht to act as a cushion with the boarding ladder deployed and the secret weapon that “Mag” had designed on the way down here. The “pick up cradle” is a long pole with a loop of rope at either end into which bow and stern of the kayak is inserted. Each of us came alongside the Zodiac and flipped out of our kayak into it, climbed the ladder and the kayak was lifted by halyard onto Pelagic’s deck.

In spite if our lack of practice, the bouncy sea conditions and the fact that we were freezing cold by this stage, with the hard work of everybody on board the kayaks were soon safely stowed on deck. I am sure that the experience will serve us well in the future should such retrieval prove necessary.

Overall the day was quite successful, with some good miles clocked and we feel we are well on schedule at the moment.

With a weather window due to open (fingers crossed) we will return to the same location and continue on, South Georgia throws out the best and the worst, no day is ever the same.

Sunday, November 20, 2005 10:49 PM
Subject: Day 3 Up Date

Message from Jef Allen: It's cold, snowed last night, hope tomorrow is good.

Monday, November 21, 2005 11:04 PM

Lat 54 00.5700 S Lon 37 41.4000 W

Message from Jeff Allen: Forced off the water today , swell and North west winds,

Page 1, 2 Fur seals are very aggressive, as is the weather, very unpredictable, went from a force 4 to a force 8 in seconds today, took Pete by surprise and capsized him, water is freezing, after ten minutes hands and feet are freezing. Feet especially lose all feeling, my cockpit leaks and I am sat in 2" of freezing water most of the time All is well, spirits high, best wishes to everyone following the team.

Thursday, November 24, 2005 11:02 PM

Message from Anon: There was no paddling today due to large seas and heavy head winds, but it
was hoped that the following day would see the team able to continue on. This proved to be the case, at 1700 hours local time the wind had dropped sufficiently for them to carry on. Head winds of 20 knots and gusts in excess of 30 knots still made this an arduous task but by 2100 hours they managed to make Elsehul,54 01. 6370s, 37 57. 8800 finishing in the dark. This placed them in a good position to round Cape Paradyn and paddle through Bird sound onto the South coast. This proved to be the case. By 1430 they reached Saddle Island (54 08.0110 S 3743 , the many icebergs scattered across the horizon confirmed without doubt they had finally reached the South coast.

Poisiton as of 4:30 is Lat 54 908.0110S Lon 37 43 .8010

Friday, November the 25th,

Message from Jeff Allen: Head winds slowed our start. We were forced to shelter for a quick carb replem amongst aggressive fur seals. We battled on, eventually making Homestrand by about 1600hrs, then having to spent the next two hours securing a place to camp on the beach. A fitful nights sleep amongst the grunts, growls and whines of the local population. With a background song of a baby fur seal with whooping cough.

Saturday, November the 26th

We woke to heavy snow and an audience of penguins. Throughout the day we paddled down amazing coast line, full of mountain high glaciers and lands of icebergs - visited by only by those bold enough. God must have smiled upon us by granting us a few days of perfect weather. However, both Pete and
Nigel could do without Mr and Mrs next door moaning about who is cooking breakfast in the morning.

Present location: 54 degrees 26".2890 South 036 degrees 48".493 West

Monday, November 28, 2005 10:20 PM

Message from Jeff Allen: Leaving Trollhul early this morning we made the final 5 miles to Cape
Disapointment in good time, landing on a small beach amidst the fur seals, elephant seals and breading penguins, we took the oppurtunity to savour the moment. We realise how lucky we have been. Mother nature has smiled, three days of near perfect weather not only allowed us to venture down this untravelled, remote coastline, but also gave us time to explore. Calving glaciers, seas of ice and a breaching whale have kept us spell bound, (as well as songs from Hadas). As soon as we reached Drygalski we felt the wind once more, 25-30 knots on the beam kept us occupied for our first days paddling North bound.

Wednesday, November 30, 2005 1:29 PM


Message from Anon: Subject: SG Kayakers Up Date
Listed is the last 36 hours of positions for the South Georgia kayakers

28th of November, end of day position
Lat 54 47.0100 S Lon 035 49.1390 W

1100 GMT 30th of November, current position, Cape Harcourt
Lat 54 30.0000 S Lon 036 00.0000 W

Thursday, December 1st 2005

Final Message from Jeff Allen: Leaving Coopers Bay we paddled northwards. We reached Cape Charlotte and got hit by katabatic winds. These were the worst winds any of us had been caught in before and we were forced to make an emergency landing on a small beach on the south side of Royal Bay. At 0630 hours the following morning we packed away our tents and set off on what we hoped would be our final day. Starting to cross Royal Bay in light winds, but confused seas, we continued on, staying close to shore due to signs of wind, in the cloud formations forming overhead. As the day wore on the wind did increase and the temperature dropped, gusts in excess of 30-35 knots battered us with regularity. By late evening we rounded Barff Point and started to cross Cumberland Bay, a snow blizzard set in, freezing winds could not however diminish the smiles on our faces, as we followed our compasses, steadily approaching the finish line. At 2200 hours local time we crossed the line to a very warm welcome from the crew of Pelagic Australis, BAS personnel, staff of the South Georgia museum and the few locals of this most amazing Island.

Our thanks go out to our sponsors, supporters, families and friends who have all helped to make this amazing adventure possible.

Location- Latitude- 54 degrees 16 minutes 98 seconds south.

Longitude- 36 degrees 29 minutes 79 seconds west.

Final Update.

9 December 2005:

We arrived back in Port Stanley at 2230 local time. 4 days and 7 hours of sailing from Grytviken to Port Stanley, an exceptionally fast time by all accounts.

The first successful British expedition to circumnavigate the Island of South Georgia, setting the fastest time on record.

A total of 13 days and eight hours.

The challenge to paddle around South Georgia has been considered by many to be the ultimate challenge to any sea kayaker, comparisons between it and K2 to the climbing world have been bandied about, but South Georgia is truly unique and stands alone in the challenges that it does present, it certainly didn’t disappoint us. We had the best and the worst that mother nature had to offer, when the going was good we made as much progress as we could, forcing ourselves to extend the limits at times to which you would not normally consider reasonable, over and above the norm. When the weather was really bad we had no option, paddling wasn’t possible. The hardest thing to judge were those gaps in-between, seeing a weather system form overhead and wind increase from a force 2/3 to a full force 9 in the space of minutes was at times very frightening, especially when you were half way across a five mile open crossing. All of the usual safety nets kayakers back home take for granted, VHF, Coastguard, RNLI even mobile phones were none existent and we knew that down here we were on our own, a self contained unit having to work as a team and being able to trust collectively in the decision making process meant so much more when making daily goals. Although we had to have a support vessel to satisfy the license, the only time we saw it was when the weather was sound, if things turned foul they needed to head for cover as much as we did, what a seventy foot yacht considers appropriate shelter is well removed from what a kayaker would consider to be appropriate.

A yacht such as Pelagic Australis can always head for open water, for us we had to take exceptional care when undertaking crossings, always looking for changes in the clouds, looking at the surface of the sea and reading the flow of water becomes second nature, if it hadn’t we may well have suffered for the mistake and this could have been a different update today.

We realize that there have been technical problems with our web site and updates, for which we apologize, especially to our sponsors, this will be rectified upon our return to the U.K.

We will also establish a photo page, including all expedition members thoughts and feelings on our expedition to South Georgia , during the month of January.