July 2008

We’ve had a busy few months, working on a variety of interesting projects, fitting in a wedding, and preparing for our sailing departure from Falmouth...

Lou's been following up on her work over the last few years in Uganda with the Wildlife Conservation Society, with further trips to Kampala and the oil-rich ( & biodiversity-rich) region of Hoima in the Albertine Rift. In addition, she's been working with WWF Norway, building a baseline assessment of Uganda and Madagascar on how environmental impacts are being managed and how civil society is engaged in the oil and mining developments found in both countries.
In the UK, Lou's been working with The Green Blue to further develop project and partnership opportunities in the marine sector. The Green Blue is doing a great job of engaging both the general public and the commercial marine sector in environmental issues, most of which can be tackled with just a slight shift in attitude and a bit of willpower...

Colin’s work on the WiSe Scheme continues, with positive discussions on its further development in the south-west, Northern Ireland and Scotland. In addition he’s been facilitating stakeholder input to a Marine Advisory Chart for use at Whiteness in the Moray Firth, and putting in the ground work for the final write-up of the Basking Shark survey work of the last 8 summers. Having less time at sea than in previous summers, he’s getting more time to write: one recent article was published in the BBC Wildlife magazine (July 08) on basking sharks in the UK; plus additions to his series of articles on the Morgans Cloud website, Attainable Adventure Cruising.

Regarding the new boat and our plans to depart, Colin has made a whole heap of adjustments and additions to the rigging and equipment on Pèlerin to prepare her for what's to come (Lou: I've been doing the curtains, and contemplating cushion designs - not!). Some boat construction quirks needed sorting out, with one too many lift outs required to right the wrongs – these things happen with new boats I’m told, but very frustrating nonetheless! Preparing a new boat for sea is a learning process, but now we’re all sorted.

She’s a better boat for it all, and we’re very much looking forward to putting her through her paces with our imminent passage from Cornwall to Scotland.

We've grabbed a few weekend sails now and then (blasting across Falmouth Bay in 30 knot winds eliminated ALL cobwebs), but with a combination of looming work deadlines, challenging weather and other commitments, our planned departure for early July has slipped a little. However we hope to set sail before too long, to regain our photographic and filming skills, and find ourselves some serious winds and testing conditions.

We’ve moved out of our office at Falmouth Marine School, as our floating home/office will be aboard Pèlerin. But it’s what you might call a “transition period” at the moment - we’re living/working wherever we can, and certainly able to test out the mobile office concept! We’re both desperate to start the next tranche of our adventure, so hopefully our next post will be from the sea looking landwards, instead of the other way round!