Transitions to the Next Phase

Seagoing boats come to shore for transitions. The open ocean is where they live and work, where they move and where their crew is most at home. Sea Dragon came into the USVI just before Christmas to turn a major corner in her new role. With over 8,000 miles of shakedown and testing behind us, we are set to engage on a new, more intense phase of work. We had refitted, upgraded and now proven her in the run from England. With long days of all sails and no wind, grasping for any forward motion- we understood how to make full advantage of her canvass. With unexpected gusts to 55kts and 20' seas behind us, she had given us the confidence to go forward true to her official rating…"all oceans." We have navigated narrow 20' deep channels of chocolate milk like water into the Guyanas, maneuvered in tight spaces on "miniature European harbors" and held anchor in 30kts of wind. The boat is ready. Our work also went through a series of tests and early results. We have completed over a dozen high quality beach transects for plastic counts – and one open water trawl. The team has also collected a wide range of fish tissue samples that will soon be on their way to the University of Miami for toxins analysis. Interviews with conservationists, fisherman and ordinary people along the way gave us a consistent, colorful and, often, tragic sense of ocean decline. Perhaps most importantly, we have scouted a large area new to our crew that will provide valuable options for our future trips. Several like Guyana, Tobago, the USVI and the Cape Verdes have exceptional future potential. There are a swarm of ideas taking shape for expedition work in these locations. And, we have made valuable connections to people that will be a part of the journey ahead – like Dale Selvam. Dale is an ex big wave surfer that has shown himself a fantastic team leader and adventurer (and he comes with the complete 26 volume Jacques Cousteau video set).

We left anchor in St. John on the first of January and sailed, roundabout to St. Thomas that night. Enroute, we made a point of heading off the south shore of St. John seven miles out to where the edge drops off. A relic feature from lower sea levels during the last ice age, there is a narrow ridge of 60-80' water separating the 150'deep shelf towards land, and the abrupt 60-degree down slope to over 3,000'. This deep trench separates St. John and St. Croix. Steep rises like this create water flow, nutrient exchange and, inevitably life. Sailing with our lines out astern you can just feel the life below. Flying fish jump, turbulence on the surface, seabirds in the air…and then the pull of a 7kg mahi-mahi on the line. We ran along this hidden ridge for several miles before heading in. Chris Russo and I both made mental notes to come back here someday and dive. It would be tricky to hit the ridge top and keep the boat near for safety…but well worth the chance to see schools of tuna and mahi hunting the surface waters above.

Due to our draft and size, we have to use the Yacht Haven Grande marina in St. Thomas. Without a doubt the "grandest" we have ever tied up in, we have the unusual feeling of being the small boat. Surrounded by 100'+ mostly power yachts, we are in another world. Only the cruise ships arriving a few docks over give these boats any humility. Bill Gates, Larry Ellison (on his 450'yacht) and many others are passing thru. I cannot help but think of the good that could be done if we could enlist yachts like these for conservation! Surely their owners must tire of endless highly controlled, peaceful circles where the only objective is having a nice time? We would prefer to be out, but need the access of dock to get ready.

On 3 January, Marcus and Anna arrived signaling the true beginning of the next phase. Welcomes aside we all now set to the process of transition. The boat has to be ready, the people settled and prepared, and the routes and planning done. There were, inevitably, more things to do to ready Seadragon. Like bridge painting, we are on an endless cleaning process – bilges, walls, bunks, floors, hull steel, chrome…. At one point Steve and I are completely wrapped up in a painful exercise of unpacking, counting, cleaning and re-purchasing sheets and blankets for all 14 bunks. I have great respect for quartermasters and cabin stewards. I am in a constant mode of triage Do it ourselves now, outsource or put off until the next stop. Rebuilding the port wind turbine gives us a chance to re-weld the crane brackets with "Bobbie" from Alabama. The rigger comes down to strengthen the chafe protection on an anchor line, splice new traveler control lines and make us a proper tack line for the big asymmetric spinnaker. We spend hours downloading software updates and more importantly, navigation charts for the new Toughbook computer. There are fuel filters to change, a starboard head to rebuild, dive tanks to VIP, water lines to check, generator repairs, new deck hardware, winches to grease, steering cables to inspect, and mast rigging to inspect. I am packing out the prior gear to go home, making space and organizing for the new to come in. We update the sat-phone software…only to find out at the last minute that the navigation program Maxsea will not download the weather (OK, work around this). Some things don't get done- a new VHF radio is on the boat but not installed (we can do this in an emergency if needed), the outboard oil changes have to wait, and the new plumbing for our water sensors is on hold until Bermuda.

We did just get the important new CO2 sensor from Sunburst in Missoula MT. This instrument is a critical addition that will allow us to automatically log dissolved CO2 levels for NOAA and independent researchers. Facing the intimidating threat of ocean acidification, the science community is in desperate need of data to understand this relatively recent issue. Common wisdom had been that the seas ability to absorb prodigious amounts of CO2 was all good news. However, like jet-fuel on an already smoldering fire of concern, the emerging view is that this absorption may set up an equally catastrophic condition. As the ocean absorbs the gas, pH declines and acidity increases. If this really happens the universal foundations of marine food chains will be severely impacted. Diatoms, Foram plankton, coral, mollusks, lobsters…everything with a calcium-based skeleton will be stressed. We hope our early deployment will encourage other boats….like the ones around us to carry theses sensors as well. This, and our existing Hach water sensor that measures pH, Temp, Salinity and Turbidity will be installed in Bermuda.

The most important transition is the crew. We have two excellent skippers on board now to take the role of myself, Portia and Dale. Clive Cosby skippered one of the Challenge boats in the actual race, and John Wright is an experienced hand in big boats around the UK. Both are RYA Yacht master certified. This trip will be a new challenge for them. They will be asked to put the mission first and sailing second as a means of transit. The team will ask to do some unusual things at sea…deliberately seek low wind, get off the boat in the middle of the ocean, stop for hours while a deep sampling probe is lowered 14,000'…

Marcus and Anna are new to the boat, but well seasoned on high seas science voyages. They met on an 80+-day "junk raft" trek from CA to Hawaii. Stiv Wilson, editor or Wend magazine is in awe of a boat that "does not move when you step aboard". After his first 2-hour sail in the harbor he immediately re-arranged his work schedule to join the second 2000-mile leg to the Azores. John Howard of Ecousable casually reveals that he is really a professional musician…"I better know how to sing well" Ivan Martinetti as a major sponsor from Blue Turtle is living the purpose of his organization. Leslie from a social justice background is a) diving into the galley organization, and b) thinking through a whole new layer of connections between here work at home and tragedy of ocean pollution. Steve our long-term intern finds himself, again, the junior voice in the group. This is good, he's getting what he wanted and needed – a chance to be constantly knocked around, humbled and challenged to greater things. I laugh when I think that his mom's biggest concern was that he might, due to the trip, skip college and just be an eco/surf bum. The kid is drowning in the product of higher learning- swamped with talent, big ideas, PhD's and proof that you need real skills to get things done!

These are all good people serious about their mission ahead. We now work to make them mariners who can work as a team. Clive, Marcus, Anna and I are united in a strong message of Safety for the boat and crew, productivity in the work and the fun will follow. My own experience at sea is that if you get the first two right, you win. Keep the boat and the crew safe; get the work done people will leave feeling right about the trip. No matter how hard the weather, long the watches, cold the water – get these two right and people feel good. It's the same whether you are fishing in the Bering Sea, or collecting bits of plastic and data in the Sargasso. So we talk, and talk. We demonstrate, tell stories, and go out for a shakedown test sail. Stay on the boat at all costs, stay out of danger triangles that can take out an arm or foot with the boats full force, mind the winches, use your senses, react to any anomaly, ask questions…the advice is timeless and persistent since the Phoenicians. The sea is a tremendous and amazing world, but is it not your friend. Treat her with respect and you will be rewarded.

The last piece is planning. Marcus and Clive have a tough balance to manage between schedule, work productivity and the dynamic weather patterns. The research work cannot be done in over 20kts of wind or any excessive sea state. This time of year there is a dichotomy of weather in the 800nm between tropical USVI and Bermuda. The northern 1/3 is regularly swept by powerful fast moving lows. As I write one with hurricane force winds off Nova Scotia is rippling into Bermuda. These systems will "enhance" the boats entry to Bermuda and can create peripheral winds and large swells. The bottom 2/3 of the trip is mostly light air ideal for the research. However compression of nearby high-pressure systems or the outer bands of the lows can push the winds up. This will be a strategy, like chess, of when to advance, to linger, and to press hard on the research work. Getting it right will bring the team home safe and productive. It will make all the difference in mission success. They make a first cut plan to move slowly north and east trawling heavily as they go. The plan, like all, will not survive contact with the enemy as we say (in this case those low pressure systems). They will adapt real-time with the weather at hand, and the forecasts we send them via sat phone.

Seadragon is transitioned. The boat is ready, the crew is set to go to to sea, and the plans are in place. Like all who have been before they will ultimately be alone with the sea and have no certain fate before them. Protect the boat, work hard, and be smart with the weather and they have every chance of success. We all need them to succeed. This mission is too important to fail. We must learn of the state of the Atlantic and plastics. Excited by the Pacific, we are missing crucial insight into the waters between the two great-industrialized continents of North America and Europe. We keep them in our thoughts.