Archery and the Guernsey Games

Happy end of June to you all! I hope you are all well.

The highlight of June for me was escaping to Guernsey for some sunshine, archery and to meet up with Hengameh and my mum and dad.

From June 16th to 22nd the Bowmen of Guernsey hosted an archery competition for small islands. This was the first international archery competition that the Falklands has taken part in since the archery club started 18 months ago. So early on the morning of Tuesday the 11th June the six archers going to compete sat in Mount Pleasant Airport waiting to start a 36 hour journey to get to Guernsey,

 The journey involved an 19 hour flight to the UK then a three hour taxi ride to Poole in Dorset then a 4 hour ferry crossing on Condor's fast catamaran (which was quite rough and locally known as the 'vomit comet') with lots of waiting at various points. On arrival in Guernsey we were met by Steve from Guernsey bowmen in what was quickly christened 'the special bus!'. Suits us doesn't it.

 Before the competition started we had a couple of days to practice and pose in our Falkland Islands kit. Very smart don't you think? As you can see we had lovely weather (whilst it was snowing down south).

 Mum and dad came for a short break to Guernsey and came to watch us practice for a while. They got to meet the team and it was great to spend time with them. I spent the mornings practicing and then in afternoon we went out sight-seeing together. Sadly their break ended before the competition started but I think they had a good holiday.

 So Monday saw the start of the competitions the first one being a FITA which for the men was 144 arrows - 36 each at 90m, 70m, 50m and then 30m. For the ladies the distances were 70m, 60m, 50m and 30m. Amazingly Team Falklands came third and got bronze just behind Orkney. Guernsey won. I came 4th out of the gents recurve archers.

 More competition on Tuesday and then a rest day on Wednesday. We were taken on a tour of Guernsey in the special bus. A lovely fish and chips lunch and some spectacular scenery.

 Thursday was the day of the outdoor imperial shoots and whilst I shot averagely - Jo in the team got a ladies bronze medal. Friday was the last day of competition and we moved to the leisure centre for the indoor FITA rounds. 60 arrows at 25m shooting at a 3 spot 60cm target and then 60 arrows at 18m shooting at a 3 spot 40cm target. The hall was warm and stuffy and we were all a bit tired so lots of concentration required. Completely surprising myself I won gold! So I am very proud of myself and proud to have represented the Falklands in their first international archery competition!

So I enjoyed my taste of summer. I hope you are enjoying it now - as i now sit out the rest of a South Atlantic winter.

Love to you all - stay well and I hope to hear from you soon.

Mark

South Georgia

Happy end of March to you all.

Its significant for me because I have now been working in the Falklands for two years - so one year to go! So if any one wants to offer me a job in a few months time - please feel free!

Also March was significant because I visited South Georgia courtesy of the Royal Navy when I went there on HMS Clyde. Clyde is a River Class patrol ship - so quite small and the South Atlantic seas are quite big so we had a bumpy ride with 5-6 metre waves on the way down to SG.

On the way down I shared the cabin shown below with 4 others and on the way back with 5. Mine was the bottom bunk on the left.

SG hasbeen described as being like the Alps sliced off and placed in the South Atlantic. Below is the view from Clyde as we approached - the man in the bow is looking out for small icebergs called 'growlers' which are hard to spot and mainly under the surface - but can still put a hole in a ship.

I saw some wildlife I haven't seen before on SG including fur seals - which are aggressive seals that will chase you and bite you and you haveto scare them off. In the briefing before landing we were shown gruesome pictures of peoples hands and feet thathad been bitten and were infected. However the seals themselves looked very cute.

We also saw Chinstrap Penguins - see if you can guess why they are called that? Apparently they are quite rare.

HMS Clyde moored at anchor for the first night and then the next morning berthed alongside King Edward Point - which is where the British Antartic Survey have a base  - as does the SG government.

I went for a lovely long walk up a hill called Brown Mountain and got some spectacular views into SG and back to where the Clyde was moored. It was a rare sunny warm day and I was able to walk in a T-shirt. (Obviously had warm and waterproof clothing with me as the weather can change rapidly.)

Near KEP is an old whaling station called Grytviken which is quietly rusting away.Below is a picture of one of the boats that was used to spot and harpoon the whales. You can see the harpoon at the bow and the lookout would be in the crows nest on the top of the mast. These boats are quite small and must have been very scarey to sail in the big seas around SG.

The other highlight of the trip was getting up close to icebergs on the Clyde's rigid raider. These little boats are designed to land 8 marines at high speed. They can do about 40 knots! So we donned our survival suits and flew over the water to see the icebergs in Cumberland Bay. Apparently without a suit - you have less than 10 minutes...

After a final dinner of reindeer we left SG the following morning for the three and a half day sail back. On the way we sailed under some high pressure and the sea became like glass. So the crew decided to play 'bucket ball' on the flight deck. It was described as a non-contact game - so I joined in - it turned out to be a combination between net ball and rugby. I got taken out by a senior rating and managed to chip a bone in my ankle and tear the ligaments - it is slowly getting better!

Any way - enoughfrom me for now. I hope all is well with you all and hope to hear from some of you.

Love Mark.

Christmas 2012 Family Visit

A very belated happy new year to you all and my apologies for not posting for a while. Its all been very busy and continues to be so with the run up to the referendum - which I am sure you must have heard about. Lots of preparation work to do along with the projects to update the criminal law and application of English law and a two week inquest about a death in South Georgia - along with all the normal work!

But I did have a lovely break over Christmas when first of all jade came down and then for three whole days I had Hengameh, Jade & Jimmy and then Jade went and I had Hengameh and Jim for a while.

I took the famliy to Kidney Island which is a small island about 40 minutes from Stanley by boat. It is packed with wildlife.

I took Jade on one trip before H & Jimmy arrived for a up close encounter with sealions, rockhopper penguins, macaroni penguins, elephant seal, sooty shearwaters and lots of tussac grass. I think she enjoyed it.
 Then everyone was here and we had a traditional christmas with turkey and all the trimings. The weather was a bit rubbish over Christmas but we all managed to stay cosy. We went to a friends house near Darwin and played pitch and putt and had a BBQ which made a lovely afternoon.

We also saw some other strange animals in the Falklands - I think this one might be a rare breed as I had never seen one before. It had strange eating habits and seemed to like taking chocolates off the Christmas tree.

Then once Jade had gone I then took Hengameh and Jim to Kidney Island as well. Hengameh really likes Rockhopper Penguins and there are loads of them on the island many with chicks. I still think that they look slightly sinister and I still don't want to meet one in a dark alley.

The islands also have a good number of king cormorants and blue eyed shags which like the rockhoppers allow you to get really close - so you can get some great pictures.

The stars on Kidney Island are the sealions which are noisy, and constantly playing and fighting and playing king of the castle on the rocks on the shore. I have some great video and so does Hengameh. The bull on the right probably weighed a metric tonne or two and was definately top dog!

However for me the cutest are still the elephant seal pups - they have such lovely eyes!

We played lots of board games - the famliy gave me the 'Settlers of Catan' game and the seafarers expansion pack and we spent a lot of time playing this game and eating good food and just being together. It was lovely and I really loved having them down and miss them now they are gone. Hopefully I will see H & Jimmy at the end of March. I am still keeping my fingers crossed to get down to South Georgia and if I do get there I should have some lovely photos to share with you.

Keep safe and well and love to you all.