Ella Hibbert at the Little Ship Club

Posted By John Hasselgren, 30 January 2025

Ella Hibbert at the Little Ship Club

by John Hasselgren

Another year has gone by and it was again time for the Small Craft Group to accept the hospitality of the Little Ship Club and to arrange a speaker for them.

This year’s talk was by Ella Hibbert, who very animatedly and enthusiastically described her plans to sail single-handed round the Arctic Ocean by way of both the North-West Passage and the North-East Passage. By this large undertaking Ella intends to draw attention to the changes that this part of the world is having inflicted on it by human activity, in particular by climate change. It will also be the first voyage of this kind and, as well as raising awareness of the state of the Arctic, it is expected to raise funds for two charities – Polar Bears International and Ocean Conservancy. The first is seeking to conserve polar bears which are under threat of reducing numbers due to loss of habitat, the second attempting to conserve the unregulated Arctic Ocean from mass exploitation and pollution.

Ella described herself as being used to a rather nomadic life due to her father having been a serving soldier who was relocated several times while she was growing up. Now 28 years old, she is a RYA Yachtmaster Instructor and a PADI Divemaster. She is bi-lingual and well travelled, and has a passion to preserve the oceans.

The first job when preparing for this voyage was to find a suitable boat. Ella had definite views on what she wanted. Firstly, it must be sturdy and capable of coping with ice conditions. This dictated a steel hull. Next requirement was for steering from inside a wheel house to allow an escape from the weather. Other desirable features were a sensible length; not too long to give manoeuvrability around ice and a reputable design that could be rigged for single-handed sailing. Quite by chance, while running a sailing school course, Ella berthed alongside what she realized was the right vessel, Yeva, a 38 foot Bruce Roberts designed steel ketch. Asking if Yeva was for sale, Ella found that she was, and then had to secure the funding to buy and refit her.

Seeking sponsorship Ella was supported in Spring 2024 by several companies, the main one being capital.com, a financial investment company. Beyond this, though, are a long list of marine companies giving their products, time or equipment to this project. A full list of all these can be found on Ella’s website, ellainthearctic.co.uk.

Yeva has been given a full refit, including a repaint, new sails with both standing and running rigging, and several items designed to minimize any impact on the environment. These include a watermaker, both a solar panel and a hydro-generator to provide electrical power, self-steering and a heater. One innovation is a filtration system fitted to the bilge pump outlet that will remove micro-plastic that now seems to be found in all oceans.

Moving on to her desire to preserve the oceans, and particularly the Arctic Ocean, Ella spoke passionately of some of the problems. Unlike the Antarctic, there is no International Agreement on the ownership or use of the Arctic area, and no treaty to limit the pollution from oil and plastic. With the withdrawal of the ice there are likely to be conflicting demands for the exploitation of the mineral resources that have, until recently, been out of reach. There is the prospect that the Arctic could be free of ice by 2028, which, with the melting of the Greenland ice sheet, will cause a large rise in sea level. Additionally, the darker colour of the unfrozen sea compared with the original ice will cause a reduction in the reflection of sunlight, thus increasing global warming. There will be the prospect of wild fires in the northern Russian forests. All this leads to Ella’s desire that her voyage will not contribute to any of these problems, and to many of the changes made to, and included on board, Yeva. The water generator, for example, will, given a speed of three knots, produce more electricity than Yeva consumes.

Last year, 2024, between July and October, Ella and Yeva undertook a shake-down voyage of 3,500 nautical miles, from the UK to Norway, with crew, then single handed to Longyearbyen on Svalbard and back. At Bear Island Ella experienced a total steering failure. She also had some flooding and a non-working bilge pump, leading to the need to pump manually. With advice and help to fix these difficulties, Ella then sailed back to Shetland before returning to the UK.

The yacht is currently undergoing a refit to counter problems discovered on shake-down voyage. “Is any boat ever truly finished?”, asked Ella. She has now moved back on board and is getting on with some of the jobs. Amongst other things she is undertaking instruction in electricity and electronics with a view to becoming self-sufficient in these areas.

One major effort is getting all the necessary permits and visas; so far the Russians have approved Ella’s plans, have accepted the boat’s survey and provided a list of ports that could be used if needed. Canada seems to be slightly slower in this regard. Before the planned departure date of May 2025 Ella plans to do more sea trials. In the mean time she will be giving talks and interviews to schools, groups and clubs as well as using social media to raise awareness of the environmental issues.

More details are available on social media using the address @ellainthearctic.

Once again, Ella insisted that this is not a record attempt, but a wake-up call.

Once the journey is over, Ella plans to put Yeva up for sale by auction, with the proceeds being shared between the two charities, Polar Bears International and Ocean Conservancy.

During questions Ella stated that she has fitted Granny Bars at the main mast for safety when working there and that the winches are not self-tailing, needing two hands to work them.

On weather forecasts she told us that her father flew helicopters in the Army for 20 years and is used to looking at forecasts. He will be checking relevant forecasts and forwarding them to her.

Daily video reports from automatic cameras on board can be expected, but are dependent on the availability of the internet wherever she happens to be.

She would like to make the voyage non-stop, but needs to consider supplies. She would prefer to avoid stocking up in Russia, although they have suggested suitable ports.

On being asked if she would be collecting water samples, Ella said that although this would be ideal it wasn’t possible. The equipment to analyse the samples would be too bulky and heavy to carry. The alternative would be to have sufficient fridge space to return the samples for on-shore analysis.

On charts, Ella said she would be carrying both paper and electronic charts from the USA, Canada and Norway. Russian charts would be useful, although they were not easy to obtain.

At the end of the meeting Paul Bryans thanked the Little Ship Club for hosting us, and Ella for a fascinating and enthusiastic presentation.

Tags: arctic ocean circumnavigation climate change sailing SCG Small Craft Group

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Ian Herbert-Jones at The Cruising Association

Posted By John Hasselgren, 18 December 2024

Ian Herbert-Jones at The Cruising Association

Report by John Hasselgren

With a talk entitled “Going Solo”, Ian Herbert-Jones entertained the audience at the Small Craft Group's sponsored evening at the Cruising Association’s headquarters. Giving a brief history, Ian said that he had served in the British Army, which is where he learnt to sail. Following a career in technology, Ian then became interested in the Golden Globe Race, described as the World’s longest and loneliest race, especially due to its lack of modern technology.

As Round the World yacht racing developed it became more and more a matter of money, expensive large vessels with enormous shore teams supporting the single or multiple crew on board. The Golden Globe harks back to the original single-handed Round the World Race won by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston in 1969.

Founded by Don McIntyre in 2018, the 50th Anniversary of the original single-handed, round-the-world race, the rules stipulate that the vessels and their equipment must be similar to that available in 1969. Yachts must be between 32 ft and 35 ft overall (9.75 m and 10.97 m), designed before 1988 and have a long keel with the rudder attached to the trailing edge. Modern technology is not allowed, so navigation comes back to the use of a sextant; no outside help may be obtained during the race, and autopilots are banned.

The course runs from Les Sables-d’Olonne, 30 thousand miles non-stop around the world via the Great Capes and back to Les Sables-d’Olonne.

Ian signed up for the race in 2018 and needed to find a suitable boat. Puffin was the result; a Tradewind 35 class yacht, she had been around the world in the Race once before. Following the purchase in France, she was then sailed back to Wales for preparation.

Despite being a single-handed race, Ian stressed the need for a large team, mainly for the preparation. Apart from his family – Ian said it was selfish of him to go – he was greatly assisted by Jade Edwards-Leaney, the rigger at HJ Sailing, who became the manager of the project and, as Ian said, trained both the boat and himself. The refit was a three-year project. The rig was changed to have three headsails, with all running rigging being led aft to the cockpit. The companionway to the accommodation was fitted with a sealable, watertight door. With no autopilot being allowed, a wind-vane self-steering gear had to be fitted, but because a regular weekly radio call to Don McIntyyre was required, a battery charger was allowed. A two-burner alcohol stove was fitted, and safety straps were attached to the bunk. Despite the race being non-stop round the world there are gates through which the yachts are expected to pass. These are located at the major turning points close to the Great Capes. At these, the competitors are met by a RIB for the collection of “films” and letters home; they may also have letters and messages read to them.

Prior to the race, Ian had to complete a 4,000-mile qualifying passage, undertake a Sea Survival course, a First Aid course and be instructed on astro-navigation. In the final days before the start, Ian’s wife Sally helped prepare 300 day-packs of food, and 300 litres of water was taken on board, with the expectation of topping this up with rainwater.

Two weeks before the Race the boats gathered at Les Sables-d’Olonne. All the Boats lined up and it was apparent that only sixteen of those who signed up were going to start. There were large crowds viewing the boats. Suddenly it was time to go!

On the first stage from Les Sables-d’Olonne to Lanzarote there was a Biscay gale for four or five days. This saw the first retirement from the event. The next leg from Lanzarote to Cape Town, some 6,000 nm, involved crossing the Doldrums. Sailing to cross the Equator at 28˚ West and avoid the Azores high, Ian and Puffin found light airs and calms that seemed to have drifted into the South East Trades. Because of this Ian was late at Cape Town; he could have missed the gate and accepted a penalty, but decided to go into Table Bay. Here, he dropped his sails, flew the correct flags and a RIB came out to meet him. His family thought that he might drop out of the race here. Ian didn’t but four others did. After thirty minutes Ian sailed on, heading for Hobart 6,000 nautical miles away.

This leg involved crossing the Aghulas Current into the Southern Indian Ocean and getting into the Roaring Forties. For safety reasons competitors in the race should not go below 45˚ South. The next gate was at Storm Bay in Tasmania. Before arriving there Ian had missed family birthdays and Christmas, although he did decorate Puffin for the latter. On arrival at Storm Bay on Day 135 of his voyage, only two weeks ahead of the cut-off date for leaving towards Cape Horn (another safety rule), Puffin had to secure to a mooring for 24 hours to simulate Sir Robin Knox-Johnston’s time anchored during his first race.

The leg from Hobart to Cape Horn involved dropping below New Zealand, then moving north again to stay above 45˚ South. Gales seemed to arrive every three days. But, as Ian quoted, “Nobody said it would be easy”. Race headquarters occasionally issued warnings of severe weather to the competitors. Ian had just made landfall when he was told of a gale approaching the continental shelf around Cape Horn. Putting out a drogue – a long line with several small parachutes along it – Ian found his self-steering gear beginning to fail. Despite unsuccessful attempts to repair the gear, Ian found in the morning that the drogue had wrapped around the self-steering rudder, causing it to fracture. Ian had to hand steer round Cape Horn. In came another weather warning advising everyone to get off the Continental Shelf and into deeper water. Managing to get Puffin into the Beagle Channel, Ian anchored north of Picton Island, where SV Jonathan, which was already there, advised and assisted with the repair of the damage. Because of this outside assistance, Puffin had to drop out of the main race and go into the Chichester Class.

Departing after some 3 to 4 days at anchor, Ian started on the passage home. Rounding Staten Island (Isla de los Estados) he realised that he was still below 45˚ south and winter was coming on. For the first few days the Falklands Current helped get Puffin to the North, but a week of headwinds pushed her east for about 1,000 nm until she was somewhere about 400 to 500 nm North of South Georgia. That was when Race Control came in with a storm warning for the South Atlantic. Ian was advised to sail South to keep out of the worst of the storm, but it still managed to overtake him.

With a tiny scrap of foresail, Ian was having to help the self-steering gear. Puffin was knocked down a couple of times and the waterproof hatch to the accommodation was leaking. On going below to inform Race Control of his situation, Ian is sure the boat capsized, perhaps was even rolled right over. The mast had broken and there was two feet of water inside Puffin and Ian had injured his shoulder and back. As he said, he went into survival mode, moving from Low Tech to High Tech: he triggered his EPIRB. The lockers were checked for leaks and he discovered that all the water had entered via one broken hatch. Deploying his drogue, Ian tried to cut away the broken mast to prevent it from damaging the hull. Working on deck was almost impossible and Ian was saved from being washed overboard by his safety harness. When he contacted Race Control via a satellite phone, Ian found that they were concerned because he had missed a scheduled routine contact. Of the ships in relative proximity, two were unable to assist due to the weather, and a new Fishery Control Ship being sent to the Falklands was 30 hours away, but a Taiwanese fishing vessel, the Zi Da Wang, was on its way and was closer. Hearing what he assumed to be Mandarin on the radio, the fishing vessel suddenly appeared. The skipper went beam on to create a lee and she drifted down onto Puffin in what Ian described as a controlled crash with the 70-metre steel ship. By now the seas were down to about 2 to 4 metres and a line was thrown to Puffin on the third go. With two lines attached and 46 faces looking down, a pilot ladder was lowered; Ian took two steps up it before he was grabbed and hauled over the rail. Once he was safely on board, the lines were cut, and Puffin left to her fate.

On board the Zi Da Wang, Ian found himself to be of interest to the crew, who were on their way home with a hold full of squid. They treated him kindly, offering him clothes and cigarettes, and relied on unusually named Davey Jones, who had the most English, to look after him. Ian’s comment was that these fishermen, whom he suspected had very little, were happy to share everything with him. For the first 24 hours Ian explored all over the ship. He ate his meals with the different watches and in ten days they reached Cape Town. Here, said Ian, the world of publicity hit him.

The Golden Globe race was nearing its end. Ian was able to fly back to Les Sables-d’Olonne, arriving just in time to welcome the winner, Kirsten Neuschäfer, as she arrived.

The tracker on Puffin failed 24 hours after Ian’s rescue, so, sadly, it is assumed that she sank.

Following questions from the audience, Paul Bryans, Chairman of the Small Craft Group, thanked Ian for his fascinating talk, and the Cruising Association for their hospitality in hosting us.

Tags: cruising association golden globe race sailing scg small craft group

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Trinity House User Consultative Committee Meeting

Posted By John Hasselgren., 18 October 2021

This annual meeting was held on line via Cisco Webex on 7th. October. Hopefully, this report will give a flavour of meeting.

Information was given on the progress of the new vessel to replace THV Patricia, which will be retired. Approval for the new vessel has been given by the DfT and the Cabinet Office, with financial assurance provided by the Treasury. The new design is to be for a vessel capable of undertaking the core tasks of Trinity House such as buoy maintenance, lighthouse support and survey work, but with greater emphasis placed on heavy weather performance. This last is required due to a Risk Response review which, having considered modern traffic analysis, requires six hour and twelve hour responses in certain critical areas, most of which fall within the Trinity House area of responsibility. Propulsion and on board services will use a hybrid system to reduce fuel consumption, with stored batteries supplying the needs during periods of low power use. Tender documents have now been released to yards that were able to meet pre-selection criteria.

Support vessel operations for the three TH vessels Alert, Galatea and Patricia, along with the chartered MV Mair were shown. These indicated that Galatea and Patricia had carried out the majority of the annual buoy servicing and that Alert and Mair had completed most of the hydrographic surveys undertaken. The Covid-19 pandemic had required the crews of each vessel to have been tested prior to embarkation and then to operate in their own bubbles. More recent easing of restrictions had allowed Alert’s main crane to be replaced, providing a more reliable unit requiring reduced maintenance.

The modernization of Lundy North Lighthouse has been completed, allowing an increase in the nominal range to 18NM. Projects to modernize the lighthouses at St. Tudwals, Lynmouth Foreland and St. Catherine’s are progressing. At St. Tudwals the solar panels are being moved from ground level onto the tower, all electronics are being renewed and the current roof mounted emergency lantern will be moved into the tower. Lynmouth Foreland rotating optic is being changed to a modern LED unit which will only be displayed at night, thus reducing the power needed. St. Catherine’s electrical system is being upgraded and the light reduced to a nominal 18NM, made possible by modern navigation systems used in vessels and the fact that passing traffic tends to be further offshore. The red sector along the West coast of the Isle of Wight is being maintained as it is extremely important to vessels navigating to and from the Needles Channel.

Discussions revealed a request for the installation of a 5G mast on the St. Catherine’s site to provide coverage over the Solent. This could provide suitable contact with future autonomous vessels and also coverage of sailing events such as the Round the Island Race to broadcasters.

Modernization of Flamborough Head and Farne Lighthouses is being planned. The lantern range at Flamborough Head will be reduced to 18 NM and the Hazard Warning Signal will become the standard 1 blast every 30 seconds. The red sector at Farne lighthouse will be increased from 7 to 8NM, with a more efficient light source and upgraded electronics.

The decommissioning of Royal Sovereign Lighthouse continues and has passed government approval, with the tendering process under way. Tenderers will be free to propose their own method of removal and allowed to spread this over three summers. The lighthouse was built in 1969 with an expected life of 50 years and is now deteriorating beyond economic repair. Altered traffic patterns, coupled with improvements at Beachy Head Lighthouse plus an offshore buoy, have made it less relevant.

Both Channel Lightvessel and Sunk Centre Lightvessel have been replaced by buoys. Traffic patterns over 28 days were shown, both before and after the removal of the lightvessels, and these indicated almost exactly similar patterns. The new Channel Light Buoy has meteorological equipment installed on it, designed with the Met Office, and will continue to provide data to feed into met forecasting models as well as offering real time information to local users.

Trinity House now have six lightvessels and one lightfloat on station, mostly marking significant dangers. All are getting old and need more frequent docking for maintenance. No decision has yet been made about their replacement, but any new design will no longer have to include crew space.

A major project is under way to replace the current monitoring method at lighthouses, lightvessels and significant buoys. This is currently achieved using a Vodafone VHF system called Paknet which they intend to close down in the near future. The stations will then be monitored using a mix of 4G and Iridium satellite communications.

As previously announced the DGPS system will cease at the end of March 2022. The MCA has issued MIN665 on this.

Moving on to Offshore Renewables we learned that 337 AtoNs at 35 sites were inspected and 29 were found to be defective. This is a marked improvement on the previous year, helped by increasing assistance and positive engagement received from the Crown Estates. It currently seems likely that the tidal power development off the Isle of Wight near St. Catherine’s will be started next year. Trinity House is waiting to see if consent will be given by the Secretary of State for BEIS (Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy – yes, I had to look it up!) for projects at North Vanguard, Norfolk Boreas, East Anglia One North and East Anglia Two. Also waiting on the decision by the Welsh Assembly on power developments at Morlais off Anglesea.

Construction is due to start on windfarms on the Dogger Bank, with Trinity House fully engaged with the lighting and marking for these sites. They are also engaged with the developers on numerous projects, including Floating Offshore Windfarm developments in the Celtic Sea, two large windfarms between the Mersey and the Isle of Man, and all the planned extensions to existing windfarms.

The BEIS (see above) have commenced a review of “National Policy Statements on Energy”, which is due to run until 29th. November. Trinity House are engaged in the process and recommend others with interests in Shipping and navigation to engage in this at:
(https://beisgovuk.citizenspace.com/energy-strategy-networks-markets/energy-nps/)

Although no member of GRAD was present, documentation provided an update of their work. This includes working with Emu Analytics Ltd. to develop a means of predicting ship movements around windfarms using AI – Continuing work on the BinoNav® method of transferring bearings to an electronic chart, which the Nautical Institute is keen to support – Improving the efficiency of LED lights with trials of a 24 sided lamp, fitted with 72 LEDs, for installation in traditional optics – A study of how Machine Vision could be used to enhance electronic navigation at sea using a camera for flash detection in poor visibility. This last one must please Andy Norris.

John Hasselgren.