Friday, September 14, 2007

Day 5, Bottles, Float, strap and fragments

September 14, 2007
We are now 350 miles from the Eastern Garbage Patch, an area of the North Pacific Gyre that accumulates a very high concentration of debris. We found our first stray fishing float yesterday afternoon, a 300 mm diameter black float with two ears for tying to. This is the most common type of float we have found on previous trips. Today we picked up two bottles, and when we stopped for a swim, we found a white packing strap tangled in our rudder, and Captain Moore took a small aquarium net and pulled out 2 small pieces of line and some small plastic fragments while swimming around the boat. As we stand on the bow, we can see plastic fragments passing by at a rate of about one every 5 minutes. We expect this rate to increase each day as we get closer to the garbage patch. We have finally gotten fairly consisten 15 knot winds from the Northwest and are motor sailing at 5.5 knots under staysail, blade jib and mainsail.
Don't forget to participate in International Coastal Cleanup Day in order to bring attention to the marine debris crisis in our oceans.
Aloha from ORV Alguita.
Ahora nos encontramos a 350 millas del llamado "Eastern Garbage Patch" or la mancha de basura del Este. Esta area esta en el Giro del Norte del Pacifico y esta acumulando altas concentraciones de basura. Ayer encontramos nuestras primereras muestras de basura plastica, una boya negra con dos orejas de 300 mm de diametro. Esta boya es muy tipica de las que nos hemos encontrado en anteriores viajes. Hoy agarramos dos botellas plasticas y cuando decidimos tomar un descanso y nadar un poco encontramos un cincho blanco atrapado en el timon. El Capitan Moore tomo consigo una red chiquita, para acuario y atrapo dos pequenas piezas de lineas y dos pequenitos fragmentos de plastico cuando nadaba alrededor del bote. Cuando nos paramos en la proa podemos observar como fragmentos de plastico pasan a una velocidad aproximada de un fragmentos cada 5 minutos. Desafortunadamente, esperamos que esta razon se incremente cada dia mas y mas cerca de la mancha de basura. Por fortuna, al fin logramos tener 15 nudos de viento del Noroeste y estamos veleando usando un solo motor a una velocidad de 5.5 nudos bajo la vela principal y dos velas secundarias.
Por favor no se olviden de participar en el Dia Internacional de Limpieza de las Costas para poder atraer la atencion de la crisis por la que esta pasando nuestro ambiente marino debido a la basura no biodegradable en nuestros oceanos.
Aloha desde la ORV Alguita.
PD. Este mensaje fue escrito sin acentos.

4 comments:

ORV Alguita said...

1 Comment - Show Original Post

Paul Clarke said...

Noon pos'n for Day 5?

September 14, 2007 9:12 PM

C-Road said...

What will you do with the data you collect, once you get back on land?

ORV Alguita said...

I have sent both of your messages to the boat! I am also going to check in with the lab so we can get a detailed tour of what happens to the samples and data we collect once it gets back on land.
Holly Gray
ORV Alguita Vessel Support Coordinator

ORV Alguita said...

c-road
Here is a link in answer to the question "what will you do with the data you collect, once you get back on land?" Or just check out the new post "Sample Analysis Back at the Lab"

http://ship2shore.blogspot.com/2007/09/sample-analysis-back-at-lab.html