FINN(COM) DAILY RECORD: FRIDAY, 28 JANUARY 2005
Compiled by J. Brock (FINN)
At the close of business on Thursday, 27 January 2005, the balance of the Tsunami Earthquake Appeal account in the Standard Chartered Bank was £6,815.17. Fundraising efforts continue. The Falkland Islands Government has agreed to donate £1,000.00 towards the appeal.
ARGENTINE NOK TO VISIT GRAVES IN MARCH
By J. Brock (FINN)
After a year’s wait, a twenty-four strong party representing Argentine next of kin will be visiting the Falklands to officially open the Argentine War Memorial at Darwin. The visit by the party, which includes a priest and an interpreter, will make their pilgrimage in March. H. E. the Governor, Mr. Pearce (HP), confirmed this today for FIBS. He said:
HP: The dedication ceremony will be taking place on the 16th of March. The Argentine Families Commission and next of kin of those who were killed in the conflict in 1982 will be included. They will be travelling on the scheduled LanChile flight and will be joining the flight in Rio Gallegos – one of those scheduled monthly flights that stops there. They will be returning to Rio Gallegos the following Saturday. I understand that Mr Eduardo Yuvecian, the Argentine businessman, who has largely funded the memorial, plans to come over for the ceremony itself on March 16th. But he will be coming in his own aircraft under the private flights arrangements that we have with Argentina. It’s also likely that the visiting party, the representatives of the Families Commission, will be talking, while they are here, about long-term arrangements for the maintenance of the Memorial. And, I understand that they will be talking to one or two local firms, with a view to putting those arrangements in hand, in order to ensure that the Memorial is kept in good condition.
According to the report on FIBS, Governor Pearce confirmed that there will be no Argentine political figures travelling with the group.
ELLEN MACARTHUR:
Ellen MacArthur has made it back to the Northern Hemisphere in record time but the Northern Doldrums are still holding her back. She is around 1.5 days ahead of the record time for world circumnavigation and is over 200 miles from the equator.
FIBS NEWS DIRECT: 28 JANUARY 2005
HEALTH AND SAFETY EXPERTS:
Two health and safety experts have recently visited the Falklands after being invited by the Training and Development Centre. Tom Bateman (TB) from the Company, Trackman.
TB: The Trackman Company came from Australia in order to provide some development of local supervisors and operators, to develop self-sufficiency or self-reliance. So, we are working with people from the Quarry and PWD and with some private companies. And, we are looking at the SATI Management system, developing their ability to bare and weigh risk assessments, so that no one gets hurt, no machinery is damaged, no time is lost. So, the aim is safety and efficiency.
STATISTICS:
Some 45 babies were born here last year, with a boom in November of 8 being born that month, perhaps a legacy of Valentines day. September, December and January had the least amount of births. Fourteen people died last year and 17 couples, including 4 non-residents, were married here. October to December was the most popular time for partners to tie the knot, whilst only one couple got married between July and September.
FIODA:
A new and enthusiastic Committee has been voted in for the Falkland Islands Operatic and Dramatic Association. FIODA held its AGM on Thursday night. And, they are reported to have lots of plans and ideas for the next year. They are, though, in need of technical assistance and would like any offers of help in setting up the Open-Air party next weekend. They say it’s a good chance for anyone interested in technical aspects of production to have a go without having to give any commitment.
KAYAK REPORT:
Prevailing winds pervaded John Buhrman (JB) and Harry Haas while they kayaked around East Falkland, even allowing them to relax a little bit. I (SF) asked John what progress they had made since talking with them yesterday.
JB: Since the last time we talked to you we finally managed to make some progress. We had a good day of paddling yesterday up until lunch. We were able to paddle the rest of the day. We finally made it down to the Ruggles Pass area. The first three quarters of the day was pretty good paddling. The last quarter of the trip, we had to battle some pretty big beam waves and wind and seas. We ended up paddling for 12 hours and covered 36 miles. So, we made up for all the down-time we had.
SF: Whereabouts are you planning to camp tonight.
JB: Right now we are on Speedwell Island and we just spent a wonderful time with Eve and Ron (Larsen) here and had a cup of coffee with them and some sweets and had a chat. We are ready to push off from their homestead and push on further down Speedwell Island and possibly cross back over to the mainland. Right now the wind out of the north is pretty stiff. So, we want to see if we can make that crossing today or end up camping at the north end of Speedwell.
SF: So where are you going to try to plan to get by the end of the weekend?
JB: We want to get around Bold Point. That’s going to be our next critical part of the journey. That can be a pretty nasty point. That’s about 18 miles away from here. Then we will probably go up into North Arm and maybe go to the settlement and buy a few things at the store. I think we have a little bit of time on our hands right now. For the rest of the journey we have the prevailing winds behind us. It’s the first time we’ve had that. We feel pretty confident that we will get back to Stanley in the thirteen days we have here.
SF: Are you actually starting to enjoy the trip now?
JB: We were enjoying it beforehand. The wildlife out here is great. Being out and camping and seeing the wild is why we are here. The weather has been very challenging but today at Speedwell was one of the best times we had. We were pretty tired after 36 miles yesterday and there was hardly a breath of wind and the sun was out and it was just like what happened in the brochures.
(100X Transcription Service)
