The 45 ft. cutter Gambo returned to Portland Yacht Services very early this morning – around midnight said one of its three crew members, Colin Souness. A Scotsman, Souness was involved only in the sailing of Gambo from Nova Scotia, where she spent last winter, to Portland.
According to Souness, Gambo left the Dundee Boatyard nine days ago. High winds and rough seas forced them to seek shelter for four days out of the nine days; permitting them only five days of sailing weather. Souness, who is studying for his Ph.D in glaciology is returning to the United Kingdom tomorrow morning. Souness sailed aboard Gambo for five months back in 2004-2005 in the Antarctic doing research and mountaineering.
It was last June 17th, that Gambo arrived at PYS in need of extensive repair work – including a new engine – before she could proceed on to Greenland to conduct climage change researach on a major glacier on the west coast. Following extensive and necessary repairs, Gambo left PYS on July 14 – just a few days later than planned. She had hoped to return to PYS in late August, while the weather was still good, but ran into engine mount problems and had to winter on Nova Scotia.
So finally, Gambo has come full circle.
For more background information, please see Post # 438, dated April 13th, herein.
Brill Colin. Looking forward to hearing the tales. j x