Penguin Pete's Diary
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29/1/01 - Mawson Station
Well we made it. It's nice to have a shower again after three weeks too! Meg, Lyn and I stayed up till all hours last night working away in the chippies (carpenters) workshop building our boat. It has been named the 'Growling Penguin'. Most people (with a few notable exceptions) carve or shape their boats from foam, but I thought it would be nice to build a proper one - you know, timber beams, timber hull etc. The sort of decision that you always regret at 1 am when you are still building. Ah well. We didn't win, but we did make the distance! Our only competitor for the seriousness of boat construction was one of the plumbers whose steel hulled boat weighed in at about 35 kg, and could probably take passengers.
The 'Growling Penguin' shortly before the race. Ballast is provided with genuine Antarctic rocks, and buoyancy with 2 part foam to deal with the inevitable capsize.
We do appear to be coming last here, but we made up time, and came in at about 4th or 5th. About the middle of the pack.
