08-Jun-2004 -- This is the second of two "International" visits that we will be doing today, there is myself, Capt. Peter and Werner Furlan.

This CP is the main target for today, this mornings trip to 54N 02W was simply a bonus.

Capt. Peter and Werner posted a message on the Confluence mailing list on Yahoo asking for any volunteers to help them get this point. Having done an offshore visit recently with Jospeh Kerski I offered my services.

As the local contact on the ground it was my responsibility to arrange suitable transport - a boat. A check of the map showed that this point was only about 3 miles offshore, too far to swim, but close enough that almost anything other than a rowing boat should suffice.

I started as before by contacting the BBC and spoke to BBC Radio Lancaster, explaining our quest. They called me back and asked if I could do a live interview on the radio on Friday (4th June) afternoon. Of course I could! It lasted about 5 minutes and a request for help was broadcast.

So it's now Monday morning and Capt. Peter and Werner are due in the UK today, the visit is scheduled for tomorrow. Then I remembered how I made the contact last time and looked up and called the Editor of the local newspaper...early afternoon he called back to say that calls were out. By 7pm I had a call with the name of someone who could help - we had our transport! But not until 3pm.

We have now completed 54N 2W and are on our way back to Morecambe. We parked up and got the the jetty with just 2 minutes to spare. Luck? or simply excellent planning!

Captain Peter's "day job" is driving a 6000 ton ship (find out more here) so I think he was a bit surprised when we found our transport (third from left with orange cover) was a 15 foot with an outboard. Especially as I had told him we were going out with a commercial fisherman. It was all true though, our Skipper and his partner dirft net fish in the Bay for Mullet and Bass. Must admit though the size of the craft took me a bit by surprise compared to our last offshore excursion.

After some discussion about how far it was to the CP we all eventually agreed it was about 7 miles. We had an extra passenger - a reporter from BBC Radio Lancaster and we were seen off by a photographer from the local newspaper.

We made good time on the way down, Capt Peter taking the time to ponder life, we were going with the outgoing tide and made about 12 mph, passing on the way down Heysham nuclear power station which produces 2500 MW from its two reactors. The surprising thing about this power station is that it is right on the edge of town - literally. As you approach the point you can on the hill on the left see the church of St. Peter (rather appropriate really) which was first consecrated in 976 and is 1028 years old....

We arrived in the vicinity of the CP after around 40 minutes. We had agreed beforehand that getting anywhere within 100m would be a perfectly acceptable result. Colin our skipper, did his best but with only one motor and a strong tide it was going to be difficult. As the GPS shows we got to within 49 feet. Chalk up another victory to the hunters. A quick calculation shows that between the three of us we have 234 visits (6.4% of ALL visits).

We didn't know how much would be visible, but as you can see land was visible from all four cardinal points - North, East, South and West. In the view to the South it is just possible to make out Blackpool Tower about 25 miles to the South. Werner celebrated by flying both the Austrian and Italian flags.

All in all a very succesful and enjoyable day out.