Wind WNW 15 to 20 knots, Course E, Speed 5 to 6 knots, Position 39° 45' S, 90° 26' E

Years ago, I heard about the big ozone hole over the Southern Ocean.  Today the grey weather cleared away again and I took advantage of the sunny weather to work outside.  Some of our ratlines (the wooden steps in the rigging that I used to climb up the mast) were in need of repair.  It seems that our mobile figurehead that I call the “Wave God” wore the lashings away as he rode in the rigging for several years.  I spent a few hours working aloft and when I came down, my face felt sunburned.  It was quite a surprise to me.  When I mentioned it to Soanya, we talked about the ozone hole and global warming.  I wonder if the hole in the ozone layer is down here and you have to avoid the lovely sun.  I have been carrying on with the sun chastising it for not coming out and shining enough, but once I got burned, I wondered if we had to hide from it?  Who knows about the ozone hole?

Soanya's View:
When Reid came in saying the sun was very intense, a thought popped into my head.  Wasn't the hole in the ozone layer somewhere near Australia?  I had read an article about it a while back and couldn't really remember the details.  Wasn't the whole ozone layer thinning much to the panic of scientists and wasn't there now more than one hole in it?  In recent years we haven't heard much about ozone depletion but it must still exist and is probably getting worse.

Reid and Soanya