There are good ships and wood ships
And ships that sail the seas
But the best ships are the friendships
And may they ever be...

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Days 4 and 5


Date: 07/11      
Noon to noon run: 159 NM
Time of position: 17:00
Lat/Lon: 05 deg 25.00'S; 146 deg 51.77'W
Course: 000 deg Mag
Current Speed: 6.0-6.5
Time of position: 17:00
Next Waypoint:    05 deg 28.00'N (equator); 146 deg 52.30'W
             328 NM distance

Synopsis: The wind moved from east to northeast at about sunrise today and has stayed that way all day. Consequently, over a period of hours we slid from the right side of our course to the left, giving us a cross track error of about 5NM. Fortunately shortly before sunset we got a lift and can close the cross track error. A low pressure cell is forecast to be moving through our area at about 3 degrees south about the same time we should be crossing that latitude so we will try to move to the right of our course again to give us a little room to sail down when that happens. That's about it. Hope this makes sense to our nonsailing friends.



Date: 07/10
Noon to noon run: 164 NM
Time of position: 17:00
Lat/Lon: 08 deg 07.60'S; 142 deg 48.23'W
Course: 340-350 deg Mag
Current Speed:
Time of position: 18:00
Next Waypoint:    00 deg 00.00'N (equator); 146 deg 53.36'W
            492 NM distance

Synopsis: We have less than 500NM to go to the equator and it certainly is getting more humid. We've moved our waypoint a bit west to be able to take the wind on the beam instead of close reaching and to shave off a small distance not sailing two legs of a triangle. A minor milestone is that in a few short miles we should be past the northern most islands of the Marquesas. We've been watching the hurricanes develop in the eastern Pacific and while disturbing do not appear to be "threatening". It seems Daniel is on the wane, but we'll continue to watch it closely to see if it may rebuild since it is not moving off north. And it looks like Emelia is predicted to peter out well east of us. That said, predictions are one thing reality is another. We had a rainbow just a few minutes ago, and along with it a bit of wind and of course, rain.


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