1600 - Thursday Jan 26th
It's getting noticeably hotter each day we voyage north - the midday sun is
now well to the south of us being at a declination of about 18 degrees. Our
latitude is decreasing by nearly 3 degrees each 24 hours and tonight we will
move into single digits crossing 10 South most likely.
I say all this as I have now had two sessions with Par and the skipper on
the joys of celestial navigation. Par is a dinger with the sextant, it
doesn't matter that the boat is rolling around shunting the horizon all over
the place, within minutes he has his angle and then the fun starts!
Anyone who remembers the days of log tables for easy multiplication before
cheap electronic calculators - if you can remember that pain then just
multiply it by ten for the joys of getting your fix!
Anyway, not ready to give up quite yet. We have a long voyage ahead and
hopefully by the time we are going past Gibraltar I might have the hang of
it.
Last night was the first time we have come across a fishing boat at sea
since we left the coast of South Africa more than a fortnight ago. A largish
trawler without AIS came within a mile of us at dusk, a reminder of the
importance of keeping a visual watch no matter how quiet the sea appears to
be.
Food is nearly ready so I must go. All well here on Ruth II.
TC
It's getting noticeably hotter each day we voyage north - the midday sun is
now well to the south of us being at a declination of about 18 degrees. Our
latitude is decreasing by nearly 3 degrees each 24 hours and tonight we will
move into single digits crossing 10 South most likely.
I say all this as I have now had two sessions with Par and the skipper on
the joys of celestial navigation. Par is a dinger with the sextant, it
doesn't matter that the boat is rolling around shunting the horizon all over
the place, within minutes he has his angle and then the fun starts!
Anyone who remembers the days of log tables for easy multiplication before
cheap electronic calculators - if you can remember that pain then just
multiply it by ten for the joys of getting your fix!
Anyway, not ready to give up quite yet. We have a long voyage ahead and
hopefully by the time we are going past Gibraltar I might have the hang of
it.
Last night was the first time we have come across a fishing boat at sea
since we left the coast of South Africa more than a fortnight ago. A largish
trawler without AIS came within a mile of us at dusk, a reminder of the
importance of keeping a visual watch no matter how quiet the sea appears to
be.
Food is nearly ready so I must go. All well here on Ruth II.
TC
Just checking progress of the adventure. Looks like all us good….Andy
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