1530 - Friday, February 24.
I am guessing that most people have heard the advice on how you eat an
elephant. We have been chewing at ours since coming through the ITCZ, having
the wind and currents in our faces instead of carrying us along. Anyway we
have now taken some big bites, and while we are still quite a distance from
the Med we are getting quite used to chewing at it.
Yesterday was another day of slow progress, in fact since leaving Mindelo
our average progress directly towards the Canaries was under 100NM each day
until this morning. Today we feel were are flying, the sea is quite flat,
the wind has backed a bit and finally we are pointing at Tenerife.
All going well, another 48 hrs might see us at Santa Cruz where a full boat
wash down and fresh food replenishment will be among the priorities.
The last few days have been a great experience for me, in particular
observing the use of navigation and weather routing systems, something that
I couldn't just read about in theory. I feel that at least one of my reasons
for volunteering for this voyage, to understand the requirements when
looking at ways to update Saol Eile's electronics, has been met.
Also I think now is a good time to park my celestial navigation efforts for
a while. My fix yesterday was completed with a moon sight of the rare
"Ghostly Galleon" - where only the very lower bit is visible - it only
occurs when your latitude is near the moons declination. Initially I thought
I must have done something wrong but disappointment turned to triumph when
James spotted my arithmetic error - the longitude went from over 100' out to
being quite a quite acceptable 30'.
Everyone is busy here and the time is flying - between fishing, cooking,
cleaning, sailing, sewing, movie making, and for James in particular,
specific Oyster 62.5 technical work (Ruth II likes to keep him on his toes).
I guess we will all be glad to get a short break sooner rather than later.
Next post may well be from land with pictures in a few days!
TC
I am guessing that most people have heard the advice on how you eat an
elephant. We have been chewing at ours since coming through the ITCZ, having
the wind and currents in our faces instead of carrying us along. Anyway we
have now taken some big bites, and while we are still quite a distance from
the Med we are getting quite used to chewing at it.
Yesterday was another day of slow progress, in fact since leaving Mindelo
our average progress directly towards the Canaries was under 100NM each day
until this morning. Today we feel were are flying, the sea is quite flat,
the wind has backed a bit and finally we are pointing at Tenerife.
All going well, another 48 hrs might see us at Santa Cruz where a full boat
wash down and fresh food replenishment will be among the priorities.
The last few days have been a great experience for me, in particular
observing the use of navigation and weather routing systems, something that
I couldn't just read about in theory. I feel that at least one of my reasons
for volunteering for this voyage, to understand the requirements when
looking at ways to update Saol Eile's electronics, has been met.
Also I think now is a good time to park my celestial navigation efforts for
a while. My fix yesterday was completed with a moon sight of the rare
"Ghostly Galleon" - where only the very lower bit is visible - it only
occurs when your latitude is near the moons declination. Initially I thought
I must have done something wrong but disappointment turned to triumph when
James spotted my arithmetic error - the longitude went from over 100' out to
being quite a quite acceptable 30'.
Everyone is busy here and the time is flying - between fishing, cooking,
cleaning, sailing, sewing, movie making, and for James in particular,
specific Oyster 62.5 technical work (Ruth II likes to keep him on his toes).
I guess we will all be glad to get a short break sooner rather than later.
Next post may well be from land with pictures in a few days!
TC
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