Day 111, Year 6 Atlantic Passage, Day 8-Time to Celebrate
Date: Saturday, February 12, 2011 (1730 UTC)
Weather: Partly Sunny; SE 15-20
Air Temperature: 85 degrees F (mid-day)
Latitude: 06 35.701 S
Longitude: 018 30.832 W
Miles Traveled: 976.77
Miles to Go: 2,853 (2,854 Miles Traveled from South Africa)
Location: Passage from St. Helena to Caribbean (Grenada)
Windbird continues to move forward between 5.5 and 6.0 knots, still sailing wing ‘n wing with the full main and double-reefed headsail. We could be going faster if we could unfurl the headsail completely, but when we do it just slaps every time a big wave goes under Windbird and rolls her from side to side-which is about every five seconds! Our pole is just not long enough to hold the full headsail out tight, so we’re content with the speed and the smoother ride without the slapping. Our next waypoint is at 0 degrees latitude (the equator) and 32.30 degrees W longitude. This is just a place we picked where we think we might enter the ITCZ and head north to cross it before once again heading NW to Grenada. If we run out of wind sooner, we’ll probably turn north sooner figuring the ITCZ has made a special effort to come further south to meet us! My calculations tell me we have traveled 2,854 miles since Cape Town and we have 2,853 miles to go. So we just hit the half-way point for the total passage. YEE-haw! I don’t want to get too excited as we are only a third of the way through the St. Helena to Grenada passage, but we have put some good miles behind us and it’s time for a little celebration.
There is life out here, but unfortunately it is not on the end of our fishing line. Mark saw a ship at least eight miles away headed south at about 11:00 this morning and we saw flying fish for the first time since leaving South Africa. We normally see them all the time, but they have not been out here on this passage. Just as I was finishing the log yesterday, we saw a couple of petrels, probably Leach’s Storm Petrels, doing acrobatics as they skimmed along the top of the water, and they were back earlier this afternoon. And last night on Mark’s first watch, a rather large Brown Noddy decided to roost on our grill. Actually there were two Noddies and the one on the grill didn’t want the other one to land on our life line. So they had a bit of a struggle and finally flew away. Our current location is about a thousand miles from St. Helena, a thousand miles from the hump at the northern tip of Brazil, and a thousand miles from hump on Africa’s West Coast. The only land closer is Ascension and we are now at least two hundred and fifty miles from there, so no wonder the birds wanted to take a little rest. So after seven full days on this passage from St. Helena, and the last twelve of the fourteen days of the passage to St. Helena from South Africa, we are finally seeing ships (well, one ship), birds, and flying fish. The other thing we haven’t seen that is usually so prevalent is phosphorescent life in the wake at night. The little creatures usually light up our wake at night, but we have seen none of that.
Mark pulled a muscle in his arm yesterday while checking that loose connection we had on the alternator a couple of days ago. He was actually replacing a wire when a particularly large wave went under us, the boat lurched, and he went flying over the top of the engine still trying to hold on to the wrench in his hand. This put his arm in a strange position and thus the pulled muscle. If he takes Aleve he is fine, but hopefully we won’t have any major sail changes for another couple of days while the muscle repairs itself. Otherwise, all is fine.
