On The Move
October 15, 2018
Day 11
Noon Position: 14 50N 132 30W
Course/Speed: SxE 7+
Wind: NE+ 20 (later NExE to 21)
Sea: NE 5
Sky: Close packed, low cumulus; some cirrus
10ths Cloud Cover: 7
Bar: 1016, rising
Cabin Degrees Fahrenheit: 84
Water Degrees Fahrenheit: 82
Percent Relative Humidity: 68
Sail: #2 genoa, one reef; main, one reef; reaching.
Noon-to-Noon Miles Made Good: 154
Miles since departure: 1557
Avg. Miles/Day: 142
Under a sky of tradewind cumulus, Mo is burning up the road.
Wind was a steady 15 all night and has been steady at 20 all day. Mo takes this flat on the beam and flies, or does a damned pleasing imitation of flying for a heavy, flightless bird.
Since noon to now, 5pm, we are averaging (I say, averaging) 7.5 knots over the ground. Long pulls of 8 and 9 knots on the chart plotter make me smile. In fact, the only thing slowing us down, other than the physics of wetted surfaces, is the sea that’s running. It’s got up to 6 feet and shoves Mo off her mark occasionally.
But beyond the sea, Monte is having an easy time of it. The tiller hardly moves as we bee-line south, and I believe the famous pilot is getting in more napping than he’ll ever admit to. As evidence, this: when he nods off, his pipe falls from his mouth and usually finds its way into his boot. Typically, the smell of smoke follows, then some screaming. The pipe is retrieved, the fire put out, the pipe is re lit, and the cycle repeats.
While Monte has been at the tiller, I shot the moon and sun together for a fix … for the first time. The “ghostly galleon” is waxing but in her first quarter phase, and with the high hazy cirrus, her upper limb made a difficult grab. Took half an hour to work up the shots (21 steps for the moon, 17 for the sun) and half an hour to find the error that put Mo in Kansas, but the result was to within five miles by the end of it. Not bad for a first go.
Then I got a good bath with yesterday’s rain water, and for lunch, ate the last of the store-bought bread. Bread, cheese, red pepper spread, a delicious sandwich. Now its crackers or baking…
What an exhilarating run! It doesn’t get any better. And look at those beautiful clouds…
I meant to ask a couple days ago when you had zero wind and zero seas, do you ever take a dip in the nice warm low latitude waters? Rope around the waste and all that, of course…
Aloha,
Mary
Randall, sounds like that old bone is in the teeth of MO and that Monte is more than happy to be nodding off when he can, it isn’t always that way, is it? I heard some terrible news and wonder if it is true. I heard that there will be no more time ticks broadcast from WW\V in Fort Collins, Colorado. Can that be true? How sad if it is. We relied on those time ticks and I remember sitting at the chart table while Andy was up on deck taking his morning line of position, noon sight, and afternoon line of position, and me counting down at the chart table listening to the time ticks and his calls from deck “Mark”!!! Ahhhh those were the days of wine and roses!!! How I miss them.
Enjoying reading your travels