CURRENT HEADING 276 degT, SOG 5.1Kt, BREEZE NE 10Kt
LAST 24 HOURS:123NM, 1397 MILES TO GO
ATLANTIC MATHS;
Those avid readers who like to work things out will have noticed some
apparent discrepancies in our distances - which I shall attempt to explain.
last 24 hours is taken from the ships log - which is the distance traveled
through the water. we have a current under us which at times is with us and
at times taking us in odd directions. the ships log cant register this -
only the distance through the water.
the miles to go is calculated by the Nav system and is based on our current
GPS position - so it ignores the current. it is however taking us on a
great circle course which is generally shown as a curve on your standard map
projection - but it is we are assured the fastest way around the globe to
Barbados
occasionally we have errors which can only be accounted for as human -
writing down the wrong numbers - that sort of thing
a further factor is that we put the clocks back 1 hour each 15 degrees of
longitude - which we elected to do today - so our noon position is actually
25 hours since our last update - although we only use the previous 24 hours
for the 24 hour run statistic. this has been the subject of considerable
debate aboard as you can imagine
you might be interested to know that we intend to celebrate the half way
mark as the point at which total miles logged equals miles to go - which is
nonsense of course, but makes a kind of weird sense floating around out
here.
so hopefully you can all sleep better in the knowledge that we still are
making slow progress towards the West
any reader with too much time on their hands may have noticed yesterdays
obvious mathematical error - 5500m is only .55km - still bloody deep though!
the wind has lightened off again - to a point which is a little frustrating
as we slop around in the confused seas. we are running the engine again
today to generate some power so have it in drive to give us a little forward
momentum - could be good for the movie which the kids have just opened as an
early Christmas present. Hope I dont need another swim to sort out the prop
blades again.
Shirley completed the reading of our guide to Barbados - sounds like an
interesting place with the Mount Gay rum factory and Speightstown at the top
of our list to visit!
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