Galapagos - Marquesas - Day 5
CuriousOyster
Steve & Trish Brown
Tue 23 Feb 2010 18:10
Time 18.00UT 23/02/2010
Passage time 5 days 4 hours
Distance to destination 2995nm
Distance travelled 1084nm
Distance to run 1904nm
Course 264degrees
Speed over Ground 8.5knots
Wind speed 14 to 18knots
Wind Direction ESE
The last 24 hours has seen the wind speeds drop to between 10 and 16 knots
and a change of direction to ESE.
This has resulted in our boat speed dropping from the mid 9's down as low as
5.5knots. To counter this we have been heading further south than we would
have liked to try to retain good boat speed.. At daybreak we hoisted the big
purple cruising chute once again and are trying to recover some of the lost
ground to the south by heading almost due west. This has helped increase
boat speed and should help retain a decent wind angle for the last 1,000
miles. We are now over 1/3rd of the way there and have about 1,900 nm to
run.
This passage differs greatly from the Atlantic crossing, not only are we
missing our fourth crewmember but we do not have 214 other boats to pace
ourselves against. Nor is there the passing ships of the Atlantic, so far we
have seen on the radar or AIS 1 large freighter, 1 large tanker and 2
Japanese fishing boats. This is a big seemingly empty ocean with the only
signs of life the flying fish, squid and the rare bird on passage.
Nor are the weather conditions what we expected, we have had mostly grey
cloudy skies, chilly at night with occasional rain showers. Today however,
the day dawned bright, clear and sunny.
Time is passed reading, listening to music, and watching the occasional DVD.
We are eating and sleeping well and time seems to pass quickly.
We miss our loved ones but continue on the great adventure across the
Pacific.
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