Crossing the line

Dawnbreaker
Lars Alfredson
Thu 10 Dec 2015 08:19


pos 00:00.00N 134:07.70E

Wedensday 9/12
We left the Hermit Islands approx.  10.30 and set sail for Palau. We got a good angle of sail in the south westerly winds. We settled down to our sea routines for the 823 NM crossing.
Thursday 10/12
We crossed the LINE at 07.48 in the morning at 143 E.
King Neptune made a short visit to baptise his new desciples and wish them welcome to his Kingdom.
After two days of great sailing the wind finally died and we had to fire up the engine. When we stopped for a nice swim in the 5000 m deep water I noticed that our Speed Over Ground was 2.9 knots inspite of us lying still in the water. We had a head current of 2.9 knots. Full speed on the engine and we did about 3.6 knots over ground!
Several times we spotted some strange looking metal tanks floating in the water. They were FADs (Fish Aggregating Devices). These are some floating constructions anchored to the bottom thousands of meters below! To these floats are attached some long ropes as shelter for small fishes, that attracts bigger fishes and so on. The idea is to increase the catch of tuna for the big fishing boats. The closest we came to one of these was about 50 meters. As they have no markings or lights you have to trust your luck to miss them i the dark of the night.
All is well,
Lars and crew

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