06:15.30N 122:44.74W
Farr Gone Blog
Stuart Cannon
Sun 3 Apr 2011 21:26
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A pretty sixth latitude.
The other day, April 1st my time, I tried a photo.
I wont be doing that again. It took around 15 minutes. Agony to a Scotsmans
wallet. By the way, it was an April fools joke. I thought the concept of fifty
foot whales going around like jet skis was amusing. Blame being at sea on my own
for too long, the madness has set in!
Its now obvious that the sat phone system is best
as a phone or for text only emails. Texts themselves are frustrating because
they are more limited than normal and the last half of messages can be clipped.
I check emails twice a day, enthusiastically, I'd add. Love getting
email.
The ITCZ. Just like Melbourne weather except
stinking hot. But if you dont like it in five minutes you'll be in something
else entirely. I like Melbourne weather, the seasonality is great but the
springtime unreliability and the occasionally dissapointing summers can be
boring. Out here the wind cant make up its mind and the sail adjustments are
constant. I am trying, for no good reason, to sail across the ITCZ. I confess to
engaging the prop this morning to scoot around a storm to avoid a drenching, not
that drenchings are bad. It's so warm even the rain is warm. The waves are odd
here. Its like David Attenborough has filmed the Sahara in time lapse and
painted it blue. The waves are like sand dunes, all different shapes and sizes,
disappearing or doubling when they meet another similar peak. My altruistic
desire to sail across will no doubt evaporate as quickly as this tropical sea
once enough time has passed in one place
Farr Gone has sailed over 1300 nm from La Cruze
now. Its a fair bloody way from land and there are still birds? All the old
mariners books describe seeing a bird as a precursor to seeing land. According
to my digital sextant, there is a scarcity of real estate in this particular
area. So are these guys migrating types stopping for a feed, I can see I need
google more than I thought. By the way, the subject line to these blogs is the
latest lat and long postions. These can be copied and pasted into google earth
search bar. That may be a better way of veiwing position
I got a couple of hours deep sleep this morning and
I woke up convinced there was someone else on the boat, I just didn't know who.
I had been dreaming and was so groggy when I woke up the dream was continuing. I
checked the man overboard tags, none missing, I had a good look around. Must
have taken fifteen minutes to get oriented and realise that I couldn't be more
alone.
Naturally it occurs to me that what I'm doing is
grist to a shrinks mill. Being confined to a small space and that small space is
itself at the mercy of this vast ocean and its whims seems odd but I havent been
lonely for a second. I miss people and their company but no lonliness. Just a
peaceful yet focused disposition seems to be working for me. It seems to take
more time than I thought to really enjoy being out here. There is an initial
exuberance to just be on the way but the build up to leaving means fatigue will
set in. Then at least a couple more days to get the feel of the boat so that
being surefooted is easier. Now, I don't really mind when I make landfall. The
days are blurring past at excessive speed as it is. There is a theory which says
that days at sea are not counted towards your allotted life total. In other
words you don't age at sea (cept for the leather look skin). I'm sure it's not
true but the feeling of time suspended is there.
That's it for Lat 6 catch you at Lat 4 or 5
tomorrow with still a few days to the equator. Praying for those trades to kick
in soon.
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