4. A prediction is a prediction..
Telefonica Black
Lance Shepherd
Wed 22 Jan 2020 09:01
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19:39.485N 023:34.013W - Total Gybes: 4 - Distance to
go: 2240 nm
Max. Speed: 19.3 - Speed winner of the Day:
Jose
Today was an exceptionally nice day. We have been flying
the Asymmetric all day and have been doing great speeds. This made us introduce
a little speed competition. The person registering the highest speed (on
course) onto the log is named 'speed winner of the day'.
Coincidently, today's winner is the same person I was
planning to spotlight in this blog: Jose.
Jose is from Peru and started travelling the world about
1,5 years ago. He just finished university when he decided he wanted
to broaden his horizon. It is amazing how much he did: Europe, Egypt, Asia
and Russia to name a few and at some point he ended up in Las Palmas where
he joined us on Telefonica Black. He had never set foot on a sailing boat before
and on my question why he came on this trip he came with this amazing
story:
Growing up Jose believed that Christopher Columbus was a
guy who mainly took a lot from Peru, the country he grew up in. Lots of natural
resources got taken by foreign countries because one mister Columbus decided to
conquer the seas and explore new countries. Jose felt that some of the poverty
in Peru leads all the way back to that time and he therefore (also) did not
have any warm feelings towards Spain.
In Las Palmas however Jose went to the Christopher
Columbus museum and there he learnt more about his travels. 'In a way I started
to respect the guy because he was able to prove the earth was not flat and he
did so without any of the modern navigation resources we have now' he
says.
'and somewhere in the back of my mind I have always
wanted to cross an ocean but I never thought it possible without any sailing
experience. I am on my way back to Peru and I cannot think of a better way
than stepping into Christopher Columbus' footsteps to finalize my journey around
the world.'
Unfortunately we could not dwell on Jose his story too
long because we were put to work as Lance and Claire decided we needed to
gybe. The third in 4 days and like yesterday, again at around 1700. Not much
later the wind picked up till about 25 knots, we changed from the A7
(Asymmetric) to the J4 (jib). The prediction was that the pressure would
not decrease too much during the course of the night. At 2200 we
did the second gybe of the day, back to port tack, lining us up to
pass Cape Verde on the West side.
Right now it is 0510 and tonight has been a great
example on how a prediction is a prediction until it comes true. Theoretically
we lined up perfectly to pass Cape Verde but with the pressure dropping and a
variable wind direction it has proven impossible to stay on the preferred
heading. So we might have to do another 2 gybes to make sure we keep clear
of Santo Antao. But again, this is also just a prediction and it makes
me think of a saying we have in
Dutch that translates to 'nothing is as variable as the wind'..
Have a great day!
Angela
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