3:56N 82:57W
Light and truly bollx wind astern means motorsailing and almost zero
apparent wind, which was okay in morning haze but the sun has broken through
and it's hot. Good job I have the hardtop else we'd die or er at least be
in the same position as all those boats with crummy dark=hot dark material
or zero bimini...
Anna is steeped in NZ upbringing, which means lots of knowledge of the
Pacific. it also means she hezz eh distinct Ne'Zeelend ick-sent, which i am
learning gradually, but er anyway, where was I ? Oh yes, my Pacific
knowledge is limited to Capt Cook in mid 1700's, the capital of Tahiti is
Papeetee (pronounced Pappy Eighty), Society Islands named after the Royal
Society very fab with nice french restos and supermarkets, Bora Bora bit too
touristy, Bligh +Pitcairn +Bounty+breadfruit fiasco 1790s, Easter Island
interesting but puzzling, Marianas Trench deepest bit of ocean, Bookem Danno
with Jack Lord, plus some WW2 stuff eg Tora Tora Tora! or other US v Japan
stuff mostly with Robert Mitchum or James Garner (but NOT Tom Cruise) er
actually possibly I know some more stuff too ...
Anyway, the point is that Anna knows things like frinstance Melonesia - and
the fact that it's called that because er, the people have darker skin,
perhaps. Oh, and lots of other things *including* even speaking (some)
Maori. So! What with me being originally from Yorkshire it'll all be very
Capt Cook-ish, who was also from Yorkshire (well, Whitby i think, which is a
bit posh and not Truly Grim Yorkshire, but what the heck, it counts) and
*he* had a Maori guide to help him thru the Pacific too. Poor old J Cook
unfortunately was got killed by the locals a bit later so i hope the
parallels end before that, I imagine he was a bit too Blunt Yorkshire (i.e.
rude) to some of them, and that definitely doesn't sound like me, erm,
ooer...
Now then, calculators, oranges, plastic footballs and felt pens at the ready
for this next bit. We (anna's idea, again) quite fancy crossing the Equator
so the sun is directly overhead. So, that means crossing it at local noon,
right? So I reckon that if instead of going direct to the Galapagos, we
divert a bit and go further south to the equator so that on Monday we reach
the equator at or a bit before noon, which'll be just perfect. At 6.9
knots, i need a waypoint about erm well, it's noon local now, so say get
there in 47hours and turn due west will definitely cover it... = 324nm
...and so we've just changed course to go there, 86deg 43W which costs us an
extra 20nm instead of the direct route. But er, arg! WAIT just a minute! -
being on the Equator at 12 noon - the sun is directly overhead at noon ONLY
on 21st march and 21st Sept, isn't it? Cos the earth spins on a
leaning-over-at 23ish degrees axis? I think so? Damn! And yeah, hm... the
dates on which the sun is overhead will vary sinusoidally not linearly
(i've lost a few of you here, but not all) .....So, um, right, bit of help
needed here please....it won't work for this leg BUT when we set off
again... from the Galapagos at nearly 1degree south to Hiva Oa which is
about 9deg 50 south... and if we set off from galapagos say sometime like
March 1st and it takes 18 ish days... are there any latitude/date
coombination(s) where the sun is directly overhead at noon? Hm... I bet
there are - cos we'll be in the right (southern) hemisphere AND it's getting
close to 21st March, so yeah, definitely sometime/somewhere along that
route, the sun will be overhead at local noon. I imagine that the World
ARC participants have this all worked out for them in advance. Hah! Yeah,
right. Well, whatever, we'll go to that equator-crossing wpt for around
noon on Monday or at least in daylight and have some fizz.
More music practise again due later this afternoon, after we have a stab at
making focaccia.
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