Satnavs are so much easier

Serendipity
David Caukill
Sun 13 Oct 2013 09:26

Sunday 13th  October 2013  Indian Ocean,  11.21.9S 100.43.5E  

Today's Blog by Richard (Time zone BST +.6.50; UTC +7.5)

 

Hello, I’m back again. Thought you should know I have been demoted to the coffin again. Hey ho.

 

I rejoined the crew in Bali a week ago. (Curiously, I noticed that the passage plan on the satnav showed the “Norton” leg starting in Christmas Island rather than Bali and  I’ve not had a satisfactory reason for that. Anyway, they didn’t get away without me).

 

I was quite pleased to leave Bali after only a couple of days. It appears to cater mostly for young blond surfers and, as I am none of these things (anymore!), it was time to go. We are progressing very well and have logged Serendipity’s highest-ever “miles run” over three consecutive days (and still counting).  The race is on to drop anchor at Cocos before dusk tomorrow (Monday) or we will have to “heave to” off Cocos until Tuesday morning (see blogs passim for details on how difficult it is to slow this boat down). Related to this, I made a big mistake today. In an email to Lynn, I explained that we had not changed the sail plan since leaving Bali and, hey presto, within 2 hours of sending the email, we were putting up the Code Zero to maintain/increase our speed. So, watch our progress with interest over the next 24 hours.

 

Anyone who read the May blogs might remember that I amused the other members of crew by insisting on practising my astro-navigation skills. I can tell you they are  not getting any better. Some of you may remember learning that a sextant is used to observe the elevation of celestial bodies, including the sun. A sextant has a mirror which is used to take an image of the sun down to the horizon. So, firstly, you need to find that image through the viewfinder and that was the main problem on Day 1 as I just couldn’t find it! With help from the master mariners on board, I overcame this rather critical deficiency in my work and I thought I would be on a roll from then on. Yesterday’s afternoon sunsight was quite respectable but then I forgot to take this morning’s sunsight until it was too late (but that’s not the end of the world). With increasing confidence, I proceeded to tackle today’s meridian passage (think of it as high noon). Well, my results show that the sun passed the meridian 3 times today before it raced off to the west. I felt honoured to have observed such a special event!!

 

My other navigational skills are somewhat better although I was perplexed the night before last by an array of lights I didn’t recognise. Maybe those sailors among you can try your skills on this one: three white lights in a row (same height) with a single red some distance behind and higher than the whites. Well, I didn’t recognise this pattern but was sure she must be a big vessel and we were slowly closing in on each other. Also, she was not transmitting an AIS signal, naughty girl. Worked it out yet? Yes, it was lights on Christmas Island!!

 

I’m inclined to close my eyes from now on and rely on the satnav.

 

Apologies for lack of photos but waves are a bit boring and flying fish and falling stars are hard to capture on camera.