More Milestones with Captain Morgan
Digiboat's "Product Testing"
Simon Blundell
Wed 27 Nov 2013 22:50
2153z 27/11
The NW winds continue at the forecast 12-15 kn which brings the apparent
onto our beam and reaching along at the usual 8-10 kn. These winds are
expected to stay withg us for the next day or two before rotating back
down to the SW. Our GC route has a significant slope to the N now but
more important for us is to stay in the stronger wind band so we can
keep our speed up. The pilot charts (which're based on accumulated
historical data) indicate that to be still further E closer to the Aus
coast, so we'll probably stand on our E course for another thousand
miles or so.
Rod, Ryan and I noted the 2,000 miles from South Africa milestone with a
rum shot at sunrise yesterday morning, Robert was a late comer for the
occasion but arrived just in time to flavour his morning cuppa.
Particularly the nights, but also the days, are extremely cold and a
constant reminder of our proximity to the South Pole. So the 3 of us on
the dog watch spend much time each night discovering and discussing
possible milestones that'll need celebrating with the internal warming
effect of the Captain Morgans. Next is in a day or two and will be (for
Robbo, Ryan and myself) 10,000 miles since Spain departure, then a day
or so after - the half way mark for this leg up to Bali, and in a
further couple of days we'll be able to include countdowns - 2,000 miles
to go ... etc etc. (Hope we have enough rum on board for this leg) .
Robert is one of those "wake with the sunrise" types, and as I control
the Ship's Time, and excerise a fair degree of Captain's privilege with
this important task, my little scam has finally been exposed. The days
are quite long at this latitude in summer, and I sleep after dinner for
a few hours before my midnight to 6am watch, so it's been very
convenient for me to have sunset around 7pm and sunrise at 4am. The long
summer twilite means that the day is breaking from around 3am and thus
Robert wakes hours before his 6am watch, and my tweaking of the time has
been discovered.
Not much to report really, no fish, no swell, good winds, sunny but
chilly day, good food, entertaining company, great sailing - just
another day on the Southern Ocean....
SJB