Thursday 27th May

Vaquero
Thu 27 May 2010 12:16
My position at 1200 UTC is 48 59.6N  14 14.3W
 
Almost becalmed   - which in the ever present swell is rather uncomfortable with everything slatting about as we roll.  Had a good run last night with plenty of wind, but it all died away at dawn.  Only another degree of westing and I shall have to change the clocks aboard to local time.  As I've kept them at BST, they'll go back two hours to get back into kilter with nature.
 
Looking at the chart last night I realised that we were going to pass close to one of the ODAS (Ocean Data Acquisition System) buoys.  There was a moment of concern about colliding with it if I nodded off at the wrong moment, but then it occurred to me that the scale of the chart I am using meant that 'close' as it looked on paper, it was in fact over twenty miles distant.  Bit like worrying about hitting the Orwell Bridge as you come out of the Blackwater.  So I never did see it.  And on this North Atlantic chart, the crossing only occupies three quarters of each side of the chart folded  -  doesn't really look very far until you start plotting the daily positions and realise how huge this body of water is.  I turn the chart over at 35W, so there'll be a celebration then.  So far I've ony managed to get past the soup stain at 13W.