3:20.27S
111:12.31W
Tuesday 19th June – Staggin’ on through the South Pacific
It’s approaching
sundown on Saturday 23rd and we’ve covered a little over 1250NM from
Galapagos and we’ve got about 1750NM to go. Thursday saw us cross the
105º meridian
– so another 15º increment from Greenwich crossed off the ‘to do’ list and all
our watches and the ship’s main clock were set back a further hour during the
lunchtime dog watch. So, we’re now
7 hours behind GMT and 8 hours behind current local UK
time. The
wind over the last couple of days has been a bit fickle. In particular, yesterday served up about
10 knots from the east for most of the day. Not quite enough for comfort. So, distances run have been moderate on
both days – 145NM and 148NM in turn.
A couple of extra knots of wind makes a huge difference to the stability
of Percy the Parasailor and adds at least a knot to our speed. This morning the wind perked up a bit
and we’ve had around 13 knots from the ESE for most of the day. That’s better. That big smile that Percy shows when his
wing is up and stable has been in evidence all day and we’ve been making 6.5
to 7 knots consistently. It’s still much too early to start
predicting timings for landfall. In
fact we haven’t yet decided where that is to be. Because Chris needs to fly out from Nuka
Hiva, at the north end of the Marquesas, we’ll need to get there in time for his
flight. However, if the wind gods
are kind we may have time to call in to one or other of the islands SE of that
before he flies out. Fatu Hiva
would be nice.
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