07.56S 119.34W
JENNY
Alan Franklin/ Lynne Gane
Wed 19 Mar 2008 09:54
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WOW! that was some sleigh ride last night......
running down wind at 8/9 knts with a 5metre + following sea and winds up
to 22knts the boat slewing as the waves pushed the stern around in fact Ellie
came up to ask if all was OK and of course it was fine just a little
fun.
We are slowly and some times not so slowly making
way across this vast ocean only 1599nm to go in fact nearly half way and then we
are on the downward stretch,two weeks at sea like this with a roly poly motion
is generally enough for most people because that motion goes on 24hrs per day
there is no respite the boat does not stop so you can have a rest,you just have
to put up with it.
The saga of the "stink boat" continues with only 30
litres a day being used we should reach Niku Hiva our destination with water to
spare no close companions (can't wash in fresh water) but we will have
water,mind you its not all that bad we can use sea water for cooking washing up
(saves having to lick the plates to hard,I think the pattern has disappeared
from Ellies) and even washing.
Despite repeated goes at the watermaker it resists
our charms to coax it to work and sounds a terminal case to us but the makers
are convinced that it is bomb proof Oh if I had a bomb.
In the Pacific you rarely see much of the marine
life its all there in abundance but it stays out of sight the sharks,sword
fish,turtles,whales are all around at times but unlike the Atlantic we don't see
them,perhaps their food is deeper than in the Atlantic or perhaps the ocean is
so large they are more spread out.
Well I just looked at our log (speedo) and we were
doing 9/10knts over the ground wish we could keep that up all day.
We have two ways of expressing speed in a boat SOG
which is speed over the ground and Boat Speed which is the boats speed through
the water the difference between the two is the speed and direction of the water
itself .e.g if the boats speed through the water is 6knts and the tide is
flowing in the same direction at 2knts then the SOG is 8knts,however if the tide
is flowing against the direction of the boat the SOG would only be 4knts.Simple
isn't it.
In our situation the waves are also carrying us
forward and accelerating our speed.
Back to watch for me
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