46:00.311N 008:10.440W
SV Eleonora
Michael A. Andronov
Thu 26 Jul 2018 09:22
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UTC 0900
We made 4266.6 nmiles, we are nearly 270 nm
from Falmouth, and about 200 to Cabo Finesterre ( at least to the point, where
we are going to think about the landfall...
Another day brought some wind... Good wind
actually, 12-14 kts...
The direct course we were doing so far
was 208 True.... Now, guess where the wind is
coming from ? You are right! Of course -- in accordance with the
Sailing Law # 1 ( Chilean law ), right in our face...
The wind is 205--210 T.... To make more fun -- I looked into the
weather .grib files... As usual, not even close...
I really start to wonder how all that works... We are presently in one of
the most active and busiest seaway... And the weather files... definetely,
not good. In a good faith, I would start to investigate the
issue with the guy, sitting in the chair, in front of my computer...
( Most of the problems/challenges on board have been
generated by him, so far... ) But something is telling me
that this time the issue is not there...
I said bussiest seaway. Indeed. The amount of
traffic is astonishing. All kind of ships, carrying all
kind of goods... In all sizes...
They are going basically one after
another... and the distance between is probably dictated by the simple
fact that they do not have breaks... Otherwise, they would go
bow to stern, probably...
As I was crossing from Santa Marta, Columbia
-- last fall -- one of the captains from the big ship I met, lectured me
over VHF -- '... good accepted practice to keep at least 2 nm between the ships
as overtaking... ' He was a good guy, and we had a nice chat, about a lot
of topics... But I'm not sure that he has been navigating in
the area I'm now...
The big ship are polite, but the closest
overtaking I've been participating -- less then 0.2 nm... ( Based on AIS
)... Our courses were parallel... ( based on AIS
).... No too much space to turn for me (
on another side -- another ship, about 3 miles away... )...
And whet that container carrier was catching
with us -- at a speed of ~17kts... ( based on AIS )... It is not easy to
determine that 0.2 mile gap... from the distance of 3-4 miles being
ahead... But they are good... '... maintain your
course, captain. I see you well, you will be clear on
my starboard side... Fair winds! ... ( and a bit of laugh here,
since there is no wind at all at the moment... ) ...
As the ship is taking over -- it seems
HUGE... The few moments later, as you see her in
prospective with the Ocean... it is really small... Mentally,
you understand that it is the same ship... which just cleared
you... a minute ago... same couple of hundred meters
waterline... But now the adrenaline of her bow wave, proximity have
gone... And in comparison with mother nature -- she is tiny!
( I'm not even dare to think about the size of my boat at such
moment... ).
I'm watching all that traffic, and the same thought
is caming back again... How is issential all that traffic for
over life on land ?
If tomorrow, for some reason unknown, it were
stopped and were not replicated by land or air carriers what would have
happened?
Economy collapse ? Massive loss of lifes
?
And at the same time, under those ships
-- really tiny, on the surface of the water -- there is another life
'ecosystem'... without all that, and as accient as we are...
The lifeform which is probably as soficticated as our life is...
That thought -- an exercise in system
analysis -- is coming back to me again and again... I hope it is
just a side effect of the cold / flu I'm recovering from... and will
disappear soon. Otherwise -- it is not fun! ;-)
We are good, we are progressing slowly, one
day at a time!
M.
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