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Simon left on his cruise to Australia today at around 11:30 am. On his behalf, I would like to say thanks to everyone at Berkeley Marina for making his stay an enjoyable one. All of your help, guidance, and friendship was very much appreciated. So here is a little video of his trip out under the GGB. Its hard to tell, but that is "Goodonya", "Pura Vida", and "Good Grief". The video is not too exciting, and I don't think I really had much choice in the song.
If there are no communications problems, on this thread I will post updates to his journey, along with his positions so you can plot his course on Google or whatever you like. If you have things to tell him, you can post them here or send them to me, and I will cut and paste them to Simon. Please make the messages short. Also, he won't be back on sailnet for a while, so don't expect responses to your posts too quickly.
Rhumb Line (APPX) Distance to reach The Marquesas: ~1360 NM
So considering that he has some light wind sailing to do and that he will sail along more of a due S course until he crosses the equator;
he's probably at about the half-way point. The end of next week will tell us if he will be in the 4 week range; but it might take him a bit longer depending on ICZ winds.
If he maintains his average (optimistic) he's ~10 days out via the rhumb line.
Of course Chart Navigator's base map is a Mercator Projection so my calc's could be all wrong...
Thanks for the position update. Anyone that's been there done that- how long does it normally take to get across the equator back into some wind generally?
The winds yesterday Friday 15 may were so light I decided to fly the asymmetrical spinnaker and it was great until about 6pm, when there was a wind shift with some force and a choppy swell. The Spinnaker went inside out and wrapped itself around the headsail furler about half way up and proceeded to spin tighter all the way to the top even enveloping the sock. One hour latter needing the break I tried to make the regular radio call with Greg and Melissa on Pura Vida, no luck Propagation is bad at the moment even email has to be sent at the higher frequencies. Time to think and listen to the radio. If I can't get it down I can't use the headsail, me thinks to self, but I do have a staysail so all is not lost; just a bit slower and if I get the guts I will fly the symmetrical spinnaker if needed. So Up to the for deck to set up the inner fore stay just as I tighten the high field lever the spinnaker takes a flap as I hadn't got around to lashing it down, and the inner fore stay acts as a peeler and as I rotate the furler by hand it peels the spinnaker off the furler. Once down on deck I stuff the lot into its bag and there it will stay..until the next time I decide to fly it. Moral of the story, don't always do things in the order they should be done, you might get a nice surprise.
POS 07,28N 130,09W Sunny hot,dam hot water temp 28C light wind
Ted worked out that I was yesterday at the furthest point from land any where on the planet. I'm in the doldrums at the moment with winds in all directions but west. Its like a sauna but with no relief.
Simon
Ps Yes, I get all your messages but as I only get 90 minutes of air time per week I cant answer them all, sorry but I need my weather reports.
AS AN ASIDE...
I'D LIKE TO QUALIFY THAT, IN THAT I TOLD HIM THAT BY THE LOOKS OF IT ON GOOGLE EARTH HE WAS SMACK IN THE MIDDLE BETWEEN HAWAII, MEXICO AND THE MARQUESAS- WHICH IS PROBABLY THE FURTHEST ANYONE CAN GET FROM LAND. THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO CALCULATION, OR COMPARISON OF ANY TYPE OTHER THAN A QUICK GLANCE AND THOUGHT OF, "WOW, HE'S PRETTY FAR OUT THERE NOW..." SO IF ANYONE WANTS TO CRITIQUE MY CALCULATIONS, I STAND THAT THERE WERE NONE TO CRITIQUE.
Hey, those lives don't need saving. Simon's position is much more important than someone who gets themselves into a situation where they need a fireman to save them. Where are your priorities man.
Well yesterday was fun, very light winds from every direction except west and if it blew it was between 2 and 7 knots, even ran the engine for a total 14 hours as I lost 30 miles some how. The squalls came up out of no where and at one time I was surrounded by 7 separate Squalls and with the changing winds I didn't know which one would make a move. At first if there was wind I would douse the sails and be hit with an increase of about 5 knots 5+5=10 should have left the sails alone. Until this little squall hit and I went from 3-4 to 20+ then I'm thinking should have shortened sail but it only lasted about 20 minutes, and I got some good ground covered and a total drenching with warm rain so I had a wash at the same time. good wind this morning and hope it keeps up, from the south, who'd have thunk it. so I'm close hauled and making 5 knots in a sort of south west direction.
Pos as at 1pm PDST N 04,31 W 131,11 Hot sunny, hot cloudy, hot raining.
Thanks for the update. That's got to be exciting for him as the whole night sky will change. There are people who will never be able to see the southern stars with there own eyes. Simon is lucky man, he has seen it the night sky from both hemispheres. now that I thought about it he has earned it. Good on you Simon
it is hot and lots of sun, very little change during the night except no sun just a full moon. had the first proper look at the southern cross, very unusual seeing is so low in the sky . still waiting for the South Easterlies only have a southerly wind.
it is hot and lots of sun, very little change during the night except no sun just a full moon. had the first proper look at the southern cross, very unusual seeing is so low in the sky . still waiting for the South Easterlies only have a southerly wind.
It does sound like he's having a hard time of it. The old square-riggers could sometimes take weeks to get through the Doldrums, but I don't suppose there is much else he can do...
So if I'm not mistaken, Simon is hoping for the highlighted area to help him in his journey. Would this be the south easterlies he's referring to ?
As a noob to sailing I find his voyage a fantastic learning tool with all your contributions regarding his course and weather challenges. Thanks and Goodonya Simon!
ibrick - that looks right. The little I know about this stuff says that right now he is stuck in the middle of nothing, just North of your circle. There are three low pressure systems South of him, with that stream of SE wind in between, and a high even further South. I know even less about the South Pacific weather patterns than I do about the North Pacific, but from what I have heard and seen, there can be some nasty low pressure systems later in the year that spin off Australia and New Zealand heading NE. One of the reasons he was eager to leave.
Hi all well at 3pm PDST, I was at 01,00 N 132,45 W and only 1 degree or 60 miles til the Equator. The wind is not helping much at the moment as it puffs in from the south east at between 0 and 5 knots, its been a slow day since the sun came up.
I'll let you know when I get there.
Simon
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