Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Late night show

Last night, during my 8 to 10 watch, the moon had not yet risen and all
the stars were shining in their Sunday's best. Some were from the North,
some from the South, all beautiful in a clear sky for once with not one
single cloud in it. In the north, Vega, the third brilliant star in the
sky behind Sirius and Canopus, and which will be the north polar star in
about 25000 yeasrs. Vega is blue and pure. Then also, Altair from the
constallation of the Eagle, Deneb, both forming a know triangle with
Vega. Arcturus was there too.
On the south, the Scorpion occupied most of the space, leaving a little
bit to the Southern Cross. Venus, which is not a star but a planet, was
in that part of the sky, separated from the northern part by the milky way.
Unfortunately, Canopus, the most beautiful star of all because it shines
all the colours of the spectrum, can only be seen in the morning for the
time being.

Since noon yesterday, we have had quite a nice wind and the numbers
today are good. We covered 152 nm (nautical miles) over the ground,
closed on Fatu Hiva by 147 and only have 1110 remaining on a direct
line. We now have been sailing for 17 days and our water consumption
remains at around 3.5 gallons per day. We have covered altogether 2512
nm over the ground, but in terms of getting closer, we left with 3518 nm
on a direct line and have reduced that number by 2408.

This morning, our faithful cloud cover was back. I though it had gotten
lost, but not. It found us and gratified us with a 35 knots dry squall.
We registered the fastest top speed for Papy Jovial so far at 10.7
knots. This was almost immediately followed by a period of no wind or
hardly any wind (still going on as I write) and we are moving at 3.5
knots max. It's a game of patience.

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