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Cerulean of Penryn - Fayre Wynds and Kynd Seas to St Lucia



DATE:2018-12-02 05:00Z
TITLE: ARC+ LEG 2 DAY 12
LOCATION: 14:17 051:35
AUTHOR: Richard Rowley
BODY:

Distance to go 542Nm, Distance Sailed 1630Nm

here i am again on the night watch, 3 hrs later than last night, well actually 4 because we moved the ships clock back another hour, and what a difference that all makes to the night sky I am looking at. When I cam on watch the moon and Venus were already high in the sky behind us to the East, the moon lying down in a very relaxed crescent. Orion is hiding in front of the mainsail to the SW of us. All the stars have moved around quite a bit, all except Polaris, the Pole Star, as this one stays still and all the other stars rotate around it through out the night, turning Orion on his head and Ursa Major, the Giant Bear upside down. I have looking at the stars and planets so I can learn how to identify them for taking star sights with the sextant to use them for navigation purposes.

I took sights and measured the sextant angle of the Moon, Venus, Polaris, Sirius and Canopus, they are not particularly accurate sights as it is quite a dark night with only a crescent moon and it is difficult to find the horizon through the sextant when it is so dark, but i was just practising the procedure to taking star sights...that is actually the easy bit, the hard bit is knowing what to do with the readings you have taken, that requires looking up lots of things in tables and doing lots of sums adding and subtracting or subtracting hours minutes and seconds or degrees minutes and seconds...takes a bit of getting used to for me but I am getting there, by the time I have actually worked out a plot using astro navigation we have moved on another 150 miles and it all has to be done again...thank god for GPS...

Now we have got through the first of December I bet some of you have now got your Christmas trees up and decorated in your front room, our saloon is festooned with fruit and vegetables swinging in a hammock slowly diminishing in number as we either consume them or consign them to the deep as they are going off. carrots don't seem to last very well and quickly turn into a rather unpleasant mush...

What else was I going to tell to, I know, Wildlife...there isn't any.. well not much to write home about. As me and Alison sailed down the Spanish and Portuguese coast we were greeted daily with pods of dolphins which was wonderful, as we headed out in the Atlantic ocean towards the Madeira Islands and the Canary Islands we did not see any until we got the Canaries where we have seen a few large pods. Around Tenerife we did quite a few Pilot Whales. We have seen 3 turtles one off of Madeira and two off of the Canaries. Since leaving Las Palmas back on the 11 November we have not seen any Dolphins, but we did see just North of the Cape Verde Islands a large pod of Pilot Whales and large shoals of flying fish may be 10, 20, 30 flying fish all flying at once scattering from the boat. Since leaving Cape Verde Islands we have not seen any whales or dolphins which is a pity, but we may be more lucky as we get to the more fertile waters closer to St Lucia. We have seen quite a few sea birds out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean these look to be Petrals and some smaller birds which may be skuas we have being these up and until a few days ago, and they were a thousand miles from anywhere. We have also seen quite a few flying fish, these are amazing things and really does show you the link between fish and birds. Most morning there are one or two which have landed on the deck and become stranded, one morning I counted 12, 10 of which were just 'small fry' just like whitebait with wings, but we have not had any of these for the last couple days. I would say that we have entered a dead zone in the ocean devoid of food for the birds and fish, but no, over the past couple if days we have had increasing amounts of sargasso weed drifting by, either in long tracks or in large clumps, this weed is quite annoying as it gets caught around the rudder for the Hydrovane wind vane steering and 'Old Harry' gets a bit stressed about this and it makes him go of course a bit. I expected perhaps to see Turtles swimming with the sargasso weed but have not seen any yet or any other visible wildlife.

Since I started writing this it has started to get lighter, it is 05:55 local time (08:55 GMT/UTC) it is pre-dawn just a generally getting lighter from the east, it will probably be another hour before sunrise. I think I shall try and take some more star sights whilst they are still visible and now I can see a horizon...darn...by the time I put the computer down below and got the sextant out the stars had all gone to bed...

So more drivel from me, I am not actually sure that anyone is reading this stuff, I don't even know if it is getting posted up so it can be read, if you are reading all these blogs I hope you are enjoying them as much as I am writing them, I am writing for myself really but am quite happy to share my thoughts with you all.

This particular voyage of 2100 ish nautical miles will be coming to an end in 3, 4 or may be 5 days time, depending on the wind, (it seems to be dropping off a bit at the moment, but I am sure it will soon comeback and keep us going at a reasonable pace. Cerulean does not really like light winds) but for me and Alison who started on our Atlantic Odyssey back at the end of July from Gosport UK we have now sailed over 5000nm on this trip. We have experienced new things, places and cultures it really has been a voyage of discovery not just of the things we have seen but discovering ourselves as well. Although I look forward to getting walking on dry land again, and being able to go to sleep without the boat constantly pitching and rolling, have a proper shower, clean clothes, and not have to hold on to my dinner bowl to stop it sliding on the floor, I will be elated to arrive, I feel that this voyage will be over all too soon, it is a strange sort of feeling. I must say life on board is not particularly comfortable, it is far too hot to sleep, I am clammy, everything is clammy despite the luxury of having a shower and washing my clothes.

You know that I just mentioned that the wind is dropping off, well it has now started raining and raining quite heavily, the first time we have had proper rain on this voyage, I expect once it has gone over the wind will come back...may be even stronger...anyway I'm not getting wet, my watch finished at 0600 Jeremy is on watch now. Phil is up now as well now and baking some fresh bread, that will be a treat to look forward to.

I must sign off now as I have the SSB Radio net in 30 minutes time at 10:00 UTC.

Fayre Wynds and Kynd Seas
Cerulean of Penryn
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At 02/12/2018 09:36 (utc) our position was 14°17.04'N 051°42.74'W
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