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Lexington - 3/17/17. 9°. 54' south. 124°. 54' west



It is the 6-10 am watch and I am the person on watch. We have not changed our clocks since we left Galapagos so it is actually earlier by the sun. As a group we stay on the same time for each leg to try to prevent confusion. Time zones around the world are every 15 degrees. 24 time zones of 15 degrees each make a total of 360 degrees around the world. In some of our work like celestial navigation we have to have a universal time called UTC for universal time or Zulu or Greenwich mean time. That is the time at the prime meridian which goes thru Greenwich England. We are at 124 degrees 54 minutes west. Divide that by 15 degrees and round the nearest whole number to get the time zone with west being positive and east negative. So if it is 6:00 a.m. here you would add 8 to get UTC which would be 14:00 or 2:00 p.m. To do celestial navigation I have a watch that gets a time signal via satellite every day to keep accurate time to the second. I thought I would cover a little of our instruments we have on display while sailing. We have what is called a multifunctional display at the helm, under the dodger and at the navigation station down below. We also have three displays over the companionway ( opening to go down into the boat). The navigation software is very advanced and can be set to display all kinds of information. At the helm we usually display the chart or map. Under the dodger( small roof like area over the companionway) we display the radar. The radar is good for seeing squalls in the area. On another display we have the wind information such as true wind speed and direction and apparent wind. On another we have depths which is useless now. On another we have lots of data, bearing to waypoint, course over ground, latitude and longitude, speed over ground, distance to destination, time of day, ETA. The chart plotter will also show other vessels in the area either on radar or by AIS (automatic identification  systems). I will show a photo of displays if it will show up. May fair winds fill your sails with useful information. Bob  

 


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