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Seraphina of Chichester - Officially in the tropics



Daily life onboard Seraphina.
Apart from running the ship, sail her, eat and all the routine stuff we also engage in more serious fun.
 
We started the day by figuring out when we would cross the Tropic of Cancer. South of this latitude you are officially in the tropics. We had a lengthy discussion if it would be dotted or dashed; different globes display them differently. We were a bit disappointed when we saw nothing, just open blue water under a blue sky.  After crossing this imaginary line we suddenly found ourselves in the tropics and sure enough the hottest day so far. We were also lucky that Neptune does not charge for safe passage over this line.
 
We also needed to figure out where we are on the globe; there are no  signposts here, just water. At about 10a.m the sextant was on deck and morning sunsight were taken, combined with a noon sight and an afternoon sight, from which we could calculate and plot our position. This old fashion navigation aid still works and it’s fun to keep this good tradition alive. The only modern input is a calculator and laptop to help us calculate and plot. Another way of establishing the latitude at local noon is by measuring the length of the shadow of a small pole. This was also done and the sun’s altitude (how high above the horizon) could be derived from yet another source. Ancient  geometric techniques could suddenly become handy.
 
While all this geek fun were going on the fishing line was suddenly discovered to be under tension. A smaller fish (4-5 kg) were at the end of the line. We started to pull it in, but before we could take in all the line the fish was lost. We are constantly fishing in the hope that we’ll catch a Tuna, Swordfish or a Marlin. We got a chart with images of them explaining where to catch them how to eat them. 
 
We have two major ways of communication, of which sat.phone is the modern and just works, also as a gateway for the laptops.  The old fashion shortwave SSB radio is more fun. Trying to send email or receive weather forecasts is a challenge over this. So far only scattered data have been received. Hence this is an ongoing project.
 
Also today we discovered that it was over 29 degrees in the water, perfect for a swim.
 
Best wishes from all onboard Seraphina.
 
Ole
 
 
 
 


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