Here Be Dragons

May 18, 2015

Peregrinus now finds itself in the middle of the Atlantic. To the north, Eastern Greenland at Mogens Heinesen Fjord, 1096 Nautical Milles NM. To the south, Parrialba (west of Fortaleza), 2,810 NM. To the west, Liverpool, Nova Scotia, 971 NM. To the east, Biarritz, 1740 NM.

In medieval maps, this was beyond the edge of the known world. Since geographers did not know what to depict, they often placed strange sea monsters, or wrote scary warnings: “Here Be Dragons.”

But the Captain saw no dragons today. She spotted a few dolphins, jumping our bow wave.

My bounty is as boundless as the sea

May 13, 2015

My love as deep; the more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite.

Juliet to Romeo, William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Roads in the ocean

May 13, 2015

The voyaging routes of the sea are delimited by geography, ocean currents, the iceberg fields, the trade winds, the seasons, and the curvature of the planet.

Most maps present an idealised view of the landmasses, resulting in shortest-distance trips appearing curved in the map, the more away from the Equator the more so. Last year, our friends from Newcastle, with no radar, waited in Halifax for almost two months in the Summer, but in the end returned to the Caribbean for one more season because the ice fields extended across their way back home to England. The trade winds, or vientos alisios, are created by the rotation of Earth, and make certain trips difficult unless one goes hundreds or thousands of miles around. And this year, unlike last year, we avoided the Gulf Stream –which otherwise gives a boat a free and speedy ride— because of conflicting stormy weather.

We now see a handful of large cargo boats pass nearby, bound for Gibraltar, Cagliari, Rotterdam, and for Galveston, Baltimore, or Searsport. “Seeing” them means on AIS, up to 40 miles away, although today we called one on the radio that was going to pass less than a mile from us; the 571-foot Chembulk New Orleans slightly altered course and passed one nautical mile away, unseen in fog.

Tonight Peregrinus travels 600 NM south of Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, 1000 NM east of Hampton, Virginia,1900 NM north of Paramaribo, Suriname, 2300 NM west of Palos de La Frontera.

A provender

May 8, 2015

Every day, it seems, we come across a flying fish lying somewhere on deck. Peregrinus has 1.5 meters of freeboard, i.e., the height between waterline and deck. It is remarkable how high these little fish leap out of the water in relation to their modest size of about 20 cm.

As it relates to provender, a reader suggested "flying fish tartare," but in truth, we'd be hard pressed to even let the Alférez have a bite. But who knows. Maybe if we run into dire straits with regard to food stores.

We are now 380 NM east of the Carolina-Virginia border, 1580 NM north of Valencia, 2921 NM west of Cádiz, and 470 NM south of Schoodic Island.

http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=36.509640&lon=-67.963992

Shift work

May 7, 2015

A kind reader asks about our helm watches. So here is more than what you ever wanted to read about such things!

Common sense, insurers, and government authorities all demand some someone always be at the helm, attentive to navigation, ship traffic, the radio, and boat status. Besides, even though Peregrinus' autopilots drive the steering most of the time under settings known as "Wind Navigation" and "Wind" or "WindTrim," all of which minimize sail trimming activity, adjustments here and there are still necessary.

And so responsibilities have been split as follows: 05:00 to 10:00 - the Port Officer 10:00 to 15:00 - the Seaman 15:00 to 18:00 - the Admiral 18:00 to 19:00 - the Port Officer 19:00 to 20:00 - the Seaman 20:00 to 23:00 - the Port Officer 23:00 to 02:00 - the Seaman 02:00 to 05:00 - the Admiral

The schedule was drafted up by the Port Officer. The Admiral's 5-hour daylight shift is a couple of hours shorter, on account of her having volunteered as Chef de Cuisine.

The Alférez, one must conclude, must be the real boss, for he gets no watches. He just sits pretty, and purrs contentedly if the sailing is as smooth as he wants.

It is good seamanship to show up a few minutes in advance of one's watch, so the outgoing helmsman can debrief regarding recent events and timely go belowdecks. Generally, this is the extent of the socializing during night watches. During the day, the situation is different, as crew members often mill around the cockpit, either in conversation with the helmsman or just lying about. If crew assistance is needed, one calls the person who is next on watch. Critical items require calling the designated Captain, who on this trip is the Admiral.

All-hands time tends to be lunch (brief) and dinner. Dinner can be a nice sit-down, napkin and silverware affair, when seas are calm, and a good time for story telling. These meals are evidently held on deck in order to maintain the watch.

Current position: 435 NM (500 miles) east of Raleigh, North Carolina, 500 NM south of Newcastle, Maine, 1034 NM north of Santo Domingo, 3050 NM west of Tanger.

To Kinsale, Ireland

May 3, 2015

Screen capture from our B&G Zeus 12 navigation system, showing a screen John requested to keep easy track of our progress. DESTination is Kinsale, Ireland; DTD is Distance to Destination in nautical miles. DSTWTR is the distance through the water we have advanced since we left Fort Lauderdale, not necessarily in a straight line.

SOG, or current Speed Over Ground, is expressed in knots, and is equivalent to 12.4 kms/h; yes, it is slow going in a sailboat!

A post from space

April 29, 2015

Peregrinus now has a satellite-enabled Wi-Fi hotspot: an Iridium GO!. Through this device, we are able to post entries to this blog from any location on the planet, and chat with friends via SMS. This is the first post we are sending through the Iridium satellite constellation, so it is going from our current location in Fort Lauderdale to whichever of the 66 Iridium satellites happens to be flying above our heads at this moment at an altitude of 781 kms; this satellite then forwards the message to sister Iridium satellites until it reaches one that happens to be orbiting at that moment within sight of one of Iridium's downlink gateways.

We chose to purchase an "unlimited internet" subscription to the Iridium service, so we should be able to post regularly as we cross the Atlantic. Now, let's not get too excited about this "unlimited internet": its throughtput speed is about 1/20th of the internet speed you got when you last used with a dialup modem just before you switched to an internet broadband connection. So please do not expect to see any video, and most messages will probably be text only.