Today's Report
May 18/10 0800 JST / 1700 local
Position:
00°01'N, 100°20'W (North Pacific Ocean)
Another good day of westward progress at 119 nm. He also sounded much better, with his chest cold starting to clear up. He said he never noticed a fever and says it's mostly just turned into a scratchy throat. Needless to say, this comes as a relief since the nearest doctor is now 600 nm away.
He's spotted two small tears in the main and sees the Doldrums as a "harbor" of sorts, where he will be able to do some sewing after the wind dies down to almost nothing and the sea flattens out. So he's now turned north.
He's spotted two small tears in the main and sees the Doldrums as a "harbor" of sorts, where he will be able to do some sewing after the wind dies down to almost nothing and the sea flattens out. So he's now turned north.
ClearPoint shows he will need to go about 200 nm before he can expect to be becalmed enough to get out his sail-stitching kit. This will require dropping the main and standing or sitting on the cockpit roof in order to carry out repairs that he describes as more preventative than serious, since the damage is along some seams at the 4th batten that have recently begun to split open, rather than being more ominous rips in the heavy sail cloth itself. The damage is about two-thirds up the sail, he said.
He'll also soon find himself in a quite strong and favorable westward current which ClearPoint shows, surprisingly, to be as much as 2.3 kts. That could mean 50-plus nm in the direction he wants to go if he just lets the boat simply sit and drift like a huge bathtub toy as he enjoys the ride.
***
Distance in last 24 hours: 119 nm
Total distance completed: 20,719 nm
To Yokohama: 7,481 nm (distance remaining: 26.7%)
Heading: 320
Reported boat speed: 5.0 kts
Average boat speed: 5.0 kts
Weather: Clear
Temperature: 25.0° C
Barometer: 1003 hPa (steady)
Wind (from): 10-12 kts, ESE expected to be 10-14 kts SE for next 19 hours
Waves: 1.0 -1.5 meters
Current (from): E at 1.0 - 1.3 kt (favorable)
Engine: 0 hrs
Generator: 11.0 hrs
Sails: Genoa 90%, staysail 0%, mainsail 1-pt reef
Position Map
