Today's Report
June 19/11 0800 JST
Position: 20°26'N, 165°43'E
Remaining to Yokohama finish: 1,863 nm / 6.6% (ETA: 20 - 24 days)
About noon yesterday he called to say the radar was acting up, showing misoperation alerts without apparent cause. Resetting had no effect. By the evening it had cleared up, also for no apparent reason. "I don't know why," he said, puzzled for the second time that day.
We wonder. Wake Island, with its military functions and super-sophisticated technology, must have the ability to interfere with onboard radar systems. No doubt they were watching him very, very closely as he jibed to within 20 nm of the island. We told him "you probably were their TV entertainment yesterday," to which he said "Oh, yeah…. that's right!" and laughed at the apparent (or not) coincidence.
If the radar DOES go out, he should be ok until he gets into the shipping channels approaching Japan. At that point his several hour-snatches of sleep throughout the day will grow even shorter as he dodges ships, sans engine, in one of the world's busiest waterways.
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Another good sailing day as winds remain steady from the E & ENE. He advised that he expects to do fewer jibes as he closes in on the 150th east longitude turn-up toward Japan in roughly 900 nm. "I want to go up to about 22° or 23° north latitude before turning back down again," he said, predicting "maybe 120 nm" today, with winds expected to be favorable out of the ENE in the low to mid teens.
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Distance in last 24 hours: 107 nm DOG / 94 nm DMG
Total distance completed: 26,574 nm
To Yokohama: 1,863 nm (measured)
Average daily DMG over last 4 days of sailing: 87 nm (measured)
ETA: 22 days
Heading: 285°, changed from 240° yesterday at 1800 JST
Reported boat speed: 5.0 kts
Average boat speed: 4.5 kts
Weather: Overcast; warm
Temperature: 27.0° C
Barometer: 1015 hPa
Wind (from): 10-14 kts ENE
Waves: 1.0- 1.5 m
Sails: Genoa 90%, staysail 0%, mainsail 3pt reef
Engine: 0 hrs
Generator: 8 hrs
