Last night at sea
23 August 2010 | 25 miles from Suvarov
Steve
This is a picture of the electronic chart we use showing our position as we approach Suvarov island. The chart is black because it is in our night view mode to protect our night vision.
It is our fifth night at sea tonight. We are about 25 miles from Suvarov now and it is 1:00 AM...prime time for writing. This is the longest Manjula and I have been at sea just the two of us. We did the first really long passage, (21 days), with our friend Kurt, but since then the longest we have been out has been three days and three nights. We really prefer sailing in the day to sailing at night. We timed this passage to have as much moonlight as possible which makes a big difference. Unfortunately we have quite a few passages ahead of us in the coming days, and the moon will be getting smaller. When there is no moon, sailing at night can feel like driving very fast in a car with your eyes closed. You really can't see anything, especially if it is cloudy. All you experience is the motion and the sounds. Without going on about it, we much prefer a moonlit night.
We planned for this trip to take 5 days and nights, but I had thought we might shorten it by a night if we made good time. We have made about 140 miles a day which is good by most boats standards, but Endless Summer can be faster. It just didn't work out and became clear that even if we pushed it we could not make it in to Suvarov with enough light to enter the unmarked reef pass. So we slowed down and for the last day and a half have just been sailing with a double reefed mainsail and no head sail. We should arrive about day break.
Manjula is reading Treasure Island and was pleased to find the quote, "them that dies is the lucky ones". I say that often on Endless Summer with a strong pirate drawl. I just finished "Banker to the Poor" by Muhammad Yunus. It's the inspiring true story of the guy that started the Grameen bank in Bangladesh. Now over 25 years later they are in over 100 countries and have lent billions of dollars to the poorest of the poor. They, along with others in the micro loan movement, have lifted over 37 million people from absolute poverty through tiny loans. Sometimes the difference between a womans' children starving to death and her being able to take care of them and herself is just a few dollars. One interesting statistic is that loans to the destitute almost always get paid back. They have over a 98% repayment rate which is much better than conventional banks. The next time you find yourself sitting around for 5 days and 5 nights with no TV, radio, internet, and unable to leave your house, I recommend reading this book.
We'll have a report from Suvarov in the next few days. In the meantime Google earth it and read up so your ready for the quiz.