Days 16 and 17 of Pacific Crossing
13 May 2012 | 07 59.876'N:127 02.862'W
HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! WE LOVE YOU MOMS! Day 16: 99nms, Day 17: 103nms. Miles to Go: 1280 Day 16 begun with a pod of dolphins swimming along side of Tanga. I woke Tom up 15 minutes early and asked him if he would like to have his morning coffee while watching the dolphins play. He said yes! Not a bad way to start out the day. Anyway, we sailed along nicely, on a port tack, with a heading of around 160, to get more south than west.
On Day 17 we stayed on a port tack all day and night long, making a great run south. Winds stayed at a good clip all day/night and we had a following sea to help push us along. When I was done with my 2:00am watch, I noticed the cabin temperature was 78.6F. We now sleep in shorts and t-shirts but we do still wear a sweatshirt, while on watch, because of the winds. The days are definately warmer and more humid now, we are definately in the tropics! Also, the water depth varies from 10,000 - 19,000ft! It amazes me to think of all the sea creatures swimming underneath us that we have no idea about.
After being on the ocean for 17 days, traveling a total of 1639nms with 1280 more to go, you will see that our original estimated miles of 2718 is exceeded. The reason is based on our rhumb line (as the crow flies) and Miles Made Good. Meaning, that we sail based on what the seas and winds allow us to do. Sometimes, we are able to sail the exact heading and other times, we have to zigzag which adds miles. An example is we may travel 5 miles in an hour but actually get 3.5 miles closer to our destination.
All is well here on Tanga! We are really looking forward to hitting the 1000 miles to go! We are very excited about hitting that milestone.
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