Ariel, Atlantic Ocean towards the 50th meridian west
29 November 2019
Position 15 ° 42 ′ NOrd 47 ° 34 ′ West
Miles traveled by Mindelo 1307
Missing to S. Lucy 779
Another day full of wind, despite a line of perturbation that has created meteorological instability since yesterday afternoon, when towards sunset in the west and southwest the sky did not promise anything good. We ran fast with the Genny and unstable wind, oscillating from 12 to 18 knots from the east, but I was not convinced by the irregularity and the nervousness it showed. We decide to lower the Genny for the night and continue with white sails, butterfly, with firmly retained mainsail and tangonate genoa. Good choice. A lump hit us while we were at dinner with the usual Corte Inglès asado chicken, potatoes and courgettes, luckily accompanied by a good Rioja reserve wine from 2012 (it is true that the Ceci is missing, and we played a good game with bad luck, however good wine cannot be missing in Ariel’s cellar, never;I said we were at dinner and the rain and the wind began to strengthen, but to tell the truth, we hardly noticed. A rather choppy night, slow, because the disturbed trade wind is weakened, indecisive and less soft. But the dawn has come and on my turn (5-8) I was finally able to see the sea, the sky and feel the wind in my face. I find a gap free from sails, between the genoa on the left and the mainsail on the right, there is room for the staysail, which I open instantly, gaining half a dry knot, and greater stability, given by the more masculine and powerful bow.and the sky and feel the wind in your face. I find a gap free from sails, between the genoa on the left and the mainsail on the right, there is room for the staysail, which I open instantly, gaining half a dry knot, and greater stability, given by the more masculine and powerful bow.and the sky and feel the wind in your face. I find a gap free from sails, between the genoa on the left and the mainsail on the right, there is room for the staysail, which I open instantly, gaining half a dry knot, and greater stability, given by the more masculine and powerful bow.
But that’s not enough. I await the awakening of the troops, and above all of the faithful Maurizio, who knows where to put his hands, and we decide to rearm the genny, because Ariel asks for something better. Jacket, gloves and you go to the bow. Before proceeding, I double-check the curmudgeon work that I like, but it needs a touch up. We still hoist the left wing and the idea arises of building a further reinforcement for the lateral movements of the pivot, which a sail of 180 square meters or 200 swollen with wind, although not violent, nevertheless causes them. An hour of work and then we are very satisfied and ready to hoist the Lady in Blue. Today the gym was built in the bow. While on shore I feel a different air on my face and back. The sea becomes more frothy, ocholate. An eye to the anemometer and we see that it rises to 16, 18, 20 knots, but from the south east, no longer from the east.The tangled jib refuses, and if we put wind pilot, we go somewhere else. Nothing to do, Genny goes back to bed, the pole parallel to the mast, at rest, and it’s time to give air to the magical Code Zero, “the sail in black”, since it is almost black, with carbon and kevlar fibers of its fabric. Moreover, with this instability it will be easier to reduce the canvas. Here at 10.00 (still without breakfast) we finish the work and with a wind angle of 100 ° of apparent and 137 real, Ariel slips into a track and the speed stabilizes at 7,8-8,3, with peaks at 9.4-9.7 in burst. The weather analysis is practically accurate to the mile, even if we did not believe in such a clear rotation. At the SSB network with the other boats at 08.00, useful because we understand the wind at other positions,almost all reported a drop in wind and a slight rotation from east to east south east, but basically it appeared insignificant. Instead it is very useful for our progression with this crazy wing. But not only that, today we can say that with “Black”, nickname of the code, we used the whole range of Ariel’s sails, staysail included, and we always went with the wind, traverse, slack, big beam, full stern, tight reach. , wide slack: every corner in the wind has had its sail. And that’s why we’re in the lead, just to have always chosen the right wing for the moment. Thanks Dario and Flavia diwe used all of Ariel’s sails, including support staysail, and we always went with the wind, cross, slack, big, full stern, narrow reach, wide slack: every corner in the wind had its own sail. And that’s why we’re in the lead, just to have always chosen the right wing for the moment. Thanks Dario and Flavia diwe used all of Ariel’s sails, including support staysail, and we always went with the wind, cross, slack, big, full stern, narrow reach, wide slack: every corner in the wind had its own sail. And that’s why we’re in the lead, just to have always chosen the right wing for the moment. Thanks Dario and Flavia from Olimpic Sails! Good Job!
Regatta: from the analysis of the positions at 12.00 we are the hare to chase and every day we lengthen by a few miles, and if we did it by going slowly … Today, therefore, sailors and sailors are great, but it’s not over. For some days I have been re-studying the sextant and a simple way of using it on board. The two-hour course that the ARC skipper did in Las Palmas helped me a lot, I needed a lot to re-read the book by Mary Blewitte and that of Sergio Guaita, both with the same title “Astronomical Navigation”, as well as reviewing the notes of our Professor Antola of the course done in Liguria. Slowly everything is done at sea.
Today the debut of the sextant is ripe. I begin with the calculation of the Sundial. What’s this? The first great navigators realized that the height of the sun above the horizon could give them an idea of the latitude at which they were; an enormous achievement especially when they understood that the calculation of latitude would have been much more precise if they had observed the height of the sun at the moment in which it culminates at noon on the passage from the meridian where they were. The approximate calculation of noon on our meridian (- 2 from Greeenwich) allowed me to observe the rising sun for the last few minutes, see it culminate and then descend. We observe that our noon is actually at 12.08 (peak of the sun) and the reading gives it at 50 ° 56 ‘, I take the data,to the correspondence calculation with the ephemeris and all that it takes, and WOW !!!! THE LATITUDE NOT OBSERVED ON THE PLOTTER BUT EXTRAPOLATED FROM THE CALCULATIONS and appeared with a number written in pencil! and with a handful of early errors! I do not believe it. As if suddenly I understood so many pages of navigators that I have devoured in these years of sea; as if a foggy, opaque, unclear page thinned out: the Sundial! now it’s no longer a secret to Ariel. Among other things, it is very important because going west, or 270, more or less, sooner or later we touch the ground somewhere, but knowing at what latitude is essential, if you arrive in Cuba or Santa Lucia. Obviously I’m talking in the absence of instrumentation. Tonight he tries it again, if the clouds allow it, or the measurement of the height of the Polaris, the true beacon of the firmament of the northern hemisphere,whose height measured with the sextant gives us confirmation of the latitude calculated at 12; only it is more difficult to fish because the sky is milky and full of clouds of this fringe of the tropical wave. We’ll see. You cannot think of the immense satisfaction for this little other piece of the infinite puzzle of seafaring art. From tomorrow, every day calculation of the sundial, and when it has become a simple game, I will move on to the height lines and the calculation of longitude. Step by step.From tomorrow, every day calculation of the sundial, and when it has become a simple game, I will move on to the height lines and the calculation of longitude. Step by step.From tomorrow, every day calculation of the sundial, and when it has become a simple game, I will move on to the height lines and the calculation of longitude. Step by step.
Official toast for the conquest tonight! Last night we turned on the TV for the first time, the crew unaware of the possibility of being able to see DVDs, films or other was pleasantly surprised. We saw a documentary on the Forgotten Pacific, a glimpse of what awaits us in the coming months; moreover, the TV screen is also used as a PC repeater to display the weather gribs and the synoptics that punctually arrive from Navimeteo. And even today the theme of rhythm has escaped… which is not just sleep wakefulness. But it will come, in the meantime we have nicknamed the cabin with bunk beds “THE ROOM OF DREAMS” because whoever lies down there does not sleep, quickly falls into the REM zone and dreams like a child. The fact is that we are finding that both fore and aft the effects are actually similar. We talk about it tomorrow,that tonight when we are in the Tavern on the ocean, I have to ask Dr. Gambini about dreams… that surely, as a man of science and culture, he will be able to give us a point of view from inside the psyche.
See you tomorrow
Paolo & Ariel’s sailors
