Today dawned on some thick clouds building up. A sure sign of rainy weather. We could sure do with some, it has been swelteringly hot for the past few days.
I had my chance at a fresh water shower again, which I used this morning. This was quite refreshing, as I was able to use some hot water heated by the calorifier on the port side motor the last time it was running. I had to use the mixer, as the water was too hot for a warm morning, but I did have a proper shower.
Needless to say, the clean, refreshed feeling was gone after n hour or so. Then we had some squalls in the afternoon, where I could have had a free shower again.
I decided against this. One can be too clean too.
The sea water around us are now turning the characteristic dark green associated with the Amazon river influx. It is expected to end up as dark brown-green. From the effect of the river water. We are now just north of the Amazon river delta, passing French Gyuana, still sailing on the 1000m contour. There is a current of just on two knots, helping us along at a healthy pace. Our last recorded daily run was 181 nm, not too shabby for a cruising boat.
The excellent mileage means that we can make it to St Maarten, our next stop, in a week from today. Seven days. Not too long ago, it was over forty days left of the voyage. It does seem just a short while ago.
John Lennon is accredited with the remark that life is what happens to you while you are making other plans. This rings true, especially for us. In one aspect, each of us have made a life changing decision to get out of the3 urban rat race and enjoy life in some other ways than competing with the neighbours.
But even more directly, we made a decision to enjoy life aboard. This includes looking after ourselves for entertainment, allowing others some personal space and, last but not least, eating proper food, prepared with care. This last one falls under the remark of John Lennon. I wonder just how many sailors go short on provisions to save money, then suffer some form of hardship as a result.
Consider the following: Do three deliveries per annum, that takes care of 3 x 42 days odd in a year. Add the mobilisation and demobilisation time(handover, preparation and some time to fly back home) and the count goes to about eight to nine weeks per voyage. Times three is twenty four weeks. Basically half of your year. If you do this regularly, it is almost half of your life. And you choose to spend it in some discomfort to save money? For what?
I think not.
We certainly have a good life aboard. The cooking helped a lot. And it does not cost an arm and a leg, just some careful planning and some creativity. Good food is also comfort food. And it lifts the soul as well as the body. Of course, we all lost weight in spite of the good eating. But the point is that we enjoyed the company and the dining, so to speak.
It does one a world of good to take a deep breath, relax and enjoy the ride.
My celestial navigation exercises are now fast drawing to a close. Another five days and we shall be within sight of land for the rest of the voyage. Last night's effort to get in some star sights were fruitless, but I did get a sight on Venus. This was duly reduced this morning to update our position as of dusk yesterday.
I was lucky to get some sun sights before the clouds set in and obscured the sun for the rest of the day. The sun sights along with my updated dead reckoning put us again within the limits I set for myself for precision.
Every ocean passage provides some opportunity for a pastime. I like to use this time to learn something. On previous voyages I taught myself to use the sextant and learnt to bake bread. I even tried polishing up my Spanish. This was, however, not successful, as you need a Spanish speaking person to talk to. On a boat with three Afrikaans people, this is basically impossible.
My spare time on this voyage was used to hone my other navigation skills. I like to think that my skill in this area went up a notch or so.
For now, I am scaling down on the heavy study work and am applying myself to relax. This goes for reading too. I am reading the Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams for the second or third time. Some hilarious comparisons and figures of speech in the book. Quite entertaining.
The heavy stuff like Homer's Odyssey I am setting aside for the moment.
I shall relax a bit more these last few days at sea. Then I shall relax some more when I get home.
And, who knows, after that perhaps do another delivery when the land-locked feeling gets too much.
And open my life to the enjoyments on offer.
And not make too many plans.
Authored by Johan Zietsman
Last updated on 2013-10-29
Today dawned filled with thick clouds. In fact, when I came on watch this morning at six, a heavy squall had just finished washing us clean of the salt from the last few days.
Pity I wasn't awake; I could have had a free fresh water shower!
I was a wee bit worried, as I had planned some navigation exercise for myself for today. A noon sight as well as a three point fix using the stars at dusk twilight.
The noon sight almost did not happen, as a huge, thick cloud obscured the sun just two minutes before noon. Luckily the cloud passed and I had a clear sun over the LAN (Local Apparent Noon for my non-sailor friends). Measuring the height of the sun at this time reduces directly to a latitude measurement. This makes life somewhat easier for the navigator.
I specifically did this, as it represents a different measurement than what I had been using for the voyage thus far. It was also high time to break the monotony of the daily sun sight and running fix calculations and do something else.
The rest of the "something else" work relates to star sights. There is quite a bit of preparation going into star sights. Firstly, you need to predict your dead reckoning position for the time of civil twilight. More buzz words, I suppose.
For most of the time, star sights are only possible during the time of twilight, when the sun's centre is between three and nine degrees below the horizon. Earlier than that, and the stars are not visible. Later than that and the horizon is not visible enough. It may be visible, until you have a star's light in your eye as well, thereby blinding you to the faintly defined horizon. You need a well defined horizon, with good contrast for a decent measurement.
Been there, tried that.
Stick with what the book tells you to do. Six hundred years of ocean navigation theory condensed in a book counts for something after all, I guess. Nothing new here, just solid practical procedures.
The calculations are quite interesting, as you need to keep a clear head on exactly what time measurement you are working with, be it local time zone, local longitude time or UTC.(GMT). All three these time units come into the equation to find out when twilight will be. And, oh yes, just to complicate the issue, there is civil twilight and nautical twilight. Different angles of the sun below the horizon.
You need to check this time of twilight, then calculate where you will be at the time, then referencing which stars will be visible and suitably spaced for a three point fix. With my rudimentary knowledge of astronomy, the sight reduction tables and the nautical almanac are heavensent aids. I look up the relevant stars for my predicted position, then check in the star chart where they are situated in the sky.
Of course, the star charts are not oriented in a "heading up" way, so I have to orient myself on the chart with reference to stars that I do know. Luckily, there have been novices, ham-fisted tyros and other types of people struggling doing stargazing, so most of the useful stars are arranged in the signs of the zodiac. This makes it a lot easier.
However, I am quite new to the northern hemisphere, so now I have to learn a whole new set of stars positions and their names. The nice part about this is that the images in the zodiac are the right way up viewed from the northern hemisphere where all the astronomers of old used to live.
Having done all the required preparation, now came the time for the sights. I just hoped and prayed that the clouds would allow me a set of sights. Then I shall know where I am on this earth.
Without the benefit of electronic instruments.
But Mother Nature is always in charge, irrespective of the amount of preparation and planning that you go into. Too much haze in the air, never saw a star until it was quite dark. Then I could not see the horizon. Just like the text book says.
At least I got a sight on Venus.
And I now should also be able to find the stars Alpheratz, Aldebaran and Achernar again.
Perhaps a good lesson to us all. The words of the Ecclesiasticus, at the end of his book, in his parting message, come to mind: There is no end to the making of books.
It is now time to take a deep breath, relax and just enjoy the expanse of the night sky above me in quiet solitude on my watch.
Authored by Johan Zietsman
Last updated on 2013-10-28
I like it when a plan comes together.
The famous line from the original A-team television series. Today, for me, it is pertinent at last.
My navigation studies are paying off. Methods proposed in the text book and applied as suggested has now started to pay off. The differences between my fixes and the associated GPS fixes are now into single figures. A statistical trend, at last. I shall certainly work hard at keeping it in a converging phase.
It does take some decent concentration and judgement on boat speed and effective direction. Course made good over a twenty-four hour period. The ships chart plotter will give it to you, but that sort of defeats the object of the exercise, does it not? So far, I am getting used to judging the boat speed from the condition of the wake and so on. The effect of the current is very difficult to guess, but the statistical method of applying a correction to the next DR position using the previous fix' data helps a lot.
You get lies, damn lies and then statistics, goes the tongue-in-cheek adage. Well, in my case statistical methods have helped me. And I have come across the same statistical methods in active and adaptable control system theory. Talk of cross pollination and integration of knowledge areas.
Today was also baking day. The loaf of choice was a sourdough loaf. This is actually quite challenging, as we have over 32ºC/86ºF weather with a relative humidity of a tad over 70%. This makes for interesting side effects when mixing the dough. Add to this the building of the starter and the proofing and you easily end up with a runny dough.
Today I had exactly such a runny mess after the first phase of building the starter. Then I realised that I used brown bread flour instead of white bread flour. This all happened in the dead of night on my watch. Quite handy when you have to work watches and you are in a baking mood. Both require you to be awake at odd hours.
The yeast did not like the coarser flour with the added fiber but nevertheless ate away merrily at the available starch. This morning, after coming off watch, I realized my mistake and fed the starter again, this time with the proper flour. I got an immediate response and the starter doubled in volume in three hours. Not bad for a wild yeast.
I proceeded to feed the starter one more time, basically making up the final mix. This included some wild onions seeds ( Nigella sativa) and salt. I also added a the vegetable fat after allowing five odd minutes for the dough to develop gluten. This dough was quite wet, but just dry enough to knead, rather than fold.
It is quite difficult to judge the water content when working like this, so I judge by the handling qualities of the dough. I add water or flour until I have a consistency that I like and know.
After kneading the dough until it became satiny and quite elastic, the dough was patted with a thin layer of cooking oil, covered and put aside to rise. My "proofing bin" on board is the bottom of the cupboard in the galley. At least the temperature there is stable and perhaps less than 30ºC. The dough rose to double the volume in just over 90 minutes.
This was shaped and left to rest in the cold oven for half an hour for final proofing. This dough sagged a bit in the heat, but did increase in volume. Perhaps I shall have to look into making a drier dough next time around. This loaf was dabbed with egg white and a sprinkling of grated cheese before baking. Baking at 190ºC/350ºF for 45 minutes produced a crispy loaf nicely baked through. There were some uneven fermentation holes, which is what I strive for when baking with sourdough. The crust was nice and crisp with some elasticity and chewiness, while the crumb was quite spongy. There was just a hint of sourness, which is heartening, as I battled to get a less sour product from my efforts. This one came out the way I intended.
Ingredients
Making the starter
½ cup sourdough mush
1 ½ cup white bread flour
1 cup water
Mix thoroughly and allow to ferment at least six hours. You need to see many bubbles as the mix ferments.
Building the starter
Use all of the above and add another 1 ½ cup of flour and ½ cup of water. The mixture should just not be runny. Allow this to ferment until at least double the volume. In the conditions aboard here just off the Amazon river delta, this took just three hours.
Final mix
Use all of the product you made, then add the following:
2 cups white bread flour
1 ½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon wild onion seeds
1 dessert spoon vegetable fat
yolk of one egg
1-2 cups water on standby
Mix this lot thoroughly, adding water to make the dough just mixable, then allow to rest for five minutes. Now mix in the vegetable fat and start kneading. Add water or flour in small quantities as required to adjust the consistency. I know that the tyro bakers out there will balk at this, but we are in a rather primitive environment baking equipment-wise.
Knead the dough until it gets satiny and elastic, pat with some cooking oil, cover and set to final rise. This lot doubled in volume in 90 minutes.
Turn out the dough on a kneading board and allow to rest for five minutes. Now shape the dough into the final shape, trying not to degas the dough. At this stage I dabbed some egg white on top and sprinkled some grated cheese on top of that.
The final proofing for this loaf was half an hour plus the time it took for the oven to heat up. Baking at 190ºC/350ºF for 45 minutes produced the loaf as described.
Allow the loaf to cool for at least half an hour. This one was on the flat side, so it cooled perhaps a bit faster than a thick loaf would.
And use real butter.
This blog post also linked to Yeastspotting!
Authored by Johan Zietsman
Last updated on 2013-10-27
We crossed the equator today. 00 degrees 00 minutes latitude. From now on, we are in the northern hemisphere. There is about twelve odd days left of our voyage.
The navigation calculations now changes, as the sun is now in a different hemisphere than ourselves. And almost all the angles measure are large, due to our proximity to the sun and the equator. The other reason for the large angles is that there are simply too many clouds on the horizon to allow a lower angle measurement.
The fair winds and current that we experienced during the last three days have now subsided and we are motor-sailing along. We are now crossing the Amazon river delta, some 450 nautical miles ( about 1000 km) across. Three days' sailing at six knots. If you please. The delta makes a bit of a bay inland, so we are further offshore than a day or two ago. This means that the effect of the land is much less and probably accounts for the drop in the current and the wind.
We are expecting a change in the wind direction as we travel further into the northern hemisphere. The prevailing wind in this neck of the woods is normally north-east. We are now sort of in an intermediate zone, depending on local weather patterns. Hopefully we don't hit the doldrums.
Today was my turn to cook. Not having had a chance of a seafood curry, this was the dish of choice for dinner. Our provisions are running low, so I had to make do with perhaps an eclectic selection of ingredients. Frozen Thai style stir fry vegetables from the supermarket in Cape Town, fresh dorado from the sea. Coconut powder and other spices from my stash.
The spicing for this dish is from a mix of Indian and other spices. But all from the Far East. Which, for my South African friends, is further east than Germiston lake.
This dish can be prepared in many ways, but a fusion of Thai and Indian style processes works wonders. The fish is marinated in the masala paste, then fried in light butter. Then put aside to rest while the rest of the dish takes shape. It helps a lot with flavour to cut the fish into smaller cubes. This allows better penetration of the marinade spices.
I also added some vegetable stock. I had a choice between chicken stock and vegetable stock. The veetable stock won the argument. However, the fish rather resembles chicken, both in taste and in texture, so chicken stock will also work. The stock is there mostly as a thickener. You don't want a watery soup. Most of the flavour will end up in the sauce, so a thickener is in order. Use corn flour at the end to get the sauce to the right consistency.
The next part is to fry the rest of the spices in the buttered pan, then the onions, then the thawed vegetables. The vegetables need to be al dente still, else they will cook to a porridge. Add the coconut powder mixed with water, some vegetable stock, then simmer this for five to ten minutes. Then add the fish back into the dish, simmer until everything is cooked through. Thicken the sauce to taste, then allow thirty minutes of repose for the flavours to develop.
The garum masala at the end is a very Indian tradition. I use this as a last boost to the flavours, as some will peter out during the cooking. It adds a little cumin, cinnamon and pepper to the dish. Don't overdo it, this dish needs subtle flavours to add to the safron, not kill it.
I used some brown lentils in the rice to bulk up the dish. This time I used basmati rice to add to the flavours. And because I think the basmati rice rather goes better with this dish than brown rice, which was the other option.
Ingredients
For the curry
600g dorado fillets, cubed
500 g frozen stir fry vegetables
1 1/2 onion, chopped lengthwise in Chinese style
1 teaspoon masala paste (Recipe here)
1 teaspoon masala/curry powder
1 can coconut milk or cream or, in my case
60 g (2 oz) coconut cream powder
1 piece cinnamon bark
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
seeds from two cardamom pods
1 dessert spoon vegetable stock
1 teaspoon saffron essence
1 teaspoon garum masala
salt to taste
1-2 cups water as needed
For the rice
1 cup basmati rice
½ cup brown lentils
1 teaspoon aniseed seeds
salt to taste
3 cups water
Process for the rice
Add all the ingredients in a pot and set to boil. Then lower the heat and allow the rice to simmer until the water has been absorbed. Add salt to taste. Add water if necessary. I had to add about two cups, a little at a time. Check the water level frequently, lest the rice burns. You will not be washing it.
Process for the curry
Marinate the cubed fish in a little cooking oil and the masala paste. Set aside for 30 minutes or so while preparing the rest of the ingredients. Small cubes will suck up flavours quite fast.
Proceed by toasting the coriander seeds and cinnamom bark, then the cardamom seeds in a dry pan. In that order. The cardamom seeds are small and will burn long before the coriander begins to feel warm. The cardamom seeds will toast in a few seconds.
Then add some butter to the pan and the chopped onion. Fry the onion until translucent and beginning to brown, then add the dry masala powder. Fry this for fifteen seconds, then add the marinated fish. Add some butter if the dish is too dry. Fry the fish until about medium done, then remove the fish from the pan and set aside to repose.
Now add the stir fry vegetables and fry until al dente. These will simmer some more in the saauce, so don't overdo it at this stage. Add the coconut milk or -powder dissolved in half a cup of water and the chicken stock. Turn the heat down and simmer this for ten minutes, then add back the fish. Simmer for another five minutes, then add the saffron and the garum masala. Mix thoroughly and check for salt.
At this stage you should check for thickness of the sauce and thicken as required using cornflour.
Allow the dish to repose for thirty minutes or longer before dishing up. This one is actually self-organising: The thick sauce will retain its heat for a long time,aking the dish effectively too hot in temperature to eat.
But I think these warnings are fruitless anyway...
Bon appetit!
Authored by Johan Zietsman
Last updated on 2013-10-26
We are now almost on the equator, having crossed the 1º south latitude line. However, we shall only cross the equator sometime tomorrow, as we are sailing more west than north.
My navigation studies are beginning to cast a light on my open ocean dead reckoning woes. In fact, just today I came across a statistical technique to compensate for some of the inaccuracies in the dead reckoning calculations.
The technique uses a method of calculating the differences between the dead reckoning and fix of the previous day or period, then use that as a sort of per definition "leeway" to adjust the subsequent dead reckoning position. You still end up with an error, but now it is smaller than at first.
This for dead reckoning. There is also an iterative method where one obtains a fix starting from an assumed position, i.e. the dead reckoning position. Then use the fix so obtained as an updated dead reckoning assumed position for a next iteration. This method will also converge mathematically and provide a more precise fix, according to the author. I shall certainly make use of this technique.
The text book also sets out a method to obtain UTC from such observations to set your navigation clock to the correct time. The book is Emergency Navigation, Second Edition by David Burch. I have an electronic copy. The book is well worth reading for anyone planning a long distance voyage and planning to cross oceans.
As an interesting aside, the author of the book proposes that a backup sextant should be part of the emergency navigation equipment. He then continues by suggesting a cheap plastic sextant by brand name. Which, incidentally, is the exact instrument that I am using as my main navigational instrument. It seems ironic, but my results are quite accurate and precise due to the rigorous procedure I follow and the multiple readings that I take. This procedure averages out most of the operator induced and instrument errors.
Chalk up one for perseverance.
After studying the methods in this book and dutifully applying them, my navigational error went from double figures yesterday to a single mile today. The calmer sea also helped, but it pays to understand the type and origin of the errors in the data are that you are dealing with.
The tropical weather has now turned upon us with a fury. I sit almost in a puddle of sweat, in spite of the open windows in the saloon an the breeze blowing through. It has become very humid during the afternoon.
Today we have been at sea for just over a month. Five weeks, to be more accurate. The crew decided it was time for a hamburger. Hamburger Friday, so to speak.
So we made hamburgers for dinner. Complete with the requisite juicy sauces. In this case it was a tomato relish made from a can of tomatoes, and a cheesy mushroom sauce. The mushroom sauce was areal home-grown version using rehydrated dried shitake mushrooms in a home made white sauce. The sauce was augmented with some grated cheese.
A wonderful dinner. The skipper and I each had two, for which we were rewarded on short notice with that overindulgence bloated feeling. Luckily the sea is still a bit bumpy, so the food soon settled and the feeling went away.
We used freshly baked rolls for the hamburgers. Baked today from one of my standard mixed flour recipes.
Hamburger Rolls Ingredients
2 cups stone ground unbleached brown bread flour
2 ½ cups stone ground unbleached white bread flour
2 dessert spoons sugar
3 dessert spoons milk powder. Not coffee creamer, please. Pretty please.
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 dessert spoon vegetable fat or shortening
1-2 cups water
10 gram (1 sachet) instant yeast
some cooking oil for patting the dough.
Procedure
Mix all the dry ingredients thoroughly. Mix in half of the water, then add a little at a time until the dough has the right consistency. It should be quite soft and pliable, but not sticky and runny. Allow the dough to rest and the gluten to form. Five minutes should do it. Now add the vegetable fat or shortening and mix thoroughly. Turn the dough out on a kneading board and continue by folding and pressing the dough flat. Continue this for ten minutes. The dough should become satiny and nice and elastic.
Pat the dough with some oil against drying out, cover and leave to rise for 1 – 1 ½ hours. The dough should double in volume during this time. Turn the dough out on a floured kneading board and knead down to the original volume. Allow to rise for another hour or until doubled in volume again.
Turn it out on a floured kneading board an commence to shape the dough into the final shape. Here we divided the dough into twelve balls and left them to rise while the oven heated up. We have an ambient temperature of over 30ºC, so the rising went fast.
Bake the rolls at 190ºC/ 350ºF for twenty minutes. We have a small oven on board, so the baking was done in two batches. Turn the rolls out on a cooling rack and allow to cool for at least twenty minutes. The rolls cool faster than a loaf because they are thinner than a loaf.
And remember to use real butter.
Please. Again.
These rolls came out quite soft, with a well developed spongy crumb and a few large fermentation holes. As dinner rolls should be. Or hamburger rolls.
Bon appetit!
This post also linked to Yeastspotting!
Authored by Johan Zietsman
Last updated on 2013-10-25
We are now in shallower water, sailing on the 1000m contour off the coast of Brazil. Our estimate from prevailing conditions is to cross the equator in two-odd days' time.
The seas are quite rough, but luckily the swells are only three metres high. But we have a bumpy ride, intermittently slipping, sliding and surfing down the swells at fifteen to sixteen knots. With the fair wind and current helping us, we did 191 nautical miles in the last twenty-four hours. A record for this voyage.
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The one hour time change did help a little, though. We are now at just over 38º west, having crossed the time zone limit of 37.5º W longitude during the last day. It was my turn to take the knock on the extra hour. Therefore my shift started at 06h00 and went through to 10h00, with the extra hour worked in as the clock changes. You start the watch on the previous time zone time, then finish the watch on the new time zone time.
If this was a cruise we could say we were going nowhere slowly in time, I guess!
I had the misfortune of getting a dunking of my cabin as a result of not closing the aft hatch properly. To the great mirth of my shipmates. The rough sea sometimes splashes over the stern and some of this splash went through the open hatch, of course. Thankfully I was not in my bed, as I would have had a rude awakening.
The wet mess was quickly cleared and mopped up and the hatch properly closed this time. As if this was not enough, I shortly thereafter had to rescue my bed sheet off the lee rail just before it went overboard and lost forever. It blew off the washing line, clothes-pegs and all. Talk of woes today!
The lessons: A.) Close hatches properly
B.) A fitted sheet catches the wind like a spinnaker. It is not flat.
But I am certain these things will recur in some of my dear readers' lives, as we all mostly learn but from our own experience.
My navigation took a bit of a knock today as a result of the bumpy seas and sharp swells. Although the swells are not really that high in sailing terms, they pose some hindrance for taking accurate sun sights. You have to judge when you are looking at the back of a swell or at the distant horizon. This judgement may introduce errors of up to half a degree if you are not careful.
Today was no exception and one could discern the effect of the bouncy swell on the sights by comparing the variation between the sights on consecutive days. Quite obvious, so another reason to take the utmost pains to ensure a good sun sight. Here an assistant to jot down times and angles helps, as I have to operate the sextant as well as keep the notebook under control in the breeze. And somehow wedge myself into a position not to fall off the boat.
On a cooking note, it is interesting to observe the change in attitude to the evening meals as the provisions diminish. We are now planning meals two to three days ahead in order to prevent repetition. Also to book ingredients ahead of time. No use to plan a meal if there won't be sufficient ingredients to prepare it.
I am watching this planning with a beady eye, as this is the part of the voyage where real creativity enters the stage. To date we are still planning to make real hamburgers, complete with home baked rolls. Even if the rolls are more like pita bread. They still count as fresh rolls. These to enjoy as a treat when we cross the equator. Or some such occasion.
It is important to us to have special occasions to celebrate on board.
Just like it is important to celebrate special occasions at home.
It keeps the loved ones, family or friends together.
Authored by Johan Zietsman
Last updated on 2013-10-24
We had a visitor aboard last night. Actually early this morning. I came on watch at 03h00 and he was there. An Atlantic petrel, I think. It stayed until it was light enough for me to get a decent picture before we chased it away. Some sea birds roost on the water, Not on a boat.
Welcome for some minutes, but that is about the length of stay to tolerate. These birds are notorious for leaving dung all over the boat. Dung that will eat into the gelcoat. So they are not overly welcome.
This one decided that it had a roost of opportunity, so it calmly preened itself and then slept with its head tucked under a wing. Quite peacefully. I wondered how it did the balancing act on a heaving and pitching boat with no real purchase for its claws. And this while sleeping.
We are now close to the Brazilian coast and are sailing within a current of over two knots. The wind is still to our advantage and we are making way to the tune of about seven knots. Our run for the last twenty four hours was 156 nautical miles. Somewhat more to our liking, but these are the vagaries of sailing. We now have been sailing continuously for over ten days, the motors only running to charge the batteries.
The current in which we are sailing makes for somewhat easier navigation. As long as the boat stays in the current, we do not have to compensate for leeway. So this is the object of our passage plan for the next few days. As a direct result, my celestial navigation exercises are taking a turn for the better. The dead reckoning becomes a bit easier.
I now have two successive days with both the dead reckoning and the more accurate fix being in close agreement with the ship's GPS position. A comforting result all araound.
As for the weather, we are expecting the wind direction to change from south east to north east in the next few days when we pass the Amazon river delta and the equator. We are now almost on the northern edge of the south Atlantic ocean, being close to the equator. North of the equator the prevailing wind should be from the north east, but we are relatively close to land, which may have other spurious and seasonal effects. Hopefully we shall not have days of doldrums!
Life aboard is still a bit laid back while off duty, but we are on special alert now that we are close to some of Brazil's major ports. There are both commercial freighters and fishing vessels around and the VHF radio has now sputtered back into life again. Speaking Portuguese, no less.
I had a proper fresh water shower again today, after a number of aft deck salt water showers and some abortive attempts at having showers in squalls. We still have to have a decent squall for a shower.
In my off duty hours I now attend to some emergency navigation studies, as well as some reading for relaxation. The weather is quite hot, over 30ºC, with humidity to match. Luckily we have a decent wind that helps to cool the boat down as well as refreshing stale air in the cabins. We sometimes can have the hatches open for a while when the sea is calmer, then the wind blows sufficiently through my cabin to warrant sleeping under a cover. It still gets quite chilly in the night if you have a draught through the cabin.
The voyage is quitely but surely drawing to and end. One can tell by the refrigerator and the cupboards seeming quite empty compared to a few weeks ago. Now comes the time of realcreativity in cooking. When supplies run low and the choice of ingredients diminish. Luckily I have some ideas in mind for the fresh fish that we caught recently.
I have been turning around in my head some new recipes that I have never tried at home. Simply beacause we hardly ever have the fresh fish that we have on board now.
And it is something that I shall make for my loved ones at home after this voyage.
Authored by Johan Zietsman
Last updated on 2013-10-23
It does one a world of good to take a deep breath, relax and enjoy the ride.
