Ready for Polaris
We are making miles and miles into the North, eating away at the southern latitudes and heading for the equator. During the night watch the Southern Cross has started dipping below the horizon and so now we are on the look out for Polaris to appear on the other side. The haze above the horizon may obscure him for a little longer, but it cant be too long now! The moon is gradually getting smaller and so the visible amount of stars is increasing. The night really are so beautiful!
During the day we have had a little bit of a fickle wind. It shifts between ENE en NE, and it shifts in the strength, the wind feels between a force 3 and 5 all day long. Un-reef the mainsail? NO NO let it in.. Oh or maybe we can un-reef.. oh no, feels good to have it in.. argh! The weather report is still forecasting a East South East of East wind, 18 to 20 knots.. so lets leave it in, at least until the sun is up.. And lets hope his north component disappears for a few more days!
Our Tec-Talk today was up to me. So I chose to talk about the beginnings of celestial navigation. During the meridian passage Tinke and I have been spotted on deck with a sextant which makes everybody curious. To make the whole group part of the experience, I started with the meridian passage explanation, so we can practice the next day. More on morning and afternoon sightings and stars will follow if we have any more time. But we have so many nice Tec-Talks coming up, we may just leave it at this.
Picture of the day by Luke. All well on board Jet
