The trade winds continue to blow fresh, even boisterous. We have wind and current in our favour and the ship is surging along, surfing down the waves with white-caps and flying fish scattered all around. New hands continued with their splicing practice in the afternoon, and the celestial navigation classes got as far as calculating latitude from their noon sights today.
SHIP’S WORK: Carpentry continues on our wooden boat project – planks are being steamed in our steambox atop the galley house so they can be fitted to the curves of the boat without cracking. The planks for her spars are cut now too, so we’re preparing to laminate them up with epoxy glue. The riggers finished patch serving and seizings on the starboard main footrope and sent it aloft, and replaced the seizings on port-fore fair-leader board. Sailmakers continue to stitch rope on to the edges of the main t’gallant staysail to give it strength, and are seaming up the
cloths of a new upper topsail and a new t’gallant studding sail.
FROM: Mindelo, Sāo Vicente, Cape Verde
TOWARDS: The West Indies
TIME ZONE: ZD+1/ ZD+2
NOON POSITION: 16°41.1’N /031°45.3’W
DAYS RUN: 152nm
PASSAGE LOG: 386nm
DISTANCE REMAINING: 1,697nm
COURSE AND SPEED: West by half North (CMGT 276°T)
WIND: Force 6, North East
WEATHER: 3/8 cloud cover (cumulous), air temp 76F (24°C), barometer reading 1022 millibars, visibility good
SWELL HEIGHT & DIRECTION: approx 8-10 feet, North East
SAILS SET: Topsails and staysails