0430 May 9, 2024: Picton Castle at 0 degrees – 44 minutes South and 045 degrees – 15 minutes West, about 100 miles off the coast of Brazil. Steering northwesterly in an ENE breeze. Small seas. On the recent 12-4 watch just now ended, the winds shifted from ESE to ENE. Now we are braced up on …
The circumperambulating Barque Picton Castle sailed dramatically out of sweet sunny SE tradewinds a few days ago and into the InterTropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ hereafter). For a couple days we had squalls every hour or so, and squalls with some good push in them as well. Got her going over 9 knots at times under …
It’s all pretty sweet here with perfect tradewind conditions in the Picton Castle, 300 miles east of Recife on the Atlantic hump of Brazil. We were making westing, light winds fine on port quarter giving us about 4.8 to 5.5 knots. We wore ship to starboard tack here this morning to make a more northwesterly …
April 26, 2024 Another beautiful night at sea under sail. The moon is still pretty full but waning, lighting up the masts, sails and deck, making it all so easy for us to see at night. The star-gazers are waiting for the moon to be gone so the sky can dazzle with stars. The southern …
At 0400 (that’s 4 AM) the moon has set allowing the stars of the Milky Way to shine sharply against the black night sky. No moon, and no city light pollution out here. The wind backs and veers a point now and then having the watch officer to adjust course to keep these breezes fine …
As always, it becomes time to sail. All Picton Castle hands had had a lovely visit at St Helena. It’s a spot that I have grown to like more with each visit. After making the rounds saying fond goodbyes, clearing out with passports stamped, final emailings done, time to up anchor and head back to …
Picton Castle at anchor off Jamestown, St. Helena Island, 15 degrees south of the equator: We got the hook down at a good spot off Jamestown, St. Helena. It was deep, 15 fathoms or 90 feet, about 1/2 mile SW of the boat landing past the large mooring field. Moored are mostly small local working …
Date: 18 April 2024 Sailing from: St. Helena Bound towards: Grenada Noon position: 15°12.3’S 006°40.6′ E Course: NNW Speed: 3.5 knots Wind force and direction: Force 3 E Seas/swell: 1m E Barometer: 1017 Steady Sky: 5/8 Ci, Cu Water temperature: 77.7°F Distance made good in 24 hours: 70.3nm Passage log: 70.3nm Voyage log: 23,388nm Distance …
The high volcanic island of St. Helena is located at 15-55 South / 055-43 West, pretty far from anywhere else. – Distance to Cape Town: 1700 miles – Distance to Lunenburg directly: 4,815 miles – 47 square miles – 2,700 feet to the highest summit – The only anchorage is a deep, open roadstead affair …
In the dark of night at 0100, the forward lookout came aft and reported a bright light fine on the port bow. It had to be St. Helena. But St. Helena was still 50 miles away and there are no such mariners’ beacons on the charts, no lighthouses with that range. Perhaps this single fixed …
