#43 NOW April 25, 2005 0200 PDT N04’21.7 W121’06.6 Temp 80.6, Water Temp 89.4 Winds light and variable, Seas are 3-5 foot swells, Para-vanes up, Heading 216’ magnetic Miles Completed 1265, Miles to Go 1410, SOG (speed over ground) 5.4 kts. Good Morning! What a gorgeous night, full moon, puffy clouds with a silver lining, and a gentle warm tropical breeze. Once again, some poetry comes to mind, but I will spare you this time. To top off this beautiful night, we will be passing the halfway mark today. Actually, not all has been perfect. Shortly after entering the ITCZ (convergence zone), we ran smack into the Equatorial Counter Current. This is a ban of current, usually about 100 miles wide or less, that runs from West to East. We have been in it for over 200 miles and it has been unusually strong at 1.5 to 2.0 full knots. It appears we are just now starting to leave this nemesis to our progress. With a SOG (speed over the ground) of 4 knots or less, we decided to add a little power and push through this area as fast as possible. Thus, we have increased our RPM from 1200 to 1400. This has increased our burn from 1.08 to 1.57 gallons per hour. With the very healthy reserve we have built up this is a prudent course of action. Fortunately, the seas have been relatively smooth and we are running with the para-vanes up. We will probably drop back to 1200 RPM once through this area. This afternoon we practiced a little celestial navigation just in case all five of our onboard GPS’s should fail. I quote from Jim’s log: “This afternoon we did a sun shot using the sextant, did the math and ‘Walla’ the GPS was only 2 miles off!” Capt. Jim is never wrong! I can assure you that it was Jim’s skill, not mine. However, it was fun to practice a skill that has been in use for centuries. Since we are now more than 1000 miles from any land, we have not seen any birds and very little sea life. Even the flying fish seem to have given up on us. It was rather nice to have the porpoises swimming along with you, sometimes a hundred of them. Perhaps we will start to pick them up again before too long. I have been amazed at the interest in this adventure. E-mails have arrived through Gordon and Wendy from other Nordhavn owners, friends, and even one from Brazil. I wish I could answer each one individually. However, with satellite airtime being $1.50 per minute I will have to try to answer any questions via this general format. I really do appreciate your best wishes, prayers, and encouragement. Life is a Cruise, Larry and Jim Larry Rick Done Dreamin' Nordhavn 40 #33 Site: http://gricknet.homedns.org/ Email: <mailto:donedream@pacbell.net>donedream@pacbell.net