#44 NOW April 27, 2005 0208 Alaska Daylight Time (notice the change) N01’01.4 W124’25.5 Temp 80.2, Water Temp 87.9 Winds light and variable, Seas are 3-5 foot swells, Para-vanes up, Heading 216’ magnetic Miles Completed 1637, Miles to Go 1138, SOG (speed over ground) 6.5 kts. Greetings! Finally, we have pushed through the Equatorial Counter Current and a current from the East is helping us along. After a careful analysis of our remaining fuel, over 600 gallons as of noon yesterday, we have decided to continue at 1400 RPM and press along. You should now see some 150 mile days if the current and winds cooperate. Yesterday, I received a call that my youngest daughter Stephanie had to have some emergency surgery. The latest report is that she is doing fine. I will give her a quick call this morning. Thank goodness for satellite communications. There was some real excitement aboard our little ship yesterday morning. Jim awoke me rather abruptly around 8 AM with the news that a small ship was following us. If we made a turn so did he. This was not a good sign. He came up behind us, holding about 1 ¼ miles off. He then made a call on the radio to us in a language that neither of us could determine. It sounded like a Russian trying to speak French. We answered in English giving our boat name. Then in very broken English, we heard the words “you fishing boat?” We informed him that we were a cruising yacht and that the poles on each side of our boat (similar to what is used by fishing boats), was for stabilization. I am not sure he understood us. However, he eventually pulled away, much to our relief. We finally surmised that he was a fish processing boat that picked up the catch from other boats at sea. Poor Jim, he awakes every morning with the music from the movie “Ground Hog Day” ringing in his ears. It seems the same routine of his alarm going off at 5:50 AM, getting up and seeing the ocean, then coming up and relieving me of duty is getting rather monotonous. Don’t worry Jim, one of these days you will get it right and our constant routine will be broken by the words “Land Ho.” Jim, who enjoys astronomy, did have some excitement last night. I quote from his log dated 4/26/05: “It’s 2100 now and I just found the Southern Cross for the first time. Our latitude is 1 degree north. We no longer can see Polaris. All is Well!” Nights at sea are a wonderful time to study the stars. With no light pollution, you can easily pick out the various constellations and the common stars and planets used for celestial navigation. What Fun! A turtle came lumbering by the other day. I guess they migrate thousands of miles. It was rather surprising to see him so far from land. There were also a few flying fish darting about. Perhaps we should set out a frying pan, as my brother-in-law suggested. 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