Thursday, April 10, 2014

Starshine - Day 14

I got up early this morning after a good night's rest. My body has gotten in the habit of waking up every one and a half hours or so during the night. I get up, check our course, check the sails and scan the horizon (though I haven't seen any boats for days now). I arose for good this morning at 5:30; at least that's what my clock said. I haven't changed the clock since I left and with Mexican Daylight Savings time and probably passing through multiple time zones since I left, I'm not sure what the actual "local" time is. I do know it was 11:30 AM UTC and the beautiful waxing gibbous moon from last night had set and there were stars in the sky.

I haven't seen many stars lately as it's been pretty overcast. Yesterday there was lots of rain, some squalls and some calms. I motored for a couple of hours through one of the calms and then got a nice easterly breeze just before sunset. I decided to turn South and take advantage of the wind on the beam and have been making good progress towards the equator since.

As I drank my early morning coffee, I sat in the companionway for a while enjoying the phosphorescence in the water. The boat wake produces myriad points of light that look like stars in the water due to the disturbance of the phosphorescent algae. It is mesmerizing to watch. The other night I was watching this luminous trail when several dolphins swam up along the boat. The phosphorescent trails of the dolphins looked like illuminated torpedoes tracing through the water and was an amazing sight I'll never forget.

A planet rose in the East this morning; I'm not sure which one but it was very bright. The light from the planet reflected off the water in a shimmering trail much like you see when the sun is low in the sky. I guess this is Starshine! I started singing the "Hair" song Good Morning Starshine, it just seemed appropriate... (luckily, there was no one within earshot!)

The latest check of my position shows me roughly 1350 miles out from PV and about 1450 miles from Hiva Oa. By sunset tonight I should be about at the half way point. My current position is: 08 deg N, 123 deg W and I'm traveling on a course of about 200 degrees True with a speed of 5 knots on a beam reach. Wind is from the East at 18 knots and I have a double-reefed main (one of which I will likely shake out this morning) and a partially reefed genoa. All is well aboard Starshine.

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