the log

Just sit right back & you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip
That started from this tropic port aboard this tiny ship….

Log notes

I’ve been slowly transcribing the Ship’s Log from Centaurea and publishing it to this site. The posts are in chronological order, and back-published to the days they were written on. To view them all, try this category link.

By request, a few notes for those of you not used to the format and abbreviations: The positions are given in degrees/decimal minutes rather than the older degrees/minutes/seconds. SoG stands for “Speed over Ground”, and is an instantaneous reading from the Maretron GPS. CoG is “Course over Ground”, also an instantaneous GPS reading, given in degrees true. Occasional reference is given to degrees “C”, which is a reading from the steering compass. This compass was never properly/accurately swung aboard this vessel, but seemed to conform to the usual 11-15 degrees of west deviation found in that part of the world.
Speeds are given as “kts”; knots, while distances are given in “nm” (nautical miles).

Our initial course was pretty basic: due north from St. Croix, passing through the Virgin Islands, then on a generally NNW rhumbline direct to the mouth of the Chesapeake. Of course, as you read through, you’ll see that we are diverted from that line towards Bermuda… A “rhumbline” is simply the shortest straight-line distance between a starting and ending point (actually, it’s a little more complicated, but this explanation serves for the purposes of this log).

The bits in [brackets] are added as i type this out, for some clarity. Passages marked [CJ] were Cory’s entries into the log. As I finish up transcribing the log, I’ll add in some further anecdotal information, as well as the transcripts from MSC Malaysia and RCC Bermuda.

May 10th

00:00:10EST – 23º02.989’N 066º38.734’W SoG 4.0kts CoG 300ºT Trip 430.6nm

05:07EST – 23º17.640’N 066º55.357’W SoG 4.0kts CoG 315ºT Trip 454.9nm
Wind has continued gradual shift S-SW overnight – now steering 330ºC

09:31EST – 23º31.818’N 067º09.570’W SoG 4.5kts CoG 315ºT Trip 478.4nm

11:02EST – 23º37.500’N 067º14.010’W SoG 5.0kts CoG 330ºT Trip 486.6nm
Reported to router.

12:03EST – 23º41.400’N 067º15.835’W SoG 4.0kts CoG 330ºT Trip 491.4nm
Called router. Multiple shit systems off US east coast. Advised to divert to Bermuda.

17:49EST – 23º57.914’N 067º03.464’W SoG 4.0kts CoG 355ºT Trip 519.7nm
Divert [to] Bermuda. Called in friends to obtain BDA entrance plot.
Gybed twice, tried wing-on-wing, but boat would not [self-] steer DDW [dead down-wind] in such light air. Now port gybe, jib poled to leeward, reaching deeply as possible.

18:15EST
Motor on for battery charging. Wind too light and aft for decent motorsailing.

19:15EST – 24º04.016’N 067º04.225’W SoG4.5kts CoG 350ºT Trip 527.5nm
Motor off.

May 9th

00:03EST – 21º20.242’N 066º10.519’W SoG 5.8kts CoG 330ºT Trip 293nm
145nm/day average!

05:18EST – 21º50.200’N 066º13.496’W SoG 5.5kts CoG 360ºT
Wind shifting further SE through night. Our course has clocked north to 010ºC

09:10EST – 22º10.078’N 066º13.208’W SoG 4.0kts CoG 350ºT Trip 353.5nm

11:37EST – 22º21.545’N 066º13.680’W SoG 4.6kts CoG 350ºT Trip 367.5nm
Reported position to router.

[CJ] 15:10EST – 22º38.124’N 066º14.176’W SoG 4.5kts CoG 004ºT Trip387.3nm
Mellow – made awning from stained sheet and moved cushions to cockpit. Lounged in the sun and read… and napped. I phoned parents.

16:41EST – 22º44.575’N 066º14.066’W SoG 5.0kts CoG 340ºT Trip 394.8nm
Motor on, charging, motorsailing. Winds very light SE. Checked engine oil – okay.

17:20EST
Gybed under power to 320ºC
Gybed early – hopefully will get us back onto the rhumb line as predicted winds shift S-SW

18:00EST
Motor off. Engine repairs!
#1 exhaust valve lifter rod found to have slipped out from under rocker… repaired. Rod slightly bent!

19:15EST – 22º52.018’N 066º22.053’W SoG 4.0kts CoG 300ºT Trip 408.9nm
Steering 315ºC
Winds slightly increasing, seas still calm. Local ESE swell now further astern on port gybe.

May 8th

02:09EST – 19º41.129’N 065º11.275’W SoG 4.7kts CoG 340ºT Trip 154nm
Mellow/mellow. Steering 350ºC. Aries goes great.
Some shipping traffic.

06:24EST – 19º58.821’N 065º20.713’W SoG 5.0kts CoG 340ºT Trip 178.3nm

07:52EST – 20º05.815’N 65º24.548’W SoG 5.0kts CoG 330ºT Trip 187.8nm
Swell shifting SE. Increasing cumulus clouds. Wind still10kts.
Routing places us near 20º45’N 65º50’W @ 0800EST May 8th

09:20EST – 20º11.268’N 065º29.248’W SoG 5.0kts CoG 320ºT
Shook out main reef, all plain sail set.

11:41EST – 20º21.217’N 065º37.810’W SoG 5.0kts CoG 320ºT Trip 211.2nm
Sent position to router. Checked in with Leigh.

17:06EST – 20º48.065’N 065º50.600’W SoG 4.6kts CoG 320ºT Trip 247.2nm

17:48EST – 20º50.579’N 065º52.622’W SoG 5.9kts CoG 350ºT
Motor on, [charging] batteries.
Charging laptop and satphone.

18:30EST – 20º54.472’N 065º54.422’W SoG 7kts CoG 350ºT Trip 256.2nm
Motor off.
Iridium charged and left on.

22:08EST – 21º10.870’N 066º05.080’W SoG 5.2kts CoG 320ºT Trip 279.7nm

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