Day 5: Tuna Sashimi

4/21/2010, Wednesday, 1700 Zulu, Lat. 16 57.4 N, Long. 081 19.8 W, Day 5

We managed to sail all day yesterday and made good progress. The wind kept at around 8 to 10 knots. Terry has decided to crack off a bit from close haul and we have started to make our way toward Yucatan Channel. We will make the important decision in the next 24 hours whether to go straight to Galveston or the Caymans.

I did a noon sight with the sextant and got a fix within 12 nm off our actual position. Not a very good one. I did a lot better today. It was only off by 7 nm.

Taking a noon sight is quite simple despite all the fuss about celestial navigation. You basically take a sextant reading of the sun (Ho) while is it at its zenith (highest). That is your meridian transit. At that precise moment you record the exact time on your watch (yes, you do need a watch that can keep precise time). Also, before you start you have to guess your own position and that is your assumed position (AP).

To find your latitude, you subtract your AP from 90 degrees (if you are in the northern hemisphere, for people that are in Australia you will add) and add the sun’s declination, a value you find in the Almanac. The earth tilts 22.5 degrees on its vertical axis and therefore creates a declination to the sun. The sun’s declination changes as the earth going around it. Therefore, it changes every day depending on the month and date. After you either add (or subtract), your result it is called Calculated Height (Hc). You then compare Ho to Hc and depending on which one is bigger than the other you then add or subtract the difference of the two to AP’s lat. And that’s your latitudinal fix.

To find longitude, you’ll do a similar calculation based on the noon meridian at Greenwich (from the almanac) and compared to your own noon transit and add or subtract the time difference in degrees and minutes of arc to get your longitudinal fix.

It seems a lot of work but after a few practices you can get it all done in about 15 minutes.

Lunch was a ham and cheese sandwich and Terry had his line in the water and by 1 PM there were no bites so I took out some chicken to defrost for dinner. By 4:30 PM, I told him I’ll give him 30 minutes more to come up with a fish or no dinner. Lo and behold he got a bite and landed a small 5 lbs. Yellow Fin Tuna to save the day. Since the fish was just enough for one, we had that as our appetizer and chicken for dinner. So dinner was a 2 course meal: Tuna Sashimi with a nice bottle of Chardonnay and Braised Sweet Soy Sauce Chicken with Peas and Carrots. I think we are both gaining weight on this trip.

See video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Gw1GoQsNTc

24 hours noon-to noon run is 104.9 nm due to light wind this morning and unsuccessful flying of the asymmetrical spinnaker.

Again, thank you for all the e-mails. Hope you don’t mind my response here collectively to save time.

Thanks Mike and Twanet for taking care of my girl; I owe you one. Oh, Mike, I have been humming the song ‘Galveston’ by Glen Campbell in my head but don’t remember all the lyrics, since you are the song guru, could you please send me the words and the guitar chords.

Bill and Lisa, thank you for letting me know there is a nude beach in Isla Mujeres. I am now trying to convince Terry to stop there instead of Grand Cayman. And thank your for pointing out it’s zarpe and not sappe. Terry has been teasing me for that the last few days. Guess my Spanish is just as bad as my English.

Larry, I finally confessed to Terry about our drinking cognac on Picante while sailing under the gate on New Year’s Day w/the spinnaker up some years back and now can live with a clear conscience.

Bob, Bryce, Sherpa, Dave, Linda, Andrew, Queenie, Gary…..thanks for your good wishes. I miss you all.