Athena log 5
– Thursday December 5th 2013 – 14 54.24 N / 34 29.42 W
Hello All.
Today I have the privilege of composing the Athena
BBL (“Birthday Boy Log”), as for the 2nd time in my life I am
celebrating my birthday in mid-Atlantic. My wife invited 4 friends to my
birthday lunch today (as no one else was free to come!) and we enjoyed great
banter complete with party hats and the formal opening of family presents which
had been transported all the way from Dublin by my better half. Modesty prevents
me from revealing details of the presents received, but I am still recovering
from the shock of seeing a laminated photograph of my younger sister Clare,
holding my present, which I apparently will receive if I return home! (That’s a
great way to keep your options open and cut down on luggage weight.) Many thanks
to all for the very thoughtful presents received, and I will of course be in
touch to thank you in person when we reach the other side of the pond.
So birthdays got me thinking about numbers in general
and how so much on a trip like this depends on numbers and the need to analyse
and quantify on a continuing basis. Engineers love numbers of course, and every
day we ask a myriad of questions and calculate numerous things e.g. power usage,
water consumption, wind strength, average speed, distance covered etc.etc. All
of which is essential to some degree in order to keep this little floating
“island” of ours safe whilst transporting us all across the ocean to St. Lucia.
I will however confess to being obsessed by exactly
where we are at all times and the reducing distance to our destination and this
has deservedly earned me the title of “Mr Waypoint” - as you might have seen
from a previous log. It is only when days and nights go past without seeing a
single vessel that I think the vast expanse of the North Atlantic Ocean can in
some way be appreciated. Slowly we crawl westwards and I plot our daily position
on a paper chart which seems to only make a small impact on the overall journey.
So as a help I have selected a “half-way waypoint” and entered this into our GPS
chart plotter and entitled it “Quigley’s Point”. This is located at 16.40 N
44.00 W and represents a point approx. equidistant between the Cape Verde
islands and St Lucia. As I write we are about 560 miles from this point and
should arrive there in about 3 or 4 days time - when I think we need to have a
modest celebration being about 1000 miles from the nearest land at that point.
For me this will mark the turning point between “departing” and arriving”. Best
estimate of our ETA in St Lucia is 14th or 15th December,
depending on the trade winds becoming established.
Meanwhile there is a great team atmosphere amongst
all on board as we go about our daily routines and tackle different tasks each
day. The weather is definitely improving too and shorts and a tee shirt are
sufficient for night watches at this stage. A lot of our time is spent sitting
in the cockpit exchanging stories, laughing, singing songs, venturing opinions,
debating and solving all of the world’s problems – happy and content that no one
else is listening and that “what happens on cruise, stays on cruise”.
Best Regards,
Philip (Waypoint) Quigley
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Last verse of the sing we have been serialising in
our log for you today, Brendan’s Voyage by Christy Moore...
Chorus
Worn down by rejection that hurts his humble
pride,
“Begod”, says Brendan, “if I run I surely catch
the tide,
So turning in his sandals he made straight for
the docks,
then hauling up his anchor he cast off from the
rocks,
As he sailed by Innisvickillan, there stood the
albatross,
“I knew you’d never stick it out ‘tis great to
see you boss”,
“I’m being bailed out “ says Brendan I badly
need a break,
“A fortnight is about as much as any auld saint
could take”.
Chorus.
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