Hello Eye followers, the crew of the William T. Piquette is once again on the move. Destination Marquesas. This will be your main source for updates from us as they pertain to our daily life onboard the ship during our longest crossing. We officially left for the Marquesas at 9:30pm on April 11th, 2010
Nothing Lasts Forever. For the crew of the WTP, last night was a tough one. We said our fond farewells to Trevor. Howling wind and pounding rain, sweltering heat and bitter cold, windless nights and unforgettable trips, Trevor has been through it all with us in these last 5 months. A special bond is formed among friends who triumph together in the face of adversity or against the elements. For a sailing ship where close quarters, limited privacy and no secrets are the norm, this is especially the case. Trevor, you will be greatly missed and we wish you the best of luck and success in your coming months of new jobs, new opportunities and new friends. Don't forget to write!
***Life on board***
It will take a few days for us to settle into a routine of sleep, cooking, and sailing and with 3 people onboard, watches are more frequent and sleep becomes a spontaneous happy place that one strives to visit as often as possible. However, there are some good aspects to a crossing of the south pacific ocean in mid April. The ocean is quite calm almost all the time and storms are very infrequent. The trade winds in this area are from the SE which means smooth downwind sailing as long as we stay in them. There is also a Southern Equatorial Current which flows westward at between 1 and 2 knots. If all else fails, we will eventually drift there (we hope all else does NOT fail).
8:30am- Adam is on watch and Will is in his happy place. I go on watch in an hour. With any luck we will be out of the light stuff today. We took on limited provisions in Galapagos mainly due to the lack of stuff on the islands period. We have 2 Papayas, a large melon, some bread, lemons, and tomatoes which obviously won't last the whole trip. We will start to tap into our canned food stores and get creative with SPAM while also offsetting our non-perishables with (knock on wood) more delicious fish.
8:15pm- I am on watch now till midnight. Adam and Will have just turned in. I made dinner (rice with a can of black beans, chili beans, and beef stew in the pressure cooker, pile onto a tortilla with some hot sauce and yummy!). We also just finished watching the first in a BBC documentary series called "The South Pacific". It is similar to the planet earth series with great camera shots and stories about the isolated pacific islands. Mid way though the movie, the wind died. Progress S and W has been difficult today with a light and variable SW wind. You may notice tacks on our track that seem irregular and inefficient. We think so too, but such is the way with a North setting current at the Galapagos that seems to keep "sucking" us in. We will just keep pushing West and South (now under motor power) until the SE trade winds return and the current shifts to the west.
***The Boat***
-A note on TIME, As we move farther and farther west, we will be sailing through time zones at a rate of about one every 8-9 days (or every 15 degrees of longitude). In the Marquesas we will be six hours behind Eastern Standard Time. We are currently 2 hours behind EST. Our ships clock will be updated to reflect local time while our "HOME" clock will remain in EST. All the times in our updates will be in in local time.
The boat is ship shape. Nothing to report.
***Communication***
The Ham radio is once again our main source of communication with home and our source for weather information. We are also looking forward to using the Sattelite phone for communicating with some classrooms back in the US during this long crossing.
***Weather***
8:30am- A light southerly wind pushed us westward away from San Cristobal last night but until we get a little farther west, there is a north setting current which makes progress south difficult. This morning, with very light winds we turned on the motor to get some distance between us and the Galapagos. Once we get far enough south and west, the trades and SEC (South Equatorial Current) will take over and (knock on wood) we can let the engine sleep the whole way there.
8:15pm- More light winds with unfavorable components have turned what could have been a swift departure from the Galapagos into a slow zig zagy crawl. The sky may make it all worth it however. Last night I counted 4 shooting stars that lasted over 3 seconds. I think I can honestly say that I can see ALL of the stars.
Position (8:30am):
00 deg 54' S
90 deg 17' W
Position 8:30pm):
01 deg 06' S
90 deg 52' W
Alan and the Crew