Location: Underway to Fiji
Hello everybody. It’s a little odd writing this again. Do you know when I last made a blog post? Of course, you do, dear reader; how could we forget Day 54? We were still at anchor in Puerto Ayora and had just finished getting Argo ready to get underway on this epic passage west. Over her illustrious career, Argo has done some cool stuff, making her way around the circumference of our little blue dot seven times, and she has certainly had some adventures along the way. But here I am writing another blog whilst still underway on the passage that began the day after my last installment. Since leaving the Galapagos, we have now covered 4785NM. Four thousand seven hundred and eighty-five nautical miles. By way of illustration, I’m just measuring some distances on our nav system to hopefully put this into some perspective. As best I can tell, the westernmost point of California to the Easternmost point in Maine seems to be separated by just over 2500NM. Hmm, not quite far enough, so – getting historical – the greatest extent of Mongol expansion across the Eurasian steppe, I think, got as far as the Danube, which looks to be about 3400NM (i realize the intervening territory is decidedly un-nautical): still not quite cutting the mustard. Okay, getting really wild with my measuring, what about Lisbon to Vladivostok? Wowcha 5482NM. Perhaps this helps wrap heads around how far we’ve come so far, and for those of you that might be worried about this last measurement somewhat taking the proverbial wind out of our sails, fear not, because we still have 1033NM to go.
Now, to get back on track, why bother pointing all of this out? Because in of itself, what is this but a number? In of itself, it doesn’t really mean much at all, but what is cool is that every inch of that running total is the result of the combined effort of everyone on here. We don’t have an autohelm, and Argo is particularly strong-willed, so let go of the wheel for just a second, and she’s off to wherever she wants to go. What’s more – and this is somewhat stating the obvious – but in that distance, we don’t stop. When I really think about it, I’m always amazed by the sustained effort that goes into getting Argo to wherever she needs to go. And the tricky bits are those that are hardest to put a finger on. Yes, waking up early in the morning when it’s raining and you were late to bed can be unpleasant, and certainly, a towel that seems to be in a constant state of almost dry can be a bore. The hard bits, though, are continuing to show up and do the little bits well every day. It’s not the early start to watch, but it’s getting to that watch and being able to crack a joke to your watch team or seeing that there is a lump of beans-and-hair-and-yesterdays-pasta in one of the drains and deciding to go and clear it up.
In short, I think the point I’m getting at is that this crew is doing a great job, and I’m sure it will continue to do so as we close in on Fiji.
We’re passing through a bit of a squally patch at the moment as we skirt the northeastern edge of the South Pacific Convergence Zone. Hopefully, we should have a bit of intermittent breeze to boost us along over the next couple of days. Still, it looks like as we come around the western end of Samoa and turn southwest towards the Nanuku passage in the Lau Group, it is going to drop out somewhat, though this might also mean the rain clears up too – so swings and roundabouts really. So, for now, we’re going to continue motor sailing and try to get as much time in the bag as possible for once we get to Fiji.
Peace.
Current position: 1202.37S x 16526.84W
Pictured:
Lolo And Gabe on staff watch (where you look for staff)
Thea avoids a great big grizzly squall
The deckie-ing tour de force that is Mac