Location: Underway to Brazil
My day started with the 8-12 am watch with watch team one. As I stepped out of the companionway onto the deck, I immediately noticed that, in addition to the blackbird that hung out with us in the cockpit last night, a new friend dressed in white feathers joined us this morning at the starboard side of the bow. This could only mean one thing: we are getting closer and closer to land! Personally, I am quite excited about getting to Fernando (Fernando de Noronha) because it would be a nice break from motor sailing, and it gives the engine a break from working hard to take us places when the wind has been light.
During the morning watch, after polishing the boat for some time, Nat, Emma, and I joined Freddie for a celestial navigation workshop where we practiced taking a sun sighting with a sextant. Freddie then showed us a series of steps that involved looking up adjustment numbers from the Nautical Almanac and Sight Reduction Tables and plotting positions on a plotting sheet. We carefully observed these steps. They are very complex, but we hope more practice will eventually make us more comfortable in using this traditional position-deducing technique that is fast disappearing.
In the afternoon, we had our VHF Radio exam, followed by a movie, Around Cape Horn, with Gabe. Many of us enjoyed watching the movie. Later, we practiced responding as soon-to-be-certified EFR (Emergency First Responder)s in simulated scenarios.
Because we are crossing multiple time zones on this trip, we would adjust our watch underway to avoid multiple-hour adjustments once on land. Today was one of these days when we adjusted our watch backward for one hour. It always makes me feel like it is an act of time travel where we repeated 12 o’clock once more. Because of this adjustment, sunset time was brought forward. And one thing that we all agreed on is that sunset tonight was amazing! We had a delicious meal of freshly made buns, black bean burgers, green beans, and baked potato wedges. And I shall say that today was a nice day.