Location: Underway to Fernando de Noronha
Well, motor on, actually at least for now.
As the ship and crew get back on a ~roll~ and into the ~swing~ of passage life (puns intended), and after some much-appreciated time on solid ground, the same old routine demands some new getting used to. Some lessons needed re-learning; For example, things placed down unsecured might take flight with the next swell. The return to passage life has its perks, though. After a bustling few days of activities ashore, the first chill night watch allows for some necessary deep breaths, and more time is available during the day for students to catch up on assignments and prepare for multiple upcoming exams (yikes!).
Our time on the morning watch today was filled with small boat projects, including some rope whipping and thump mat weaving, flushing the dinghy engines with fresh water, and repairing some plumbing issues in the forward heads. One exciting development today was the crews first attempt at learning celestial navigation! Calum came up with sextant in hand and led some staff and students through taking a sun-run-sun fix by measuring the angle of the sun above the horizon, finding a line of position, waiting 6 hours, repeating the process, and performing a running fix with the two lines to arrive at the ships coordinates using nothing but a sextant, some tables, and Calums massive brain.
Last night, after dinner and squeeze, the crew got their first sneak peek at Daves docu-series following our voyage. The segment was well received, and Dave is using what he learned from the group viewing experience to fine-tune his edits. After re-living the beginning of our voyage, the crew watched Around the Horn, a black and white film following a voyage around Cape Horn, South America, aboard one of the last square-rigged cargo ships, Peking, filmed by a crewmember with an early video camera, narrated by the same crewmember years later. Long story short, the students gained perspective that the conditions aboard Argo are pretty darn good in comparison.
At 13:20 UTC, Fernando de Noronha lies 1,577 nautical miles northwest of us. Holding our course with a speed of 6 knots and a south-easterly wind of 10-15 knots true wind speed, our apparent wind (the wind felt by our sails) is a measly 5-10 knots over our stern. Our Mainsail requires a minimum of 10 knots of steady wind to stay full and not flap itself to death. Thus, we motor on until conditions change.