Bermuda to Azores – Day 14

Time: 06/03/2008 1200 UTC

Lat: 39 deg 25' N

Lon: 35 deg 09' W

Heading: 103 M

Speed: 4.5 kt

Wind: W 4-8 kt

Seas: 1-2 ft

Weather:  Sunny, 60 deg F.

 

I was roused for my night shift at midnight.  I emerged in the cockpit to the sound of dolphins playing in the stern wake.  The night was calm, the skies clear, the black sea lit by starlight.  Around 0100, I spotted a masthead light in the distance.  Soon it was far too high above the horizon to be a ship – I was watching a planet rise.  It was so brilliant, it illuminated a trail of light in the ocean much as the moon does.  I should know the planet – it would make for a great sextant bearing, if we weren't so spoiled by GPS.  It appeared on the horizon around 0100 UTC from 39 deg. 24' N, 36 deg 17' W, with a bearing of ESE.  Can anyone tell me which planet it was?

 

After the sun rose, we poled out the chute and ran wing-on-wing at 4 knots SOG, losing a knot to current.  We're on the rhumb line to Flores, so we're on pace for a hundred mile day.  If we can just average 3.8 knots, we should arrive in two days, having sailed the whole way from Bermuda without motoring a mile.

 

A couple of pods of dolphins were showing off this evening.  High leaps to graceful dives, big splashy side-flops, bow wake drive-bys.  Huge pods, maybe a hundred dolphins.  None responded to "flipper," but we're still looking.