Tanker Sighting

A beautiful afternoon with blue sea and blue sky. Sailed with genoa from midnight on. Flew school flags for photos.

Spoke the tanker Apollonia, from Persian Gulf for Brazil. First saw on AIS, see photo.

Have gone through several routing scenarios as the next 24 hours are important for getting us going in the south. We have to cross a high pressure system or ridge, and our routing (our simulation of our boat’s performance given the forecast wind directions and strengths) consistently shows that we should wrap around the western end of the high as it moves east and the ridge closes up from behind. We shall see. The rest of our group are further to the east and will be doing exactly the same studies.

We had one rain squall that came through, and afterward, left no wind at all, such that we were stopped, with 0.0 knots boat speed. Fortunately I grabbed the tiller before the autopilot alarms set off for ‘low boat speed’!

Position
29° 23’S x 16° 38’W
Course
156° True
Speed
9.2 knots
True Wind Speed
8.6 knots
True Wind Direction
084°
Sail Plan
Main sail plus Genoa
Air temperature
75° F / 23.8° C
Sea Temperature
81° F / 27.2° C