Motoring and Motorsailing our way towards Tristan da Cunha

Without waiting too long, hands are once more on the lines, now pulling the braces all the way around.  

A change of course eastwards, an increase on the northerly wind. Time for trying to motorsail, setting Lower Staysails, Spanker and Inner Jib. 

As we work with all the ropes and gaskets, the temperature on deck and up the rig has climbed up to the 18ºC, the water follows a similar tendency. Until not so long ago we managed the cold down south, dealing with the Low Pressure Systems sweeping along one after the other in the Drake Passage and the Scotia Sea. Those were the roaring 40s and Furious 50s. Now we sail into the warmer 30s. Also known as the Horse Latitudes, have welcomed us with a lack of wind or, if any, just blowing on our nose. Northerlies become northeasterlies, and Europa still have 200nm to cover in that direction.

Where we find ourselves now, another character gains importance on the play, the subtropical high pressure area. Now, on the trip routing, we have to count with it, as well as with the Depressions that still develop and reach us. Nevertheless here, in the space between the westerly winds of higher latitudes and the trades, the wind usually become more variable and lighter.

If the 40s roar, the 50s rage and the 60s screech, the 30s are more known by a legend dating back to the sailing exploratory and trading era. By then, sailing ships travelling to the New World were frequently becalmed in this region; we can imagine how the provisions and water dwindled as the trip takes longer and longer than planned. Then, a solution to preserve supplies would have been to throw overboard or eat the horses they were transporting. As a consequence, this region is sometimes called “the horse latitudes”.

Warmer and often sunnier than the latitudes and areas that we have left behind at that point on our trip, the conditions make for spending more time on deck. Resting, helping the crew, playing music, reading. And when the sun shines, it offers our Mate a good chance to interest people on more traditional methods of navigation. A couple of our Sextants come out of their boxes. Today we are just going to get acquainted with the instrument and its workings. A tool that was first built in 1759 by John Bird following the suggestions made five years earlier by the navigator Admiral John Campbell. Of accurate craftsmanship, the sextant evaluate angular measurements between a celestial body (like the sun) and the horizon. With that as its most important principle, from which a set of calculations follow, it is possible to locate one’s position on the planet. A traditional method in contrast with the modern systems based on satellite positioning.