Day#25 –Thursday, June 16, 2011 LTY time: 16:50 (UTC +12) = 04:50 UTC
Location: about 160 nm SSE of Rotuma Island, Fiji
Position: 14 52.118 S, 177 30.377 E (cut & past this into Google Earth to see on map)
SOG: (Speed Over Ground) 4.0 knots
COG: (Course Over Ground) 167
Wind: 8-14 knots E Apparent
Seas/Swell: 2m/6ft @ 6 seconds out of ESE
Air temp: 92.8F 32.6 C
Sea temp: 85.5 F 29.7 C
Humidity: 62%
Barometer: 1015mm
Distance to Savusavu, Fiji: 220nm
Distance last 24 hours: 113nm DAY #25: SMOOTHLY; SLOWLY; SERENELY SAILING on the SPHERE of SEA to SAVUSAVU The night and day since the last update have disappeared as if time was liquid and just flowed silently by as the river of life. The wind has been down a notch running between 8 to 14 knots and cycling slowly between these speeds every few hours taking our speed up and down with it. However the wind has stayed quite steady in direction mostly out of the east which his good and the seas are also down so that we are back to the most gentle of magic carpet rides as Learnativity carries us safely south and ever close to Fiji. It is a difficult set of sensations to describe as the scenery is so impossibly large in scale being surrounded 360 degrees in full 3D by the sea and the sky and having no other objects to give you a sense of relativity, speed or direction. The motion of the boat is so soft, fluid and silent as we rise and fall cycling through all six degrees of motion that you are in one sense constantly reminded of being in motion and yet on the other hand because it is such a gentle quiet continuum you no longer notice it and have no sense of being in motion or on a boat at all. I’m sure that must sound impossible to believe for many of you who would find it difficult to be floating along out here like a tiny speck of cork balanced on top of the surface of an enormous sphere of infinitely deep ocean and no trace of land below or above the surface. Yet for us, this feels like the most comforting, natural, most calm, serene and safe thing to be doing. So I guess it is a good thing it is us out here then! And so there isn’t too much else of note to share with you today as we are simply and wonderfully immersed in this experience and these sensations. With our speed down our ETA for Savusavu is also moving back and right now my best guess is sometime Saturday (June 18th) It may even be Sunday depending on how things go once we get inside the outer great reefs that surround Fiji as we may need to anchor for the night if we are in place that are either not well charted or full of coral and obstructions that we can only safely sail when the sun is well above us using visual navigation to help guide us along the way. However this is all part of the way time works for us now, why we live on the “no plan plan” and why you learn that the most dangerous piece of equipment on a sailboat is a calendar. We’ll simply be in Savusavu when we get there and the date or amount of time from now just doesn’t matter. Something else that would drive many crazy and yet for us this is definitely a “feature not a bug”! Alas, the moon is full here tonight and we’ve been finding and tracking constellations like the Southern Cross with the help of some star gazing apps on our iPad and iPhone and so I need to get this Email sent out, close this screen and go out on deck to take more of that other sphere we are immersed in; the cosmos! A very cosmic evening to you all! Admiral Linda, Captain Wayne & Commodore Ruby (aka the Wonderdog)
Aboard the Good Ship Learnativity
Exploring the world one nautical smile at a time.
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