Europa underway from Easter Island

[Hal Mueller <hal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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Europa sailed off her anchor at 6:03 pm local time on Monday, October 
28.  She had been anchored just off the restored Ahu Tongariki, very 
near the moai quarry.  The 8 of us who had been waiting on Rapa Nui 
boarded on Sunday afternoon in heavy winds and swell.

The first night underway brought decent winds, but a cold front came 
through on Tuesday morning.  When I went off watch Tuesday morning we 
were on starboard tack with the wind a couple of points free, 
steering 190 magnetic to set ourselves up to take advantage of a low 
pressure system.  When I came back on watch Tuesday afternoon we were 
still steering 190, but were now close-hauled on the port tack.

My watch section has 4 serious celestial navigators.  Our joint 
efforts in the clear morning twilight today yielded a beautiful 
celestial fix on 4 stars and 2 planets.  We used a combination of 
CelestNav for PalmOS, stopwatch, and old-fashioned notebook.  The 
more sextants the merrier!

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Noon position (29 Oct):  28d 29.7 S, 109d 45.3 W
Barometer 1019.1, air temp 20.0 C, water temp 21.5 C
88.7 miles since weighing anchor/4.9 knots
2445 miles to Cape Horn

All squaresails set to the royals, with a typical speed of about 5 
knots in light swell and 15-20 knots of wind, with occasional rain.

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Noon position (30 Oct):  29d 44.4S 110d 49.5W
Barometer 1019.2, air 19.1 C, water 20.8 C
98 miles today/4.1 knots
186.7 miles since Easter Island
2418 miles to Cape Horn

Still close-hauled on the port tack.
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Daily mileage is the rhumb line distance between today's and 
yesterday's noon positions, not including any extra distance sailed 
due to course changes or tacks.  Mileage to Cape Horn is the great 
circle distance from the noon position to Cape Horn, as calculated by 
CelestNav for PalmOS.  All distances are in nautical miles.

This list is archived at http://www.mobilegeographics.com/capehorn/
The official Europa website is http://www.barkeuropa.com/

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