- Position and Time: S 05-09 by W 138-20 at 2140 UTC May 17, 2574 miles from
San Diego - Average Speed and Course: 6.3 knots, 199 degrees true, 1600rpm
- Wind: 15 knots at 300 degrees relative
- Waves: 3-4 foot swells at 12 seconds, 2-3 foot wind waves.
It is time for some current talk, as in flow of water kind of current. On Tuesday evening our speed magically picked up by about 1.2 knots, which means we have finally escaped the clutches of the evil equatorial countercurrent (translation: where the current goes opposite way of our travel direction near the equator). Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! After 4 whole days of painfully slow speed (low of 4.4 knots), we are singing and dancing in the aisles to celebrate the restoration of our speed. While still keeping at 1600 rpm just like before, we have seen our increase to 6.3 knots and had a recent high of 7 knots. It is quite possible we will now have to use Einstein’s special relativity equations in our navigation calculations due to our new blazing speed.
To answer a few questions on the blog and email:
Baby squid fly. For real. The bigger they get, the less capable they are of flying and eventually (and thankfully) they lose that ability as they grow. We found a squid on the pilot house roof, and there is no way a wave washed it up there! And no, we are not eating the squid.
Eric and Christi both have general class HAM radio licenses. Although we have not had any time to use HAM since we have been so busy. But if you want one of those elusive “maritime mobile” contacts in a remote grid, let us know a frequency and time.
Under certain kind of motion and activity, without some remedy Eric has gotten sick. On this trip Eric has been pretty consistently taking anti-motion sickness medicine to be safe and has felt great. The drug of choice is over the counter drug branded Sturgeon, which you cannot get in the
And some FYI statements:
We changed the main engine oil and filter just before we left. We used 15w-40, the CJ rated stuff with is about 50% synthetic.
We are running 10 micron fuel filters, except in the transfer filter which is 2 microns.
We got fuel about a week before departing and ran all of it through the 2 micron filter via the transfer fuel pump.
We timed getting the fuel when the fuel dock was about half full or so, which is supposed to be the best time get fuel. Sentiments have settled after being stirred from adding fuel, and also we not sucking from the bottom either.
We are using Stanadyne fuel conditioner.
We changed to active fin stabilizer oil filter just before departure.
We got the bottom cleaned the day before we left.
For the majority of the open ocean trip the radar has been set to 12 miles with a 9 mile 360 degree alarm zone.
We run at full throttle about every 24 hours for 5 minutes to clear out any soot from the smoke stack, and in theory clear any gunk on the engine cylinder walls caused by running at lower RPM for extended periods of time.
Our 160 gallon per day water maker has been on about 1/3 of the time during this passage.
Hey Christi and Eric….
We are so enjoying your logs and look forward to them each day! Glad to hear all is well and life is good. we are now catching up as we just settled into our home port last week…
So…Guess I’m still back on the refer as we had the exact same issue making our way down the west coast. You must have some non-skid on board — found that if you put it towards the front of the refer on each shelf it really made a big difference in hurtling, killer jars! Aslo, those tension rods (look like bad shower rods that RV places have) fit perfectly in the frig to corral the wayward stuff — maybe someone could ship a couple to you in the Marquesas {green with envy!}. At any rate, they worked for us.
Fair winds and all the Best to You!!
Kathy & John Youngblood
m/v Mystic Moon
p.s. what are you using for internet? You seem to have great connectivity!
It is with great anticipation each morning that I turn on my laptop and wait for a few seconds to see if a number shows up next to the RSS feed titled Kosmos Travel Log. The last few days have not disappointed.
I boat in fresh water in Canada (north of Toronto about three hours) and dream about the day we can buy a NH. Reading your blog, as well as other NH owners chasing their dreams is just like being there! Thank you.
I have noticed the change in seas as you move further south and wonder with the changes to swell and wave action what the impact has been on the roll rate – with and without stabilization. For almost three weeks now your motion will have been fairly constant I would imagine your first landfall will be staggering!
Light speed Kosmos!
You resisted the tempation to make Calmari?
What frequencies can you operate on the Ham bands? I have e-mailed you before but I never knew you guys were Hams. My call is K4NHK (amateur extra class). When you guys get to land maybe set up a sched when you are free? Also, would like to know about your equipment & antenna. I have a Yaesu FT-1000D w/SB-220 (VERY OLD) Heathkit @ 2KW. also a Vertical (fold down) antenna due to subdivision restrictions. I sure miss my 4 element qubical quad at 60 feet where I used to live!
smooth sailing!
John Winner
I’m thinking that speed is definitely your friend out there: As Kosmos accelerates with the currents to the speed of light you will become infinitely heavy, ergo, increasing displacement to the point that motion sickness simply disappears. Also, time slows the faster you go, so you will arrive in the Marquesas much younger than you would have going slowly (but you will have to duck more to avoid the flying squid who probably won’t be sharing your acceleration!)
I remember how ba Kort had it and the seas were nothing that you have out there. I live riht near a RV dealer. Read the above post. Email me the address an I will pick up that evice and send right out for you! Glad you are doing much better.
Eric & Christi, I love reading the tales of your journey. Sorry to hear of the motion sickness, I will be totaly prepared…god bless the transderm scop patch! Let me know if you want me to send you some.
We’ve been lurking since before Day 0, but we want to chime in and say thanks guys for the frequent updates. Godspeed Kosmos!
Brian and Anya
Yeah I’ve mostly been lurking also, but I read every post as do a lot of people from DivX. Thanks for keeping us all updated!
Michael
BTW – On the DivX front. Derek plots you course on Google Earth and emails it out to all of engineering so that we can track your progress. Sort of your scrum burndown for the journey 😉
Michael
I can’t even imagine what the feeling must be like to make it to your first destination.
Commencement was yesterday and as always there was no time for anything personal but I did find time to check your posting each night.
Keep them coming!
Stephanie