Course / Passages / Canaries to Antigua

Passage · Day 12

Canaries to Antigua

10°N20°N30°N60°W50°W40°W30°W20°WLas PalmasAntiguaSaltire, day 12946 miles to go
The track so far, solid; the rest of the way, dashed. Coasts simplified: not for navigation.

Saltire, a 44-foot ketch, left Las Palmas twelve days ago with the rally fleet, and the trade winds have carried her two-thirds of the way across. The GPS still works, but the skipper has bet the crew a rum punch that you cannot keep up with it by sextant alone for a day. You cover the screen with tape.

It is 0400 on Wednesday, December 6, 2028. Last night's star fix, carried forward, puts you at N 17°43.9', W 045°15.0'. Antigua is 946 miles away. Saltire is steering 265° true at 7.5 knots through the water.

The ship's clock keeps zone time, zone description +3. Your watch was checked against the shortwave time signal: it is 9 s fast. The sextant has an index error of 1.5′ on the arc, and your eye is 8 feet above the sea.

Today

  1. 0516 Planning the dawn sights
  2. 0543 Latitude by Polaris
  3. 0547 Star fix at dawn
  4. 0619 Checking the compass at sunrise
  5. 0906 Morning Sun line
  6. 1157 The noon sight
  7. 1207 Running fix at noon
  8. 1756 A planet at twilight

Every voyage is different: the date, the current, the sights and the stars change each time you sail it. Later stages start from the correct work of earlier ones, so one slip does not spoil the day.