Course / Passages / Newport to Bermuda

Passage · Day 2

Newport to Bermuda

32°N34°N36°N38°N40°N42°N76°W74°W72°W70°W68°W66°W64°W62°WGulf StreamNewport, Rhode IslandBermudaPetrel, day 2344 miles to go
The track so far, solid; the rest of the way, dashed. Coasts simplified: not for navigation.

Petrel, a 38-foot sloop, is a day out of Newport, Rhode Island, bound for Bermuda, a low island ringed by reefs. Between here and there lies the Gulf Stream, a river in the sea running northeast at two knots or more, with meanders and eddies no forecast pins down. The race rules seal the GPS: it is celestial navigation or nothing.

It is midnight on Thursday, June 29, 2028. Last night's star fix, carried forward, puts you at N 37°50.3', W 066°44.0'. Bermuda is 344 miles away. Petrel is steering 165° true at 7 knots through the water.

The ship's clock keeps zone time, zone description +4. Your watch was checked against the shortwave time signal: it is 7 s slow. The sextant has an index error of 2.0′ on the arc, and your eye is 8 feet above the sea.

Today

  1. 0425 Star fix at dawn
  2. 0440 What the current is doing
  3. 0450 Course to steer
  4. 0856 Morning Sun line
  5. 1228 The noon sight
  6. 1936 Planning the star sights
  7. 2028 Star fix 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.