Course / Passages / Azores to Falmouth

Passage · Day 3

Azores to Falmouth

36°N40°N44°N48°N52°N32°W28°W24°W20°W16°W12°W8°W4°WHortaFalmouthFulmar, day 3855 miles to go
The track so far, solid; the rest of the way, dashed. Coasts simplified: not for navigation.

Fulmar, a 35-foot sloop, left Horta in the Azores three days ago, bound for Falmouth in Cornwall. The water is turning green and cold, the nights are short, and the GPS has started to lose its fix for hours at a time near the shipping lanes, so you are keeping the sextant going all day.

It is 0600 on Thursday, June 10, 2027. Last night's star fix, carried forward, puts you at N 43°26.4', W 023°26.4'. Falmouth is 855 miles away. Fulmar is steering 060° true at 5.5 knots through the water.

The ship's clock keeps zone time, zone description +2. Your watch was checked against the shortwave time signal: it is 20 s slow. The sextant has an index error of 1.2′ on the arc, and your eye is 8 feet above the sea.

Today

  1. 0819 Morning Sun line
  2. 1131 The noon sight
  3. 1141 Running fix at noon
  4. 1301 Sun–Moon fix
  5. 1911 Checking the compass at sunset
  6. 1916 Planning the star sights
  7. 2001 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.