In Honolulu we had taken a weather class that suggested the best way to cross the equator transiting to Hawaii or French Polynesia is to sail along the equator and once you are able to see a hole in the clouds over the equator and ITCZ make a run to cross. In Jimmy Cornell’s World Voyage Planner he suggests crossing the equator at the 140° longitude line to prepare for the strong northeast trade winds. We planned to leave from Nuku Hiva because the island is on the 140° longitude line, so we started watching the weather three weeks ago looking for a good window to run across the equator. We were disappointed to see the northeast winds were showing consistently below the equator pushing us away from crossing at the 140 line. We were hoping for some easterly winds to make our transit across a little smoother. We decided to take a risk because the forecast is only that a forecast and very frequently changes. Our first day out the forecast has been pretty spot on and we have had troubles keeping on our 000° heading. The night consisted of squall after squall and what seems to be our only source of wind. We did decided to start up the Math Be Hard for Sailors Game if you want to check out detail below.
Cheers,
Wade and Sara
Math Be Hard For Sailors – Hawaiian Islands
Destination: Hawaiian Islands (19°15.545’S, 154°31.747’W) Prize: Hawaiian post card from us to you and a black pearl with shell Submissions are accepted until 4/17/16.
Please only submit the date and time only, no need for your crazy calculations via ComfortCruising.com Math Be Hard For Sailors Contact Form. Weather: Cloudy and overcast.
Ves. Pos. 06°36.861’S, 140°00.825’W
SOG: 6.3 kts
Course Over Ground (COG): 350°
Time: 12:17:28 PM 4/10/17
Nautical miles to destination as a bird flies(Crs Rng & Brg): 1774 nm
Compass degree required to reach destination as a bird flies (Crs Rng & Brg): 331° Apparent wind speed (AWS): 14.3 kts
Apparent wind angle: 49°
