As you can see on the SPOT Tracker satellite fix ( “Live Map” ) Sea Dragon and her team pushed off from Rio on schedule and – with a HUGE feeling of relief, headed out to sea. Departures invariably bring a major rush of activity, long nights and a last minute press to get that one more email, provisioning, phone call (Marcus to his wife Anna!) out before all the lines – physical and electronic are cut. In this case it was certainly true (see prior posts) and made even more so by an important live UN video cast from the boat to Geneva, our dear, dear generator, and all the joys of Brazilian customs! They sent this photo in today – a last minute briefing on the dock in Rio.
They are now heading almost due East, taking advantage of a light northerly breeze- out past the Trindad and Vaz islands and into the unrestricted open sea. The weather looks good- particularly good for the trawls with light air and calm seas. Here is a snapshot of the latest weather from Passage Weather ( http://www.passageweather.com/ ).
The are right off the coast of Brazil where the land begins to cut back into the west- heading into an area of quiet conditions – the light colors. To the north the wind speeds pick up a bit to a 15-20kt range with a clear East-West orientation. This are the SE Trade Winds- great sailing to make Ascension.
The boat sent in this short message via our Satellite phone Sunday morning.
Hi all,
All going well.
Nice 20 knots of wind. heading 110, close to wind as poss without being too bumpy for a queasy crew! no science yet – still in 200nm until the morning.
weather downloading OK. wind generators maintaining batteries, 15amps. generator on list of jobs for this arvo.
E
Sailing well, relieved to be off, settling in.