Blue Book of Boats

In the midst of a storm, when all is wet including the bunks, the crew of Delicate Balance sent this very brief message from their navigation station:

We are in rough seas, much water over boat, every thing wet including most bunks.
Are we fun yet?
No danger, just uncomfortable.
42N 16.42 speed 9 knots course 209
Love to all
We can’t heat anymore as alcohol fuel is in cockpit locker, dare not open.

That says it all…….  They are safe.  We couldn’t ask for more.

Would you believe that this is the interior of a racing boat?  In gale force winds, Turicum (see their blog) still manages to type in a whole page of blog, why not, look at the comfort they have.   They probably have hot coffee and hot meals, a place to dry their clothes.  At their GPS coordinate of 39 degrees North and 132 degrees West, Turicum is now out of the storm.  Pyrenneene and Sonsie should also be out of the storm.

Terremoto has to be wet…. so is Delicate Balance……

Here is my attempt to map out where Delicate Balance is in terms of the gale force winds area.  Yes, it is going through the storm area.

The rectangular box on the map indicates the area affected by the storm – which is within 34 to 45 degrees North and 124 to 132 degrees West.  Using the distance function on the Flagship tracking system, it is still another 200 km out of the storm radius, but Delicate Balance is nearing the edge.

Each degree of latitude is approximately 69 miles (111 kilometers) apart. The range varies (due to the earth’s slightly ellipsoid shape) from 68.703 miles (110.567 km) at the equator to 69.407 (111.699 km) at the poles. This is convenient because each minute (1/60th of a degree) is approximately one mile.

A degree of longitude is widest at the equator at 69.172 miles (111.321) and gradually shrinks to zero at the poles. At 40° north or south the distance between a degree of longitude is 53 miles (85 km).

GALE WARNING
FROM 34N TO 45N BETWEEN 124W AND 132W N TO NE WINDS 25 TO 40 KT. SEAS 10 TO 19 FT…HIGHEST NEAR 40N126W. ALSO NE OF A LINE FROM 46N128W TO 50N130W NW WINDS 20 TO 30 KT. SEAS TO 10 FT.
24 HOUR FORECAST OVER FORECAST WATERS N OF 35N E OF 141W WINDS 20 TO 30 KT. SEAS 8 TO 16 FT.
48 HOUR FORECAST OVER FORECAST WATERS N OF 35N BETWEEN 128W AND 137W WINDS 20 TO 30 KT. SEAS TO 12 FT.
NOAA National Weather Service Tuesday, 07.06.2010 0405 UTC.

The gale warning for high winds is between 34 N to 45 N and 124W to 132 W.  As of this moment, I checked Delicate Balance’s GPS coordinates and they are at  42.39671 N and 130.15306.   These numbers never meant much to me before, but now I am paying attention.  Yup!   It will be a wet and tiring Tuesday.  They still have some distance to cover before they get out of the high winds area.  We just pray that they will be safe.

It is now 22 hours since the last message we get from Delicate Balance.  Yup!  No news yet for Day 4.

At least we can see their position from the Spot Messenger tracking device.  They are crawling behind at a steady speed of 6 to 7 knots.

Hopefully their cozy little bunks can keep them warm and comfortable.  They just have to tough it out for one more day and the weather shall get nicer and warmer.