Happy Tax Day Five to the Galapagos

Well I for one am very happy I filed an extension before we left, seeing as how I don’t think I can e-file with TurboTax via Single Sideband.

Last night we had more poor wind with shifts to SSW that caused us to sail off more to the North than we’d planned. Based on predictions and models the wind is supposed to die any time now, but it hasn’t and it has shifted back to the South so at least our future course passes through the Galapagos again.

All night we had some ghostly company with us. On my night watch I noticed some faint green objects out of the corner of my eye. The full moon had gone (note to self…verify if there was a Lunar Eclipse last night because it sure LOOKED like it as the moon was swallowed up then covered by clouds) and it was pitch black. That sort of black you can only get off shore without the moon when the only ambient light is from the stars and the muted backlighting of the instruments.

In this sort of light the phosphoresce in the water really shows up – every time the boat crashes in the waves there is a gaudy shower of glowing foam and green lights swirling in the water. Too much moonlight and you can’t see it.

So what were these ghostly images? Hallucinations? UFO’s? I remembered back to Will telling be that he had dolphins and gulls keeping him company on his watch. Sure enough a few seconds with a flashlight on and I had confirmation that we had half a dozen gulls wheeling along with us. I could only surmise that their pale green color was a reflection off of our running lights as they were on the starboard side of the boat where the tri-color is green.

During the course of the night the wind had shifted farther and farther to the right more West, forcing us further off course. The ocean currents were still pushing us further North as well. It got so bad on the watch change that Kathy and I decided to try tacking the boat. The tack went slow and smooth but on the other tack the heading we could maintain was horrible, we were actually sailing away from the Galapagos due to the wind and current.

So we tacked back and got the boat settled in an realized that while we tacked the wind had shifted back to where we started the evening pointed more or less back to the Galapagos again and that big West shift reversed itself. Well THAT was convenient timing, it confused the heck out of us why we were pointing in the wrong direction on the other tack! Fortunately this wind direction has more or less held.

Calculating the Odds

Given a few assumptions

• Evenstar is 53′ long by 15.25′ wide at her widest point. This gives her a maximum deck area of around 800 square feet, probably less since she’s pretty pointy on the end.
• Our main wind shield that opens is about 2′ x 3′, or six square feet.
• We have not laid eyes on another vessel in over three days, there is likely no one within 20-25 miles of us in any direction.
• A twenty-five nautical mile radius is about 115 Million Square Feet where we are likely the only boat.

So given these assumptions what are the odds that a large marine bird would manage to splat us with a load of bird poop right on the six square foot window we look out of all day??

Better than you think, apparently.