0 36.442s 22 10.775w
Cockpit Club Friday
Fri Sep 22 2023
For tonight’s visit to the Cockpit Club; I know it’s Friday again, how did
that happen; I’ve had the following tracks offer by Team Bendigedig Shore
Support. Top pickings pop pickers. Going to be difficult to dance in the
cockpit as the boat is at a permanent 22.5 deg angle of heel. Which as per
Olin Stephen’s design, is the ideal angle of heel for an S&S 34
North and South by Emily Maguire
Southern Nights by Glen Campell
Equator by Drake White
Happy dancing
Cheers Daf
0 03.272s 21 57.686w
Equator Crossing
Fri Sep 22 2023
We crossed the equator into the Southern Hemisphere about 40 mins ago. Feels
good to be down here and looking forward to the adventures and challenges
that lie ahead. A massive shout out to everyone that has helped, donated,
supported and followed our epic journey so far. I would not be this far down
the road without you guys watching my back. A huge thanks from my heart.
Here are the stats
Crossed at 09:42 UTC +02:00
Date 22nd Sept 2023
00 00 n/s 21 56 west
SOG 6.4 knts
I particularly like the last number
Cheers Daf
1 00.461n 21 24.896w
Hedgehoggery by Michael Barrie McGeever
Thu Sep 21 2023
I’m about to cross 1 deg latitude north, the countdown to the equator
crossing has truly began. I’m guessing around breakfast time, without tying
myself down too much. I’ve had another restful day, this time reading. Some
months ago, my Uncle Mac gave me a copy of a book that he has written and
has had published. With the final preparations of Bendigedig taking up all
of my time I have not had a chance to get stuck into it. I started it today
and I’m already 2/3rds of the way through, which is unheard of me, so an
excellent and entertaining read. It’s title is Hedgehoggery by Michael
Barrie McGeever, illustrated by Supriya Mankad and available on Amazon.
Looking for some early Christmas gift ideas, and make my Uncle very happy
order a copy today.
Cheers Daf
1 18.823n 21 11.720w
Weather Routing
Thu Sep 21 2023
I have two “tools” onboard to assist with weather routing or passage
planning as some may call it, and of course one very knowledgeable and
experienced assistant “on the beach”, namely Simon Rowell. The onboard
assistants are basically software packages. One is called Expedition and the
other most of you are familiar with now is PredictWind. They are similar in
functionality, however the big plus with Expedition is that I can have
Bendigedig on the screen as a boat icon, in real time, with the PredictWind
GRIB files also in real time. This morning Simon suggested the coordinates
of our next waypoint, and I have been checking how our course etc pans out
to this waypoint.
Below is part of the output of one of models, of which there are several
In summary looks like a pretty good 2 weeks to me
Timezone GMT+02:00
Start Time 21 Sep 13:45
Finish Time 5 Oct 15:54
Time Taken 14 days 2h 9m 14s
Distance Traveled 1840.6 NM
Average Speed (kts) 5.4
% Time Upwind 10%
% Time Reaching 90%
% Time < 8 Knots 19%
% Time 8-20 Knots 81%
Cheers Daf
1 55.073n 20 45.607w
Doing “Exactly as it says on the tin”
Thu Sep 21 2023
A very quiet night on Bendigedig. The wind is doing more or less exactly as
per the GRIB files. I do love it when this happens. All I had to do was keep
adjusting the course for Mr Brightside, my number one autohelm. I adjust it
by 1 or 2 degrees only each time, slowly does it. As you can see, we are
curving round nicely. The current predication is that by the time I reach 5
deg South Bendigedig’s course will be due south, and the next challenge will
be how far south before starting to bring some east into the course. Cape of
Good Hope bound.
Cheers Daf
