See Previous 2004 Voyage Logs
Voyage 198 Auckland to Easter Island.
Wed 24th March 1700
LandHo!at 11.27( 18.27GMT). The ship is 16 miles south of Easter Island and so will anchor tonight and go ashore tomorrow, Thursday.
NEW Mon, March 22, 2004, 1700
ETA Easter I Thursday 25th. Great sailing making 6kts over smooth sea. Rain squall passing now, but ok as on Alan's watch! Now 7kts!
Sunday, March 21, 2004 1:59 PM
All well aboard. Making good speed. Great sailing in the sun today. I gave a talk on how a square rig ship sails - balance of sails to hull & rudder etc which went down well! Only 580 n.miles to go! Much warmer today - bare feet on deck!
Sat C now locked to Atlantic West and getting Chilean weather reports. The old girl is bowling along with a bone in her teeth!
Tony
NEW Thursday 18th March 2004.
Yesterday celebrated St Patrick’s Day.
From the Old Man: standing orders state ‘Be kind to Purser day'
All hands stamped with green shamrock on head. All day Elaine wore green Irish rugby shirt. Barry was very respectful in his Legolas way! Elaine dressed as a bottle of Guinness led the St Pats parade with the SL tin whistle & drum band accompanied with baggy wrinkle sheep All in fancy dress Alan in green long jons looked very medieval. At 1700 all retired to the Roaring 40’s bar formerly Paddy’s SL saloon. Elaine served Guinness very good. Green wine & bread with Irish stew for dinner.
All watches have excelled in bread making. Tom, a chef by trade, very impressed by standard of food. Cooks continue to do very well providing hot & tasty meals.
This am during the 1st hour of the forenoon watch we wore ship braced
square and bore away north towards Easter Is. and warmer climbs (last 12 days temp average 10/14 deg C, with occasional sleet! Chilly thermals were the order of the day).
Barry sounded two short blasts as we turned to port an important physiological point on this voyage. A great cheer resounded.
Eolus, God of wind, has been kind to us since the storm - making good progress and we should arrive on schedule. All Permanent Crew working hard & harmoniously. A great crew.
Nick is currently making a shelf in Gavin’s cabin for all engine manuals. Elaine works very hard - laundry has been very trying with the cold n damp.
Voyage Crew Rick entertains with tales of the frozen North and his fights with Inuit relations! Perhaps the fire axe should be hidden….!
Tony
Wed 17th March 2004
"Grt sail today. Gaff tops'l set for the first time on this voyage.
Making 7kts in a smooth sea. No whales, dolphins and only a few birds."
Position date & time |
2004-03-17 11.42.00 |
Latitude |
43° 6' 21.60" S |
Longitude |
118° 38' 21.60" W |
Speed |
8 knots |
Heading |
108 degrees |
Wind speed |
17 knots |
Wind direction |
SW |
Pressure |
1019 mbar |
Wind & swell wave height |
3 meters |
Wind wave height |
1 meters |
Wind wave period |
4 seconds |
Swell wave direction |
SSW |
Swell wave height |
2 meters |
Swell wave period |
11 seconds |
Distance to Easter Island |
1146 n.miles |
Monday 15 March 2004 - Captain Tony Davies writes:
Hi all Motoring cross large High no wind and a lumpy swell. Yesterday we held deck games. Great fun for all- pass the belaying pin, apple and pony race ... Well done Elaine for making the event so good.
All looking forward to St Patrick's day - from past experience am betting that there will be green food all day.. Still no wildlife except a few albatross - and far less than we saw in these waters on the Cape Horn Voyage in '91.
Good radio contact with Ritchy at Russell Radio each night Have put a new membrane in H2O maker and now making great fresh water . All systems go, Rig & sails good and everyone happy . First Mate Barry gave his second navigation talk today which was well received by the Voyage Crew.
We have about 1300 mile to go to Easter Island, we will motorsail to maintain a minimum average speed to our destination, which I'm sure will be no problem.
regards to all - Tony.
Tuesday 9th March 2004: latest data from the ship:
Position date & time |
2004-03-09 23:42:00 |
|
Latitude |
43° 33' 14.40" S |
|
Longitude |
142° 32' 12.00" W |
|
Speed |
8 knots |
|
Heading |
121 degrees |
|
Wind speed |
20 knots |
|
Wind direction |
W |
|
Pressure |
1017 mbar |
|
Wind & swell wave height |
4 meters |
Note on the Satellite Track system - this is now set so that the ship now reports her position every 12 hours, not every 4 hours as shown on the first 10 days ex Auckland.
Following also just received from skipper Tony Davies:
"Life on SL
Hi there. All is well aboard
Great sail the past two days - a Force 6/7 SW on starboard quarter. We're presently in front of a large High weather system and I think we should get 2 more days of good sailing time before the winds die out.
Albatross escort and delight us with their flying aerobatics. No dolphins or whales have been spotted so far but bow watch reported one shark. Some sun yesterday and today so conditions good. The full moon holds us spellbound - her light paints an ever moving scene on the foaming crests and shadowy troughs. Exhilarating and beautiful as Soren Larsen bravely runs her easting down. All aboard on good spirits.. Love from all.
Tony."
and here is Cook Noreen's view from the deckhouse: 11 March 04
"We're over 1/2 way! Its one of the 1st sunny days we've seen & the ship looks like a Chinese laundry! I'm spending my arvo laying on deck in shorts and a singlet dodging the water dropping from all the clothes hanging round!
Quite funny what some people think warm is, a few of the watch have foul weather gear on while Rick, from Nunavut, Canada, has kept shorts on for the entire trip, even when the thermometer read 13 C.
All in good spirits, Stacey & I impressed with how long veges lasted, look frwd to restocking in Easter.!
Besides the great soaring albatross, no wildlife spotted as of yet, boohoo!
cheers
Noreen"
Wednesday 3rd March - the following info in from the Satellite Tracker shows the ship heading ENE in much calmer conditions:
Position date & time |
2004-03-03 04:34:00 |
|
Latitude |
43° 5' 43.20" S |
|
Longitude |
164° 30' 50.40" W |
|
Speed |
6 knots |
|
Heading |
64 degrees |
|
Wind speed |
11 knots |
|
Wind direction |
NW |
|
Pressure |
1012 mbar |
|
Wind & swell wave height |
2 meters |
|
Wind wave height |
0 meters |
This just in from Ship Cook and Voyage Log scribe Noreen Hill:
1700 3rd March 2004
"Best to keep everyone at home posted on Soren and her crew’s whereabouts .
We are 1323m from Auckland & 2777m from Easter Island. We had a fantastic start to the trip with smooth seas and following breezes until night of Cyclone Ivy. (Sunday 29th Feb). With made great attempts to motor sail away from her, but she caught up to us....
Under great command from Tony, the permanent crew remained on deck for 18hrs while the storm roared past in the wee hours of the morning. The ship was our safe haven with a little damage to woodwork, we fortunately were carried through the night, no one injured. Now we continue to motor into light easterly winds & look forward to the sunshine!
cheers,
Noreen"
++
Sunday 29th Feb. 2004 8pm local time- 43 12 South and 169 39 West
Soren Larsen is presently 600 miles off the east coast of New Zealand and 300 miles east and slightly north of the Chatham islands. The ship is making 9.4 knots in very strong winds as the remains of a tropical cyclone Ivy tracks west and south of them. The office has just had a message from the captain - saying all are well aboard, rough sea but hoping will moderate tomorrow (1st march) and "All hands coped well, fit+happy, NO injuries, everyone rather moist - but moral good. Repeat all fine on board " . Further updates as we have them.
++
