Columbine Update 9/4

This will be another brief update to give our position data. Except that I wanted to add one thing to the posting a few days ago about knots and latitude/longitude. Regarding knots, it seems that the term should actually be called "nauts" for nautical miles per hour. But there is a possible reason for the "knots" spelling. In the past to measure boat speed there was a special board with a line attached that was thrown into the water. The lines were attached such that the board would ride perpendicular to the boat direction and would thus remain stationary in the water. The line that was attached had a series of knots in it. This way it could be used at night or in foul weather. The seaman would throw in the board and then start timing. After a specific time, the number of knots that slipped through his hands was the speed of the boat. There you have it.

Columbine has been sailing well today under progressively lighter wind as we approach the doldrums once again. We have been maintaining over six knots all day, and the wind is now only about 12 kts. Not bad for sailing into the wind! Our current position at 6:12 pm was 03 deg 41.3 N, 147 deg 07.7 W.