Captain's Log

November 21, 2002

Hello all,
 
OK, so I have never been very good at Mathematics, but how does this happen........allow me to set the stage. Wind speed 4 - 6 kts, boat speed 4 - 7 kts, sailing angle between due south and slightly east of south. The positions at 1400 hrs GMT had both Spirit of Yokuh and Bayer Acensia ahead by 6 nm and 82 nm respectively. We are all sailing in similar conditions. I am thinking as the 2200 hrs position report comes in that, " these are BTC Velocity's conditions, we sail fast in the light ". So in come the positions, Spirit of Yokuh is 340 nm ahead and Bayer Acensia is 249 nm ahead !!!!!
 
HELP, what happened. The answer, basic trigonometry. ( those schools following my progress in Bermuda should work this one out as a Math problem ) As explained in the web update yesterday the course from Brixham to Cape Town is by no means a straight line. It encompasses an ' educated guess ' of what the ' normal ' course is and computes our relative distances to the finish line, and therefore each other, based on the this course. So what happens when a tight pack of 3 boats turn a corner on this imaginary line and the distances measured go from an equally imaginary point in the ocean to actual the finish line in Cape Town ??? You guessed it. The boat furthest to the West all of a sudden loses some major comparative mileage. Who was furthest to the West. ME.
 
So, its time to increase my efforts and do a ' end around sweep ' to re gain this mileage. Moral of the story. Listen in class to your math teacher.........
 
Alan Paris
BTC Velocity