Atlantic Delivery

[Tropic Cat]

This is confusing .... When I bring up the Spot page it shows his last position as
32.94993 , -38.14767

And that the position was recorded on 3/7/2014 7:12:48 AM - my local time

According to my clock here in Florida, it's been almost exactly 2 days (48 full hours) since a SPOT position report. Are the gaps in SPOT coverage that large?

I'm thinking that his SPOT unit either bit the dust or that they're having some kind of power issue on the boat.

[SaltyMonkey]

nothing confusing.

Network / Satellite

No gaps where he is.

we ain't received anything since then.

its a battery unit. battery state = good

[Tropic Cat]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

nothing confusing.

Network / Satellite

No gaps where he is.

we ain't received anything since then.

its a battery unit. battery state = good

Where does that leave us?

[SaltyMonkey]

not much.

i propose we wait until others show to this thread, who may know something about the owner. Could be in contact, and must have EPIRB etc.

[SmartMove]

I think Boatie was just busy, there are two new spot location reports this morning. Looks like his is still heading north.

[atoll]

new pos this morning

Latitude :34.46363Longitude :-38.08957Time :09 March 2014 08:12:22

about 160 miles in 45 hours more or less north since his previous position

he must have found those north easterlies or broken something.

[atoll]

about 3 days of strong southerlies coming up,very windy tonight,should see a turn to the ENE and more speed if they have are not having difficulties.

i personally would have kept on an easterly heading into the high,and lost a bit of northing a few days back,then turned north on monday, if my intention was to stop in the azores,or points east.

seems strange the slow northerly track over the last few days hope they are okay and no breakages.

[Factor]

Low on fuel? The inital daily averages were clearly motorsailing, perhaps not an option now

[Blue Crab]

Originally Posted by atoll

about 3 days of strong southerlies coming up,very windy tonight,should see a turn to the ENE and more speed if they have are not having difficulties.

i personally would have kept on an easterly heading into the high,and lost a bit of northing a few days back,then turned north on monday, if my intention was to stop in the azores,or points east.

seems strange the slow northerly track over the last few days hope they are okay and no breakages.

All of the above.

I've been staring at the wind charts and don't see why the northern track. Surely this big boat can handle what we've seen so far.

[Tropic Cat]

It is a relief to see that new SPOT position. My guess is that nothing important broke or he'd be heading for Terceira Island so he could receive parts via air freight at Lajes Field.

His current position doesn't indicate that's an option right now. It would appear he's expecting a North wind and he's positioning the boat, but then again I have no idea what the wind direction is and all of this is conjecture.

[Palarran]

Originally Posted by atoll

about 3 days of strong southerlies coming up,very windy tonight,should see a turn to the ENE and more speed if they have are not having difficulties.

i personally would have kept on an easterly heading into the high,and lost a bit of northing a few days back,then turned north on monday, if my intention was to stop in the azores,or points east.

seems strange the slow northerly track over the last few days hope they are okay and no breakages.

I agree 100%. It's the first time in tracking this delivery that I questioned whether Phil did have some type of weather routing going on.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Tropic Cat

It is a relief to see that new SPOT position. My guess is that nothing important broke or he'd be heading for Terceira Island so he could receive parts via air freight at Lajes Field.

His current position doesn't indicate that's an option right now. It would appear he's expecting a North wind and he's positioning the boat, but then again I have no idea what the wind direction is and all of this is conjecture.

they will have had moderate north easterly winds the last 2 days,with strong southerlies for the next few days.

spot not transmitting,could have been caused by the N/S orientation of the vessel (instesd of E/W) over the last few days.

though they seem to have changed the time they switch spot on in the morning,from around 12am to 8am,but they are getting further east so sunrise is earlier than when they left florida.

[SaltyMonkey]

Boaty must have heard our yell.

Winds pivoted from the SSE placed him in 25-35 knots directly from the S which will run him into Azores just in time to wind-up his SPOT next few days.

Go boaty!!

[ka4wja]

Current position as of 30 mins ago, 2250z, Sunday 9 March 2014:

35* 23 N x 36* 30' W
(still a bit south of Tarifa's 36*N)
(Horta is about 423nm, and bears about 62*T)

He's been moving mostly NE for the past 14 hours (since this morning's SPOT update)

As for his upcoming weather....I haven't looked at the charts in 2 days....but a quick look just now shows current southerly winds, and he looks to be skirting the west edge of a High, and may be hoping to ride over the north end of it, or through the northern part of it, over the next few days, and follow some favorable winds on to Gibraltar, but there are some light head winds predicted for later in the week (but this far out, it's hard to assess)......or he may be heading for the Azores??? (for fuel??)

fair winds Phil!!

John
s/v Annie Laurie


{P.S.
I understand the fun in following Boatman along....but seriously, it would need to be a week or two of "no updates", before anyone should have concern...
No matter what Globalstar/SPOT says, there are small gaps in coverage in the Atlantic....but I have no idea if this was the cause of the "no updates" for 2 days, or anyone of another dozen reasons...}

[atoll]

looks like a beeline for horta

Latitude :35.35492Longitude :-36.56476Time :09 March 2014 22:19:58