Land ho ! (Gough Island)

After a couple of days of theoretical classes in Puerto Williams (Patagonia), the long-awaited moment arrived to take all that knowledge out of the classroom and put it into practice at sea.

Ahead, weeks in the open sea, with the heavens above their heads every single day and night to fine-tune the use of the sextant and the calculations, and to continue deepening the knowledge of the starry sky.

Kate, Carlos, Rob and Tim taking sun sights in rough conditions

The results of the first sights at sea were compared to the GPS, with a clear intention: to help master the sextant.

Thanks to GPS's extreme precision, one can become a real star-juggler in intimate contact with the sky, grow in confidence as a celestial navigator, and save the electronics as an ally just in case of an emergency.

Carlos reading the dials

Tim taking a sight

Daring at some point to set the GPS aside and to accept a certain degree of uncertainty -the inseparable condition of true adventure-, one can feel again like the seafarers of yore.

As I write these lines two weeks after rounding Cape Horn, the Vinson is approaching Gough Island in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean, one of the most remote islands in the world. Gough is inhabited only by a South African meteorological station, otherwise home to albatross.

In all the erratic tracings the course of the sailing ship leaves upon the white paper of the chart she is always aiming for that one little spot, that little volcano island in the middle of the Southern Ocean.

I have no doubt that our adventurous crew will manage to find it in the middle of the ocean, and I can picture their joy and pride sighting their landfall off the bow, right on the expected bearing.

The pride of feeling a seafarer.

Jordi Griso

Sailor