Welcome to the middle of the middle of nowhere!

Please stick with me on this post! Take it slow and steady like a land tortoise

Let’s talk about some numbers and facts.

Yesterday, we passed the 48-hour mark from leaving St Helena. I know this because I set a timer.

Forty-eight hours of sailing at about 290 degrees (almost straight west) had us covering about 420 nm (nautical mile).

Anything over 200 nm a day, and we are making great progress (more below).

One nautical mile (nm) is about 1.8 km or 1.15 miles. Why not 1 to 1!! There is a “the world is round” story here that I will save for another day.

Anyway, back to the point.

In the first 48 hours, we averaged about 210 nm. Our speed is, on average, about 8.75 knots (knots is a speed no need per hour). This is not bad in the trade winds (another blog post on this topic will come soon).

Please stick with me!!

So we are travelling at about 17 k/h or 10 m/h on average. And that is not bad for the trade winds (from now on, they will be called the trades). Keep in mind that it is an always-on speed—24 hours a day—moving slowly.

So, for reference, if we were to sail directly from Helena to our next port, it would be 1751 nm.

The direct straight from A to B is called the rhumb line—not to be confused with the rum line. Or even (from an earlier post) the WD40 line (which does not catch fish, as an FYI).

The rhumb line is the most direct line. You can never sail it exactly. For reference, from Cape Town to St Helena, I would estimate we added 250 nm off the rhumb line to avoid that massive low-pressure zone.

So, if we can maintain our 8.75 k speed, the next leg will take about eight days. But that speed in the trades is not realistic. I am calling it around 11 days for this leg.

One more crazy fact. Are you ready?

So, if you have been playing along at home, you can see on the map that we are crossing between two continents—Africa and South America. (I hope I do not need a post on this!))

So this is ridiculous. If you look at the distance between those two. It is approx 2800 nm. That’s a long way. How long, you might ask? Well, from DC to San Fran, it is only 2100nm. So we are sailing 30% farther than crossing the USA. That is wild!

And you want to know something even crazier. Last night, as a small squall (topic for another post—I have lots of content!) caught our night watch, we were right in the middle of our Africa to South America crossing. We were in the middle of the middle of nowhere!!!

Now, what does all this silly math mean? Who knows?

But it puts this sail in perspective. It reminds me that things worth doing do not always need to be done at a crazy speed. Slowing down and resetting expectations to reflect the pace has been refreshing. Consistency, strategy, and patience are always more important than pace and perceived achievement. And I have spent the last 20 years at an epic pace, so I know.

So, this weekend, maybe try slowing it down a little and see if it feels different.

I think there is a story about a land tortoise and a rabbit that touches on this lesson. But who really knows……