Current affairs, squid squeeze, and relaxation
The latest update from the intrepid Tom Robinson & his shore team
Dear Sponsors, Supporters, Family and Friends,
Since our last missive, Tom in Maiwar has been making progress on a number of fronts.
First, with winds turning more easterly and with the Equatorial current now pushing him along at almost a knot, he has been able to achieve a more westerly course than previously. His plan was always to allow the Humboldt Current and the SE trade winds to push him up towards the equator where the fast-flowing Equatorial Current would help him make his way westward. (See his track up to 9 August and the map of ocean currents below.) Nonetheless, many of us viewing his progress were starting to wonder just when that north westerly track he’d been following since he left Lima would turn further west. As those following his tracker know, he has now turned the corner both literally and, as Tom implied in a text to us, figuratively.
Second, Tom has dodged the squid fishing fleet. Not many of you would know that where Tom “turned the corner”, some 240 nm SSW of the Galapagos, there is one of the world's largest squid fisheries where not only are the squid large (up to 1.5 m in length) but where the fishing fleet comprises 300 or more vessels covering an area of 20,000 square miles! When it was realised that Tom was headed for the middle of this fleet it was decided to try to pass to its south. Unable to get further south, Tom successfully skirted around its northern most extremity. In the Marine Traffic screen shot below, Maiwar is the magenta coloured vessel about 10 miles to the north of the fleet of light brown fishing vessels. Note that this fleet stretches more than 200 nautical miles (370 kms) from one extremity to the other - and it can be seen from space! The fishing vessels use extraordinarily bright lights to attract squid to the surface.
Before he came upon the fleet, Tom told us that the "night horizon from S to WNW was aglow, getting brighter each night". If you're not sure whether Tom should have gone through the fleet or around it, take a look at the photo of a typical squid fishing vessel below!
Five weeks after leaving Lima, Tom passed the 1,000 nautical mile mark on Sunday 7 August. He is now nearly a third of the way through his first leg with around 2600 nm of, hopefully, plain rowing to go before he reaches the Marquesas.
Tom's third achievement is that, even with all the rowing, navigating, fishing and cooking he’s been doing, he’s found time for some relaxation. In a recent text he said he was enjoying E.P.T. and E.F.S.. Knowing that a friend had given Tom a shortwave radio before he left Australia, the shore team’s first reaction was to wonder whether these were the initials of Eastern Pacific radio stations. No luck Googling that; but a look at Tom’s bookshelf blog revealed that he was referring to E P Thompson’s “The Making of the English Working Class” and E F Schumacher’s “Small is Beautiful”, both of which can be seen in the introductory photo of Tom's bookshelf above. So, he has found time to do some reading.
Yours sincerely,
Tom’s Shore Team
For background on this adventure visit
https://southernwoodenboatsailing.com/news/design-build-and-row-how-to-cross-the-pacific
https://southernwoodenboatsailing.com/news/maiwar-amp-tom-arrive-in-peru
https://southernwoodenboatsailing.com/news/and-were-away
https://southernwoodenboatsailing.com/news/the-equatorial-current-beckons
And don’t forget to check Tom’s tracker and GoFundMe Page