NavList:

Frank and Brian,

Thank you for your excellent ideas for special techniques for navigation at sea during the April 8 Eclipse. Unfortunately there wasn't enough wind to get us to the path of totality and we were unable to see a full eclipse.

We rerouted after several days of drifting about on a calm, almost mirror flat sea. One day we made 3.5NM between noon sights and an Argonaut Octopus sped past us. Our primary route from Panama to Hawaii was originally forecasted to be light but favorable for passagemaking. After we experienced 10 windless days, it was forecasted to become even calmer for another 7 days, then to be followed by headwinds. We opted to reroute to the windier (at the time) great circle route via Costa Rica so that we did not run out of water and die. For the next  two weeks past Costa Rica we had either way too much wind or not enough wind. Offhand, we averaged only about 45NM per day. Since the Great Circle Route is within a couple of hundred nautical miles of Mexico, we again rerouted to Mexico where we are currently runnning up the west coast. I had constructed a curve suitable for plotting as Brian had described and was stoked about using it. We observed the eclipse, but it was uneventful for us and navigationally insignificant. Bummer! 

Nick