Donna Lange crosses the equator
Posted By RichC on March 10, 2007
Donna Lange, circumnavigating solo sailor, has hit two milestones this week. First she crossed her outbound track, which legitimately means she has rounded the world in her 28 foot sailboat, and second, in today’s news … she crossed the equator again … going north this time. She posts to her log daily and the updates can be read on the web at a site maintained by friends (www.donnalange.com and www.donnalange.org), or plotted daily on Google Earth on the communities forum. (be sure to click the daily plot for her log entry for that day)
For some of us who enjoy the navigation part of sailing, Donna shared a little bit of her strategy for her final leg home to Bristol, Rhode Island today:
Somewhere near 2*N the winds will shift to a more
NE direction and I will change course to head for
RI. I will be making adjustments in my course to
improve my angle of approach to RI nearer to Bermuda
so there will be an increase in miles to sail by
a hundred + miles as I vere from the shortest distance
to RI on the great circle to a more rhumline route,
staight on a flat which does not take advantage
of the curvature of the earth. The shortest distance
is the route along the belly of the globe, taking
a curved appearance on a flat chart. A little geometry.
I wish her a safe final passage and appreciate her support for biodiesel as an appropriate marine fuel … thanks Donna … I enjoy communicating with you and look forward to meeting you someday.
As an enjoyable aside, here’s a short video from Donna Lange’s stopover in New Zealand; its actually a well produced ‘special interest’ news clip. Enjoy.
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