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Virtual Cruise II
United States Training Ship Golden Bear
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Status July 23 A, 2002
En-route to Papeete, Tahiti from Auckland, New Zealand
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T ot al Di st an ce :
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2221.8 nm
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P ro je ct ed Ti m e:
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7 Days 20 Hours 17 Min. at 11.9 kts.
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Comments:
Today is Tuesday, July 23A. Tomorrow will be Tuesday, July 23B or as we call it on the ship, Meridian
Day. That is because is represents what happens to the ship when it crosses the 180 degree longitude line or International Date Line from west to east.
Tonightwe will be retarding our clocks 24 hours, to conform to zone description - 12. In truth, we won’t change our clocks at all, but we will repeat July 23 all over again. Right now we are in zone
description –12, which means we are 12 hours ahead of Greenwhich. This means that each new day begins with those of us in zone description –12. When we cross the dateline into zone description +12,
we suddenly become 12 hours behind Greenwhich, which means that we are now at the end of each day. That’s why tonight, when we retard our clocks 24 hours to zone description + 12, we go from the
beginning of each day to the end of each day, and consequently have to repeat July 23 all over again. During our leg from Hawaii to Fiji, we did just the opposite, transiting from zone description +
12 to – 12, and lost a day completely. In the end, everything works out and the number of days gained or lost equals out by the end of cruise.
Vessel Data
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Time Zone:
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-12 (12 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time)
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Length of Day:
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24 hours
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Local Time of Position:
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1200
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Latitude:
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36°-18.2'S
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Longitude:
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175°-50.5'E
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Total Distance Gone:
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63.1 nm
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Distance Gone Today:
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63.1 nm
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Distance to Go:
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2159.8 nm
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Current Speed:
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14.8 kts
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Engine Speed:
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Both engines - 90 rpm.
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Weather Data
Observations:
Forecast:
Good day all. Expect conditions to remain the same until at least midnight. However, the low that has been giving us our recent weather is passing southeast of us at 15 kts. and should be
behind us by tomorrow evening. An associated cold front passed us at noon today, expect reduced visibility with possible showers and a thunderstorm. Expect veering winds shifting from the northeast
to northwest, decreasing to 20-25 kts. Seas will remain around 15 ft. until late tonight, decreasing to 8-10 ft. tomorrow. We should start to pass into a high-pressure system over the
next 36 to 48 hours. Winds should remain broad on our port bow for most of the forecast period.
Meteorologist Scott Pistoresi
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Air Temperature:
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62° F
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Humidity:
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77%
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Wind:
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NE 10 kts.
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Clouds:
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Cumulus/Stratocumulus
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Seas:
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NE 3 ft.
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Sea Temperature:
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59° F
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Water Depth:
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680 M
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Sunrise:
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0728
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Sunset:
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1701
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Aboard The T.S.G.B. Day: 33
Pictured above is the chart we were using this morning at to plot our positions. The trackline, or our
intended course, moves from the lower left to the upper right of the photo. Our positions are recognizable
by the small crosses with triangles around them, indicating our location at each hour. The vertical line is 180
degrees longitude. This is the longitude line that separates the eastern hemisphere from the western
hemisphere. Just a few minutes after 0400, we crossed 180 longitude into the western hemisphere. Crossing
this longitude also means that it is time to change our clocks, or in this case, retarding 24 hours to zone description +12 so we will repeat July 23 all over again!
We have heard from many people how much they enjoy the Virtual Cruise and
how much they miss it when it is not updated. Please remember, we do not do Virtual Cruise when the ship is in port. Also, on occasion, ships business
does not give us the time to get a Virtual cruise out and lastly, transmission conditions sometimes make it impossible for us to get a high speed data
connection required for the transmission of the pictures. During the past two weeks the ship has been in port several of the days. You should start seeing
the VC on a more regular basis until Tahiti and then very routine after that . Our radio officer does his best to keep it current but his other duties must come first.
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