At anchor, Southampton Water
50º49.5’ N X 001º16’W
 
We are anchored at Southampton, England, after a great day of sailing. Amistad left Brixham England last night after dinner, when the wind backed Northwest and picked up. We sailed all night, and morning showed us the high chalk cliffs that make the seaward side of the Isle of Wight. We entered in the South Channel, and spent several hours sailing on the inland harbor called The Solent, which is hallowed ground if you’re interested in either yachting or the Royal Navy.

That is how the Amistad could look passing the white cliffs characteristic for the South Coast of England.

The photo shows an unidentified schooner. 

Finally we anchored off the channel into the shipping port of Southampton in order to get a water tank repaired. That’s going on now, and with any luck we’ll be ready to go tomorrow morning. Before dinner we saw the cruise ship “Queen Mary 2” get underway and go by about 200 yards from us. Big ship.

FROM EDITOR: This is not the first time Amistad meets QM2 - the ships exchanged greetings at hight seas in the beginning of the Amistad's transatlantic crossing - documented in 1st semester Sankofa Sail student's journal

The flagship of the Cunard Line - Queen Mary 2 (QM2)  visiting Newport RI -Oct 8, 2005

Photographed from the mast of the Amistad - photo © 2005 Wojtek (Voytec) Wacowski

 Our next scheduled port is London, which we should reach on the 14th of September. Right now the weather forecast is for NE wind, which will have us close-hauled, but on the other hand the forecasts are almost always wrong. Which is either grounds for hope or cause for despair, depending on your frame of mind.
 
We’re still in “West” Longitude, but tomorrow we should get to 000ºLongitude, the prime, or Greenwich, meridian, that passes through the Royal Observatory outside of London. Then for a moment we’ll be in the Eastern Hemisphere, a first for me on an ocean trip.
 
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