The critical challenge was longitude. The watch, found in the bilge, was functioning but had stopped during the capsize and needed to be set. Without a known start time, her initial longitude calculation was an estimate. About a week into the survival period, she was able to establish a more reliable longitude fix by combining her watch time with the calculated position of a celestial body. From that point forward, her daily positions were more reliable.
What she discovered, within the first week, was that the North Equatorial Current was running in her favor. This current flows westward across the tropical Pacific, and at the latitude she was sailing — approximately the 19th parallel north — it was running at up to six knots. Under normal sailing conditions, six knots of favorable current is a significant boost to a vessel making eight or ten knots through the water. For a jury-rigged yacht making two to three knots through the water, six knots of current nearly tripled her effective speed over the ground.
She found the current and rode it.
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## The 41 Days: Food, Water, Silence
She rationed from the beginning. The specific inventory of provisions aboard the Hazana after the capsize included canned fruit cocktail, sardines, and peanut butter — food that had survived the capsize in its sealed containers and was calorie-dense enough to sustain basic function over an extended period. She ate small amounts daily, tracking her consumption against her estimate of how many days she needed to hold out.
Water was the more critical constraint. The yacht had a limited fresh water supply, some of which had been contaminated by saltwater intrusion during the capsize. What remained was insufficient for unlimited consumption. She rationed the water with the same calculation she applied to food, and she imposed on herself a rule that illustrates the specific demands of the situation: she told herself not to cry. Weeping, in the context of limited water supply and significant physical exertion, was water she could not afford to lose.