There we waited broken-hearted, prayed for wind but only far...d!

We had a few bad days where we waited for wind as we entered the doldrums. We used the motor on a number of times to keep up some progress but had to keep our wits about us even when there was no wind, as little local squalls would come through with 30 knot winds, just to make life interesting. As we had not seen any significant rain for the first 2 weeks of the voyage, we also prayed for rain, but we won’t try that again. A few days ago It rained steadily all day and with the temperature in the 90s and the windows closed for the rain, those inside the yacht were in a sauna while those outside were wet and cold. When we did get some wind, it and the seas were coming from all directions and hence can only be described as confused – in fact in those conditions the crew could also be described as confused!

Then we got some wind again so up went the sails and off went the motor. The rain stopped too and we headed due south when the wind allowed to get to the equator and below the doldrums as fast as possible. The past couple of days have been pleasant and fine, although hot and humid, with consistent SE wind and swell, both advantageous for where we are going. We have achieved a good consistent 6 to 7 knots speed, with the odd 8 knots – things get a little interesting at that speed! We are typically doing about 140+ miles (230+ km) daily now which is better than we have achieved for a while.

Yesterday we crossed the equator and as none of the crew had crossed the equator by sea before, King Neptune converted us all from “pollywogs” into “shellbacks”. We actually crossed the equator about 0600hrs UTC at night so we got up and took a few photos and then all went back to bed as everyone was tired. We got up in the morning, slowed the yacht right down and all jumped into the water, including Raleigh. The yacht was still moving slowly at about 1 knot so we were trailing a long rope behind the yacht in case someone didn’t make it back on board. There were no problems. We put goggles on and did a bit of an inspection of the underside of the yacht. There are a few parts that could do with a clean sometime but in general it is in good condition. Lying in the water with goggles on and looking straight down is spectacular as the water is so clean you feel that you can see forever, the green colour and the light go a long way down. It didn’t feel scary just spectacular. Unfortunately we couldn’t take a photo of the ‘Equator’ sign as we passed as we couldn’t find it. We can only assume that the yacht in front of us must have stolen it!!! The crew members then lost various parts of their hair and the beards came off. We opened the champagne we had carried for the occasion and enjoyed a glass of that to finish the celebrations.

We have been asked what we do in our spare time. We are actually quite busy steering, planning, working the sails etc, but do have time for other things. Lisa, Leslie, and Carl read a lot and Lisa is on her 15th book so far. Don and Andy have a number of other daily tasks and Don gave the engine an oil change yesterday. Andrew has difficulty sleeping with all the movement and noise so he takes opportunities to sleep when he can. He recons he has the chance of about 11 hours of sleep a day but only actually sleeps for a small portion of that.

Raleigh is doing fine and has settled down to a routine. He needs company so is generally with Carl or Lisa. He has little booties on his feet which he doesn’t really like but they give him much more grip when he is walking around the deck. He also has dark glasses to shield his eyes from the very strong sun, but he absolutely hates those.

Apart from Andy’s daily radio contacts with his dad we have been successful with other crew members talking to family. Carl has had a good chat twice with Ann and Kyle, and other friends and family in the past few days, and Leslie has also had a long talk with her dad. We have also talked with other yachts ahead of us to check out what their conditions are and with one that has just departed the Marquesas Islands, and got some comments on what to see etc.

Some more Words of Wisdom from the crew:
Lisa - When did my hair get curly? I look like Shirley Bloody Temple!
Leslie – My hair is finally clean
Don - Andy has put his foot down and decided that this will be the last week of the passage
Carl - Lamp restoring is going better than expected
Andy – I will not ask for rain again
Raleigh – You people suck! Get me off this damn boat

To clarify Carl’s comment. There are a lot of old brass lamps on board and many of them quite rusty. Carl has decided that he will restore them all. If he succeeds by the time we reach NZ then he can punch Andy in the stomach, if not he receives the punch!

We are all feeling a bit tired and worn out and looking forward to a good rest in the Marquesas. We expect to get there this coming weekend.