May 28, 2007-- 0230 PST
somewhere on the big blue Pacific Ocean
04.53S-Latitude, 098.30W-Longitude
Vessel Underway
After many aborted attempts since 1991, John and Judy finally are a vessel underway to the South Pacific. It only took three boats, two kids and nearly twenty years, but we are living out a sailor's Rite of Passage, crossing a BIG ocean. We left the Galapagos Islands on Wednesday, May 23 at 10:30 AM and motored for about an hour to get out from the shadow of the islands. The first few days were light winds and slow, but we all hate the sound of the engine so we prefer the drifting along rather than listening to the beast under the cockpit floor. We have a mere 3,000 miles or 30 days to travel to reach paradise.
We are keeping track of our position through YOTREPs and Winlink; a button set up by our webmaster makes it easy for you to see where we are located on a daily basis. Gaby is sending reports in at 0400 Local time (PST). To find us on a globe, look for where the LEGEND and the name of the Map Maker are located. We are somewhere near the Equator, in between the Legend fodder.
The Humboldt Current is making our days and nights chilly, but even that is changing and today we had a warmer evening. Believe it or not, it is COLD on the equator and we are wearing fleece jackets, socks and shoes.
We have a current pushing us, which helps us with the over the ground speed. Our progress has been everything from 90 mile days to yesterday's record 120 miles. As I write, the 6/8th moon lusters a pearl white is dead on, constellations and stars peak out from cumulus clouds and we have a reef in the Main Sail, holding a steady speed of 7 knots and more (0250AM). Yahoo! Daily we check in with the 'Southern Cross Net' where about a dozen sail boats log their position and keep tabs on each other.
We are somewhere in the middle of the pack. This is a totally voluntary radio support network while on the passage. We all left from different islands and at different times. So, we are not here alone, even though we see no boats, no wildlife (ok, a few storm petrels), and even, no fish. Once we were buzzed three times by a USA flyer. They flew so close that Gaby and Anya on deck doing their Dutch Language class could see into the plane's cockpit. We'd wished they'd tossed us some ice cream. Humm, Uncle Sam is watching us, even at this distance. Most of the boats are flying the flags of Great Britain, Australia, Germany and the Netherlands. We have entered a new cruising community, a more International sect. And Gaby and Sami are participating daily with a KIDs Net based out of a sailboat already cruising in the South Pacific. Will be fun to meet up with the boat s/v Purrrfection, who have two daughters aboard, 13 and 11 years old. Talk about a perrrrfect fit.
We just had our first causality of the trip; a block we use for the boom preventer broke. We have a bunch more, so no problem, Captain replaced it on his watch.
The Captain and crew have agreed to maintain a daily check in log of our temperaments' as we make this passage. It should be a very interesting retrospective on this journey. Maybe, they'll consent to sharing it with you.
Many tales yet to tell of the Galapagos, but we were living the experience so we have had little time or focus to write, but soon, the tales will be sent to the webmaster. Will keep you posted….more to come. Hope all is well with you.