Ignorance To Consequences Zone
13 April 2014 | Day 5 to Galapagos
Sunday 13 April 2014
Because water has more mass than air and reacts slowly, surface movement early in a blow is restrained and sailors can rip along in relative comfort. This benign effect is paid for at the end as sails, now getting slammed on each roll necessitating furling, no longer stabilize the craft which exhuberantly dances all over the ocean, rattling occupants around like dice in a cup. Adding insult to this vexing situation is the subsequently necessary engine clamor. Now, however, sustained languid air has finally calmed the troubled waters so roll is kinder allowing higher onboard life forms, although still assaulted by motive cacophony, more comfort. Overcast and constant rain in the ITCZ (Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone) is also keeping all occupants cooler and has washed away a crust of salt.
This congenial circumstance, however, has failed to quell angst of equine contingent. Having no fingers or toes and therefore miserably incompetent at even the most simple arithmetic, they refuse to accept assurances that given diesel shipped, time to destination and usage, we are unlikely to be becalmed due to fuel starvation or to thus run out of hay and oats. Since pitching the ponies after wallowing for weeks unable to move is mainly a thing of the past, perhaps we should tell them that "horse latitudes" is shorthand for "happy horses prancing around in a pasture when we make landfall in a few days latitudes". It could forestall unpleasantness in the future and help keep the skittish rascals contentedly benighted in case drastic action actually does become necessary.
Jack