Despite the difficult start, the passage has definitely improved. In the beginning, with all the sail changes and many were at night, I felt like a novice. Something I haven't felt on a boat in many years. The boat was pitching and rolling and it would have been very easy to go overboard. When I was learning to sail and about 10 years old, my father gave me great freedoms on board but with the warning that if I fell overboard I am as good as dead. I felt my father talking to me as I struggled to get the spinnaker down in pitch black night or the poles up. At night, it's proper to use a harness and always remain clipped on. However, it takes some time to learn the moves and you don't want to foul your tether or compromise your safety. After the initial anxiety and troublesome failures our life on board has settled down. Nancy has been spending time in the galley and she is a whiz especially when it comes to preparing food. We both are finding a new rhythm as our life becomes simpler. Days 1, 2 and 3 are always the hardest and then I think we adapt become adept at new routines.

We had long spinnaker runs at first and then the wind blew from behind and we made good time with our head sails. Up until the last day, we motored less than 3 hours. The first 4 days the wind stayed above 12 to 15 knots and our double poled headsails propelled us along nicely. Once the wind went abeam, off we went. On days 5 and 6 we were averaging 6 to 7.5 knots on a beautiful close reach with calm seas, stable sunny weather and lots of birds playing above us. We also left on a full moon that looks like a spotlight during the night. The water has turned very clear, clean, and very cold from the Humboldt Current which runs north along the west coast of South America. It seems to be cooling the air and even during the day we need to wear a fleece or foul weather gear. The weather files that we download by ham radio email initially were quite accurate but now in the doldrums the forecasts are unreliable.

Life on the boat seems to be getting simpler. I'm not thinking about the drama of global economics very often and I find I'm now listening to music again�....something I haven't done in many years. I find myself remembering my father and recalling many of the sailing lessons that he programmed in my brain. He never took a trip like this and would have been very excited to experience this trip vicariously. You do see Mother Nature differently. The sunrises and sunsets are not only beautiful but majestic and orderly. Night follows day just like at home but our life at night is different on the boat and we seem to be more aware of our place in the order of the universe. We've seen very few boats over the last few days and this ocean is monstrous. One must come to the realization of how insignificant we are. We had a big day on day six of the trip, 3/31/2013 - 1640 hours, we crossed the equator for the first time at sea. There are all kinds of tradition when a nubee crosses the equator, but we didn't go crazy celebrating as some of the other cruisers. We are now what's termed "Shellbacks" (more about that in another blog).

I can say that I always wanted to see how a toilet would flush on the equator since high school physics. We dropped red food coloring into the bowl and unbelievably it flushed straight down from all quadrants, no whirlpool! The Crew on Always Saturday