I am sitting in the aft, the red chart table light is on and the glow of the screens is turned low. The engine is on, so it’s warm here, but a small breeze comes through the open hatch. When I look out I can see Tooske’s shadow behind the helm. She just called me, I popped my head out and she said she had seen a green flash in the sky. I look around for a few minutes, but no repetition… It is one of those nights. There is a lot of moisture in the air. Big cumulus clouds had formed at the end of the afternoon. During Sandrine’s watch there had been some lightning on the horizon to starboard. Could have been lightning up high… or more likely a shooting star or debris in the atmosphere burning up…
As I sit down again I look at the digital chart and see our track of the past 24 hours. I must say, it looks a bit funky. Is it the letter M? Or the start of a heart shape? Or is it just us celebrating crossing the equator – going for a swim – setting sail again and ending up going nearly north and starting the engine as the speed came down to 1,8 knots…
Let’s start at the beginning – a beautiful morning watch, with washing hanging out to dry, was rudely interrupted by birds pooing all over the bedsheets. We took the sheets in, did another wash load and lowered the main. Not because of the birds, but there was little wind… and I had a plan.
At watch handover 12:00 we were under engine, mizzen, forestaysail and jib still set, and we had 6 miles to go to the equator! Meeting Neptune is something special! So we got prepared! When we crossed the equator we toasted with a splendid cocktail made by our heroes and poured one for Neptune and those who no longer sail with us, into the ocean. I turned off the engine and as we drifted further into the Northern Hemisphere, we got ready for a swim… but we were still doing 3 knots… so jib down, forestaysail down, mizzen down! 0,8 knots! That’s doable! Out went the swim ladder and overboard went the crew. Alain had measured the water temp and we are already up to 26 degrees Celsius.
After the swim, I had a shower and missed all the fun. Apparently Neptune visited the Tecla and welcomed 5 of our crew into his realm. Giving them their Shellback names and hoping to make ambassadors out of them for our oceans and ocean animals.
After the ceremony Philippe came to ask me what his name may mean, or which seal is the one he was named after: “Fur Seal”. I said likely the Galapagos fur seal. He said “ah good, because some do not look very good, they are very big”. I had to laugh and said, “Maybe Neptune is giving you a choice, like with your sailing skills, you can be a big one or a small one, that is up to you.” He said “I think the slender one fits me best.” To which I replied, “Maybe, but you are young now, learning and just starting out, young and slender, but maybe one day you choose to make it big in the sailing world”. He smiled. More than that, the seal belongs in the water, as he does, is playful as he can be and mostly curious as he most certainly is! But hey, what do I know, Neptune gave him that name.
Having such a beautiful afternoon, we refused to start the engine, so we set the mizzen, the forestaysail, the mainsail and then rigged the big jib, for the first time this voyage. And off we went. We had about 2 hours of nice sailing. But as the cumuli around us grew, the wind started to behave differently and we got some showers around that cooled us down nicely, but also ate the wind.
Just after dinner we decided it was enough, engine on, mainsail and big jib down. With the 1,8 knots speed we had, going northwest, we reckoned we were better off accepting that this night we would not sail into.
Right now, we have some dark clouds around us, but we have been lucky and have avoided any rain. The deck is wet from the damp air and some of the bird poo of one of the 12 birds riding along with us tonight. We have a family of 10 masked boobies, 3 grown ones and 7 grey / juvenile ones. And we have two big frigate birds among the 12 shadows high in our rigging.
At 23:02 we crossed back from the northern hemisphere into the south again. No ceremony this time, but pretty special for a days run!
All is well on board,
Jet
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