Sunday, April 9, 2017

Pacific Puddle Jump cont

Day 16:
On this day we continued to sail with the twin head sail configuration. We had light wind in the morning. Later in the afternoon the wind came up and we were making great progress. It was clear that we were in the dreaded ITCZ. The building Cumulus clouds were all around us. We took this as a caution sign and sailed the evening with the storm jib as our second head sail. This slowed us down but made the sleeping easier. We made a two pizzas with olives, sundried tomatoes, garlic, artichoke hearts, goat cheese and prosciutto.

Day 17:
We sailed with twins again. The skies were filled with puffy low clouds. In the afternoon all of the crew was below deck, the sky ahead was clear so I went to check a problem that I was having with the water maker. Soon after the boat healed over hard. I ran up and found hard rain and very strong wind. Al came up right behind me. I yell to furl in the main jib. It two of us, but we quickly got it in. I then turned to boat down wind so that we had good slow control. By this time the gusts had mellowed but the rain was soaking us. It felt good and we all laughed about it. As we were eating dinner another squall appeared in front and to the port of us. We marveled at the twin rainbows in front of us. Then like the opening of a curtain the rain and gusts took stage across the sea, our cue to prepare Pangaea. We took down the sails in record time as Katie closed all the hatches. After 15 minutes the squall had moved on and we resumed our dinner of chicken pot pies, wild rice and blueberry crumble.

Day 18:
Early in the morning the lighter winds convinced us to switch back to wing on wing with the main and jib. We said goodbye to the twins. We did not have any squalls but the puffies were a constant reminder of the day before. Katie's creation, chicken, sweet potato, cranberries and rice casserole was enjoyed by all.

Day 19:
The previous night the wind was light and we needed to make water and charge our batteries so we motored all night with the water maker running. When the light of day came we raised the beast, the mighty spinnaker. The beast served us all day. Polywogs must become Shellbacks. The beast was put away so that the ceremonies could commence. We slowly motored up to the big red line marked equator. There we toasted to Neptune and asked for a safe passage after offering our coin and drink. Our jumping in the water sealed the deal and now we are all Shellbacks! No one told us it was hot and humid on the equator. Guiness and meat pies made by Emilio in La Paz satisfied our dinner needs.
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At 4/9/17 10:58 PM (utc) our position was 01°22.16'S 134°59.09'W

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