FIRST BIG CROSSING: Day 14

24 hour run-118 miles

THANK YOU! To everyone who shook their medicine rattles (after reading yesterday's post).
We had a lovely CALM evening, no death-defying activities, all was smooth and even SAILING in the right direction-not expecting to do that in the doldrums but there we were, doing 6 knots in a 14 knot breeze with smooth lovely seas and the moon finally showing up when the clouds took a breather.

All aboard was well enough this morning, to have a proper breakfast together,  pumpkin-spiced pancakes, bacon and fresh orange juice.  Sheets of warm, tropical rain  hammered the decks, while we read and napped and did our French Rosetta stone lessons and straightened up the boat. All the while, the forever and endless changing of the watch, went on and on and on....

We are still in the Doldrums-in fact we are only now in what is usually considered the "beginning" of the Doldrums- after two days. The ITCZ had jumped so far up, that we get to feel its effects much longer than most passagemakers. This has required some "acceptance" on our part. We have henceforth renamed the ITCZ the " Never-ending, endless, endlessness...of all ends".

The ITCZ has made me into an amature weather expert. The near ass-kicking we were dealt that first night has driven me to read every book on board that talks about weather patterns and identification. We are students of Alan Watts out here-and there are two of them, each great gurus in their own fields and who have much to offer a wandering mind on a long and questioning journey.  There is the hep-cat, beatnik lover philosopher,"Do you do it, or does it do YOU" Alan Watts-and I gotta say, that title is incredibly appropriate out here. The Other, Mr. Watts, is a weather man. He has written several books on weather that I think everyone-sailor or no should own. THE WEATHER HANDBOOK is a bible to us out here. We can order wind GRIB files to download and ponder as we plot our course but no one can tell you what the weather will be-you must look to the clouds and your instruments. The weather Handbook helps you identify what they mean and actually FORETELL with your own two eyes, what might be in store for you in the coming hours. If you are planning a garden party or a golf tourne or a kite flying regatta, your local news station will only give you a mass generalization based on the largest metropolis in your area. If you want to know what to plan for the weekend, when you have arrived at your cottage, pack this little book with you, stand outside in the garden and look up. Our vista of information is so vast at the moment and we are in such a tricky spot on the planet with so many weather things happening at once-it's a little confusing. Over there is a warm occlusion being met by a passing cold from being intersected by a thunderstorm. With book in hand, Jon guides Pura Vida through this palace of Giants. We do our best to tip-toe past the nastiest and grumpiest looking beasts as they slumber and roll on the horizon, counting down the endless miles of blue carpet we have yet to cross before finding the doorway that will lead us to the relative safety and comfort of those South East trades.
Which as of this writing should hopefully be only.... miles away.

And a big congratulations to all of you joining us on this adventure-we finally past the half way mark!
Thank you for being such a wonderful "crew" we love having you all with us.

Kai's thoughts:
The weird thing about being out here is that when you look outside all you can see is ocean and sky. That's it. We haven't had any sort of land thing to look at since fourteen days ago when we left Cabo-but the funny thing about it is...it FEELS like we have been in all kinds of different places. Like, when it was super roll-y and big and kind of tiring at the beginning, that was like, one country. Then it got really hot and the ocean was super blue and then there was the place where we had our first showers on deck and the ocean was grey and the clouds looked way different and also the place where we saw the shark or got stuck in no wind or had the lightening storms or the big squalls-its all been the same whole Pacific Ocean all this time but I feel like I have been to all these different places already.

Hunter:
It rains all the time now, usually people think it would be hot sailing to the equator but you have to remember we are going to the tropics which is way wetter than Baja which is arid and desert. Good thing we are from Bowen Island and I love the rain. It makes me miss my friends but it's fun to go on deck during the squalls. The wind gets so crazy it comes from different directions every couple of minutes and it rains so hard you can't see anything but white. By mom makes me wear my harness, so don't worry. I don't think the squalls are scary, I think they are beautiful because they remind me of home!

And an add-on from the web-person...
Weather satellite image from today. Ahhh... looks much calmer where they're headed!