Day 5 – We Crossed the Equator! – 10-25-24
It was another nice day on board Patricia Ann. I think we are getting spoiled by the nice weather. We continue to have calm seas, clear skies and winds from 10 to 14 knots. This means we can sail with full sails, no reefs. With our full sails we still make good speed even in the lighter winds. We know these nice conditions won’t last forever, but we will take it while we can!
We are all trying to come to grips with the fact that even though we have sailed a long way, over 600 miles at this point, we still have a LONG way to go. It will be another 1,000 miles before we are even halfway! GEEZ! That is a bit intimidating. That being said, the crew is in great spirits, having fun, laughing at bad jokes and enjoying the adventure.
Mateo took over as chef tonight and cooked up some hamburgers for us. Having some beef was a real treat and Mateo did an awesome job frying up the burgers with sauteed onions!
The big milestone today was the crossing of the equator. And this is a BIG deal for all sailors. If you have not crossed the equator by boat you are a Pollywog, and once you do cross, you become a Shellback. Traditionally there is a ceremony to mark the occasion with offerings to King Neptune and an initiation for all the Pollywogs onboard. As the lone Shellback, I was duly authorized by King Neptune to perform the ceremony. I dressed to up for the big event as you can see in the photo above.
The Shellbacks recited an oath to King Neptune, and then were showered in a mixture of papaya seeds, papaya fruit and coffee grounds by King Neptune. It was announced that they we now officially Shellbacks having crossed from the Southern Hemisphere into the Northern Hemishere. They all jumped into the dark water to celebrate and swam across the equator.
We had a great time, and spent the next hour or so slowing motoring north as we talked and laughed about our celebration.
We then put the sails back up and continued upwind towards home…
We covered just 128 miles today, but that was expected. We had very low winds last night, down to 6 knots, and we were sailing into a 1.5 knot current for most of the day. The current is easing up, down to just .5 of a knot, and we have better winds tonight, so we should do better tomorrow.