Position: 01 degrees, 50 minutes North; 125 degrees, 40 minutes West

Our self portrait at 14 days out.

Well, the ITCZ “spit” us out the other side into a beautiful day. Sunny, warm, but not too much wind. We’ve been flying the spinnaker all day in about 5 knots of wind and making about 2.5-3 knots boat speed. At those speeds it’s very difficult to fly and way below the wind and speed needed to make the wind vane work, so it’s AutoBob on the helm. That’s my excuse today for not having time to really recount our amazing trip through the ITCZ and out the other side. We both feel as if we’ve been through Alice’s looking glass having ridden Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.

As you can see from the position, we have about 110 miles to the equator which we could make in one day, but between the ITCZ and the equator are the doldrums, so we’re not likely to be making the speed for a one day passage. Some folks say the ITCZ encompasses both, but there’s a distinctively different weather model between them. The former being crazed lightning, wind, squall, rain kind of weather and the latter being no wind kind of weather and the forecasts treat them as separate events. That’s why we made the turn South when we did. It looked like the ITCZ would be “smaller” to cross there and it looked like there might be wind on the other side to get us across the equator. So far both are happening as we have been able to sail the whole time.

Anyway, likely we’ll make the equator on Tuesday. We’ll even slow the boat down if needed to make it during daylight so we can enjoy the spectacle. Oh yes, Ann’s working on costumes to celebrate moving from Pollywogs to Shellbacks and there WILL be hazing. Since she’s in charge, she gets to be King Neptune and I’m a Mermaid. Oh the shame. Anyway, at least we’ll have a nice bottle of Champagne which is already in the fridge to celebrate with and hopefully a swim.

Just before dinner, I went to pull in our fishing line and I guess the action was enough to excite a Tuna that must have been eyeing it because; Bam! Tuna on the line. Not a very big one, but it breaks a streak of no luck. We think it’s a Blackfin Tuna, but not sure. So, like good carnivores, we’ll eat it and see if it tastes good. The meat looks very mild though, so I’m optimistic.

That’s it for now. I really will try to get a more complete account ready tomorrow.