Woo, Hoo, April Fools!

Position: 20 degrees, 17 minutes; North 106 degrees, 01 minutes West

Leaving La Cruz, Mexico for the Marquesas.

Storing food. Hey, wait a minute. "Ann, where's the BEER!

So, our first day out has been a great one. There’s a nice breeze and we are moving along on a close reach at about 5-6 knots. Wind is about 12 knots and the sea is 3-4 feet from our 2 o’clock (so we’re not yet riding “down” them, more like up and over-I closed the foredeck hatch just in case we catch one over the bow). Wilson (remember him? our wind vane) steered all day. We didn’t need to touch the wheel until a ship coming North, probably from the Panama Canal, crossed paths with us. I look on the radar and saw that we going to cross within a half mile of each other-way too close at sea-so for about 20 minutes hand steered to avoid him, then back to wind vane steering. I made tonight’s dinner this morning in the pressure cooker while we were still at anchor so we wouldn’t have the trauma of cooking a full dinner the first night out while we’re still trying to get our “sea legs” again. Smoked ham hock with beans simmered with onions, carrots, potatoes, etc. Yummy. All I had to do was heat it. We left anchor with style too. Didn’t turn on the engine, just hauled anchor, drifted out and once all the lines were cleared up we unfurled the jib and glided out. Very peaceful way to leave. Now we’re just sitting in the cockpit (in tee shirts and shorts at 2100). The moon is out, we have a reef in the main with the 130 jib and have the view I never tire of; the tip of the mast scribing a circle around the heavens and pointing out the stars as we go up and over waves. Charisma is very happy virtually dancing over the waves despite all the gear and food we’ve loaded her down with. As of this moment, we have 2630 miles to go! Had fun tonight listening to the evening “Puddle Jump Net”. Ann loves to hear where the other boats are. Several of our friends who left a day before us are only 60 miles away. Some we can hear from the other side of the equator. One friend who is going to the Galapagos first, called in about 400 miles North of the Galapagos. They will spend a couple weeks there and then head out to Polynesian where we will likely catch up with them at some point. It was noted on tonight’s net that there are now 23 boats spread out from here to within one day’s sail of the islands. Very exciting! Well, time for starting the watches. Someone gets to go to sleep now. May the negotiations begin! PS (From Ann) – we are still pinching ourselves – hard to believe we are really under way!