Sorry I have been negligent on these e mails from the boat. You would think that some day we would have nice "ocean passage sailing" and in a way we had that opportunity. But as always, here comes a competitor into our little space in the ocean- ready to do battle every second of the day when there could be some nice easy sailing time. It never fails in this race. There always seems to be a boat in sight. And we are in the middle of nowhere! How does this happen?
Ericsson 3 has been our companion for three days now. Two days ago they sailed into our world after we got out of a squall into some lighter air. We then started a 48 hour flat out drag race and slowly pulled out a very hard earned four mile lead, only to have it evaporate late last night in one squall. We slowed to 11 knots, they came roaring up at 20 knots and it has been game on ever since. They get one, we get one, just an hour ago they got one and have a few miles on us now. Hence the fact that I have started this note about five different times now only to hear a bit of commotion on deck and dash out to join the sail changing frenzy which usually accompanies a squall. A couple of them have been pretty full-on as well. Lots of water, and a brief moment to grab the shampoo that lives in the cockpit, and get a quick bath in while careening across the pacific at 23 knots. Pretty wild stuff when you think about it.
On board we officially celebrated Michi becoming a Dad and the equator crossing all in one shot. Michi became an official Dad in the middle of the night our time so we decided to wait until we could plan a full on party. Out came the cigars that [Jerry] Kirby stashed away and a bit of Rum and Coke that Justin had buried in the sailmaking kit (courtesy of our enterprising young sailmakers Scoob and Tom back on shore who put the rum in a small bottle and labelled it "sewing machine oil"!). Michi immediately claimed that cigars were not a tradition in Germany but rum and coke may as well be and went that route. Jerry, Erle, Sid and I went for the cigars. And it was Sid who provided the entertainment for the party by trying to inhale on his first puff (having never actually smoked a cigar before) and nearly coughed up a lung. Very entertaining all the way around and I am sure you can watch it online as Ricky has all the footage.
If you think about it, that half hour on deck was the only time the entire crew may be on deck together barring a sail change or a serious situation. Never are we all on deck together just to hang out. It was pretty cool at the time, and even cooler when I saw Ricky's video of it. 11 guys enjoying each other and relaxing for a minute in the middle of a fairly high stress environment. All good.
The symbolic equator crossing was pretty uneventful as there were no first timers. A little rum for Neptune, a little splash for the boat, and a little sip for each of the crew. And in fact a northerner (Frenchman Sidney) passed the wheel over to a southerner (Kiwi Salty) right as the numbers went to all 0's. Not really part of the tradition in the practical sense of tradition, and it may have been spurred on by Sid being a little stoned on cigar smoke at the time!!!
So we are back at it again. Now in third place just behind our E3 buddies but have no fear. This race is just getting started.
- Kenny
