04.03.2015

At 04:00 a pod of dolphins visited, they seem noisier at night with their snuffling and blowing but there were about 30 of them so plenty to make a fuss. It was still dark but they gave the usual athletic performance and looked fabulous as they leapt and swooped because the phosphorescence picked them out in brilliant sparkles. This felt like a good omen as we drew nearer to 00°. It was certainly more comforting than the visitor of the previous day. We heard a bit of a thud at the back of the boat and thought to have hit a log or something but on inspection it was a shark following closely in our wake that continued silently well on into the evening until dark. He mst have had his own hopes...but happily his patience must have worn thin. No more dangling toes over the transom at bathtime!

We were very keen to 'cross the line' as our downloaded weather files showed much better winds north of the equator and our progress through the doldrums was frustrating as it is for everyone. The yacht Seventh Heaven with Paul and Anne whom we met in St Helena and Ascension had started crossing 2 days before us and were reporting good winds once they reached 01°N which was encouraging.

The line was marked up in blue crosses on the chart and at 06:45 we passed from the southern to the northern hemisphere in a light wind of 9 knots and 1,312 miles out from Ascension Island. The champagne was on ice but it was just too early so we decided to have a champagne lunch instead and enjoyed our eggs Benedict followed by green figs in a honey syrup and toasted Neptune with the bubbly; delicious.

What a hoot, our expectation of more wind was soon deflated as the wind began to drop. We had been making 5knots over the ground, this fell to 3.5knots. The word frustrating echoed through the rigging. Things slowly improved and our day's run was 100 miles exactly, 30 miles better than the day before although still less than wanted. Hoping for more from these NE trade winds.