Enroute Report - over half way to Nongsa
Sea Mist > Sold to New Owners July 2016
John and Cheryl Ellsworth
Tue 16 Oct 2012 06:46
It has been a "iron jenny" passage (sailors use that term to speak of the engine carrying the boat instead of the head sail or "jenny" as that sail is called)....engine all the way on this passage except for about an hour this morning when a very wet storm came from behind us and passed over us for a couple of hours....dumping loads of rain.....and lots of thunder and lightning...a few strikes much too close for comfort...but all is well. We really don't like it when you see the flash and immediately hear the boom/crack of the thunder....I really count on there being a few seconds between flash and bang so that I know it is a bit in the distance. We shut down all electronics with the exception of the auto-pilot which we needed to do its duty...and hoped for the best.
Definitely a change in seasons...wet season arrival confirmed for sure!!! No sun at all so far today and it is now after 1:30 pm.....totally overcast skies....such an unfamiliar phenomenom for us after all these past months of sunshine..
The big event today will be when we cross the equator a bit after dark settles in. This will be the 2nd time for Sea Mist and her crew to experience this "HUGE" event in the lives of sailors....there are so few that have the opportunity to do it once ....but when you do it 2 or moe times you are definitely within a very tiny fraction of sailors in the world. WHen we crossed from North To South back in 2010 enroute from Panama to the Galapogos Islands, our son Ian was with us...this time just the 2 of us. Last time it was in the dark hours of the night...the one keepsake I have from that crossing is a screenshot of the chart plotter showing 00 00.00 N; maybe today I will get the screen shot of 00 00.00 S if I can time it right.
DTG to Nongsa Point 127 NM
ETA: before noon tomorrow, Wednesday
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