The First 500 miles under our sails

Serai
Jason and Emily Willis
Tue 1 May 2007 19:49
04:46.25S 99:48.24W
 
When we left the Galapagos, Serai had done 3020 miles with her new crew. It seems strange that in a mere 3 weeks or so, we will double that!
 
As I type this email, the GPS tells me we are doing 7 knots on a course of 265 degrees. Since leaving Galapagos we have travelled 623 miles. In the last 11 hours we have covered 75 miles. This is awesome progress according to the Admiral and we should be very pleased with ourselves. On the basis of this I think we have found our trades. We have 8 ft seas coing in behind us and a lovely blue sky with a smattering of cotton wool clouds.
 
I wish I could say it has been like this throughout. We motored for the first 24 hours with absolutely no wind. Then we found some wind and the skies turned cloudy and we had 2 days of rainshowers every few hours. It is normal practice on this trip to stay on a level with the Galapagos for as long as possible, in other words keep North. We have been unable to do this, along with the other boats that left with us, and so had to come south in search of wind, and now we have found it! Our aim is to stay in the band of 4 and 5 degrees South for as long as possible, and just keep heading west, west, west. The Maquesas lie at around 10 degrees south and at 138 degrees west. At the rate we are going we cover 2 and half degrees west every 24 hours.
 
So yesterday we celebrated our first milestone - the first 500 miles. To mark the occasion, Ems made a lemon cake to go with our 4 pm cup of tea, made in a teapot, of course. I feel one mustn't let ones standards drop on these occasions! We had a lovely lasagne dinner and were joined for the event by a large boat that came up very quickly behind us and then stopped about a mile from us. Ems paniced, put some clothes on and then decided that they were about to board us. I told her that they probably could just smell the lasagne and not to worry. Sure enough, as we finished our meal, they disappeared into the night, never to be seen again. And I think that may be the last lasagne I will see as a result too...Ems being a bit seperstitious about these things!
 
The fish have not been terribly sporting so far this trip, seemingly preferring not to dedicate themselves to our next meal. Until that is, this morning, when we caught one unidentifiable fish which I think was a very thin oily mackeral, followed by a small mahi-mahi (which is now in lime juice to make Cerviche), followed an hour later by a much bigger mahi-mahi which is now in the fridge ready for tonight's meal! The mackeral imposter is now trailing along behind the boat with a big hook in it, to see what might like a bigger meal, and as a general warning to other imposters that we only take mahi-mahi, wahoo or tuna! Are we being a bit choosy?
 
Thanks so much to everyone who has sent emails. It is wonderful to open up the computer each day and download messages from friends and family. For all those who have not emailed...I might start a name and shame campaign by week 2. You have been warned!
 
I am finishing this now as its a bit like trying to type whilst sitting on the rollercoaster at Alton Towers - not easy and not overly pleasant in the long term!
 
Take care one and all. Till the next time.
 
Lots of love
 
J and Ems xx