Today started with exciting sailing as a big squall hit us at 04:00. The 22 knot wind was directly on our nose, making life miserable for all on board. Even the Boobie birds bailed! We short tacked for two hours, seeking a more comfortable angle, yet being loathe to go too far off our rhumb line and loose the precious advantage we had gained. Finally the wind backed off a bit in both velocity and direction, and we were able to head towards Galapagos. The birds returned, bringing friends. Three of them settled on the rail, reminding us of the old Bob Marley song with the lyrics about waking up in the morning with three little birds outside, saying , “this is my message to you; don’t worry about a thing, every little thing is gonna be alright.” The squall has brought a lovely cool front with it, and we enjoyed the pretty weather of the rest of the day, riding a favourable current, and making good headway. Toward evening we ascertained that A., we would probably be crossing the equator in the wee hours of the morning, and B., we hoped to make landfall before sunset tomorrow evening. Woohoo! Wind clocked back around on the nose, so we just gave in to the idea of Galapagos before sundown and are rolling along at 8 knots under power. We have burned more fuel in one day than we spent in 4,200 miles across the Pacific on our first crossing four years ago! We are also moving twice as fast! Well, one of our objectives in joining the WARC was to keep moving. On our own, we tend to meander and take too long getting places, the WARC keeps us on task, and we arrive in a timely manner in our Sweet Dream.
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