Pat Bon - The Equator
00:00.000S 88:35.733W
We’ve done it! We crossed the equator at 2309 local time (GMT -5) on board Pat Bon and are now sailing in the southern hemisphere. This has been one of my dreams from 40+ years ago, to sail across the equator. Sadly we weren't sailing, as the little wind we had was bang on the nose - don’t they say that about Mediterranean sailing😂. We are now about 80nm from arriving in San Cristobal island.
We departed Contadore Island in the Las Perlas islands about 20 hours after the main ARC fleet last Thursday 13th February for the 850nm leg to the Galápagos Islands. We knew the leg was going to have light winds, as we were going to pass through the ITCZ or the Pacific doldrums, but sadly the wind has not played ball for virtually the whole voyage. Apart from a few interspersed hours when the wind did pick up and was from a direction that allowed us to sail in a reasonable direction, it has stayed dead on the nose. In addition, we have had rain, rain and more rain. This has tended to come with squalls, but the usual strong winds that you get with squalls hasn’t materialised. Instead it may have gusted to the high 20 knots on occasion, but usually it simply increased from 5 to 10 kts to high teens and then died back down. But the rain - just torrential and when the squalls decided to link together, it just went on and on! There was one time when the 5 of us were tightly packed under the sprayhood as it was too hot in the cabin below and that was the only relatively dry place to be. It rained so much that even the thick canvas was dripping water through! However yesterday was a sunnier day - and we were treated to an amazing sunset.
We have spent this last leg sailing alongside our friends aboard One Distraction, never more than a couple of miles apart. As we crossed the equator itself we came together, a few meters apart to toast King Neptune and shout and sing a few greetings to each other and we let off some firecrackers too. I’m sure the ARC fleet must think there is something going on between our two yachts🙈. It’s good to have each others backs though and Simon, the skipper of 1D and Peter both plan and sail in similar ways, so it just seems to happen! We popped a bottle of champagne as our sundowner earlier this evening and had a tot of rum as we crossed the equator itself.
As we approach the Galapagos, there has been much talk about the animals that live there, but the ARC fleet crew chat on WhatsApp, the curse of the red-footed Booby has been upmost in the fleets minds. These are really sweet looking birds, about the same size as an Herring Gull, they soar and swoop among the pacific waves catching flying fish. They really are majestic, that is until they decide to take a rest. Their favourite perch is on the pulpit (the steel front railings on the bow of the boat), where they preen themselves…… and poo. Wow, the guano that these birds produce is biblical. The photos from other yachts, especially AquaLuna, is incredible, with the whole bow deck area covered and several birds all perched on the pulpit looking so innocent. So yachts have tried various Booby fortifications to try and deter these guys from landing! Ours utilises bits of our broken battens, some cord and gaffer tape. When first rigged the birds spent a bit of time trying work out how to overcome this, swooping down and checking out Pat Bon’s defensive network. Then one bright spark decided to land on our lower crosstrees to take a considered view from on high of a likely successful offensive - well a quick slap up the bum from a loosened running backstay and a loud squawk, and he was sent packing! So the score so far is Gaffer Tape 1 : 0 Boobies. I do feel for them, as throughout the night, these birds have provided ghostly companions, flying alongside and above us, picked up by the light of the moon or from the glow of our navigation lights on the bow. Whether they are just flying for the joy of it, or they’re actually scheming and plotting our teak deck’s downfall, we’ll never know!
A few yachts have now arrived in Puerto Baquerizo and while we left nearly a day after most of the fleet, Pat Bon and One Distraction will arrive in about 8 hours and should be the 5th & 6th yachts to finish. Yes we have motored most of the way, but we want to maximise our time exploring these amazing islands. We’re actually only allowed to anchor in three harbours in the archipelago - Puerto Baquerizo in San Cristobal, Puerto Villamil in Isabela and Puerto Ayora in Santa Cruz. From here we have to take organised tours to visit various parts of the islands and their unique flora and fauna. We have to provide the authorities with a travel plan that cannot be changed once submitted, so we’re trying to fit in all we can in the time available. There are very strict bio-security rules that must be complied with, and while they seem overly bureaucratic, they are there to protect this unique place from being destroyed by the weight of humanity and tourism, so we are happy to work with them and comply fully. I’ve booked a couple of dives and we also want to do some walking while here, but there is so much to do and see, and we need to get Pat Bon ship-shape again, provisioned and ready for the big 3,500nm leg to the Marqueses islands in the east of French Polynesia.
Oh oh - a near poo miss in the cockpit - three Boobies have decided that the 2nd set of crosstrees is out of range from my running backstay whip and have taken up residence there. Let battle commence!