10 March 2020 – Tuesday
Pacific Ocean
Position 06 ° 18 ′ south 107 ° 01 ′ west
zone change, – 8 from Italy, – 7 from UTC
(every 15 ° of longitude you change time zone, less from Greenwich if you go west , the opposite if you go east)
Miles traveled by the Galapagos 1060, missing in Hiva Oa (Marquesas) 1897
We traveled a third of the way, in line with the sacred texts, to find the trade wind from the southeast we had to descend in latitude until we passed the area delimited by the ITCZ, beyond 5 ° south, an unwritten, governed delimitation from nature, but very similar to a door in the middle of the sea, where beyond you have a relaxed wind and the sky that progressively changes color, from intense gray to pale blue, while the sea from confused becomes more regular, with a swell (dominant wave ) from the south of 2 meters, and a period of 12 seconds, with whitish crests (the famous ducklings) in the direction of the dominant wind from the south south east.
It stabilizes around 20 knots, and with white sails we proceed at 8 knots, plus 1.5 knots of equatorial current, we fly to the west proceeding 211 miles in 24 hours. An eye also to the regatta and we discover that we have lost positions in the first part where low wind and persistent rain penalized us, also because we preferred not to make an incongruous use of diesel … the road is still long. But Ariel knows his stuff and with the wind we will certainly be able to recover the accumulated disadvantage. For example the day before yesterday we had Saorsa (the HR53 like us from Wellington) in front of 4 miles, while at today’s positions it is 22 miles behind. Important never give up and have wind! The distance that separates us from Australia is still 6,000 miles, exactly comparable to the one we traveled from Las Palmas to here,but if we calculate the departure from Punta Ala, we are well over half of our tour, which includes a stop in Brisbane, Australia, where we plan to land at the end of July, then we will see how to proceed.
The fleet of the world Arc will be released in August to fish it out in the north of Australia, then proceed to Lombock and SOUTH Africa, where they will spend Christmas, and then go up the Atlantic up to S. Lucia passing through S. Elena and Brazil, where the tour is expected to end on April 2021. Others, like us, will stop in Australia for perhaps a year, to eventually hang up the fleet of the next World Arc in 2021, or to return to Europe via a Cargo Ship (ships that transport boats from Australia to the Mediterranean). Others, on the other hand, will head for New Zealand, where they will pass in greater safety from violent atmospheric elements, a long period and then go up again towards Fiji and New Caledonia and hang up the next World Arc, or … or as I am exploring,to go down to Auckland and wait until November December 2021 to organize a return via Cape Horn, in the roaring 40, from Auckland to Ushuaia, 4500 miles in a single leap of about a month and a half, to reach the Chilean canals, the Strait of Magellano and the great south, in our hearts, however, planned for the future years of navigation. We will see where our heart takes us.
Meanwhile, the oceanic dance has finally resumed, and with it a sweet rhythm that we know well and which is the inexhaustible source of strength, peace and serenity that crossing an ocean gives to the heart. I said in an old diary page, that the ocean teaches you and wants you persevering, patient, tenacious, to the point of unnerving you, and then repaying you with an infinite liquid embrace, in a dance that gives you back energy far beyond what you spend. the condition we live today, where the sky is dissolving the gray blanket of the ITCZ to return to a blue color, which returns to the sea, from the lead gray of the past days, to the cobalt blue of today, while flying fish jump copiously on deck, enter from the porthole, so much so that one fell on the table last night just before dinner,curious silvery creature that we immediately returned to the ocean, too young to lose his life on the table of a boat. Meals on board are always a sacred moment, a true “ocean tavern”, aggregating moments where we face the most disparate topics naked, while every now and then an eye runs on the instruments to steal speed, course and wind conditions.
Last night, Ceci indulged with a delicate and light menu with roast chicken with couscous with vegetables, sauteed rice and Galapaguegn tomatoes with onion, all washed down with an Italian pinot grigio and a tempranillo merlot (Spanish equivalent of the French bojoulais and our novello) and to close a donut with yogurt, lemon and ginger, the work of Margherita, while a crazy moon, apparently very full, pierced the last veil of clouds, illuminating the surface of the sea, aided by phosphorescent plankton, lit by turbulence of Ariel’s hull, never tired of riding this sea.
See you tomorrow from Ariel
