Sailing in the Doldrums

At the risk of sounding repetitive, today was an incredible day of sailing. It wasn't the weather - we are in the doldrums and facing squalls and rain several times a day. Plus we had a breakdown that had to be fixed right away, and took several hours - another bout of water in the fuel. This was important since we are still motor sailing due to the very light winds. After tomorrow we should be past the doldrums and into the northeast trades.

Anyway, what made today so awesome was the closeness we felt. We worked together seamlessly to keep the boat moving, of course, but we also clicked on another, deeper, level. Ok, so no more mushy stuff. Suffice it to say that we are getting along really well.

We have been having fantastic conditions for the ITCZ (InterTropical Convergence Zone, or doldrums). We have seen many squalls, and have gone through several, but they have been pretty mellow and most we have been able to avoid altogether. Outside of the squalls we have had stretches of pretty decent wind, and in a good direction. So we are progressing well.

Our current position (at 6pm local time) was 08 deg 44.4 N, 144 deg 58.7 W. our speed was 5.2 kts, on a course of 015T. Our next waypoint is 10 deg N, 145 deg W. As you can see from our position we have already made enough progress eastward that we have made that part of our waypoint. But we will continue to go somewhat eastward in anticipation of the northeast trade winds, which we should start seeing tomorrow night. They will not allow any further eastward progress, and will probably push us further west. So we'll take what we can get now.