The Cheshire Moon

The moon has been scarce so far on this trip. The nights have treated us to a brilliant view of the milky way, shimmering bioluminescence, and a light show of shooting stars. I have lost count of how many wishes I've made on those now. Recently, the moon has appeared as a thin orange smile on the western horizon, setting soon after the sun. I found myself mesmerized by its motion in the rigging. It seemed playful and fun. The next night, Glenn asked me to hand steer for a while so that he could move some components of the autopilot around. I steered by the moon while it stayed, and then steered by the stars once it had gone.

Last night, the moon was hiding behind clouds, peeking a mischievous grin at us every once in a while. As we approach the doldrums, that smile will last longer and get wider, much like the grin of the Cheshire Cat. The doldrums are a notorious region in the Pacific Ocean, just north of the equator, where the weather can be rather unsettled. Mostly, there's just no wind. But, sometimes… there's too much wind all of a sudden. Glenn has been tracking the location and conditions of this area through large-scale weather report images that we get through our single sideband radio. We altered our course a couple of days ago so that we headed more west because the worst section of the doldrums seems to be occurring to the east (N10° W110°). We went back on a starboard tack, with 15-20 knot winds moving us along at 4.5 - 5.5 knots, west-southwest (260°).

This morning, we decided to make a break for the doldrums before the system that has been developing in the east shifts this far west. Our current position is N13° 18.5'; W126° 43.3'. We are motor sailing 6 knots to the south-southwest (205°). Winds are currently too light for us to make much speed in our intended direction without the motor, but tomorrow should give us better conditions for just sailing.

We are looking forward to sailing under a full moon over the equator in less than a week! Now, there's a happy thought!