15 October. The calm ended at five in the morning. The sails began slatting only every other wave instead of on every single one, which meant a little wind had finally arrived. I trimmed them closer to the wind and we even started moving. By evening there were already up to fifteen knots from the north-east. Sailing close-hauled like this is not too exhausting. From here all the way to Tahiti we will be tacking. So far it is fine, except that not every window can be opened because spray comes aboard.
The captain tried to revive the heater in case we end up returning home through cold ports by February. Water has been standing in the exhaust pipe all this time. It smokes, but otherwise does nothing. We are not even trying to start the watermaker because flushing and repair work require fresh water, and fresh water is exactly what we are short of.
We hope to stop at the atoll named after the great Russian commander, replenish our water there and carry out repairs.
Nastya baked the final apple charlotte using the second-to-last eggs, and for the first time in three years we opened the season of tropical tea parties under the deck awning. Three years — no joke :).
Collecting fresh water in the ocean
Day 43. Palmerston Atoll is astern. Tahiti is abeam, 772 miles to the east. In a straight line we could cover that in a week. But we are not going there: fighting the trade winds would turn one week into two or three weeks of misery, and our circumnavigation is supposed to be completed only after we cross the equator. So north we go.
Trade-wind clouds stand on the horizon like tall castles of Fata Morgana. Whenever one carries a grey base beneath it, the whole crew becomes animated: — Rain, guys! There is going to be rain!
We turn the boat toward the shower, bring every container onto the deck and dog all the hatches. A large funnel with a hose is fixed at the base of the boom by the mast. The air between the line of the ocean and the clouds turns grey, and a tropical downpour falls over us.
Along the edge of the awning the deck is lined with pots and bowls. I drag out the forgotten pressure cooker and yell: — Aaaah! It is freezing! the moment I jump onto the deck.
We catch the rain and pour it through the funnel into the water tank. The cloud races away toward the south-west, and Lady Mary chases after it, catching the last drops. Then we return to our previous course, close-hauled into the wind driving fresh cumulus clouds toward us.
— Second shower! — Hooray! — Close the windows! — Aaah, it is cold! — Oh, I am going to wash my hair! — Marina, take the bucket to the mast!
When the yacht heels, more water pours off the sail into the bucket than into the funnel. Nastya and I teleport this precious water from buckets into the tank, while Lada collects runoff from the aft awning in an army of basins.
A shower in a tropical downpour and about fifty litres of fresh water — that is today's catch. Not bad, considering that we use up to twenty litres a day. And the heat has eased too.
Heat and a kamikaze flying fish
You may remember that we do not like heat. The cold was one reason Nastya agreed so easily, back in November 2018, to head for Cape Horn. — Nastenka, at least it will not be hot there! And a couple of hours later we were already on our way toward Antarctica :).
Now each day is a couple of degrees warmer. Two forces are working against us, lovers of cool weather: we are approaching the equator, and summer is approaching us.
Last night it was already +27°C. At midday it was +30 inside the boat. In four weeks we should be approaching Tahiti. In other words, by optimistic estimates, the next two or three months will contain more than enough heat.
Three years ago, in our November 2018 diaries, we often wrote things like: “From six in the morning until ten at night the heat is terrible. +33 inside the boat with 75% humidity.”
Small white birds have started appearing. They seem to be tropicbirds, though from this distance we cannot make out their elegant thin tails. The deckhand and I had barely finished discussing how there were no birds and not even any flying fish when, that evening, the captain found a little kamikaze flying fish on deck. It was lucky: it was the first one, so for good luck we threw it back into the sea.
Day 44: our family's birthday
Today the deckhand is making a double batch of festive pancakes. The final egg went into the batter — one egg instead of six. That was the order from the almost-newlywed captain. The bride, meaning me, requested tidiness as my festive gift.
Twenty years ago Andrey and I got married. Five more years and we will make it to our silver anniversary :).
So much has happened during those twenty years that could have split our marriage that it is frightening even to remember. For a long time we searched for an idea that could unite us after the scorching passion had run its course. Travel, extreme sports, Nastya's difficult medical treatment, building a family home and garden, six-month winters in Asia, Lada's birth — these were big steps along the road of change.
However many mistakes each of us made, do you know what matters most? You have to get back up as many times as you fall.
That road of falling and deciding to rise again turned our family into a team. It is the same road that brought us onto the final straight of a difficult circumnavigation unlike any other in the world. Without one another we could never have fulfilled this childhood dream.
That is what the four of us are celebrating today, in the endless blue ocean.
In a month Lady Mary should finish in Tahiti, and by spring the crew should reach our family home and make it even more comfortable while strengthening the financial base beneath it. At the same time we will be preparing the next expeditions. Perhaps first we will complete our second circumnavigation, half of which was already sailed in 2018.
May it all happen exactly that way.
We wish all of you strong families and a dependable home front, friends. Hugs to each of you. Thank you for your inspiring greetings, congratulations and comments. As always, our shore team sends them straight out to us in the ocean.
Thank you for the wedding-anniversary and Lady Mary birthday gifts you send through YooMoney and PayPal. It is such a pleasure.
Sent by satellite from 15°47′ S, 162°34′ W. To see where we are now, visit travely-family.com and open the Route tab. It shows Lady Mary's track from the Rockstar Iridium 360 tracker provided by MVS Telecom.