The Equator!
This morning, we have 36 miles left to the point at latitude 00.00. This Neptune’s Day will be a modest affair, because we already crossed the equator at the end of March 2018, and there are no first-timers aboard, so the Sea King, complete with crown and trident, is unlikely to climb aboard our boat again (see how it happened on our YouTube channel—the video “The Equator”). But we have saved another bottle of children’s champagne and a chocolate bar for this solemn occasion! Before the captain’s adventure with the jellyfish the day before yesterday, we had planned to swim at the equator, but there are fewer takers now. The jellyfish also have 20 knots of headwind helping them spoil all our fun.
Two Days Away
The wind is blowing from the east-northeast, while we need to head northeast. Directly ahead, a day and a half away, almost at two degrees NORTH latitude, lies Kiritimati, the world’s largest atoll, accounting for 48% of the land area of Kiribati. It is the only country in the world that lies in all four hemispheres at once: northern, southern, western and eastern. So this morning we were in its southern part, and at around 15:30 we crossed into the northern part. Yes, Kiritimati Atoll was discovered in 1777 by the unforgettable James Cook, right on Christmas Eve. On 2 January 1778, once the festivities were over, Captain Cook finally gave the island the name Christmas Island. Kiribati, the country Kiritimati Atoll belongs to, is closed until 2022, like everything else around here. So we are unlikely to make landfall any time soon. The funny thing is that in almost two months at sea, we haven’t encountered a single vessel. The last one was near New Zealand, and ever since then Lady Mary has been like point O at the centre of a circle—alone and proud. Scattered around us at various distances, perhaps a hundred miles or so, are also small, unremarkable islands covered in guano (that really is what this valuable product is called, no offence). One is called Flint Island (yes, that Flint. The one with the treasure). But its only treasure seems to be guano, and we don’t need any. So we have no desire to take a closer look at these flat bird rookeries.
Done!
Meanwhile, at 15:30 ship’s time, Lady Mary nimbly hopped from the Southern Hemisphere into the Northern. Hooray! And no close-hauled sailing could stop the crew from drinking celebratory champagne on deck. We have decided to carry on to one degree north, then turn southeast onto the home straight. Our circumnavigation—the southernmost ever completed by a family with children—is being carried out by the book, with two equator crossings. And there are fewer than fifteen hundred miles left to the finish. On the one hand, the journey still seems endless; on the other, it is hard to believe we are already so close.
Our Main Domestic Enemy—and the Weather
Tahiti is about three weeks away. According to our track, we covered around 1,120 miles from Suwarrow Atoll to the equator, rather than the expected 800. The headwind added 320 miles. Beating into the trade wind is no fun at all, especially when you can’t open the windows aboard. Shade and fans save us. Today we left a gap in the forehatch, sheltered beneath the dinghy, and there you have it—the bed was awash in sea foam. Fortunately, the heat has unexpectedly become more bearable; at night we even cover ourselves with a sheet. But there has been no rain for about eight days now. If the dry weather continues, it will be harder to make our fresh water last until Tahiti. One of the nastiest problems of life on a yacht is mould. In cold weather, it grows luxuriantly because of condensation running down the walls. And it makes life miserable in the humid tropics, where absolutely everything starts sprouting and growing moss. We have tried all sorts of things to fight it. We even tried a chlorine-based product (a big mistake on wooden panelling). In fact, the best remedy we have found for this scourge (Anya, this answers your comment!) is fungicide diluted with vodka and applied—preferably beneath the varnish rather than on top—to the walls and all the unvarnished plywood sections of the interior panelling, the insides of lockers and the undersides of bunks. The fungicide is called Lignofix TOP and is distributed to Russia from the Czech Republic via Moscow. In eight years of life aboard yachts, we have never found anything better. It is suitable for any timber construction; it is not specifically a yachting product. When we get home, we’ll buy a supply for our Gingerbread House and treat the crawl spaces with it )).
Visas, Destinations and a Letter to the President
In the meantime, we are keeping our fingers crossed that we will be able to turn west from Tahiti, towards Korea or even Vladivostok (which, alas, is almost impossible without paying a yacht import tax amounting to 40% of its value). People here are suggesting that we write to the president and company, asking the authorities to issue a special order allowing Lady Mary to enter a Russian port. Guys, do write. Because under a special order, temporary importation can be arranged without the tax. True, Vladivostok presents another problem: ice. And Lady Mary isn’t exactly an icebreaker. So we are also keeping our fingers crossed for South Korea. It is winter there too, but at least we won’t have to break ice to enter a marina. But Korea now requires a visa, and there isn’t a single consulate along our route. We’ll try to get an electronic one. In short, send us your ideas, bearing in mind that for a year now we have been looking for ways to enter various countries during the pandemic. There are no simple and/or cheap options. We are less and less keen to head for Panama. Because it would not be our final destination. We would have to get a Mexican or US visa there (with about a month’s wait), plus spend a month beating into the wind to Mexico in order to leave the yacht there. And then fly, which would be more expensive than flying from Korea or Vladivostok. May Covid perish! Amen. Stay healthy, dear friends. And take care of yourselves. Thank you for the greetings you send through the form on our website and in the comments. They are always a tremendous support. Our heartfelt thanks to everyone supporting the expedition and the crew’s morale via
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We’re glad to have you on our team! To see where we are now, visit our website, travely-family.com, and open the
Route
tab. Lady Mary’s route is plotted there using data from the RockSTAR Iridium 360 tracker supplied by MVS Telecom.