11/29/11

Noon Position 00 54' S, 116 32.6' W, SOG 7.5, COG 175, Days Run 155nm.  At 0335 Pacific Time today we crossed the equator!  Finally!  Conditions are becoming fast and fun - close reaching in 12-20kts of breeze with a hint of sea, pointing south!  I'm in love with Odyssey this morning - we've been doing over 6 knots since yesterday afternoon, and over 7 since this morning, all very easily - currently we're under triple reefed main and full genoa, charging along.  In honor of crossing the line last night, I got out my bottle of champagne and went on deck, planning to pop the cork just as we hit 0 degrees.  The champagne, however, had other ideas, and opened itself about 3 minutes earlier, giving the cockpit a delightful champagne-y bath.  When I woke up this morning Odyssey smelled a bit like a college dorm on a Sunday morning, as we haven't been taking much water into the cockpit.  In honor of the equator, I got my clean on this morning - swept the floor, scrubbed the stove and counters, and then tackled the big job - sorting through the various vegetables in the hammocks in the v-berth.  Imagine, if you will, an area roughly the size of the back of a small station wagon.  Now, pile 4 large sail bags, 4 or 5 dry bags of warm clothes and surprises, 1 wool blanket, 1 sleeping bag, 1 piece of plywood, 7 plastic bins of food, and two 4 foot long hammocks full of onions, squash, garlic, grapefruit, limes, ginger, and cabbage.  Add a slow trickle of salt water from above, then tilt this space approximately 20 degrees to one side, while shaking vigorously.  Then, approximately every 30 seconds (but not predictably so), imagine a large, angry man pounding the floor with a sledgehammer. That's what the v-berth of Odyssey has been like for the past 8 days.  After divesting it of the sail bags, dry bags, plywood, blanket, and sleeping bag, I managed to squeeze myself into the space remaining and start pulling out fruits and vegetables one by one, checking for rot.  Of course, the hammocks, being hammocks, are not stationary now that the sailbags which were wedging them in place are gone - they're swinging wildly, pummeling the boat and me with onions and any other vegetable you can get your hands on.  A few escaped alliums later, the job was done and the produce restored to it's home.  I've been impressed with how well things have kept so far - the only vegetables that I've lost to rot have been ones that have gotten wet.  I'm most impressed by my tomatoes - I still have 8 or 9 good tomatoes left after 22 days at sea.