Murre Crosses the Equator – Updated!

Date: May 17, 2011

Time:
-1953 GMT
-1153 Marquesas

Position: 00.00N by 131.01W
Course: 215t
Speed: 3.5 knots (4.5 over water)
Wind: 7 knots, SE
Sea: 3 feet NW, 1 foot SE
Sky: 25% cloud, two big thunderheads and a few cumulus
Temp: 80 degrees
Bar: 1013

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Please congratulate us!  Murre and Randall have crossed the line.  Murre now cuts the water of the Southern Ocean and Randall is officially a SHELLBACK, a term used in the days of the square rigged ships to describe a sailor whose ship had passed over the equator.  I like this title better than any I can think of.

How did we celebrate?

With champagne.  Upon departing OpenTable.com I received a gift of champagne from two colleagues, Melissa Rinke and Charlie Burns–two bottles, one of Moet and Chandon for drinking and the other, Cook’s, for christening Murre prior to her departure from San Francisco.  But I couldn’t bare to mar Murre’s new hull paint, and departure was a rush job anyway, so I buried both in a damp (if the mold now decorating the labels is any indication) locker and forgot about them.

Several hours ago I unearthed one of the bottles, put it in a sack attached to a line and tossed tossed it over the side to cool–a futile gesture as the water temperatures here is but a few degrees below that of the air.  I am celebrating with the Cook’s.  Champagne is a social beverage and Murre is abstemious, so I’m saving the fine stuff for a later celebration with friends.  And besides, I take this bottle as a fitting way to toast the great navigator himself, whose voyages I admire and whose wake I am following–sort of.

Thank you to Melissa and Charlie!

The wind comes fair on our port beam; the water has that dimpling that sailors like and even a white cap here and there.  We have made good 1983 miles and Hiva Oa is 760 miles south west.