Travesia Mexico-Polynesia - part 2 - English

Lee, amigo tripulante en accion con el winch.....y Joe leyendo otro relato de navegacion...

atardecer sobre el Pacifico en la proa del velero

Crossing Mexico-Polynesia...31 days onboard Eaglewing...a ketch sailboat, owned by Joe, a friend I met last December...now it is time for the big crossing, the puddle jump as sailors call it, probably one of the longest crossing on the planet, across the Pacific...March is a good time to cross, taking advantage of the trade winds which are going to help us in our sailing to the Marquesas Islands, first archipielago of Polynesia.
3000 nautical miles : this is the distance we have to cover...very hard to predict how long this is going to take...probably one month, maybe more...I am mentally prepared, ready to face the next days, and weeks at sea, surrounded by blue, blue and more blue...
We set off for Barra de Navidad, Mexico on the 2nd of March, 2009 : We are 4 persons onboard. Joe Mc Cracken, captain and owner of the boat, Katie and Lee, two young enthusiatic American and crewmembers, and me....Four persons to take this boat and ourselves on the other side of the ocean, this is our challenge. We organize the shifts, 3 hours each one, twice a day, at the helm most of the time because the boat doesn't have an autopilot. A few miles off the cost of Mexico, the water turns blue, an intense blue we are not going to leave until Polynesia, the first dolphins don't wait too long to show up and indicate us the way to follow...going South. The first days offer us a good steady wind, and it is a pleasure to be aboard, feeling the wind pushing us the right way, the strength of the wind in the sails, feeling the movements of the boat, getting used to this new aquatic lifestyle...the sounds are not monotonous, the waves are all different, unique, and the blue start to surround us and become our life color...
The days go bay...the wind is a bit low, but we manage to cover 100 miles a day roughly, which is a decent speed...the size of the swell is gigantic...the amount of water raised by the waves and the swell is very impressive...mountains of water everywhere, all around us...we are living the ocean at the fullest...the ocean imposes its respect, and we are in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by its force, but everything is working fine. A kind of routine is starting to establish, watches, reading books, playing chess with Lee,enjoying the good food prepared by Katie...gracias...At night, the watches are different, you are alone, in the dark, with the sounds of the sea even closer, the immensity of the sea and the stars...amazing sights at night...it is a great time to think...
We passed next to the Revillagigedos Islands, then Clipperton Atoll and then the routine starts...we pass in some rough weather, squalls...the sea gets bigger, the night are agitated, it is hard to sleep at night sometime...
On the 26th of March, we cross the Equator...we are definitively getting there !!... it is time to celebrate our first 2000 miles and the crossing of the Equator. But then, we are in the Doldrums, the area of this passage where the wind nearly dies...it can be quite extended, and it is a hard section of the passage to manage...hard to imagine we are so close, and we cannot get there because of the lack of wind....but we are patient and keep our spirits high...so does the wind a few days later...and we are sailing again...
On the 1st of April, we are at 350 miles away from Hiva hoa, the main island of the Marquesas...
April 3rd, in the morning, we see land for the first time in one month !! It is the island of Hiva Hoa : It is hard to describe the sensation felt at that moment. On one hand, you feel relieved to be back on land soon but on the other end, it means it is the end of a long passage where you live a lot of experiences and adapt to new references,
April 4th, we enter the bay of Atuona, in the island of Hiva Hoa, Marquesas Islands.
It was a very interesting crossing and sailing adventure : We really live at the level of the sea, with the water element omnipresent, and in basic conditions...it teaches you a lot about life at sea, about yourself also : It was a very long month, where you lose a lot of your reflexes, your references are changed or adapt to a new environment.The sea inspires a lot of respect and lessons to meditate...I am very thankful to her for that.