Pacific crossing Part 2

Fun with histamine, waving sea lions, crossing the equator and the toughest test from Poseidon himself.

We spend 31 days on the Pacific without setting foot on land. Four people, 4150 nautical miles, one ship. Every 24 hours (always at midday) we recorded the distance travelled  (Etmal) in nautical miles and the average speed in knots, as well as taking a crew photo of the day. Come with us on our adventure!

Day 8

Happy Birthday Bums! He's a crisp 26 years old, he can (has to) wear the birthday poncho all day today. In the early morning I'm out alone on watch, there are a lot of thunderstorm cells around and the wind strength is fluctuating. If there's too much wind, you can reduce the sail area, which is called "reefing". And that's what I do, all by myself, and sail on relaxed. In the past, I would have called Thierry and probably had a bit of a crisis. In general, sailing close-hauled is not my favourite course. But today I'm alone at the helm, a light drizzle is falling and I'm smiling. No panic, no stress, no tension, just pride, gratitude and even a bit of fun. A classic ocean high, let's see how long it lasts 😉

We eat bread, fried eggs and bacon for breakfast/lunch. Our anemometer is a bit of a bitch and shows the wrong direction. In honour of the big boom, we bake lemon cake and prepare a delicious sushi-sashimi-sailfish dinner. A good day comes to an end.

Etmal: 130 nm, average speed: 5.4 kn

Day 9

The night and morning pass without any special events. We still have wind and current against us and it is difficult to keep our southerly course. At lunchtime, we sail into a big squall with plenty of wind and a free shower. We eat pasta with pesto and listen to our Assi Pirate playlist. I'm a bit worried about our energy consumption: the sun has hardly been shining for days and the freezer with the sailfish draws a lot of power.... Apart from that, we had a great day sailing, we were fast and the waves were much smaller. In the evening we are in the mood for Colombia and cook arepas, patacones, vegetables and fried fish. We savour the epic sunset and enjoy the colourful sky. Unfortunately, the mood changes very quickly after the meal when I realise something is going on in my body. "I think I'm having an allergic reaction," I say to Thierry as I get a stabbing headache and realise that my upper body is turning red and hot. I lie down with my legs up. My heart starts to race and I have chills. Thierry has now reached Laura, our contact person for medical emergencies (shoutout to Laura, thanks for your support! 💗). She confirms that it sounds like an allergic reaction and recommends that I take an antihistamine. I do, and also have the Epipen ready, which I hope we won't need. Suddenly the boys are also complaining of headaches and a hot head, but Thierry is (still) fine. What's going on here? We can't know for sure, but we suspect that our freezer has played a trick on us: It probably unfroze and then froze again, which the fish naturally doesn't like and produces a lot of histamine. We probably couldn't tolerate it. I lie down in bed, my head is no longer so hot, but my arms and back are. At some point my eyes close.

Etmal: 143 nm, average speed: 6.0 kn

Day 10

Dan wakes me up in the middle of the night, something seems to be wrong with the autopilot. I crawl out of bed, feeling better but still far from well. Outside I find Thierry lying in the cockpit, he's just thrown up. Dan is at the wheel. The autopilot bolt has fallen out. We know the problem, so we are prepared and I crawl into the stern of the boat to replace it. Luckily there are hardly any waves and little wind. The problem is soon solved and I crawl back into bed. Thierry feels a bit better, but continues to sleep outside. The boys seem to be okay so far.

It's getting light and I take over from David on watch. We've all been bumming around all day, feeling like we have some kind of hangover, but otherwise we feel OK. It was very scary the whole experience and for a brief moment I really thought that was it, I'd poisoned myself and was going to die on the Pacific. But it was very reassuring to know that we would reach Galapagos in a day, so we weren't completely on our own. There is hardly any wind and we stop for a quick swim, the water has got colder, which is good for us all. In the evening we eat spaghetti bolo and go to bed early.

Etmal: 108 nm, average speed: 4.5 kn

Day 11

Unfortunately, we have to motor all night because the wind is too weak. At least we can charge our batteries a little. In the morning, the long-awaited breeze arrives and the engine stops. We sail, the sky is clear for the first time in a week and the air has become noticeably cooler. Today is a good day! We can see one of the Galapagos Islands on the horizon and 3 sea lions swim past the boat and wave. At lunchtime we eat wraps with soya, rice and vegetables and then the time has come: at 14:25 on board, the Cervino and her crew cross the equator! This is celebrated with a rum. Suddenly there is lightning and thunder despite the blue sky, because Poseidon himself has come to subject the brave crew to the equator test. We are tested, punished and rewarded. Some have to remove their moustache 👶 others are not allowed to shave at all for 3 months 🧔 and others are smeared with grease. Poseidon presents the crew with Speedy Speedos and gives us all a southern hemisphere bucket shower for being particularly "wind-slippery". What a cool afternoon. In all the equatorial fun, we completely forgot to sail because our sails were hanging like an old rag in the wind. We correct this and are immediately 1.5 kn faster.... 😆 Jänu, that was fun. We eat the leftovers from lunch for dinner and off we go to bed.

Etmal: 108 nm, average speed: 4.5 kn

Day 12

The night is starry, we sail fast and the boat is so stable that everyone sleeps well. Dings & Bums reefed alone during the night, we overheard them doing it and are proud of our two sea bears 😉 We haven't wanted to eat anything fishy since our histamine pass and, as unfortunate as it is, we threw the leftover sailfish overboard. None of us wanted to eat it anymore. But now we are ready for gifts from the ocean again and are delighted that 5 small calamari jumped onto our foredeck during the night. We collect them, clean them, pan-fry them and eat them in an avocado and cucumber salad. They are served with two types of gnocchi: one with a bacon and cream sauce and one with sage butter. Delicious! The day is super nice and cosy, we read a lot and enjoy the great sailing conditions. In the evening we eat Asian noodles with soya chunks and vegetables.

Etmal: 144, average speed: 6.0 kn

Day 13

Once again we have a super relaxed night, only a cloud stole the wind for about an hour. Otherwise everything was wonderful. I start my first attempt at making yoghurt. Let's see how it turns out. We have leftovers from last night for lunch. Today is another fantastic sailing day with great conditions, we sleep and read and watch the waves. In the evening, the sky is beautiful with all its colours. Thierry cooks lime risotto with a mango and lentil topping and it tastes great. We drift contentedly into the night.

Etmal: 132 nm, average speed: 5.5 kn

Day 14

We start the day with a bucket shower. Then we have a delicious breakfast with bread, bacon and a fried egg. My yoghurt has become more of a yoghurt drink, which we serve with papaya. We eat, chat and enjoy the sailing. The wind is now coming more and more from behind, which means we get out our downwind sail "Simi". Flyyyyyy Simi, flyyyyyy! The temperatures are still pleasantly cool. David makes a couscous salad for lunch. Unfortunately, I have a bit of a sinus problem and my ears are ringing. Hopefully that will go away soon. In the evening we have linguine with a creamy mushroom sauce. There's not a cloud in the sky, so we leave Simi and drive off into the night.

Etmal: 140 nm, average speed: 5.8 kn

Review week 2

Nautical miles travelled: 914 (total: 1,686)

Of which with motor: 21h (total: 81h, 24%)

Average speed: 5.4 kn

How we ride the Pacific highway and what happens to the fish on our line?

More on this next week!