Location: Underway to Panama City 2.0
Sometimes things don’t go entirely as expected when you are on the ocean. The last few days have been a great example of that. From making our way to the Galapagos with the prevailing winds at our back, we have suddenly reverted back to the age of sail. We can no longer take the easy option of turning on the engine when the wind doesn’t suit us. Instead, we have to raise sails, trim and eke out every mile back into the Northerly winds that flow out of the Gulf of Panama. As we sail from the Caribbean to Tahiti, we are always traveling with the prevailing winds and currents. This makes our lives a lot easier as the wind is almost always in our favor. Now the situation has been reversed, and it is amazing how the distance we covered in two days is taking everything we have to regain. Instead of being filled with boat checks and conversations, for the most part, watches have become pure sailing with multiple raises and drops and constant trimming. The crew on board have had their nautical education turbo-boosted and have performed more maneuvers in the last few days than some groups do in an entire program. It has been a pleasure to see how they are now able to run up the jib or tack the boat with cohesion, like a fast-running machine.
Sometimes the hardest situations are where you learn the most. It would have been far easier had our propellor never failed, had the wind stayed behind us, and had we never been faced with turning around and retracing our steps rather than moving forward. I feel, though, that we would never have gone through this bonding experience that you can only have when you overcome something difficult and feel real achievement. As a community on board, I don’t think we have ever been closer or stronger, and I am very proud of what we have been able to accomplish. Doing the hard thing rather than the easy thing is why we are here. We were all drawn to the adventure; it would never have been one if nothing unexpected had happened.