CONDITIONS: Continued cooler air, winds overnight on the nose 9-12, tacking in very confused seas with new swells from the west mixing with wind and waves against current of 1.5 kts. Partly cloudy
PROPULSION: Tacking upwind last night. Motoring straight upwind today. Much calmer seas this afternoon.
MECHANICALS: After running engine many hours the alternator quits charging the batteries for unknown reasons. Solution is to shut down the engine and restart it. Examined considerable sun damage on exposed portion of Quantum staysail and decided it should be repaired in Tahiti.
CREW CONDITION: Bleary after being bounced around all night in the washing machine conditions. Getting naps and showers today. Cheerful to be in the Galapagos
EXCITEMENT: WE CROSSED THE EQUATOR at 0610 this morning but because of the conditions and the hour we decided to celebrate tonight at anchor. LAND HO! We spotted the high peaks of our landfall around noon today and have been motoring up the north side of the island to our anchorage on the western tip. We've eaten very well, have lots of food and snacks and the watermaker allows us the luxury of daily showers. So life is good!
COMMENTS: Under ideal conditions we could do this 900 mi trip in six days at 150 mi per day. It took us seven and a half days because of the combination of calms or light winds and winds on the nose when we had good winds. This was frustrating and required sail changes, tacking and setting course for 100 degrees away from San Cristobol so our VMG (velocity made good toward the target) was always lower than our speed through the water. However, it was fantastic to have following currents the entire way until today which probably gave us 36 FREE miles per day!
We'll await Immigrations and Customs approval, and boat inspection for illegal food, pets or plants before we can go ashore
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