Greetings from the Southern Hemisphere

On the morning of 31 Aug 09 at 0848 hrs, Mhadei crossed in the Southern hemisphere at longitude 090 Deg 23' E! King Neptune who resides at the equator took one look at us and remarked,"You two! Not again!" This being our third crossing since May this year. Slightly North of the Equator the wind shifted to SSE making us head North East so it was time to tack and head SSW, a course we will maintain till almost 35 Deg South, then turn East for the home run to Fremantle. Looks like we found the South east trade winds right from the word go as we have been getting a steady breeze since morning. It takes us back to West a bit but atleast we are moving. What a change from the last 11 days! Both the wind and swell are against us so we are bouncing nicely but thats better than wallowing around in light winds and worrying about squalls. It was good to cross the line finally! Changing tack on a long passage involves certain lifestyle changes. For example for the last 11 days I was doing everything leaning to the right, now my leanings have shifted a distinct left! Not unlike our politicians I suppose! My galley being to the Port side and the boat leaning on the same side I could leave one odd cabinet open while cooking, this morning while preparing breakfast the contents tumbled out because the boat had started leaning to Starboard! While the doldrums near the equator drove us nuts with the squalls and shifty winds they also showed us some spectacular sunrises and sunsets. The beauty of the human mind is that the bad memories get erased quickly while the good ones stay on. So the bad weather is already a distant memory while the vividness of the sunrise on 30 Aug will remain in my head for a long time.