[password] rachel25
[position] 40 18.500s 075 01.800w
[status] On passage to Valdivia, Chile

Day 42
"Land Ahoy!" I heard through dreams and sleep. I struggled out of twisted duvet and to the companion way dressed only in underpants! Met Lucas, in similar attire, coming from the other cabin.
On deck the wind was cold, indeed bracing on bare flesh. Ithaka was also modestly attired, double reefed main and staysail, corkscrewing through the quartering sea, the wind whistling in the rig, the waves and spray sluicing the deck.
We looked to the east and watched the rising sun pick out, above the waves and spume, distant hills, hints of green instead of grey, a new dawn, a new country, a new continent.
We smiled at each other, not too many words, each feeling the satisfaction of a job nearly done, the recognition of an end, and the uncertainty and excitement of a new beginning.
The Wandering Albatross quartered the ocean in our wake. An aerial sign-off? A handover to his distant cousin, the Condor, soaring on the Andesian currents to the east? I thanked him for his watch and our safe delivery.
Earlier this morning I had our last radio sched with Taupo Maritime and Northland Radios, and with Graham and Dianne on Maunie. They too have watched over us and lived this passage, day by day, with us.
A fishing boat, the first we have seen since leaving Cape Colville, rolled its way towards us, took in the scene and moved on south, VALDIVIA in large letters on her stern. No words, no greeting, but our presence acknowledged, another watch started.
Colin

[speed] 6.8 knots
[heading] 069 true
[weather] Wind SW 19 knots. 2.0m waves. Sky 50% cloud. Baro 1029
[END]