[password]minerva
[position]00°04.36'N 177°12.53'E
[status] A short time ago we made our seventh equator crossing on the good ship White Hawk. No wonder we can't seem to make it further west toward a circumnavigation - we keep going north and south!

Not long after an impressive red sunset (Sailor's Delight?) we finally found the wind last night in the form of big squalls packing 25 knots, gusting 30 and of course, the ubiquitous lightning which has dogged us much of this trip. We got a bit of a scare in the midst of the largest squall when our radar display at the nav station conked out. At first we thought that stray atmospheric electrical energy had done it in and put an end to our squall tracking activity but we were relieved to find it working at the helm and the communication problem down below was rectified today.

We had pleasant sailing today close reaching in 8-12 knots under cloudy skies but the squalls began late afternoon and we've tucked in a second reef. Though theoretically we should be under the influence of a helpful 2 knot west setting current, instead we find ourselves sailing to weather fighting a 2 knot east setting one! 545 NM to go to Majuro.
[speed] 7.0
[heading] 005T
[weather] Wind 12k, 286T. 100% cloud, rain squalls, thunder and lightning. Bar 1009.
12/10/2018 7:20 AM UTC
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