It was a sweet Easter out here about 500 miles southeast of Easter Island, (so named by a Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, who first encountered it on Easter Sunday in 1722.) It seems appropriate to be in this vicinity at this time. It was my hope to be close enough to make sight of the island or to actually stop there and visit the amazing statues … but just like other parts of this particular dream; it will have to wait for another time.

33.27293S, 105.108964W (sunset)

This past week brought a good deal of rough weather and uncomfortable sailing, as we weaved our way between a high-pressure system off the Chilean coast and a low-pressure system that pressed in from the West. We chose to run the low-pressure system on the “wrong” side so that we could set up for an entry into the trade winds that are still about 100 or so miles ahead. This put us in weaker winds, but riding on the bigger and more forceful waves which made the going a bit bouncy – to say the least.

31.427674S,101.594474W (sunset)

To explain this a little more, the high-pressure (fair weather) system to my right spins counter clock-wise creating winds from the southeast. To my left, the low-pressure (storm) system spins clockwise sending wind and waves towards me from the northwest. It’s a bit like the two spinning wheels that spit out baseballs in a pitching machine, but in this case, I’m the ball! When the two winds – the northwest push from the low and the southeast from the high, converge with each other, there is a resulting transition zone where they diminish. While the stormy (40-45-knot) winds may diminish by half, the waves we encounter are still the size generated by the bigger winds. This has made the sailing super-sized bumpety as we make our way north through the next transition zone of light winds and from there into the trade winds, in another day or so.

33.336974S,106.439005W (sunrise)

Hopefully, the worst of the weather for this leg is behind me, and the “champagne” sailing of the trades is ahead of me … so all in all, life is good. I haven’t been able to write much with all the lively weather of the past week, but we do have a number of photographs here of some of the dramatic and beautiful sunrises and sunsets to share with you – the bookends of our days and nights. Hope you enjoy them.

30.50673S,100.3168565W (sunrise)

Later this week, we’ll also share a piece about objects that float in the ocean in the great “harmonic” gyres. These include natural things like seeds that drift across vast stretches of ocean to land on a distant shore … the sorts of things that gave Columbus the idea that there was another continent out there to the West … but they also include totally unnatural things like Nike Shoes and rubber bath duckies! A MOST interesting tale … so stay tuned for that!

30.50673S,100.3168565W (sunrise)

Also coming soon will be an update on this year’s Atlantic Cup Race, sponsored by loud friends at 11th Hour Racing, which starts in less than a month from Charleston, South Carolina. While Bodacious Dream (last year’s winner!) won’t be able to be there, our presence will be felt nonetheless in a number of ways … so log onto the Atlantic Cup website and begin following along. Be sure to vote for your favorite boat and share with your kids their new Kid’s Pages, featuring none other than “Capt. Dave.”

Until later … 

– Dave, Bodacious Dream & (the all-bounced-out) Franklin
Currently @ 27.2291S, 97.61472W