Crew Blog

Crossing the Equator

12 October 2007

At 8:40 UTC Nova Scotia crossed the Equator and we didn’t feel a thing, but what a glamorous event.

As the magical latitude loomed the ladies graced the deck in their feather boas and diamond tiaras (I jest not). The men sported natty silk cuffs and black ties. Wearing very little else, they looked a little like a rather sea-dog version of the Chippendales. The girls had their personal coiffeurs helicoptered in for the occasion but were disappointed that the men had gone for the unshaven, unwashed look. W.I.-style calendars will be on sale at the end of the trip for the strong of stomach and the broad minded.

It is customary to appease Neptune by showering him with gifts. With no expense spared and in complimentary style, the crew cast diamonds (specially purchased from the pound shop in Liverpool) into the sea, let off their party poppers and toasted the crossing with real champagne.

Having gained ground on Durban 2010 and Beyond overnight and with Glasgow: Scotland with style hell-bent on doing the same to us, the partying couldn’t go on for long. Maintaining course and achieving maximum speed between here and Salvador is the name of the game.

So, friends and family, we are now looking up at you and you are looking down at us. We are in that part of the world where low pressure systems travel clockwise and high pressure systems go anti-clockwise, and water travels down the plughole the opposite way it does at home. If future contributions to our blog files appear upside down and back to front, you will now understand why!

A big hello today to Margaret and Arthur Harris who live by our home marina in Gosport. We showed them around Nova Scotia back in prep week and they very kindly gave us a bottle of champagne to open as we crossed the Equator.

We did so, and very nice it was too. Cheers!

Ed and Roger

The picture:
As we cross the Equator, Dave and Rick open the bottle of champagne given to them by Margaret and Arthur Harris who live at our home marina in Gosport.