Jessica Watson: Getting closer but going slow near 5 South

Illustration by Greg Murphy, Courtesy of Google Earth

Jessica Watson may welcome some of the forecast storms as she nears the equator; they will at least have some winds to allow her to continue making progress.

Although she reports that she is within 370 nautical miles of the equator (estimated position is near 5 degrees South), a portion of the day on Monday was spent nearly becalmed with little forward progress.

After sitting on the bow, dangling her legs over the side of the nearly motionless Ella's Pink Lady, and visiting with a pod of dolphins, she decided to busy herself with boat maintenance - including a thorough cleaning of the engine compartment aboard her S&S 34.

More about her voyage here...

"I ended up giving the little Yanmar engine a full polish up and scrubbed out the bilges. As the sun set I was able to stand back hot and greasy but happy that I'd at least achieved something for the day. I'm sure that after another few months at sea, poor old Pink Lady wont quite be looking as great as she did sailing out of Sydney, but I'm a least going to do everything possible to try. And its like I'm constantly being told 'look after the boat and she'll look after you'."

As she marked the end of four weeks at sea on her planned 8 month journey, she prepared to open her third food bag.  Her provisions are prepared in sealed containers which allow meals for 14 days each.  Prior articles have noted that she eagerly awaits a new bag opening since she tends to eat her favorites early in the 14 day cycle.