Crossing the Equator During an Eclipse – Loose Cannon
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The author and his wife Pam are cruising the South Pacific aboard Roam, a 2001 Catana 472 designed by Christophe Barreau and built by Catana. You can follow their adventures on Substack. The story was first published in April 2024. Some days are more eventful than others. Today, we witnessed a total eclipse of the sun and crossed the equator on a small boat. Thus far, we have been blessed with a fast and uneventful sail across the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) or “doldrums.” This is an area marked by calms, lightning, and otherwise squally weather. Ships would often get stuck here for weeks waiting for the wind to fill in. We’ve sailed the entire time and only dealt with one significant rain squall, which was a welcome rinse for Roam. The Solar EclipseBack when we started planning this trip, John pointed out that it was conceivable we might be able to view the total solar eclipse during our voyage. He promptly ordered some eclipse glasses for us, and they’ve been sitting in the nav station since last summer. None of us thought much about it beyond that. A lot would have to come together for it to work out.
With a day to go, it became clear we might be able to make it into the path of totality and maybe to the transit longitude of the eclipse itself. A longitude we calculated to be W132:43’. We tried valiantly to reach the equator at the eclipse transit longitude, but 9-10 knots the night before was just too fast, and we opted to reduce sail and the loads on the boat (and my anxiety). But we got close enough. We enjoyed more than two minutes of totality and several hours of partial coverage. We believe we are the only humans to have witnessed the eclipse in the vicinity of the equator today. There was nobody on radar or AIS around us that we could see. It is nothing short of an awe-inspiring experience. Near-complete darkness. I wonder what the ancients thought when all of a sudden the sun randomly shut off during the middle of the day. Crossing the EquatorCrossing the equator is a celebrated rite of passage for every sailor. Yesterday was our time, and we crossed at 2306 UTC.
Pollywogs who cross are eligible to enter the court of King Neptune and become shellbacks. John was the lone shellback among us, and he held a truly epic and memorable ceremony as King Neptune. He had crossed many years ago as a seaman aboard the USCG cutter, Steadfast.
The ceremony itself is classified, but it includes atoning for one’s sins against the sea, entertaining the king, and committing to stewardship of the kingdom. This is a longstanding maritime tradition, widely practiced even today. And we were all duly awarded our certificates (suitable for framing). If you find yourself crossing the line and in need of King Neptune, you can do no better than John! 500 miles to go. We should be in the anchorage at Hiva Oa on Friday the 12th. Until then, I remain profoundly grateful for this wonderful crew and this magnificent boat that has taken such good care of us.
LOOSE CANNON covers hard news, technical issues and nautical history. Every so often he tries to be funny. Subscribe for free to support the work. If you’ve been reading for a while—and you like it—consider upgrading to paid. |
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