Day 18 Puddle Jump friends

Our long lost friends
Position - 03º26 X W130º09 in the SE trade winds
No Regrets - We signed on to the ham radio net this morning and there was No Regrets. After days of silence, they finally sighed in. They had broken their forestay (One of the cables that holds up the mast) and had spent their time fixing it. They reached the Equator today but are about 120 miles East of us. We may still get to the Marquises before they do.
Luck - Every day we sign on to three ham radio nets - two in the morning and one in the evening. We get to compare notes with others about the weather and how they are getting along. Sometimes we pick up a pointer, like Golden Lion’s use of the staysail. When we started the voyage, we plotted out our course to the Marquises but as we travel, the winds and currents change so we must continuously update our plan. The big decision was where to cross the ITCZ in order to minimize storms and calms. From the reports of other boats, we had an amazing piece of luck in crossing with just half a day of squalls and no area too calm for sailing. Another Puddle Jumper named Dirigo is 2º latitude (120 nautical miles) behind us. They had two days of squalls and are now under motor power because they have now wind. We will take all the luck we can get.