A rather dangerous ritual, crossing that equator.

Line-crossing ceremonies sometimes become rather dangerous rituals, as my mother documented when sailing with the Queen.

The World is the largest privately-owned residential yacht on earth. I had the very great fortune to be invited on board to give two talks. The first I called 'An Entertaining Story' which I hope it was for those who listened. There was quite a bit about the lighter fluffier stuff of life but I also dipped into the work I do with Global Empowerment Mission.

The second talk was titled 'A Front Row Seat' about my mother's extraordinary time traveling as a Lady-in-Waiting to the Queen, on both Commonwealth Tours. In a strange twist of fate I crossed the Equator on board the World exactly 70 years apart from when my mother did. 

I vaguely remembered a diary entry she had written from that time - talking about the line crossing ceremony, which is an initiation rite that commemorates a person's first crossing of the Equator. The tradition may have originated with ceremonies when passing headlands, and become a "folly" sanctioned as a boost to morale, or have been created as a test for seasoned sailors to ensure their new shipmates were capable of handling long, rough voyages. Throughout history, it seems, line-crossing ceremonies have sometimes become rather dangerous rituals.

Luckily the one David and I were subjected to only involved kissing a dead fish and receiving a certificate stating that we had duly been initiated as trusty shellbacks - my mother’s experience with the Queen was quite different.