Misto - Days 54-55: Little wind for first days of leg 4

March 1 saw the start of leg 4 in Santa Cruz. Misto crossed the line first in around 10 knots of wind and soon put up the gennaker. Towards evening Carl spotted whales and it seemed like a very auspicious start. Through the night we had a mixture of sailing and motoring as the wind became increasingly light and variable. We set a course towards the south south west as we expect to have to cross increasingly calm waters before finding wind on the south boundary of the ITCZ (Inter tropical Convergence Zone) between 7-9 degrees south. Some of the grib files show wind a little further north than that but Chris Parker's advice is that this may well not prove accurate and not to rely on it.

On March 2, apart from a couple of hours of sailing when we chased some squalls and caught their wind, we have had to motor. The current has also helped us along but that will also change as we continue. We saw an incredible school of dolphins today, leaping high into the air in an amazingly acrobatic display - we believe that they were circling and herding a school of fish to feed on.

We have found ourselves in the company of Laura Dawn who is executing a similar strategy to us - we both believe that heading further west from the start would entail more motoring than the strategy of heading south south west where the wind should be on the south boundary of the ITCZ. Let's hope it pays off!
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At 3/2/2017 9:11 PM (utc) our position was 02°54.92'S 092°01.07'W