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Starblazer - 07/03/2016 – I promised a blog for yesterday but…



The weather got in the way! I normally write my blog during my 0500-0800
watch, after the 0600 logbook entry and after dawn so I can spot any
potential weather problem. Two mornings running, after a fairly peaceful
night at least in terms of squalls, mayhem has let loose at about 0600. On
both occasions John has rushed up into the cockpit to help control the boat,
shorten sail and get us back on course. Each time after less than an hour
asleep!

Saturday was a good sailing day, with fairly stable winds and some sunshine
after an early morning soaking which missed Chat Eau Bleu just 2.5 nM
behind. John has been following the currents on one of the GRIBs he has
downloaded; the current had turned a bit left but we hadn’t so we were no
longer in the strongest stream. We spent much of the day heading a bit
further west than the rest of the fleet so were the last boat to cross the
Equator at about 1900. Our slight detour paid off as we clawed back
distance lost to the faster boats as they followed a slightly more northerly
course and lost the strongest current.

We crossed the Equator into the southern hemisphere in February 2014, again
at dinner time so we shared our meal with King Neptune. As I remember, we
fed him (very small) portions of fillet steak and chips with red wine. It
was obviously appreciated because he kept us safe for the past two years.
This time we shared a bottle of Cava, Neptune didn’t get a look in.

Sunday was a terrible day, in terms of weather not progress. The 0555
wake-up call was just the first of many squally showers, with wind piping up
to 25 knots from a base of 12-18. We managed a very respectable 178 nM run
from midnight to midnight, much of it with a reefed genoa and ‘scandalised’
main. For the fastest sailing we trim the sails so they have the optimum
angle on the wind, in the windy squalls we dumped the main, i.e. we let the
boom go further out to spill some of the wind rather than using it all for
drive. Our slight detours chasing the current have not detracted from our
overall progress to the waypoint because, for the second day running, we
have reduced the gap between us and some of the faster boats. Long may it
last, the progress that is, not the squally weather.

My meteorologically minded friends could probably confirm or otherwise my
theory that this weather pattern is a result of crossing the ITCZ (Inter
Tropical Convergence Zone) where the weather systems driven by the SE trade
winds in the southern hemisphere meet the weather systems of the NE trade
winds in the northern hemisphere. If my memory serves me, I have a vague
idea the ITCZ can cover a couple of hundred miles but I might be way out.
Anyway, we look forward to the sunny skies of the Caribbean as we move
closer to our halfway mark sometime tomorrow (Tuesday) morning.

More tomorrow, unless the weather has other ideas.

Joyce


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