Day 5, Transition? A message from afar…..
30 September 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)
Dear F&F,
The last 24 hours has been interesting. Yesterday, we were in more frequent squalls which came from the south, crossed over us, rained on us and moved on. The winds shifted a bit, but mostly the intensity ranged; 12-28 knots. With one reef and the staysail poled out to windward, all was easy. The seas a bit confused and lumpy, but overall pretty comfortable. We\’ve done exciting things like the morning routine of cleaning all the dead flying fish off the decks, topping off the diesel and of course, the expert Ms. Nicola Woodrow, \”celestially\” guiding across across the sea, sextant in hand…:-)
At 4 a.m. this morning local time, we switched watches and Nikki told me that the wind had just quit. We motored on one engine and soon the wind started to shift to the Northeast! This may be the transition from the Southern Indian Ocean weather to the Northern Indian Ocean weather. This transition zone is known as the \”ITCZ\” (inter tropical convergence zone). Sailors in the Pacific are quite familiar with it when sailing from the US to French Polynesia.
For a detailed explanation, \”google it\”…:-)
The winds have turned north east now, wind speed around 12-16 knots. So with full main and reacher, we\’re on the starboard tack (now there\’s a change) and reaching directly toward Salomon Atoll. The seas have really flattened out, the swell around 2 meters and we\’re very comfortably zipping along around 6.5 – 8.5 knots.
We just received an email from Mike and Linda on s/v \”Integrity\”. They\’re out of San Diego, California and are currently in Spain. They noticed our position on Winlink and told us that friends of their\’s from Alaska are in Salomon Atoll now aboard s/v \”Sunflower\”. We\’re looking forward to meeting them. Hopefully we\’ll get an email from them soon?
We made a very slow 153 nm today. \”Beach House\’s\” average is 175 nm and \”Ms. Piggy\” is feeling her weight…:-) The trip is in jeopardy of taking 10 days instead of 9, but we shall see what the winds have in store for us. We\’re just over half way, 724 nm to go!…Currently, drying air (less humidity), calm and pleasant sailing conditions. Watch out for Nik, she\’s going on deck to \”shoot the sun\”…
KIT, Scott and \”ON WATCH WOODROW\”…:-)))