by Judy Handley | Feb 17, 2011 | Passage to Grenada, Sailing Logs Year 6 |
Day 116, Year 6 Atlantic Passage, Day 13-N of the Equator
Date: Thursday, February 17, 2011 (1730 UTC)
Weather: Overcast, Heavy Rain; Winds NW 10-15 knots
Air Temperature: 74 degrees F
Latitude: 00 55.812 N
Longitude: 026 06.400 W
Miles Traveled: 1641.36
Miles to Go: 2295
Location: Passage from St. Helena to Caribbean (Grenada)
We crossed the equator at 7 pm and just like someone waved a magic wand, everything changed . . . not for the better. All of a sudden the swell was coming towards us instead of following us and we got wind, but from exactly the wrong direction. It first came from the N and then the NW, the direction we need to go. And then to add insult to injury, someone switched on the water and it started to rain, gentle dibble-dops at first but increasing in intensity with each hour until it finally settled into a hard rain that just doesn’t stop. It has rained like this for at least 14 hours now and we are a wet mess!
We really have absolutely no idea where this adverse wind is coming from. None of our current reports show wind from the Northwest and none of the accounts we have read about crossing the ITCZ have ever mentioned getting NW winds. Lucky us! The conditions remind us a bit of our dreadful passage from Norfolk to St. Martin as we started this circumnavigation. We got into the Gulf Stream which was heading N and the winds switched to come from the N setting wind against wave and making for miserable sailing. We had to motor hard to bash in to the waves and wind for days to get out of that one, but we are hopeful this will last only another day or two at most. We motored through the night, but this morning we decided that we should try to sail since we had 15 knots of wind. That lasted about four hours as we had to slowly keep changing course to go more N’ly and then to the NE. Since we are not interested in going back to Africa, we turned on the engine, furled the headsail, and are now motor sailing tight on the wind. We are going 1800 RPM’s, the speed that gives us the most economical fuel usage, but we can only go 2.8 to 3.5 knots depending on whether the winds are 10-12 or 12-15. Yesterday I was beginning to think that the Atlantic was going to be easy on us for this trip north, but that is no longer the case. We are right now crossing the line where the Brazilian Weather Service says the ITCZ is located. It is supposed to be 4 degrees in width (about 240 miles wide), so if we actually entered it around 7 pm last night at the equator when everything went pear-shaped, we have traveled 95 miles and have about 145 to go. Of course, traveling at 3 knots means that could take us two days. Maybe tomorrow morning the sun will rise in a clear sky and the Northeast trades will be blowing (wishful thinking) . . . or maybe not. Somehow we are able to sleep with all this commotion going on. And life went on as usual today. We worked together to defrost the freezer and we both got good daytime naps, so we are ready for another night of ugly weather. I sure hope tomorrow’s log will bring more cheerful weather news.
by Judy Handley | Feb 16, 2011 | Passage to Grenada, Sailing Logs Year 6 |
Day 115, Year 6 Atlantic Passage, Day 12-Not There Yet
Date: Sunday, February 16, 2011 (1730 UTC)
Weather: Sunny; Winds SSE 10-18 knots, dropping to SE 4-5
Air Temperature: 81 (early am) to 88 degrees F (afternoon)
Latitude: 00 09.341 S
Longitude: 024 38.362 W
Miles Traveled: 1528
Miles to Go: 2401
Location: Passage from St. Helena to Caribbean (Grenada)
We were so close to the equator at this time yesterday. What happened that has kept us on the south side for another twenty-four hours? The answer is a little convoluted, but here it is. Mark sleeps every afternoon from about 3:30 to 5:00. When he gets up, its time to start the engine to charge. At about 6 pm, we send the log and send and receive other emails. When that’s done we eat dinner and then first watch starts at 7 pm. It is in the 5:00 to 7:00 pm time period that decisions need to be made on what sail configuration we’ll use the night watches. That has been an easy decision for past week as we didn’t need to make any changes, but last evening things were different. The wind was more S’ly forcing us to sail due N when we wanted to go NW. And it appeared that we were losing the wind. It dropped from 10 to15 knots down to 8 to 10 and then to 6 to 8. So after eight days of not touching sails, we furled the headsail, centered and sheeted in the mainsail, and started motor sailing. We assumed we would be motoring across the equator in a few hours and then would probably have to continue to motor for the next couple of days until we were free of the ITCZ. But during the first watch, the winds started to build. There were also squalls, so when I came on watch at 11 pm, Mark made the decision that we would keep motoring even though we had 15 knots of wind. It was still S’ly and would head us back to the N if we were to sail it. During the first hour of my first watch, there were more squalls and then after midnight the skies started to clear and the winds stabilized. I would have set the sails but couldn’t as I would need to rig up the preventer which requires going on deck. And neither of us is allowed on deck unless the other one is up and I didn’t want to wake Mark. So I just kept on motoring until Mark came on watch at 2 am. We were then able to get the preventer rigged and we sailed the rest of the night with just the mainsail in 10 to15 knots of wind from the SSE. But we didn’t cross the equator during the night as the change in course had us going almost due west, parallel to the equator. We continued sailing like that until 3:00 this afternoon when the winds started to die down again. We first tried the spinnaker but by the time we got it up, there was too little wind to fill it. So now we are motoring on a NNW’ly course that will get us to the equator just about the time the first watch starts tonight. My hope of sailing across has been dashed, but after so many hours of anticipation, we’ll just be glad to be “on the other side.” By going West all night last night and most of today, we will cross the equator at a place where the GRIBS show that we will hit the Northeast trades sooner rather than later. At best, that is two days away, however, so I think I’d better get used to motoring. We feel like it is amazing that we got to within 14 miles of the equator before having to motor, so again, no complaints here.
by Judy Handley | Feb 15, 2011 | Passage to Grenada, Sailing Logs Year 6 |
Day 114, Year 6 Atlantic Passage, Day 11-Close to the Equator
Date: Tuesday, February 15, 2011 (1730 UTC)
Weather: Mostly Overcast; SSE/ESE/S 11-14 w/periods 14-18
Air Temperature: 81 degrees F (night and day)
Latitude: 00 50.099 S
Longitude: 022 51.699 W
Miles Traveled: 1408
Miles to Go: 2,506
Location: Passage from St. Helena to Caribbean (Grenada)
Windbird is going to stay true to form and cross the equator in the dark. Our first crossing entering the Southern Hemisphere was on Tuesday, March 14, 2006. We would arrive in the Galapagos the next morning and surprisingly the nighttime temperature was cooler by a couple degrees than it is here but the daytime temperature was a degree warmer than today. But we had bright sunshine then, and it was totally overcast today and not as warm as usual. The seas were calm, the skies were clear with a full moon, and we had NO WIND. It was a beautiful evening and a serene crossing.
Our second crossing was on a Monday, October 20, 2008, at 3:30 am. We were on our way to Singapore and the weather was anything but serene. We literally had fireworks in the sky as we crossed the equator going from South to North. There was thunder, lightening, torrential rain, NO WIND, and it was hot (I didn’t report the temperature).
Crossing number three was on Sunday, March 21, of last year, again in the middle of the night (3:48 am). We would arrive in the Addu Atoll in the Maldives that same morning. It was hot (again, I didn’t record the temperature) and we had NO WIND as we once again entered the Southern Hemisphere.
So it will be interesting to see exactly what time we cross the equator for the fourth time. Will we have NO WIND or we will sail across this time? Will it be overcast or will the stars and the moon be visible? Today has been a strange day weather-wise. We have had a few squalls with drizzle and steel gray dark clouds have been lurking to port from the N to the E and behind us to the S all day. Until just now. It is starting to clear and the steel gray clouds have turned into puffy white ones in a beautiful blue sky. Interesting. Traversay III was talking to Bahati on the radio this morning and Larry referred the bubble of wind “up north”-that’s us. Traversay is two days behind us but only a moving about 100 miles a day. The last couple of days we have averaged 150 miles a day. We have slowed down considerably today, but we do still have wind. So Windbird’s “wind bubble” is headed for the equator.
by Judy Handley | Feb 14, 2011 | Passage to Grenada, Sailing Logs Year 6 |
Day 113, Year 6 Atlantic Passage, Day 10-Happy Valentine’s Day
Date: Monday, February 14, 2011 (1730 UTC)
Weather: Partly Sunny; SE 15-20 w/periods of SSE 18-24
Air Temperature: 83 degrees F (early am); 87 degrees F (mid-day)
Latitude: 02 33.727 S
Longitude: 021 31.656 W
Miles Traveled: 1276
Miles to Go: 2606
Location: Passage from St. Helena to Caribbean (Grenada)
Happy Valentine’s Day! Windbird gave us our Valentine’s Day gift by continuing to sail herself. This afternoon at 3:20 marked seven full days of downwind sailing without having to touch a sail. And the Atlantic decided to give us the gift of positive current for the first time since leaving St. Helena. We have had a negative current which has slowed us down a bit, but now we are getting a nice boost. But Neptune was not so generous with his Valentine gift. He took another lure from us. I don’t know what monster fish are out their but they have to be big to keep breaking our line and making off with the lures. But I’m glad to trade a homemade lure for positive current anyday. The last twenty four hours was our fastest time since leaving St. Helena. We made over a 150 miles. A report we get from the Brazilian weather service tells us that the Inter-tropical Convergence zone (ITCZ) is currently one to two degrees north of the equator. But it moves constantly and could come further south to meet us. The ITCZ is where the Southeast trade winds of the south Atlantic meet the Northeast trade winds of the north Atlantic. Where they meet there is often a clash resulting in squalls and heavy rain, alternating with periods of no wind. This same Brazilian report said that the storm activity was more violent further west at 40 degrees of longitude. We are further east than our planned route, but now I think that is fine. Maybe, just maybe, we can avoid some of the more violent squalls. We will cross the equator sometime tomorrow or early on Wednesday. I guess I’d better dream up some special celebration for the fourth and final crossing during this circumnavigation. My hope would be for fresh fish so we could have sashimi. Yummm.
by Judy Handley | Feb 13, 2011 | Passage to Grenada, Sailing Logs Year 6 |
Day 112, Year 6 Atlantic Passage, Day 9-Still Rolling Along
Date: Sunday, February 13, 2011 (1730 UTC)
Weather: Sunny; SE 15-20 with Periods of SSE 18-24
Air Temperature: 85 degrees F (mid-day)
Latitude: 04 40.406 S
Longitude: 019 58.302 W
Miles Traveled: 1117
Miles to Go: 2732
Location: Passage from St. Helena to Caribbean (Grenada)
Windbird is still rolling along, having another great day of downwind sailing. We had our second in a row squally night, but nothing major. And we had a sunnier day today than yesterday although it is starting to cloud over a bit in the late afternoon. The wind is staying with us and during the night and most of the morning we had long periods with increased winds. So we continue to make great progress clicking off 130 to 140 miles per day. We still haven’t touched a sail since last Monday afternoon. Our heading is a little more northerly than the planned course, but we’re making such good time we don’t want to mess with things. We’ll just keep heading this way until we run out of wind and then we’ll motor straight north until we have wind again. We should have no problem going more westerly once we are in the Northeast Trades. So at least that’s today’s plan. We saw two more ships last night but nothing today, so it’s not getting crowded out here yet.
We now have a regular radio sched with Bahati and Traversay III. And finally today, they both have wind. Neither has quite as much as we do, but they are able to go a little better than 5 knots. So that’s great. Traversay is two days behind us and Bahati is about seven days behind. It’s good to talk to them each day and know they aren’t too far behind. I’m back to working on my spring cleaning projects and have started reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals about Abraham Lincoln. Mark just finished Atlantic by Simon Winchester and is now reading King Arthur by M. K. Hume. We both feel incredibly rested as we are getting plenty of sleep. So again I must say, passage life is good.
by Judy Handley | Feb 12, 2011 | Passage to Grenada, Sailing Logs Year 6 |
Day 111, Year 6 Atlantic Passage, Day 8-Time to Celebrate
Date: Saturday, February 12, 2011 (1730 UTC)
Weather: Partly Sunny; SE 15-20
Air Temperature: 85 degrees F (mid-day)
Latitude: 06 35.701 S
Longitude: 018 30.832 W
Miles Traveled: 976.77
Miles to Go: 2,853 (2,854 Miles Traveled from South Africa)
Location: Passage from St. Helena to Caribbean (Grenada)
Windbird continues to move forward between 5.5 and 6.0 knots, still sailing wing ‘n wing with the full main and double-reefed headsail. We could be going faster if we could unfurl the headsail completely, but when we do it just slaps every time a big wave goes under Windbird and rolls her from side to side-which is about every five seconds! Our pole is just not long enough to hold the full headsail out tight, so we’re content with the speed and the smoother ride without the slapping. Our next waypoint is at 0 degrees latitude (the equator) and 32.30 degrees W longitude. This is just a place we picked where we think we might enter the ITCZ and head north to cross it before once again heading NW to Grenada. If we run out of wind sooner, we’ll probably turn north sooner figuring the ITCZ has made a special effort to come further south to meet us! My calculations tell me we have traveled 2,854 miles since Cape Town and we have 2,853 miles to go. So we just hit the half-way point for the total passage. YEE-haw! I don’t want to get too excited as we are only a third of the way through the St. Helena to Grenada passage, but we have put some good miles behind us and it’s time for a little celebration.
There is life out here, but unfortunately it is not on the end of our fishing line. Mark saw a ship at least eight miles away headed south at about 11:00 this morning and we saw flying fish for the first time since leaving South Africa. We normally see them all the time, but they have not been out here on this passage. Just as I was finishing the log yesterday, we saw a couple of petrels, probably Leach’s Storm Petrels, doing acrobatics as they skimmed along the top of the water, and they were back earlier this afternoon. And last night on Mark’s first watch, a rather large Brown Noddy decided to roost on our grill. Actually there were two Noddies and the one on the grill didn’t want the other one to land on our life line. So they had a bit of a struggle and finally flew away. Our current location is about a thousand miles from St. Helena, a thousand miles from the hump at the northern tip of Brazil, and a thousand miles from hump on Africa’s West Coast. The only land closer is Ascension and we are now at least two hundred and fifty miles from there, so no wonder the birds wanted to take a little rest. So after seven full days on this passage from St. Helena, and the last twelve of the fourteen days of the passage to St. Helena from South Africa, we are finally seeing ships (well, one ship), birds, and flying fish. The other thing we haven’t seen that is usually so prevalent is phosphorescent life in the wake at night. The little creatures usually light up our wake at night, but we have seen none of that.
Mark pulled a muscle in his arm yesterday while checking that loose connection we had on the alternator a couple of days ago. He was actually replacing a wire when a particularly large wave went under us, the boat lurched, and he went flying over the top of the engine still trying to hold on to the wrench in his hand. This put his arm in a strange position and thus the pulled muscle. If he takes Aleve he is fine, but hopefully we won’t have any major sail changes for another couple of days while the muscle repairs itself. Otherwise, all is fine.
