Day 8 - Convection
06 April 2009
Roger
Trip Log: 1125 Nautical Miles.
There were only five flying fish on deck today, but most of them were big ones so the total weight was much greater than the previous day. On the other hand, I found one poor little fellow that fit on my fingernail.
We flew along last night until midnight, when the clouds gathered and we were surrounded by squalls. The wind died, then rose suddenly in front of each squall. Some gave light rain, others tropical downpours. Mostly, the wind was absent and our progress slowed as we rocked and rolled and banged and crashed in the confused seas. In the morning, we took down the mainsail after discovering that one of the sail slides holding it had been broken. The jib was poled out to stop it thrashing itself to pieces, and we closed up to keep out the rain which had become general as the individual squalls joined together to form solid rain clouds from horizon to horizon. This, according to Bob McDavitt, is the equinoctial mirror of the ITCZ. In other words, a branch of the ITCZ (doldrums) reaches well south of the equator to where we are. He also tells us it extends westward to as far as 115W, or another 1,000 miles ahead of us. We've decided to angle further south to avoid as much of it as we can.
By evening, we had wind again and the rain has, for the most part, stopped. The winds are gusting to 20 knots and we're making 6 to 7 knots with just the poled out jib. We have seas coming in from the port stern side and are rolling fiercely. The seas are still very confused, so we're being thrown about randomly. Pots and pans and knives and forks and cups and plates are all merrily clattering and clanging in their cupboards and drawers. Every now and then there's a louder crash as something new decides to cut loose and explore its surroundings. It's a roller coaster ride that seems to be lasting a little longer than the ones at amusement parks.
We started at the same longitude as Miami, more or less. Today, we passed Houston and then Brownsville. In about 500 miles, we'll be directly south of Las Cruces.