Crossing the ITCZ
31 March 2009 | Pacific
Scott
We appear to have made it through the doldrums, the windless zone that has haunted sailors for as long as boats have been trying to cross the Pacific. The Inter-tropical Convergent Zone is where the trade winds from the Northern Hemisphere mix with the trade winds from the Southern Hemisphere and the winds can be light or non existent for days. We have been lucky so far and the ITCZ is pretty narrow where we are crossing. While we have had light winds and struggled to keep the boat moving for the last couple of days, we now we seem to have reached the southern edge of the ITCZ and are picking up the South East trade winds.
The breeze filled in mid morning and we had a smokin' day of sailing with 15 knots on the beam. This is Whisper's favorite point of sail and we are screaming along at 7 knots in wonderfully flat water.
We are about 80 miles north of the equator and it looks like we will cross some time tomorrow. Tradition calls for King Neptune to visit and turn the "pollywogs" into "shellbacks" as they cross the equator. As the only "Shellback" aboard, I am to be granted all the special attentions and favors that I demand and have the duty to haze the pollywogs thoroughly. It is a "keys to the city" kind of thing, apparently. Mary has been pushing back pretty hard on the whole idea, so we will see how it goes. At a minimum, we will definitely give King Neptune offerings as thanks for a safe voyage so far, and hopes for safe sailing in the future.