DAY 7 Weather Update
February 15, Day 7 | ‘Bonus’ Weather Blog — Balancing Between Highs and Lows
Sailing across an ocean normally requires a bit of slaloming; you’re likely to abandon your great circle route searching for more favorable conditions. This specific passage with ADRIENNE from Sint Maarten to the Canaries is no different. This is NOT a route where we can simply follow the great circle route. While drawing a straight line from Sint Maarten to Gran Canaria, we end up with two very different weather patterns on either side of this line.
To the south, we find the NE’ly trade winds. This is where you want to be, sailing from the Canaries to the Caribbean to enjoy a nice downwind passage. ADRIENNE is heading the opposite direction. As much as I love upwind sailing, I’m afraid that three weeks of it, in 25+ knots of wind, wouldn’t necessarily improve the morale onboard.
The other option is to go north of this line. On that side, we find the semi-stationary ‘Azores High,’ also known as the Horse Latitudes. Known to sailors as an area of no wind and a burning sun—a place where you can be stuck for days on end, perhaps even weeks, if you don’t have an engine. Luckily, we have one onboard ADRIENNE. But we are sailors, not here to be motoring.
So, it stands between a bone-breaking upwind or no wind at all? Well, there is a joker involved. At this time of year—the northern hemisphere winter—deep low pressures regularly form further north in the Atlantic. From time to time, the cold fronts connected to these lows stretch far enough south to disturb the Azores High, bringing W’ly winds right down into the Horse Latitudes.
We have been monitoring the weather closely since leaving Sint Maarten, keeping our fingers crossed that such a low would be forming. For that reason, our course has been very much N’ly up until now. We really haven’t gained much distance at all towards our next port of call. Instead, we have invested our miles sailed to move north, to reach ‘The Low’ which hopefully would give ADRIENNE a good push towards Gran Canaria.
And we got it! As I’m writing this, a cold front has just passed by. Some beautiful squalls gave ADRIENNE and her crew a healthy shower. And now we’re pointing directly towards Gran Canaria in winds from astern. During the last hour, we averaged over 11 knots. The routing tells us we have approximately 13 days before landfall. We still have a lot of slaloming to do until then. New highs and developing lows are on the horizon. But for the time being, ADRIENNE is very happy. And so are the crew!
Love,
Erik, Skipper onboard ADRIENNE
ErikNordborg
View more passage logs
HMS Night Watch Party
Wing on wing worked well until the wind shifted then the helm became the cone of despair for our night watch crew of three (H, M and S) Alex made the decision to drop the pole, shifting wing on wing to a close reach. Wind increased to low teens and speed picked up to a flying pace. Day spent wandering toward Ensenada. Alex, Adam and David got us into port under another starry night.
No Kitemares Today
After a night marked by sudden wind accelerations peeling off Point Conception, and a vibrant, pulsating sky blistered with shooting stars, the off-watch woke to commotion on the foredeck. The wind had gone light and the swell had tapered just enough to raise the spinnaker. The sail filled with an urgent pop, the sheet strained and Falken charged down the face of the next wave. By mid-day, we doused the spinnaker and set our minds to the more precise task of safely punching through a gap in the notorious Cortez Bank. The border to Mexico looms ahead.
The California coast
We had a very lively first day of sailing with steady winds between 25 and 30 kn gusting to mid 30s. All of the crew got experience at difficult downwind helming as we covered 200 nautical miles in the first 24 hours. This morning brings winds in the teens and calmer seas. The sun is still shining, and the green monster has been slayed by those afflicted!