Sal's Ocean Globe Race Analysis: The Doldrums are ahead...
There are another tricky few days coming up for the boats on this, the fourth and final leg of the Ocean Globe Race, as if the last 3000 miles haven’t been tricky enough.
For the past few days the breeze finally settled into the long awaited Trade Winds that they would have expected to carry them with relative ease up the coast of South America but were nowhere to be found for over 2 weeks. The challenge now is the Doldrums, correctly named, the Intertropical Convergence Zone, ITCZ for short. It is a band of low pressure circling the earth, close to the Equator caused by the meeting of the predominant weather systems in the Northen and Southern Hemisphere. They cancel each other out causing very light airs with squally thundery gusts. The ITCZ is not steady in any way and fluctuates from extensive to virtually non-existent within a few miles.
L’Esprit d’Equipe and Pen Duick VI stretched out a big lead prior to the fleet finding the Easterlies up the coast. They are now picking their way slowly through the shifts and puffs of the ITCZ painfully aware that the rest of the fleet are barrelling in to catch them. Maiden and Helsinki have gained miles on them; the question now is, can the leaders escape the clutches, into the North East Trades before the rest of the fleet catch up?
Each group of boats will find different conditions and if anyone can manage to pick their way through without stopping , there are serious gains to be made. It will be interesting watching the tracker for the next couple of days to see who comes out on top.
The crews will be very settled into their watch routines now. One of the great joys of working watches is the amount of time spent out of doors at night. The night sky becomes a very familiar and beautiful sight, all the more vivid because of the total absence of light pollution. As the boats head North they will be noticing changes in the Constellations. In the Southern Hemisphere, the night sky looks quite different, there are some constellations that cannot be seen from the North, and other, familiar ones, that appear upside down.
As the boats make their way North, on this challenging leg, the sight of the night sky looking more familiar will be one of the first real signs that they really are, heading home.
Sally (Sal) Hunter was part of the original Maiden crew to sail around the world in the 89/90 Whitbread Race. Sal has joined the Maiden Shore Team for the duration of the Ocean Globe Race, tracking Maiden and keeping us updated with sailing analysis updates!
