Position 05°03’774N 014°07’742W
267Nm off Liberia – Monrovia
348Nm from the Equator
1,427Nm from St Helena
886Nm from Cabo Verde
Hi dear friends, thank you for following our journey. Here’s this weeks update.
As we enter week thirteen of our journey we are once again becalmed although we officially left he doldrums a few days ago. The weather in the doldrums is very strange, you can see 20-40 different types of clouds in one day. From boiling heat to tropical down poor’, from zero wind to force 8 in a matter of minutes. After 10 day’s of being in the doldrums it’s safe to say we have had enough.
When we first entered the doldrums the wind’s, what winds there are arrived during the day but about half way through they started arriving at night.
There’s also a strange type of algae in the sea, which seems to keep the fish away, also the dolphins act totally different here. Here they appear at night not during the day?
There is also a real danger that we might become educated during this trip for while in the doldrums we have read the onboard library twice over. So much so I have resorted to reading all my old seamanship books / navigation etc. Although I have my Yacht master theory certificate I might well take the practical while in Cape Town with the I’m of taken my ocean master when we reach Australia. At least it keeps your mind active.
Pinta is holding up well with no maintenance required this week although battery management has been a big problem while in the doldrums. There is not enough wind for ‘Casper’ the wind generator to do it’s thing, while there is often a lot of cloud cover so the solar panels also struggle. I have resorted to running the engine for an hour a night to ensure they remain at a descent level.
Well that’s if for now I hope all of you are okay, take care of yourselves..
Thought for the week, ‘why are pea’s round when beans are not? (tells you how bored we are this week).
Fair winds, calm seas.
David.