Dawn
Overnight collection of flying fish
which end up everywhere
Email from the boat to shore:
From: OmanTri
Date: Sun, 8 Mar 2009 02:22:53 -0000
To: update
Subject: Getting warmer
The last 24hours have seen us going through a few sail changes as we keep
pace with the environment changing around us – we sailed much of the day
with full one reef and solent, with hardly an adjustment all day, then as
evening came the wind got super shifty, and increased peaking at 27kts and a
confused sea – down to two reefs and staysail – even so the boat was bashng
and crashing around, def. not something you want at the end of a full on
trip like this! Every time the boat shudders and that shudder ripples up the
mast you wonder what’s going to break – it’s truly horrible.
All through the day yesterday we saw a few flying fish – not to many on
deck casualties yet, but the increase in air and sea tempreture is very
evident. Pretty much end of sleeping bags, and long thermal bottoms now –
and working to stay cool – however on deck the water is hosing us – so still
need full wet gear so it’s a matter of choice what to put under it! the
shell’d salopette trousers are favoured as they keep you dry from water
coming in through the wet weather gear, and on top… anyone’s guess –
quick dry thermal top is a winner it’ warm enough just to put smock on top
of that. Then you come down below to get food, or start the generator, and
you over heat instantly so it’s a bit of a rush to get trousers, boots off
before you explode in sweat. This is our life until we find some calmer or
more downwind conditions – which will mean less water across the deck, and
things can properly start to dry out… I think once in the doldrums (approx
800nm to north) we’ll be getting sleeping bags out aging to give them an
airing – they have worked hard, and deserve a break from either being slept
in, or tightly wrapped in a waterproof air tight bag – just don’t stand down
wind of them for an hour or so.
Sunrise this morning was another great one, though 45 mins into it the sun
has disappeared behind some large grey clouds that we have been sailing
between – trying to avoid ( for now at least successfully) the rain, and
squally wind that accompanies them. It’s so much easier during the day,
last night thankfully the full moon allowed us to see the clouds, but when
there isn’t a moon it’s a lottery. With 5 on board it’s fairly easiy to
react quickly, normally it’s just 3 to do all the manouvers the one watch
pair, and the standby guy (me) who can come on deck quickly to help (usually
i end up grinding).
So for the next day and a half we should be makng good progress North bound,
befoe the doldrums – time to make hay and keep the boatspeed and our options
open for where to cross the doldrums, right now 61-63E looks good – but
througout the day we’ll be keeping a close eye on satellite imagrey to guide
us to the exact best place, we also have daily updates from Commanders
Weather in USA who are used to picking doldrum crossing points having been
involved with many round the world record attempts, and have good recent
Indian Ocean experience being weather coaches to one of the Volvo Ocean Race
teams, who recently raced from Cape Town, South Africa to Cochin, India (
India’s West coast NE of Maldives.
Date: Sun, 8 Mar 2009 02:22:53 -0000
To: update
Subject: Getting warmer
The last 24hours have seen us going through a few sail changes as we keep
pace with the environment changing around us – we sailed much of the day
with full one reef and solent, with hardly an adjustment all day, then as
evening came the wind got super shifty, and increased peaking at 27kts and a
confused sea – down to two reefs and staysail – even so the boat was bashng
and crashing around, def. not something you want at the end of a full on
trip like this! Every time the boat shudders and that shudder ripples up the
mast you wonder what’s going to break – it’s truly horrible.
All through the day yesterday we saw a few flying fish – not to many on
deck casualties yet, but the increase in air and sea tempreture is very
evident. Pretty much end of sleeping bags, and long thermal bottoms now –
and working to stay cool – however on deck the water is hosing us – so still
need full wet gear so it’s a matter of choice what to put under it! the
shell’d salopette trousers are favoured as they keep you dry from water
coming in through the wet weather gear, and on top… anyone’s guess –
quick dry thermal top is a winner it’ warm enough just to put smock on top
of that. Then you come down below to get food, or start the generator, and
you over heat instantly so it’s a bit of a rush to get trousers, boots off
before you explode in sweat. This is our life until we find some calmer or
more downwind conditions – which will mean less water across the deck, and
things can properly start to dry out… I think once in the doldrums (approx
800nm to north) we’ll be getting sleeping bags out aging to give them an
airing – they have worked hard, and deserve a break from either being slept
in, or tightly wrapped in a waterproof air tight bag – just don’t stand down
wind of them for an hour or so.
Sunrise this morning was another great one, though 45 mins into it the sun
has disappeared behind some large grey clouds that we have been sailing
between – trying to avoid ( for now at least successfully) the rain, and
squally wind that accompanies them. It’s so much easier during the day,
last night thankfully the full moon allowed us to see the clouds, but when
there isn’t a moon it’s a lottery. With 5 on board it’s fairly easiy to
react quickly, normally it’s just 3 to do all the manouvers the one watch
pair, and the standby guy (me) who can come on deck quickly to help (usually
i end up grinding).
So for the next day and a half we should be makng good progress North bound,
befoe the doldrums – time to make hay and keep the boatspeed and our options
open for where to cross the doldrums, right now 61-63E looks good – but
througout the day we’ll be keeping a close eye on satellite imagrey to guide
us to the exact best place, we also have daily updates from Commanders
Weather in USA who are used to picking doldrum crossing points having been
involved with many round the world record attempts, and have good recent
Indian Ocean experience being weather coaches to one of the Volvo Ocean Race
teams, who recently raced from Cape Town, South Africa to Cochin, India (
India’s West coast NE of Maldives.
Weather Router’s advice:
From: Commanders’ Weather
To: Musandam
Subject: Weather 3/8/09
Date: 08/03/2009 13:30:18
To: Charles Darbyshire and the crew of
ìMusandamî
From: Commanders Weather Corp
Event: sail around the world
Last Position: 20 27s/60 54e at 1200utc Sun, Mar 8
Prepared: 1230utc Sunday, March 8, 2009
SummaryÖ
1) You continue to exceed expectations ñ very good!
2) 2 areas of convection today
a) 1st is near 14-16S/80-82E. It is moving SE. A strong low is not
expected, but even if it did form, it would not bother us
b) lots of convection just E and SE of Sri Lanka. Donít expect much to
form here, but even if something did form, it should not bother us
3) Watch your satellite imagery
a) broken band of clouds from 9-10S/70E to 5-6S/50-60E. This is a
convergence line ñ there is a big wind shift across this line, probably SSE
veering into the WNW
b) where this line is concentrated, will be the shortest/smallest
transition into the westerlies
c) would like to get into the westerlies asap and then head straight N,
so 10S/65E looks good right now
3) Not keen on going too far E of 65E/south of 10S
a) will hit the westerlies near and just N of 10S
b) conditions look very bad near the Maldives, east of 70E, so donít want
to be too far E too soon with a transition into the westerlies just N of 10S
c) keep in mind, the W and NW winds will veer into the N and NE. We will
tack on a NNE wind
4) By Wed ñ Fri, looks like the best winds N of the Equator will be W of
60E, but these will be NE and
ENE winds, so would head towards Somalia (not a good place)
a) trying to find a balance between stronger NE and ENE west of 60E and
the moderate NE winds between 60-65E
b) weather models look horrible N of 10N between 60-65E at this time
c) the weather models are not terribly reliable in this area of the
world, so not trying to avoid 10-15N/60-65E at this time, but if it
continues to look bad, we will sail deeper angles on Wed ñ Fri and go
further W
Routing
1) Will work over to 65E before 10S then N
2) Do not want to go as far E as 70E both S and N of the equator
3) Will be tacking to starboard when winds are 360-030, depending on whether
we sail
N between 60-65E or we need to go further
a) donít need to decide this until Wed
Wind directions are TRUE, wind speed in kts, and time is UTC
Sun, Mar 8
18: 100-120/12-17
WeatherÖFair skies and an E-ESE sea 4-7 feet
Mon, Mar 9
00: 110-130/11-16
06: 100-120/11-16
12: 130-160/14-7, near 14S/63E and still on starboard
18: 120-150/ 7-11
WeatherÖFair to partly cloudy with ESE seas of 3-5 feet
Tue, Mar 10
00: 140-170/ 5-9
06: 130-190/ 4-7, maybe gybing to go N
12: 210-270/ 4-8 on port and going straight N, near 10S/65E
18: 230-270/ 5-9
WeatherÖPartly cloudy, chc of a shower or 2. Brief gusts, but more wind
holes than gusts around these showers. Seas variable at 2-4 feet
Wed, Mar 11
00: 270-310/ 5-9
06: 270-310/ 5-9 and on port tack
12: 310-350/ 7-11 near 3 50S/68E
18: 360-020/ 8-12 and tacking
WeatherÖPartly cloudy. Maybe a spot shower. NW-N seas 3-5 feet
Thu, Mar 12
00: 010-030/ 9-13
06: 020-040/ 9-13
12: 020-050/ 8-12, near 1N/64 55E ñ have you going N between 60-65E, but if
you need to go further W, we can since we are upwind
18: 030-060/ 7-11
WeatherÖPartly cloudy. Maybe a spot shower. N to NE seas of 3-5 feet
Fri, Mar 13
00: 040-070/ 8-12
12: 050-080/ 7-11, near 6N/63E
WeatherÖPartly cloudy to fair with NE seas of 3-5 feet or less
Best regards, Ken Campbell
—
PLEASE NOTE: AS OF JANUARY 1, 2008, OUR NEW EMAIL ADDRESS IS :
info@commandersweather.com
Commanders Weather Corp.
Tel: 603-882-6789
To: Musandam
Subject: Weather 3/8/09
Date: 08/03/2009 13:30:18
To: Charles Darbyshire and the crew of
ìMusandamî
From: Commanders Weather Corp
Event: sail around the world
Last Position: 20 27s/60 54e at 1200utc Sun, Mar 8
Prepared: 1230utc Sunday, March 8, 2009
SummaryÖ
1) You continue to exceed expectations ñ very good!
2) 2 areas of convection today
a) 1st is near 14-16S/80-82E. It is moving SE. A strong low is not
expected, but even if it did form, it would not bother us
b) lots of convection just E and SE of Sri Lanka. Donít expect much to
form here, but even if something did form, it should not bother us
3) Watch your satellite imagery
a) broken band of clouds from 9-10S/70E to 5-6S/50-60E. This is a
convergence line ñ there is a big wind shift across this line, probably SSE
veering into the WNW
b) where this line is concentrated, will be the shortest/smallest
transition into the westerlies
c) would like to get into the westerlies asap and then head straight N,
so 10S/65E looks good right now
3) Not keen on going too far E of 65E/south of 10S
a) will hit the westerlies near and just N of 10S
b) conditions look very bad near the Maldives, east of 70E, so donít want
to be too far E too soon with a transition into the westerlies just N of 10S
c) keep in mind, the W and NW winds will veer into the N and NE. We will
tack on a NNE wind
4) By Wed ñ Fri, looks like the best winds N of the Equator will be W of
60E, but these will be NE and
ENE winds, so would head towards Somalia (not a good place)
a) trying to find a balance between stronger NE and ENE west of 60E and
the moderate NE winds between 60-65E
b) weather models look horrible N of 10N between 60-65E at this time
c) the weather models are not terribly reliable in this area of the
world, so not trying to avoid 10-15N/60-65E at this time, but if it
continues to look bad, we will sail deeper angles on Wed ñ Fri and go
further W
Routing
1) Will work over to 65E before 10S then N
2) Do not want to go as far E as 70E both S and N of the equator
3) Will be tacking to starboard when winds are 360-030, depending on whether
we sail
N between 60-65E or we need to go further
a) donít need to decide this until Wed
Wind directions are TRUE, wind speed in kts, and time is UTC
Sun, Mar 8
18: 100-120/12-17
WeatherÖFair skies and an E-ESE sea 4-7 feet
Mon, Mar 9
00: 110-130/11-16
06: 100-120/11-16
12: 130-160/14-7, near 14S/63E and still on starboard
18: 120-150/ 7-11
WeatherÖFair to partly cloudy with ESE seas of 3-5 feet
Tue, Mar 10
00: 140-170/ 5-9
06: 130-190/ 4-7, maybe gybing to go N
12: 210-270/ 4-8 on port and going straight N, near 10S/65E
18: 230-270/ 5-9
WeatherÖPartly cloudy, chc of a shower or 2. Brief gusts, but more wind
holes than gusts around these showers. Seas variable at 2-4 feet
Wed, Mar 11
00: 270-310/ 5-9
06: 270-310/ 5-9 and on port tack
12: 310-350/ 7-11 near 3 50S/68E
18: 360-020/ 8-12 and tacking
WeatherÖPartly cloudy. Maybe a spot shower. NW-N seas 3-5 feet
Thu, Mar 12
00: 010-030/ 9-13
06: 020-040/ 9-13
12: 020-050/ 8-12, near 1N/64 55E ñ have you going N between 60-65E, but if
you need to go further W, we can since we are upwind
18: 030-060/ 7-11
WeatherÖPartly cloudy. Maybe a spot shower. N to NE seas of 3-5 feet
Fri, Mar 13
00: 040-070/ 8-12
12: 050-080/ 7-11, near 6N/63E
WeatherÖPartly cloudy to fair with NE seas of 3-5 feet or less
Best regards, Ken Campbell
—
PLEASE NOTE: AS OF JANUARY 1, 2008, OUR NEW EMAIL ADDRESS IS :
info@commandersweather.com
Commanders Weather Corp.
Tel: 603-882-6789
A selection of pictures from today: