From: OmanTri
Dat: Sun, 22 Mar 2009 02:33:41 -0000
To: update
Subject: Light airs get lighter


Our old aquaintances Harry Flatters, and Shifty Bob have returned. Harry
( the sea ) and Bob( the wind ) appeared at sunset last night after a
pretty reasonable day’s progress. All through the night the winds have been
super light and very variable. Of course we had been anticipating this for
a few days, the high pressure centered between us and ‘the corner’ as Ras Al
Hadd has become known was always going to provided with a case of the
slows. We are trying to make best progress we can N and NW to escape the H
which is moving eastwards. This is different to the doldrums, just a few
hundred nm to the north there are good SW winds this means two things for
us – we should be fairly fast once we reach the new wind, and that there are
other weather factors in the area which will ensure the H will move – this
was not the case in the doldrums.

We just have to take it on the chin today, and hope by the end of the day
we’ll be moving well again in a wind that has shifted as we anticpate and
increased to a strength we can accelorate in to. If we do get the 20 kts
that is hinted at then it’ll be the first time in almost weeks, that we will
have been above 12 kts boatspeed. we were doing 10 at times during the day
and it felt like we were really going fast.Certainly we are all looking
forward to doing 20 kts again if ever we do.

it’s another pretty good ( but not the best ) sun rise here, there are
quite a few clouds, especially off to the west. Last night we watched the
sun go down, without a cloud in the sky. So we were hoping to get a chance
to see the green flash, and there was much anticipation as the last 20 mins
before sunset were spent watching it slow decend to the horizon. Just
before it slipped into the sea it was obscured slightly behind some far off
clounds, and the green flash dream was over. Apart from the French who
claimed to have seen it, and afterwards claimed that you needed french eyes
to have seen it..there won’t be many more chances to see the green flash
now – so we might have to leave it for another trip.

We got news from the Volvo Ocean Race, that the boys on Green Dragon rounded
cape horn the other day – on St Patrick’s Day, unfortunatly it was blowing
hard, and dark, so they never got to see what we saw, and for their
navigator Wouter it’s his 2nd time there and still hasn’t see it! I pretty
good reminder just how lucky we were to see this awesome landmark, and to
pass by in moderate conditions – it seems a while ago now, but it’s one of a
whole raft of memories that will start to be recalled when we hit land, and
everyone asks us the high points of the trip. The Irish Team have something
else to celebrate as they battle their own high pressure system on the way
north to Rio – a win over Wales in the Rugby, and with it the 6 Nations
Championship Title.

Talk on deck was of our impending arrival ( when ever it shall be) and it
always ranges across the same subjects, what are we going to eat, how much
are we going to sleep, and how long will we be able to celebrate for before
having to return to real life – all this with one hand on one of the few
bits of wood onboard the boat – for we are not there yet, and a careless
mistake could cause just as much damage here as anywhere else on the trip,
and closing on land is always more dangerous with shipping – big and small,
fishing nets and the headlands themselves to avoid.