Ascension Island to the Azores Day 4 - A steady day with fad ing winds

Caduceus
Martin and Elizabeth Bevan
Thu 23 Feb 2017 04:09

Position                    03:18.19 S 020:19.04 W

Date                          2359 (UTC) Wednesday 22 February 2017

Distance run             in 24hrs 128nm over the ground, 103nm through the water

Passage total            469nm over the ground, 428nm through the water

Distance to go          3,169nm

Planned distance      Ascension to the Azores west around the high 3,666nm

 

The wind is getting lighter and more fluky as we approach the ITCZ (Inter Tropical Convergence Zone) more commonly known as the doldrums.  I supposed that we are currently in what used to be called the Horse Latitudes; no prizes for why they were called that.  Fortunately, there was a good helping current, if it had been going the other way we would have had to resort to engine to maintain some sort of progress.  As it was, we managed just over 5 knots over the ground so could delay the use of the engine.  We think that we had an undetected passenger for a couple of hours during the night.  The rigging at times makes bird like squawks.  In this instance the bird was making rigging like noises.  We did not see it but in daylight found on deck that which birds do best; it must have been sitting on the mizzen spreaders.