(Blog No.26) Horse latitudes - becalmed again.

Catou
Paul and Sylvie Tucker
Sat 27 Nov 2010 12:32
 21:27.79N 23:23.21W
 
 
Noon Position : 21 deg 28 'N   23 deg 23'W
Daily Run:                       80 miles
Av. Speed:                       3.33 Knots
Total Av. Speed:              4.51 Knots
Total distance covered:  649 ' 
Distance to go:               2188'
ETA: We will resume this calculation when we find the NE trade winds!
 
Phrase of the Day:  From Ben's mother : Do unto others as you would have do unto you.  (Sorry, we forgot one yesterday.)
 
We have been becalmed yet again!  Most frustrating- and have been trying to keep our spirits up!  I took over from Sylvie at 0600 this morning and the distance to the w/point north of the Cape Verde Islands was 102'. My only ambition was to reduce the distance to 100' when Ben took over at 0900. I only had to do 2 miles!  It was still 102' at the end of my 3 hour watch !  Just nothing you can do.  The GRIB weather forecast shows an excellent chart with graphics, and it was absolutely accurate with this calm - so we knew it was coming.
 
These areas of calm are known as the 'Horse latitudes' - an area of latitude between the westerly winds of higher latitudes and the NE trade winds closer to the equator. (that we are hoping to find!) Two explanations of the name: (1) As ships were becalmed, and fodder and animal feed ran out, the horses were thrown overboard in the old sailing ship days (not sure why horses would have been on board anyway - for meat I suppose?), or (2) The term 'dead horse' was used by seamen to describe the period of work on board ship for which they had been paid in advance when signing on (usually a month's wages). There was a custom in merchant ships of celebrating having worked off the 'dead horse' by parading an effigy of a straw-stuffed horse and then throwing in overboard. So says my my Oxford companion to ships and the sea!
 
At just after noon when preparing to send this, we have found some wind and are now making over 5 knots.  AND ....... big news of the day - we have finally got the Hydrovane self-steering working well, and it's steering a better course that we human beings!. It has been an expensive piece of scaffolding hanging off our stern to have just sitting there doing nothing.
 
We are due to have at least 2 days of SW'ly head winds ahead - not usual at all for this region, so it will probably be a bit of a bash for the next couple of days - but hey, at least we are moving again!
Best wishes
Catou crew