Whar da trade winds man!
Oriole
Sat 5 Feb 2005 21:14
As any schoolboy (or should I say person) knows,
the north easterly trade winds which dominate the weather in the Caribbean are
driven by the pressure difference between the North Atlantic High and low
pressure further south. Unfortunately someone forgot to remind the Almighty that
putting a deep depression up by Bermuda rather upsets things and this week the
wind which has been very light swung round to the west and has been anywhere
between NW and SW.
Look! No wind - unheard of.
Not only is this depression blocking the High from
exerting its influence
the High has wrapped itself round it and won't let
it move east out of the way. The Eastern Caribbean is not designed for this as
there are not that many anchorages sheltered from the west, but it does give one
the opportunity to explore places that would normally be off limits. This
depression has been sending down big swells which also make the anchorages a bit
rocky-rolly. Further north the weather has not been good but in Martinique it
has been really lovely but without much wind to sail with.
From Rodney Bay, St Lucia
We did have a lovely sail up here from St Lucia but
we are due back there tomorrow evening to meet Andrew who arrives for 10 days
with his new attachment. Small boats are not the best place to have one's first
meeting with a son's girl friend but it worked fine with Robert and Dani last
year so here we go again! Await next weeks exciting installment.