At sea! "18:20.87S 178:54.64E"
VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Mon 22 Oct 2012 17:36
|
Well, we've left Fiji at last, bound for NZ. The
nasty low pressure system that was going to delay us until the end of the week
dissipated as suddenly as it arose, so we've set off in a rush (after a three
hour wait in Customs).
The weather problems for this crossing (1200nm) are
caused by us having to cross from the SE Trades of the Tropical South Pacific
into the area around NZ dominated by fast moving depressions travelling, as
in the northern hemisphere, from west to east - but down here of course the
winds circulate clockwise around a depression instead of anticlockwise. And the
bathwater goes down the plughole the other way,
too. These depressions, which can be very nasty indeed, arrive with an
average frequency of six days or less, so on a 7-8 day crossing we're
almost bound to hit one - and 7 days is beyond the outside limit of accurate
weather forecasting in those latitudes. Between the easterly Trades and the
depressions lies a confused belt, often with a several hundred miles long
sausage shape of no or little wind. The best time to cross is just after a
high pressure system has gone through between Fiji & NZ - but of course this
year there haven't been any yet.
Anyway, we're off. ETA next Tuesday, at
Opua.
|