Twenty-four
hours into the doldrums and we have experienced thunderstorms with
strong shifting winds, nice steady breeze, and now (as I type)
nothing—well 2.6 knots of breeze. The boat is so quiet that you really
could hear a pin drop! One
thing is for sure about the doldrums or Intertropical Convergence Zone
(ITCZ): it’s dramatic. Whether it is a massive Cumulus Nymbus cloud,
taller than any building known to man, or stark calm water that’s a bit
creepy—everything seems to be a bit extreme and over the top—like
nature’s best soap opera.
Thunderstorms
are forming on a regular basis in the doldrums. Some form and
disappear, some are smaller (really angry) thunderstorms that spun out
of larger thunderstorms, others are so big that they consume the horizon
and suck all the wind, and some even turn into hurricanes.
Everyone
on board is starring off into the horizon, following the clouds’
movements, and watching the clouds form. Each time Libby pops up on deck
she is bombarded with questions not about “where are we” but more about
“what’s that cloud”?
“Clouds
out here form from air rising—they form in situation, because the sea
temperature is warm and the air is a lot cooler, causing the air to
rise, the air to cool, condense and then obviously ‘cause there’s plenty
of sea and water around, there’s plenty of moisture and therefore
plenty of energy to form the clouds and thunderstorms,” Libby explained.
You
know when you try to stick two positive magnets together and regardless
as to how close you get them they never touch? Well, the ITCZ is a bit
like that. The ITCZ is formed as a result of the Northerly trade winds
and the Southerly trade winds meeting. It is the “zone” between the
trades—about 3-5 degrees wide—where energy and wind go ‘up.’ With
everything going up, thunderstorms are formed, and then you have light
and shifty winds on the surface. Plus, the closer you are to a massive
thunderstorm (a big ‘bogey’ as Libby calls them) the less wind you are
likely to have as the wind is sucked up in to the system.
The
most important thing for us to do is watch the clouds and watch the
radar—to make sure we’re on the course that not only allows us to go
around the storms but also allows us to move forward.
We’re
running on a rule of thumb here: every 100 meters gained in the
doldrums is the equivalency of 1 nautical mile outside of the doldrums.
The doldrums becomes another parking lot, another zone where the boats
all meet up again and essentially ‘re-start.’
Which
is why it was no surprise that yesterday we saw another Volvo Ocean 65
for the first time in four days! We were all incredibly excited to see
the orange and black sails of Alvimedica on the horizon, a sense of
relief. However, we couldn’t focus on them the same way we had in the
beginning. We are still in our own race and we need to focus on getting
ourselves quickly through this tricky patch of Mother Ocean! (www.teamsca.com)
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