20 Degrees North

We’ve reached the 20 degree north line, which is approximately the outer limits for the trade winds. They’ve moved north a little bit, over the last couple of days, so we’re still in them, but they should be diminishing in the next 24 hours or so. 20 degrees north is...

Pounding Along

We are at the latitude of the windward leeward islands down in the Caribbean and just about half way across Africa. We are getting occasional notifications through the Inmarsat-C, reports about piracy, warnings to stay away from some of the coastal towns off Western...

Safety Below Deck

Through the night we continued to make progress north. The trade winds have been moderate so far, which is far easier on the boat and skipper. Nonetheless, there have been some tremendous crashes that rattle every corner and joint of the boat. The chart table bench is...

Into the Northeast Trades

Finally, the Northeast trades arrived, or we worked our way far enough north to get into them. They have been more North Northeast than Northeast, and we’ve been sailing higher I think than the others before, relative to the wind, but only because we have less...

Sailing for the ITCZ

Getting across the equator yesterday was both a challenge and a relief. As we approached, it seemed as though the wind gods decided they weren’t quite ready for us yet, so the wind turned to the north, and essentially, although all of the weather files showed us...

Back in Our Home Waters

Our position is in the Northern Hemisphere. Finally. We crossed the Equator late this afternoon, very slow going all day today. In the last few hours, the wind shifted to the north, just as we were finally closing in on the Equator. We thought we might not actually...