Into the Northeast Trade Winds

The Inter Tropical Convergence (ITCZ or doldrums) was a big surprise this equator crossing. Five other equator crossings resulted in hours to days of motoring across a mirror-like swell with ABSOLUTELY no wind at all - save during the brief torrential downpours. This time, by contrast, the wind remained such that our boat speed never dropped below 4 knots - and that leisurely pace only lasted a short time before regular progress resumed. Our motor had hardly been used this voyage so we ran it for an hour - more to circulate its oil than to move Traversay along.

There was a big downpour though, perhaps just to keep things consistent with our other crossings. In that, the wind reached 25 to 30 knots but soon settled down to a perfect 20 knots.

We have now reached the north east trade winds that blow in the tropics north of the Convergence. These winds are of just the strength and direction to propel us towards Honolulu at our best speeds.

I'll wander briefly to a subject I've addressed in earlier postings ...

For the uninitiated, nautical miles (or sea miles) are not just ordinary miles measured across the sea and the word knots, expressing speed, is not just used to sound sailorly. A nautical mile measures about 1.15 statute miles or approximately 1.85 kilometers and knots - not "nauts" and NEVER "knots per hour" are a measure of speed expressed in nautical miles per hour.

Wikipedia is a much better source of the details than I am but basically the nautical mile results from the application of a branch of mathematics called "spherical trigonometry" to navigational problems. This was done consistently by mariners from the 1700s until present times. Though this form of navigation (astro navigation) has been largely replaced by satellite and inertial based methods, professional mariners are expected to be competent in its use. Airplanes also measure distances in nautical miles as they were navigated on long flights using the same techniques from the 1920s until the early 1970s when inertial navigation came into common use.

The use of "Knot" for "one nautical mile per hour" resulted from the use of a knotted rope unreeling in the wake of a sailing vessel to measure speed. The number of knots that unreeled during a sand-glass interval gave the speed. Amusingly, an informal survey I conducted revealed that few modern airline pilots have any idea why they describe their speeds in "knots" rather than, say, "nauts", "nauts per hour" or some other alternative.

All mention of "miles" in this blog thus refers to the nautical kind. That said, we have just over 2200 miles to run to Honolulu which, with luck, we should sail in about two weeks (of days and nights for anyone who thinks we ever stop). At this point, 31 days out of Valdivia Chile, the nearest points of land are the French Island of Clipperton, 830 miles to the east and the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia 1400 miles to our southwest. The nearest point in the Hawaiian Islands is Cape Kumukahi on the Big Island, 2000 miles distant.


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At 2018-03-05 19:29 (utc) our position was 06°47.92'N 122°42.58'W