Atlantic Shipslog: Trade Winds?

Trade Winds?

# | Posted later by Bas at Dec, 09 - 09:50 AM | Comments (0)

Whichever departure point is chosen, the objective is to get well into the belt of the established north-east trades as soon as possible. The northern limit of this belt varies with the seasons - from about 30°N in the summer to 25°N in the winter - and also from year to year. (The Atlantic Crossing Guide, Fourth Edition - RCC Pilotage Foundation)

22°45'N 21°40'W - Day 4 of our ocean crossing might very well have brought us the famous Trade Winds. Actually, last night did. With a bang.

During my shift from 0000 to 0300 there was no clue of any Trade Winds helping across. For 3 hours I was doing 5-6 knots on a reaching spinnaker, steering straight to the south. Even the few clouds of rain wouldn't give me more than 12 knots of wind.
But as Rob's watch started the wind started to increase slightly. And another dark cloud was breathing down our neck. As it came over us half an hour later, the wind quite suddenly increased to 25+ knots! With the spinnaker still reaching on one side, KeeS was pulled into the wind, making more apparent wind, pulling us harder into it, making more...
Heavy steering saved us from curtain disaster. We almost experienced what is called a 'Chinese Gibe', in which a yacht usually ends up with its mast flat on the water and - at least - the spinnaker thorn to bits. But luckily nothing was damaged and KeeS was now doing 7-8 knots downwind, the spinnaker in front of us.
After an "all hands on deck" we got the spi down safely, in spite of the strong wind and the dark night surrounding us. (I had surely learned from such a maneuver, earlier that day: A stupid mistake handling the luff-guy then could have cost me both my legs, but only cost me a bruise and a little bit of leg hair.)
The stronger winds continued to blow during the night and even now there are 15 knots coming in from the N-NE. Could these finally be those Trade Winds...?

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