Volvo Ocean Race - Team Alvimedica heads for the Doldrums

by Amory Ross, Team Alvimedica on 21 Oct 2014 Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15, Day Nine onboard Team Alvimedica. It’s hard to explain the complexity of the weather in this part of the world. No computer model or forecaster can accurately predict the winds because the air here is dry and warm, 23c now, and the typical barometric pressure gradients that generate them become very weak. Weather is far more localized in the middle latitudes and things like small islands and clouds throw more than a few monkey wrenches in a well-laid plan.

Will Oxley has been through here more than a dozen times and seems perfectly at grips with the reality of the region, but for Charlie—you can already sense a bit of frustration at seeing some big differences between the GRIB files that drive our weather routing and what we’re actually experiencing on deck. It will be a while before the two align again, and he’s starting to understand that much of the next week’s tactics will be made by looking skyward towards the clouds rather than down below at the nav station.

And a small but significant aside—today Mark Towill turns 26. We’ve got a bit of a present-stash for Mark courtesy of Charlie’s wife, and needless to say this will be a birthday he won’t forget.

You have to be patient, forgiving, and positive, and as we’ve committed to a middle-lane approach heading south, only time will tell how we fare. Brunel and Abu Dhabi are to our west, SCA on our line but 25 miles back, and the rest to the east, having navigated the tricky passages between the Verdes. We got caught jibing south maybe a little too early and fell into the lee of one of the bigger islands, and it’s a perfect example of relying too heavily on our computers rather than our eyes.

In darkness we sailed under a chain of clouds that was most likely coming from Santa Antao, the westernmost island of the chain (and also—westernmost point of Africa), and it took us 30-degrees from our 'expected' heading for a few hours. But we’re back on track now and there’s nothing much more to do at this point than sail south as quickly as possible—towards even more uncertainty in the Doldrums!