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Well,
it looks like we managed to get through the doldrums pretty unscathed!
Although
the winds did die a little, we did not have to endure the painful
experience of being becalmed like in the windhole we encountered
in the last race.
I think
we all breathed a heavy sigh of relief when the winds picked up
and the clouds began to change indicating the end of the doldrums
or to give it is proper name, the intertropical convergence zone
(ITCZ).
Spectacular
So
we are now well on the way to New York. It's 0900GMT and we have
1905 miles to go. It's currently 0600am on the boat.
This
watch, 4am - 8am, sees the sunrise, and we've been very fortunate
to watch some spectacular ones, most recently whilst we were in
the ITCZ, with black towering cumulonimbus clouds, orange and white
cumulus clouds and white stratus clouds all competing for the same
skyline.
The
4pm -8pm watch is when we see the sunset, and luckily for me, I'll
also be on watch at this time today. The night sky is also changing
rapidly, from viewing the southern hemisphere with it's Southern
Cross, Scorpius, Libra and Centaurus to name just a few constellations,
we are now returning to the northern hemisphere stars, and at the
start of this watch (4am), Orion was proudly on display.
A
bit of a tilt
We've
also been very lucky with all the wildlife displays. We've had flying
fish, pilot whales and dolphins (spotted and common atlantic ones),
as well as some birds gliding gracefully up above.
We're
currently sailing under whites - yankee and staysail, and are encoutering
force 4 / 5 winds. Everyone has quickly adapted to living life on
a bit of a tilt - about 30 degrees! We have a bit of current with
us which is helping us get to New York even quicker.
Anyway,
better get back on deck - will keep you posted.
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