Heading into the Doldrums Corridor.
Hi everyone. A quick update from Arthur, as he and the rest of the fleet continue their push north and enter into the Doldrums Corridor.
The doldrums sit near the equator in the Pacific Ocean and are famous for slow winds that can disappear altogether, only to be replaced by sudden squalls, heavy rain, and dramatic cloud formations. The official rules from Clipper allow each team limited engine time to help them through this unpredictable stretch, and strategy is sure to make all the difference.
Arthur shared this update from on board:
The last 48h have already been hard work. With unpredictable weather systems, the Coral Sea has shown rather tough conditions which required multiple sail changes, securing the inactive sails on the foredeck and carrying them back down into the sail locker. With the sails also good amounts of water end up in the bilges, and besides the sailing each watch comes with a number of duties divided over engineer, cleaning and navigator roles that keep rotating day by day.
It’s been an extremely wet start, alternating rain showers (which are actually very refreshing) followed by bathtubs full of salt water coming over the bow, finding every possible entrance in your clothes, which makes the choice between warm follies or light shorts and a t-shirt not an easy one.
With lighter winds and some smaller sail changes, the whole fleet has come closer together again, and it won’t be long before we reach the doldrums corridor at 12 degrees South. Skipper Oli has already walked us through how we’ll likely approach the use of our engine time.
Tomorrow I’m on galley duty, so a bit less sailing and more making sure everyone is well fed. It doesn’t look like the angle will be as bad, which should make cooking just that tiny bit easier.
To be continued!
The race was highlighted on the local news in Mackay, and if you watch really closely at 00:59, you can catch a glimpse of a familiar face.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1404229634828925
I promise to post more updates as I receive them. And remember that you can follow along on Team GOSH's progress on the Clipper Round the World live tracker.
