FERNANDO DE NORONHA TO TOBAGO

FERNANDO DE NORONHA TO CHARLOTTEVILE, TOBAGO

MARCH 9 – 24, 2017

We set sail from Fernando de Noronha at 1130 hrs (UTC-2) on March 9^th bound for Ile de Salute (1320 nm) or Charlotteville, Tobago (1933) nm.  The idea of going to Ile de Salute was to break up the voyage and visit the prison where Papillion had spent so much time.  Several interesting things were going to happen on this voyage:  we would cross the equator and enter the Northern hemisphere; we would sail through the ITCZ (Inter-tropical Convergence Zone) commonly known as the doldrums.  The ITCZ is an area where the SE Trades and NE Trades meet producing thunderstorms, squalls, torrential rains, calms, strong winds and other meteorological phenomena.  This band of disturbed weather runs from the Amazon River Basin all the way to Sierra Leone on the African coast.  It’s North/South latitude changes from season to season but lies within 4 degrees North to 4 degrees South.  A sailor tries to pick the narrowest part of the ITCZ and get through it as quickly as possible.  If there are calms, one motors; wind, on sails; thunderstorms, drop sail or reef; confused seas, make the best of it.

Here is a rundown of the sailing distance made good:

March 10^th  134 nm   Avg. Speed = 5.4 kts   Noon-Noon    DTG = 1799

March 11^th  108 nm   Avg. Speed = 4.4 kts   Noon-to-Noon           1691

March 12^th  109 nm   Avg. Speed = 4.4 kts   Noon-to-Noon           1582

March 13^th  111 nm   Avg. Speed = 4.5 kts   Noon-to Noon           1471

March 14^th  127 nm   Avg. Speed = 5.2 kts   Noon-to-Noon           1344

March 15^th  117 nm   Avg.  Speed = 4.9 kts  Noon-to-Noon           1227

March 16^th   97 nm    Avg. Speed =  4.0 kts Noon-to-Noon            1130

March 17^th  113 nm    Avg. Speed = 4.7 kts Noon-to-Noon            1017

March 18^th  137 nm    Avg. Speed = 5.7 kts  Noon-to Noon             880

March 19^th  145 nm    Avg. Speed = 6.0 kts  Noon-to-Noon             735

March 20^th  159 nm    Avg. Speed = 6.6 kts  Noon-to-Noon             576

March 21^st  170 nm    Avg. Speed = 7.0 kts Noon-to-Noon              406

March 22^nd  141 nm   Avg. Speed = 5.9 kts  Noon-to-Noon             265

March 23^rd  130 nm   Avg. Speed = 5.4 kts  Noon-to-Noon              135

March 24    135 nm   Avg. Speed =  5.3 kts   1330                                  0

As can be seen from the above, the winds transitioned from SE to ESE to E so we had to modify the sail configuration.  We transitioned the ITCZ smoothly but encountered a low pressure system off the Amazon River basin which brought torrential rain and squally winds.  This was a big slow moving system packing winds to 35 kts but very manageable.  We were swimming in our foul weather gear with no way to dry out.  We crossed the Equator at 2400 hrs (UTC-3) on March 13^th.  The passing squalls in the Northern hemisphere have more punch to them as compared to the gentle ones found in the SE Trade Winds.

We dropped anchor at Charlotteville, Tobago in position:11-19.805’ N; 060-33.156’ W on a sandy bottom in 45’ water depth.  The small village looks beautiful and inviting.  The voyage from Cape Town, SA is Charlotteville, Tobago was about 5373 nm.