Doldrum behaving themselves

Jean-Luc van den Heede makes easy work of the ITCZ

Day 13. Position at 1300: 05°08’N 25°47’W
Wind 11 knots from E. Slight sea.
Temperatures: day 31° / night 19° / sea 28°
Distance covered in the last 24 Hours: 241 miles.
To Cape Horn 4223 miles.
Lead over Monnet: 1 day and 15 hours.

Hi there,

The Doldrums seem quite friendly this year. I haven’t yet been becalmed and so am making good headway to try to pick up the SE trade winds as quickly as possible without pushing things too far...

Of course, I had a lot of work to do, especially yesterday afternoon and during the night, in some fairly strong squalls (35 knots). They forced me to lower the genoa in a bit of a hurry. I went through these squalls with just the mainsail with one reef without any problems, and managed to get everything back up again an hour later.

I had a good shower yesterday afternoon in a stormy squall, and last night I saved myself some fresh water. My little makeshift shower equipment (a black plastic water-bottle to heat the water) is full to the brim.

If the wind keeps up for me like this, I’ll reach the Equator sometime on Friday night...
See you tomorrow,

JL VDH

Second day in honour of Clémence’s sandy-coloured teddy bear that I forgot to say was called WINNIE!