have its uses – fast-drying laundry.
4 Feb, 06 – 21:04
Tiny tipped me off that there was an eddy waiting to ambush me – a 100-mile-diameter clockwise current centred on 16.8°N 44.8°W. It was a dilemma – head south to get the favourable current south of its centre, but then risk problems getting north again to Antigua, or carry on at the same latitude slogging away against the current. The word from Norwich was to head south. So this morning I diverted to the SW, in the hope that the eddy would slingshot me out the other side in the general direction of Antigua.
But then… I got an email from my new weatherman. (My weather info was previously coming from Adrian Flanagan, who is sailing solo around the world via the Poles, but he’s currently otherwise engaged negotiating Cape Horn or some other lame excuse…). Ricardo advised me that there’s a massive low in the far North Atlantic that will bring a NW swell 7-15ft as far south as where I am, from Monday until at least Tuesday morning. This will stop me in my westerly tracks, and the best strategy would be to head NW now to gain as much latitude as possible before the swell hits.
So in summary, Monday looks like this: swell pushing me SE, wind pushing me SW, eddy pushing me NW, and all I want to do is go W.
Life is complicated. And apparently another eddy lies ahead – a more complex one. As tricky as negotiating the Hemel Hempstead roundabouts… But Ricardo assures me that any day now everything will line up and I’ll be on the fast track to Antigua. Oh, yes, please!
Rita Savage