Author: Ulrich Fingscheidt

This is what it looks like in 28 kn of wind, with heavy rainfall. Thw cooling effect of wind and rain on my bare skin is nice, though.

This is the corresponding radar image (see previous pist).

The ses is calm. I have to motor. I can see the heavy rainfall on the radar 6 nm left of me.

The first half of the day started with calm conditions. Let’s see how fierce the evening squalls will be tonight.

The moon had an impressive halo last night. This halo is also called 22° halo. It can signalize a coming front. This time, no front came.

Each rainshower brings windshifts, gusts and phases of no wind. At 5:30 h I finally gave up. I put on my lifebelt and tether line, climbed on the swimming platform, unscrewed the windvane and lifted the watervane out off the water. I switched to the autopilot, untied the windpilot steering lines and started the engine.

Frequent rainshowers are a feature of the ICTZ (Intertropical Convergence Zone).

A big raincloud brought erratic winds last evening. The cloud was moving very slowly, so this disturbance lasted about two hours. Heavy downpour of rain for some minutes was very impressive to watch. Luckily no heavy gusts. Very spooky was the wind doing a quick full 360°-shift within 30 seconds twice. Easy followed the slower windshifts steered by the windvane. The blue line is my course. Originally I was heading 302 degrees (northwest). Then you see the line turning straight north, then west, south, then a complete figure of eight. After two hours the conditions settled, and I could commence my heading of 300°.

I am sailing into the ITCZ. This is the belt around the globe where the passat winds from the northern and southern hemisphere meet. The air rises, rain clouds and thunderstorms develop, the wind is low. And it is hot.