[password] rachel25,
[position] 06 52.40n 017 39.20w
[status] On passage from Brazil towards Cape Verde

..and now we have what cruisers dread,
the bloody wind, it's gone ahead!

And it did have to happen in the end, and we have been very fortunate to have passed through the doldrums and managed to get this far North without a head wind, and it's been forecast for the last few days, but it's still hard to accept that now we have to sail so much further to get to the Cape Verdes.

But that's why we are here. Because we like sailing and an essential part of this pastime is that you have to zig-zag to go towards the wind.

Having reminded ourselves of the above we had a glass of chilled red wine and some brazil nuts while having a grandstand view of another electrical storm occurring about 3 miles astern.

Incidentally, we noted that we often didn't hear any thunder with the very dramatic lightning. We asked Bruce-the-weather and this is the reason:
In answer to your question concerning the lack of thunder, you are
in the equatorial region where the freezing level within the clouds is at
the highest point anywhere in the world. Typically 5-6km up inside the
thunderstorms. It is the hail within the thunderstorms that generates the
charge separation that then produces the lightning. Much of this activity is
occurring quite high in the clouds - 8-10km up, compared to 1-2km in the
mid-latitudes (30-40 degrees North and South). So the sound has further to
travel for you to hear it while the lightning is readily seen at the extra
distance.

[speed] 5.5 knots
[heading] 048 degrees true
Wind N 12 kts. Smooth sea. Sky 80% cloud. Baro 1000
[END]