[password] STUART32
[position] 06 10.000N 141 27.000w

[date] 2018-12-04
[status] Well we're still sailing rather than motoring; which is great. Gotta admit though that this is a weird passage. The typical winds you see on this passage are say 15 knots, the direction being ESE-SE when you are south of the equator and ENE-NE when you're above the equator. Indeed these were the general forecasts we had when we left. What we've experienced on average however is quite different, rather than ESE-SE winds south of the equator we got ENE winds, once we crossed the equator rather than get ENE-NE winds we got S-SE winds. GO figure hey! The strength, sea state and current have been typical though. Now that we are above 6N we can see the ITCZ. What is fascinating is that in 8 years of sailing, having crossed several convergence zones, we've never seen lows/cells/pulses (i.e. bad stuff) appear like a bomb blast then disappear or move with lightening speed off to the west. So our task today is to find the best entry point into the ITCZ; one where it is both least active and narrowest.

[weather] Winds are SSE13-18kts, 80% cloud cover, 1m SW swell. Barometer reading is 1012.
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