Here is our position two days ago. You could be forgiven if you assumed that we were trying to hug the African coast. We are having difficulty breaking away to the other side as the winds are not in our favor at the moment.
My oval above is from a picture from one of our forecast products, Windy. The circled region is the Intertropical Convergence Zone, or ITCZ. It is the region near the equator, where the trade winds of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres come together (also known as the doldrums). The intense sun and warm water of the equator heats the air in the ITCZ, raising its humidity. Aided by the convergence of the trade winds, the buoyant air rises. As the air rises it expands and cools, releasing the accumulated moisture in an almost perpetual series of thunderstorms, and not enough wind to sail. Fun stuff!
As of today, you can see that we are just past the ITCZ as we approach the equator. The problem is that the wind is making it difficult for us to cross over. The weather forecast makes it look like we can simply do a beam reach on our way south towards Brazil. The reality on the water at present is that we would have to head directly into the wind to achieve this course. That being impossible, we have simply been close hauled for three or so days now (I have lost count!) Being close hauled means that you are sailing as close to the wind direction as possible and this creates a rough, bouncy, some might call it unpleasant ride as the boat is healed over. Let’s just say that appetite has been diminished along with sleep for the moment. When we could head directly south, we were crossing more than two lines of latitude per day making our way to the equator. At present. we are lucky to cross one line of latitude per day. We are only at Latitude 7 and fighting to get to latitude 6. Maybe by tomorrow at this time? At this rate, I will never meet King Neptune.This is two nights ago when we still had some appetite. I made a tomato crostini with some cheese that had not yet gone bad.The ITCZ zone can make for some dramatic mornings and evenings. Here we are two mornings ago at 0600 and the sky looks just slightly reddish. Not yet too wavy out there like it is now…I turn around 180 degrees and the morning sky looks unsettling. We are in the squall zone and waiting for some good rain storms.But rather than go directly to rain, a rainbow is formed making our morning.The rainbow continues to accelerate and it tempts us to sail through her arches (about 90 degrees off course).I could not help myself and took a closeup. I can only dream of the splendor of the energy rush if we could position Mōli underneath the color bath.As we realize that we will be sailing into the wind for the indefinite future, Randall adjusts the clew of the jib.
Here I am in my bunk. It is in the middle of the day, and it is 92 outside and 88 inside with almost 100% humidity. You can see the fan at the right of the picture giving me some relief. By two nights later, I had moved out of the v-berth as it is way too hot and humid, coupled with the incessant pounding of sailing into the wind and 6 foot seas. Sleep became impossible and Randall, in a supreme act of generosity, gave me his bunk on the leeward side of the salon. I found myself getting into this state of not eating, not sleeping – turning into a sailing zombie. I am happy to report that thanks to Randall, sleep has been restored, but appetite will come back when we fall off the wind (in two weeks??!!)We love our Monitor windvane (thank you Mike Scheck). Here I am receiving a lesson from Randall on adjusting the chain to adjust for weather helm.No dolphins today, but I did get a shot of what looks like a Tropicbird.
Above: As the water gets warmer towards the equator, we find ourselves inundated with Sargassum (briefly discussed in a past blog) which is simply a brown seaweed https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/facts/sargassum.html. It hovers mainly on the surface and does not stick to the boat.
Above is a particularly big patch that we blast through.
The problem with the Sargassum is that it gets caught up in the windvane as well as our aqua generator.
The frequent rain storms in the ITCZ zone help to de-humidify the air. I may like to run out and take a shower, but if you are on duty, you need to maintain your dryness (even though I am sure Randall is sweating underneath).
Above: Breakfast of Champions? Early this morning Randall spots two errant flying fish that landed on a bed of Sargassum. Breakfast anyone? Perhaps when I get my appetite back!
Harmon and Randall's Voyage... 
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