Harmon and Randall's Voyage…

Leg 3, Blog 22, August 13, 2025 – Latitude 19 South

With about three days to go until we reach Rio de Janeiro, we continue to face a plethora of changing conditions as we blast south.

Above is a picture from two days ago where we were still transiting in equatorial heat and sun. The temperature was 80+ with commensurate humidity . Randall is taking a break at the coolest place on the boat which offers the outside cooler sea breeze plus the only shade on the boat. We were still getting heat stress until we reached about Latitude 15 when it began to cool in the mornings and evenings.

We then began to notice that the sea temperature, which peaked at 84 at the equator, would gradually decline until about 78 at present. The outside air which we have a hard time measuring due the aluminum composition of the boat, peaked at around 91 at Latitude 4 North prior to crossing the equator. Those were the “hot” days when outside air would be in the 80’s at 0800, and go up from there. Inside the boat was worse! But as we the degrees of Latitude increased as we went south, we would experience more cloud cover which would translate to cooler temperatures. It dropped to 69 last night after a rain storm and Randall and I were “cold”.

Above: Here is moon at 9:00 PM last Monday with the evening cloud cover that we really wanted in the daytime to cover the sun.

Above: We got what we asked for the next morning at 0730 when we got plenty of early cloud cover along with a light rain with a light rainbow that appeared as I peaked out the front glass (center of picture).

Above and Below: Yesterday at a little after noontime as I was resting below, Randall sounded the “alarm” by yelling to me to come on deck with my camera. In the distance he had spotted a fairly sizable pod of Orcas swimming in the same direction we were sailing. Their telltale dorsal fins were a dead giveaway.

Quite mysterious in their behavior, the Orcas chose to surface and swim with us for about two minutes. There must have been more than 20 in the pod, but they were fairly spread out, swimming in groups of two to four. The entire time they stayed about 50 yards in the distance and would not venture closer.

Sightings of Orcas in equatorial waters are not widespread and there is not much research on what exactly they are doing here (keeping an eye on Randall?) https://aquariodeubatuba.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Movements-and-social-behavior-of-killer-whales-Orcinus-orca-off-the-Brazilian-coast.pdf. I can only guess that, like us, the orcas are heading south. The largest population of orcas resides in the waters surrounding Antarctica. It is estimated that about half of the world’s orca population, approximately 25,000 individuals, live in this region.

Above: As mysteriously as the orcas showed up, they disappeared. I got the distinct feeling that while they wanted to be seen (or take a look at us), once their curiosity was satisfied, they got back to the business of transiting to wherever they are going – presumably to Antartica.

Above and Below: While the orcas said goodby, the crazy cloud cover was just saying “Hello.” While amazing to look at, these clouds give us sailors headaches because they are huge squall fields that create constantly changing wind conditions.

Above: Randall and I considered ourselves lucky as most of the storms were to one side or another of us. Except last night where we spent the entire evening in a downpour.

Above: The swell begins to build a bit, but it makes for some good sailing.

Above and Below: Nothing is more satisfying than a good cigar cloud – pass the lighter please. A cigar cloud is actually a “roll cloud” which is a type of arcus cloud that forms as a wedge-shaped, horizontal, and relatively low-lying cloud mass that is often associated with thunderstorms. As a leading edge of rain-cooled air that lifts moist air upwards, the “cigar” shape is due to the rolling motion of the air within the cloud, appearing like a long cylinder.

Above: With the unsettling clouds, the ocean stayed calm at first, then gradually began to pick up.

Above: This is my favorite cigar cloud of all time. It almost cost me my hand. I was in the Sydney-to-Hobart 2017 race with Clipper Around The World. At the time of this picture I was manning the spinnaker sheet with my right hand AND holding my phone/camera tethered to my left hand (bad form AND dangerous). As we passed under the cloud flying the spinnaker, the weather system changed and the wind picked up from 12 knots to 35 knots. The order came to immediately douse the spinnaker and my phone got caught in the flailing sheet almost pulling my hand off in the process. Only luck saved it.

Above: The cigar cloud begins to dissipate.

These weather systems are non-stop. Nothing stays consistent for more than 30 minutes giving a skipper little time to contemplate anything except the next sail-change.