ITCZ

0800 Position 6-41N 130-30W. Days run 212 miles.

We had good broad reaching conditions all day yesterday and most of last night, but when I came on watch at 4AM this morning the wind had started to back off. We are starting to feel the effects of the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone, or ITCZ. Historically called the doldrums, the ITCZ is a region between the northeast and southeast trade winds characterized by squalls, thunderstorms, calms, and inconsistent conditions. It is basically atmospheric chaos, and I've seen it vary in width from ten to 260 miles. During the '76 Tahiti Race we spent two days wallowing in the doldrums, and when I cruised north from the Marquesas in '86, it took four days to get through. Sometimes you get lucky. Kara and I had only two hours of doldrums on our way south to Tahiti in 2011. It is different every time. The ITCZ usually lies between 4 and 12 degrees north latitude in this part of the world, but it can be further north or south. We've made it all the way to 7 degrees north this trip without slowing down. That's a good sign. The grib files indicate that the doldrums will be very narrow for us, but south of the doldrums all the way to the Marquesas the trade winds are forecast to be unusually light, and that's bad. We may be doing a lot of powering in the days to come.

The current in the trade wind belts generally move in the same direction as the wind, west, at about one knot. However, in the area of the doldrums lies the Equatorial Counter Current, basically a river of water moving to the east at up to two knots. We haven't felt this counter current yet, but it can add to the climatic mess in the area.

The water temperature has increased from the low 70s when we departed Newport Beach to 84.5 degrees now. Air temperature follows water temperature so it is pretty warm. It is short sleeve t-shirts while on watch at night and we are lying in our bunks without sheets trying not to sweat during the day.

Longy and I shook out the reef in the mainsail at 6AM this morning, and a solitary dolphin came by for a visit shortly thereafter. It was our first marine mammal sighting of the trip.