Squalls

Up until now, we've had pretty mellow weather on this passage. The trade winds are a little heavy during La Nina years, so it's been 18 to 22 knots pretty much every day which has lead to a bit of bumpy seas, but otherwise it's been a fast and mellow passage.

We're currently about 123.0N by 8.5N (I understand the SPOT is no longer working), and I think we're just starting to get the first hints of the squalls that are supposed to populate the ITCZ. Last night, the moon was large enough to give us a pretty good view of the surrounding clound cover. Looking around, I noticed that there was one particularly dark and ominous cloud. As I was watching, the whole sky lit up 360 degrees around us. I was trying to remember the rule about counting between lightning and thunder to determine distance... I think it was actually reasonably far away from us, but it sure FELT close. Like right on top of us close.

It was an odd feeling of paralysis for me. I knew to put the electronics in the oven, but otherwise I wasn't sure what to do. Should we try and sail away from it? We weren't moving very fast, and I had the spinnaker up. Should I drop the spinnaker incase there was heavy winds associated with this thing? If so, should I put up other sails? Motor?

Ultimately, it ended up being pretty nerve wracking, but not a big deal. We got some heavy rain, but no lightning close to us, and not more than about 18 knots of wind.

But, it looks like we're in for more. Currently as I write, there's another squall line that's just caught up to us. Again it's about 20 knots, and raining (no electical component this time), so it's not a big deal. It also feels like MUCH less of a big deal when it's not the first time and it's during the day.

And, now we have a plan:

When we get the first hint of a squall line, we turn on the radar so we can watch and see which way it's going. The squall this afternoon was moving quickly, but by turning perpendicular to it, we miseed the brunt. The electronics go in the oven, and the spinnaker comes down as soon as we have 15 knots apparent. It's not a complex plan, but there's a good deal of comfort in having action to take.

I'm really looking forward to being through the ITCZ. I feel like I can't really relax having to look over my shoulder for squalls (here comes another one), and it's hard to keep a good course since the spinnaker comes down and we can't reach as deeply without it. When we're in the southern trades, and we're just running a rhumb line course to Hiva Oa, I'll be pretty stoked.