Monday Noon
We changed course to the south today. Recent weather information indicates that there should be no more low pressure 'humps' in the ITCZ for the next three days at least, giving us an opportunity to duck South and cross it.
Of course the weather guys don't always do the best job. The forecasts I look at come out once every 6 hours and each one is usually prepared by a different forecaster. Strangely, it seems they don't always read what the guy before them wrote before they prepare the text for their own forecast. One will talk about a ridge or trough, then in six hours there will be no mention of this feature. The first guy didn't say it was expected to dissipate, so what happened? It can be frustrating especially when you are hanging on one or two words to make a decision that could result in a very uncomfortable crossing if you get it wrong.
In other weather news, it is hot and humid. Not terribly hot I guess, just 80 or so, but the humidity makes it so you can't hardly move without sweating. I (John) sleep wedged in between two piles of pillows to keep me steady in the rolling. It's like being wrapped up in a blanket and can be warm in these conditions.
We noticed another little gift from our bird friend. Not only did he bend the little indicator flags on the Windex in a way that we can't tell what the jibe angle is, he also bent them such that the pointer part can't make a full 360 circle without getting stuck. So now we have very little idea of what the apparent wind angle is. I taped a tell-tail (a small strip of cloth) to the backstay but it's not as affective as the Windex. Maybe when we get to the ITCZ we can get it to swing around to the other side of the obstruction and it will work until we have to tack or jibe again.
{GMST}12|47|N|123|50|W|Mexico to Marquesas Day 13|Day 13{GEND}
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