Lunch €” Tuesday 08.08.06

After Monday’s excitement catching at 49″ Mahi Mahi, today’s lunch was Mahi Mahi steaks marinated in oil and garlic, lightly poached, with roasted potatoes and a cabbage/carrot salad.

Commanders’ Weather Corporation
Tuesday, 08.08.2006

Route: Salvador, Brazil to Cape Town, SA

Departed: approx. 1200utc, Tue, Aug 1, 2006

Prepared: 1730utc Monday August 7, 2006

Summary

• Current weather map has low pressure located near 37s/27w and racing off to the E
• Its associated cold front extends NNW to 28s 30w and then WNW to 27s 40w
• This front will pass you tonight or Tuesday morning with some scattered shower activity, maybe an isolated squall
• The bulk of the shower activity should remain to your SE
• Winds ahead of the front will become more W and freshen to 15-25 kts
• Behind the front, winds shift into the S in the teens
• High pressure now near 33s/41w will to near 29n/32w at 12utc Tuesday and strengthen
• This will put you on the E side of the high and S winds will decrease to less than 10 kts
• High will move off to the NE to 25-28s and elongate E-W later Tuesday and Wednesday
• You will want to head to the SSE this afternoon and Tuesday and then turn towards the ESE Wednesday to minimize headwinds and then light and variable winds

Routing

1) Would recommend heading to the SSE keeping the ridge axis to your E today and Saturday with ESE winds prevailing

2) As the high settles to the N and begins to elongate E-W at 25-26s later Monday and Tuesday, you will want to be at 27-28s before you adjust to a mainly E course

a) this will allow you to pick up a favorable NW or W wind on the SW and S side of the high

b) you may be able to change to a more E course between 26-27s if position of the high is more N

3) Have kept your routing about 150 nm/day through Saturday, then gradually increased to about 180 nm/day by Tuesday as winds become more favorable

4) Please see waypoints listed in the wind forecast below

Wind Forecast

Wind directions are TRUE, wind speeds in KTS, and time is UTC

Fri, Aug 4

18: 110-130/12-18

Weather: Variable clouds with slight chance of a shower

Seas 6-10 ft S swell

Sat, Aug 5

00: 110-130/14-20

06: 120-140/12-18

12: 090-110/10-17 near 21 45s/34 50w

18: 100-120/10-17

Weather: Partly to variably cloudy

Seas 6-10 ft S swell

Sun, Aug 6

00: 110-130/12-18

06: 110-130/12-18

12: 100-120/11-17 near 24 30s/34w

18: 060-090/ 8-15

Weather: Partly cloudy

Seas build to 8-12 ft S swell

Mon, Aug 7

00: 050-070/10-17

12: 010-030/12-18 near 27s/32 20w

Weather: Partly to variably cloudy with a slight chance of a shower

Seas 8-12 ft S-SW swell

Tue, Aug 8

00: 320-340/14-20

12: 280-300/14-20 near 28s/29w

Weather: Partly cloudy

Seas diminishing to 6-10 ft SW swell

Location: 28° 14 S, 28° 53.6 W
Tuesday 12:00, 08.08.2006

The Schooner Maggie B’s noon position on August 8th was 28° 14 S, 28° 53.6 W. At noon our speed was 6.2 knots with a course of 150 degrees. The wind was 240 degrees at 8-10, but fading. We are headed to Commanders Weather next turn point, (30S/26W), which is 185 miles away. Tristan da Cunha is 991 miles, Cape Town is 2462, and we have come 1170 miles since Salvador. Yesterday’s run was 189 miles.

We are still headed South and East, to get to 30 degrees South to stay below the next high (Herb?) which is forming about over us here at 28 degrees South. We have our eyes peeled to the Southwest for a small low (Lacie) which is preceding a relatively intense one (LaVerne). The barometer is still holding up at 1021, which provides this great weather, but we are headed South for lower pressure and more wind.

Yesterday’s afternoon excitement was the catching of a beautiful Mahi Mahi. Max reeled it in and Bart landed it. 49 inches! It will provide marvelous meals for some days. Landing the Mahi Mahi almost upset tea time, where chocolate chip muffins were in the oven when the fish struck. It took some multi-tasking to handle the boat to help land the fish while checking the “doneness” of muffins. All went well.

We officially switched to GMT minus 2 today, to move us towards being ready for our eventual arrival in Cape Town, which is on GMT plus 2, unless there is some “daylight saving” foolishness.

All is well.