0900hrs 04 Sep 2005 UTC 24’29”N 023’22”W Ref 329
DB: 130,11601 (GPS 137) so another goodish day.
Really soupy haze – sun came up white, first sighting about an hour after sunrise, through the murk. Looks like convergence zone conditions but we’re not there yet. Looking at the grib, there’s a low forming over the Cape Verdes about 500 miles ahead – this is where the hurricanes are born, as big thunderstorms, which then set off west across the Atlantic and get bigger. There’s a photo on the website of Isabelle when it was just a big nasty thundercloud.
Looks as if the inter tropical convergence zone (the doldrums) is just south of the Cape Verdes and the SE trades at the equator are mostly SSE, so we’ll have to go west towards Brazil to make progress from there. But a long way ahead and it can all change in a day.
I’m now able to look ahead towards the rest of my life – there’s still this big black hole we’ve got to negotiate, but it does seem to have an opposite side, as it were. And I’m in trouble – I’ve been reminded that I promised last year’s S2H crew that they are all invited for this year’s if we get there in time so I shouldn’t have asked anyone else. Sorry, Steve and Fenwick and Katherine. So, Ross, James, Johnny G, Malcolm – are you on? Katherine first reserve, Jeanne second.
Made naan bread yesterday – fried the dough in very hot pan – worked really well and much quicker that long slow oven – think I’ll try to fry the next conventional bread mix as well. Will report later.