The northeast trade wind

Legend or myth? Or victim of climate change? Has it ever existed at all? If you believe the old, as well as the young seafarers, it begins in winter from the twenty-fifth parallel, and in summer it can be found from the thirtieth parallel.

The northeast trade wind, blowing on the south side of the Azores high, of whose presence, I convinced myself before our departure. Steady, from the direction constant wind, with three to four wind forces, a dream. Hoist the sails once, adjust them and then just let them run, that would be nice. Eight days we have planned from San Sebastian, on La Gomera to Mindelo on Sao Vicente. 800 nautical miles, our longest trip so far. So that we do not get into another high wave, we have postponed our departure once again, by three days. Not so easy in Corona times. We arranged the test on the planned departure day, it must not be older than 72 hours. So we have to leave a little earlier than three days, that just works out and, as planned, the sea has calmed down and with a 1.5m wave, we are quite satisfied. However, the wind is also gone and so we bobble, the first two days, with two to three knots, past El Hiero. At first the lack of wind can be explained by the shading of the islands, but when the trade wind, 40 nautical miles south of El Hiero, still does not set in, I begin to doubt and start to dismiss the northeast trade wind into the land of fairy tales. The wind and current charts predict, between the Canary Islands and Cape Verde, a northeast wind with a probability of 85%, still 50% north wind. West wind 0% and east wind just 5%. The first two days the wind changes constantly from northwest to southeast and back again. In between times no wind. Flapping sails, sails down, sails up, engine on, that's how it goes virtually every hour. I dream of hoisting the sails only once. Yes and then it comes nevertheless still. 25°21,2'N wind NE 7 knots, it says in the logbook. So nevertheless the climatic change, now we have already in August, winter. First we can not really believe it.

The day we reached San Sebastian, I met an English crew who were checking out for Tenerife. The skipper overheard the conversation in the marina office about where from and where to and approached me on the way back to the berth. He would have overheard that I wanted to go to Cape Verde and asked about further plans. I get a few tips for the crossing and mention that I am already looking forward to unpack our parasail. I could confidently leave the stuck, on this route there is always enough wind.

I hesitate at first, after all, the wind is now already a few times, after an hour again fell asleep. Not this time. So we get the genoa and the main in and set the big rag. 125sqm for a two crew, not easy to handle, especially since we haven't practiced much. Still, we get the hang of it pretty quickly and we set sail, for the first time, with only two lines. Hannes from the MariaNoa mentioned the two-line system once in passing, and I just wanted to try it out. Works great! During the night the wind decreases a bit and during the day it increases again up to 14 knots. During the day we are almost twice as fast as planned, so that by the end of the fourth day we have made up for the initial lull. Three days and nights, the flap hangs up there now and I wonder if we will get it down again as fast as the weather requires. In the afternoon the wind turns to east and further to southeast. Wind angle 90°. The parasail collapses and straightens up again on its own. But with the two-line system the sail can no longer be adjusted reasonably. So the question is also solved. Up to 90° the Parasailor can be sailed without problems with a two-line system. If you sail even closer to the wind, it becomes tedious. Whereby we immediately answer the next question. After all, 12 knots from the southeast, I try to pull the "Easy Snuffer" over the sail, on which the recovery tube hangs. Everything else than "Easy", with my whole body weight I lie in the net of our catamaran and try to pull the bag over it. If one has created the first meter, it goes ever more easily, whereby one may let go in no case. Gaby slowly loosens the port line so that the sail collapses and I can pull the recovery hose down to the bottom. The rest is then easy and goes quickly. So we would also succeed in bringing the sail to safety in time, before a Squal.

Conclusion: The Parasailor is a real asset. Once it is set, a very smooth ship movement sets in. This is especially helpful for a crew that struggles with seasickness. The sail can be set in as little as 4 knots of wind, without it constantly collapsing or starting to flap. When setting the sail, care must be taken not to cause a tangle of lines, so for us, with a small crew, the two-line system is preferable to the four-line system. When recovering, it needs a little strength at the beginning, the rest then goes quickly and easily. For us, the price was initially deterrent, but we are glad to have made the investment for the above reasons.

So 200 nautical miles from our destination, the northeast trade wind has left us. The dream, once set sail and then let run, has come true for three days. The hard reality, has caught up with us again. In the night flapping sails, because the wind has decreased, in the day a short wave turning to the east, which hits us not from behind, but once again from the side. On our first leg of our Atlantic crossing, we got to know the benefits of the northeast trade wind, we will look for it again on our next leg. Arrived here on the Cape Verde Islands, we first get to know the country and the people and once again start to repair, but we will tell you about that next time, here on www.glenswelt.com. Until then, always fair winds and keep a stiff upper lip.