Itaparica, Bahia, Brazil
For a hot place (like most of Brazil), these boxes seem a lot cooler way of moving stuff than using a backpack. I haven’t tried it myself, though.George, George and Yann, thanks for your comments.I’ve been mostly working on the boat and relaxing in Itaparica. Del flew in from Rio to join me for the short sail south to the remote town of Camamu (more on this next entry), and then the sail north.

Salvador, Brazil
I arrived in Salvador Tuesday, and have concentrated on sleeping instead of blogging, so am late with the blog entry :).

I’ve been beating (sailing) dead to windward for three days now (this means sailing a zig-zag course against the wind, covering a much greater distance than you would if the wind was with you) in Force 4-6. While it enjoyable for the first few hours, after a couple of days it’s about as exciting as watching paint dry (but less comfortable). The more wind, the bouncier the ride, the more waves across the deck, the more humid it gets below with all the ports closed. When one of the frequent squalls (temporary high winds) hit and changed the wind so it was no longer coming right from where I wanted to go, it was great! Even if the favorable wind direction was only for many hours, it was great while I had it. I am sailing in the strong breezes that are north of the area where the gale I’d mentioned avoiding was. Last night, just after midnight, another squall, a Force 8 one this time, changed the wind direction back to straight ahead. You can’t get much rest when there are squalls about, as every time one hits you have to either reduce sail, or be ready to, so you pretty much need to be on deck or in the doghouse (shelter where the door to the cabin is on this boat). After the wind changed to no longer be favorable, I set the boat to fore-reach (sail very slowly) with a triple-reefed mainsail and the storm jib, and slept until the squalls stopped. While fore-reaching, the boat went away from the destination by several miles, but it was worth it, as it is much easier to deal with sailhandling when rested and when the wind is more constant.

The weather system with the rain stayed with me another day, then I slowly moved north of it and saw the occasional bit of sun. I considered stopping in Abrolhos, but it looked like the coming gale was going to be centered around there, and if I got north fast enough, I would just get strong winds instead of the gale. The latest forecast I have indicates there is now a low over Abrolhos, and it is developing to a gale. I’m pushing to get north, doing a lot of sail changes as it is quite squally (sudden bursts of strong winds) now.

This is how sunny it was many days ago. I’m still in the weather system that has much rain. I thought I’d be out of it today, but it seems to be expanding…I’m on the fringes of it now, so it only rains 30% of the time. It’s warm, tropical rain, so not unpleasant to be outside in. I’m not sure how visible it is from the map on the right, but I’m on the Abrolhos Bank now, an area of shallow water including the Arquipelago dos Abrolos. My original plan was to stay far enough east to be in deep water passing this area. A disadvantage of being in the shallow water near the coast is that there are far more fishing boats to avoid. A few days ago, the forecast for March 7 indicated a north gale coming. Forecasts that far away are not accurate, but I decided I wanted to be in a position to go somewhere for shelter if there was a gale on March 7. So I headed closer to shore, where there are a few places one can seek shelter from north winds. As of yesterday’s forecast, it looks like it will be a strong breeze (not a gale) from the NW and N on March 8, so I may just keep sailing.

It’s been a few days since I’ve seen the sun. Persistent overcast skies and rain with gusty winds have been the conditions the last few days. Towards sunset yesterday, breaks in the clouds started to appear. The weather forecast indicates that I’m in a Q-STNR. I’m not sure what a Q-STNR is, other than some stationary system with a lot of rain (I think O-STNR would be an occluded stationary front). I’ve had basically favorable winds for the last several days, which has been great. Wind speeds and, to a lesser extent, direction have changed often while in this weather system. The first night in this system the winds were varying back and forth between Force 4 and 8, making for a lot of sail changes. The winds have lightened and continue to lighten, and are expected to become calm soon. For the northbound passage that I am doing, the start is expected to be the most difficult part, when winds are variable (but usually against you) and the current is always against you, and there are few places available to sit out gales (which are also more common south). The farther north, the more consistent the winds get, as one gets into the trade winds. That said, of course, it all depends on the weather you actually get, not on what can be considered likely. So far, it’s been easier the farther north I’ve gotten.

I’m away from the continental shelf, in 3000 metres of water, have seen very few birds (which live on fish) and hadn’t expected there to be any fish. But I saw a couple of fish jump yesterday, so put out the fishing line. A few hours later this bluefish (I think it is a bluefish, despite the color) offered itself up for dinner.