This morning Joe Harris and the crew on Wells Fargo - American Pioneer were sailing along the northern edge of a large area of high pressure. The last two days have been a delicate dance between sailing too much extra distance to get around the High, or getting stuck in the windless zone created by the weather system. "We began to see this weather pattern developing a few days ago," Joe said in a satellite phone call. "Brad and I spent quite a bit of time with Commanders Weather (weather routing experts based in New Hampshire) discussing how to best avoid getting becalmed. We finally agreed that we would have to sail north to get around the area and so far it has been a good strategy." High pressure brings great beach weather, but sailors do their best to avoid it because of the frustrating calms associated with the benign conditions. Luckily the crew have been able to skirt the worst of it and are now well north of the Azores Islands on a direct course for England.
With the High dominating the weather pattern, the sailing has been very pleasant. Brian Harris, crew on board (and no relation to Joe) said that he felt that the weather was just too good to be true. "I feel as if we are going to have pay for this nice stretch of weather," Brian said. "But all we can see in the forecast is pretty decent sailing all the way to Plymouth." Indeed the winds on top of the high are forecast to strengthen and blow hard from the northwest. If that happens, the sailing for the next three to fours days should be fast and fun. "We are looking at getting to Plymouth sometime this weekend," Joe said. "If this forecast holds we could knock off a few days runs of over 300 miles. With just 1,350 miles to go, we could be approaching the English Channel by Friday evening."
Onboard news is that Brad Van Liew seems to be over his sinus problems. After a series of long conversations with Dr. Dan Carlin, a medical expert based in Boston that has advised sailors in the past, Brad is on the mend after taking a cocktail of antibiotics. Dr. Carlin may be best known for guiding Russian sailor Viktor Yazekov through self-surgery during the 1998 Around Alone race. Yazekov had an infected abscess on his elbow and needed to lance it to relieve pressure. In a series of emails Dr. Carlin "talked" Viktor through the operation, but was startled when, after the operation, Yazekov did not respond to repeated emails asking about his condition. What had happened was that Viktor had forgotten to tell Dr. Carlin that he had been taking aspirin for pain prior to the operation. His blood had thinned out so much that he passed out from lack of blood shortly after operating on himself, and only regained consciousness 12 long and anxious hours later. He finally came too with his arm still in the tourniquet. Blood flow had been cut off for almost 13 hours and the arm was cold and lifeless. Fortunately it recovered fully and served as a good lesson for all solo sailors. "Working with Dan has been a real lesson for me," Joe said. "He is going to help me put together an extensive medical kit for the trip back. It makes me realize how much trouble you can be in if you have a problem out here and you do not have the right medication."
I will save the story about the French sailor that had to sew his tongue back on during a solo circumnavigation for another day.
- Brian Hancock (great.circle@verizon.net)
