Caribbean Compass Yachting Magazine 2015

SEPTEMBER 2015 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 26
— Continued from previous page
Hurricanes are not part of the normal tradewind season. Squalls are part of Caribbean
weather.
A squall is a sudden, sharp increase in wind speed usually associated with “active”
weather, such as rain showers and thunderstorms. Joseph Conrad wrote, “Any fool
can carry on, but a wise man knows how to shorten sail in time.” The most important
part of dealing with squalls is to be ready for them. If you have to ask, “should we
reef?” it is most likely too late!
Squally weather is predictable. The weather will be overcast and normally grey.
This is not the time to be flying a genoa or large headsail. A reef in the main and a
smaller headsail make good sense. The helmsman needs to know when and how to
either run off or head up to heave to. Squalls pass quickly and will normally dump
a great deal of rain on you. Properly handled, they are harmless.
Storm cells are a different matter and much less often encountered. Be very careful
of these little “mini storms”. Wikipedia tells us: “A storm cell is an air mass that
contains updrafts and downdrafts and that moves and reacts as a single entity,
functioning as the smallest unit of a storm-producing system.” You will see them on
your radar screen as a group of small round objects. They move quickly and pack a
punch that can exceed 50 knots with little or no warning. If you cannot reduce sail
in time, run off. The cells pass over quickly as if in a rush and are usually gone in a
matter of minutes. They are most often encountered closer to land.
The Subtleties
Early in the tradewind season, when the trades blow, they normally blow harder
than average. We refer to these winds as Christmas Winds. Instead of 15 to 20 knots,
look for 20 to 30 knots.
Remember that wind is often predicted as “gradient wind”. Gradient wind is not the
same as surface wind, the wind that you will actually sail in. Surface wind is most
often a few knots less than the gradient wind. Gradient will accelerate when it follows
a coastline. If the weather forecast is for winds 15 to 20 knots, and you are following
a long coastline, the wind may very well be five and even ten knots higher.
This is related to how wind reacts when it goes around a cape, even a small
cape. The wind follows the headland and when it comes to a cape, it hits the cape
at an angle and veers off, increasing in force significantly. Many times, when
rounding a cape, cruisers believe that the wind is heading them, regardless of
their course. If you do not follow the shore and bear off, the wind will abate and
return to normal speed.
The space between islands is often referred to as a channel. As the wind blows
through the channel or cut, it is “bottlenecked” and comes out the lee side of the cut
at a higher velocity — and seemingly always in your face. Depending on which way
you are navigating a cut between islands (i.e., into the wind or with the wind with
you), you must draw a diagram in your mind to understand that the wind is shifting
in every direction it can as it passes through. This becomes very important in areas
like the Lesser Antilles. As you head north or south, and leave one island to make
for the next, you will transit the channel. It is essential that you understand how the
wind will affect you as you depart from one island and how it will affect you as you
approach the next island. Many newcomers bear off as the wind heads them, only to
find that they must then close the shore with the wind on the nose because they
have wandered too far off a reasonable course that could have been held with a few
short tacks.
These factors are exacerbated by those who insist on rhumb-line sailing. They
draw a course line from one point to the next point and then try to sail it regardless
of all the variations of wind that they will encounter. So often I see a boat with her
headsail up and trimmed in tight and her engine working hard to maintain course.
Rhumb-line sailing is dumb-line sailing. Follow the tradewinds and the peculiarities
involved in tradewind sailing and forget rhumb lines. Tack, sail “full and by”, and let
the boat do what it was designed to do.
Low Pressure Systems and Hurricanes
During the “off” season in the Caribbean, roughly June 1st to October 31st, lowpressure
systems pass through the Caribbean with regularity. Some of these systems
become storms and some of the storms become hurricanes. This article is not
intended to discuss hurricanes in any depth. The best thing to remember, if you are
in the Caribbean during hurricane season, is to not be in an area where hurricanes
normally pass through! Stay south of latitude 10 degrees north and the probability
of experiencing a hurricane is reduced to near zero. If you follow latitude 10 degrees
north across the Caribbean Sea, that is most likely where you will want to be.
If you cannot get that far south in time to avoid the storm, then you must find a
“hurricane hole”. The best hurricane hole is to be out of the hurricane zone during
those months. Eugene O’Neill wrote, “The sea hates a coward.” O’Neill has it right,
but I have sailed the Caribbean for more than four decades, and I am no fool!
Understand the wind in all its variations and then integrate that understanding
with a good weather forecast. The late author Donald Hamilton summed it up well
when he said, “Being hove to in a long gale is the most boring way of being terrified
I know.”
The author with a friend
Frank Virgintino is the author of Free Cruising Guides
www.freecruisingguides.com