Adventures of Argo : Dear Trade Winds, where are you?

When you leave on a long voyage you only have a weather forecast for about the first week and then you’re stuck with whatever Mother Nature wants to throw your way. The route from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean follows the North East Trade Winds. These are constant steady winds that blow from the northeast and make for smooth but fast sailing.

Well, this year the trade winds forgot what their job was. Week two brought very confused seas. We either had no wind, squalls with huge gusts and rain or lots of wind coming from the wrong direction. Our progress towards our destination slowed down to a halt. It was a constant battle with the wind. We would put up the sails and the wind would die. Then you take down the sails and turn on the engine just to get more wind in an hour. We were adrift on the ocean for a few days as we were trying to conserve our diesel. We spent a good amount of time each day complaining about how we were getting weather that according to the “trade winds” was non existent. Each day without wind we could tack on another day to our voyage. And the days were adding up. We began to joke that sailing had become prison with a chance of drowning.