Musandam making slow progress towards the Equator

10:14 AM Wed 11 Mar 2009 GMT

'Cloud change as Musandam heads north' Oman Sail

62 days at sea for the crew onboard Musandam and the report back from onboard today (11th March), 'We are in the middle of the Indian ocean, but our water depth is just 22 meters, we are on the Mascarene Plateau and have landed out second fish of this attempt, this time by Mohsin who decided to take advantage of the slow boat speed and shallow seas. The last 24 hours have been eventful as we have continuously been trying to avoid the heavy grey clouds that are around, but sometimes we get hit and during the night we got a torrential down pour . The boat got a good fresh water wash, and so did we! Shampoo always close to hand right now'.

Musandam has entered a new phase of her planetary journey, finally taking the long-awaited left turn to go back up the Indian Ocean towards Muscat. After weeks of sailing in the continuous flow of low pressure cells typical of the South, trying to stay out of the way of the fiercest weather systems, it's now a matter of watching the degrees of latitude decrease on their way towards the Northern Hemisphere. Things were relatively constant in the Roaring 40s, where life schematically only goes from rough to rougher (and the other way around), it is now much more varied with sudden squalls, tropical rain clouds, choppy seas or spells of calm, and the sensation of instability felt by the crew is another challenge for the nerves. Strategically, the objective is to find the best crossing spot for the dreaded Doldrums, where precious miles can be so easily lost to the 80-day pace boat, progress has been good over the past week and things were looking good up until yesterday (Tuesday 10th) - then life slowed down and quick progress to the Equator and the Northern Hemisphere gave way to slow progress.

Last Wednesday (March the 4th, Day 56), the Omani trimaran had covered more than 18,000 nautical miles since the start, which amounts to 33,000 kilometres but was still waiting to be 'allowed' back into the Indian Ocean, Musandam was being forced to sail to the east as Charlie explained: 'We are bouncing along in an easterly direction waiting for a rather large change in wind direction - which should be during Thursday....when it will be all change - change in wind direction and change of heading for us - the sunrise will be to our starboard side rather than on our bows and we will be aiming some where near the direction of Muscat!' Hoping for warmer temperatures and the chance of taking a tropical shower or two, the crew was spending their last day in the Roaring 40s - taking yet another proper beating, probably the worst the boat had seen so far on this trip!

L-R) Mohsin Al Busaidi, Nick Houchin, Loik Gallon, Theirry Duprey Du Vorsent, Charles Darbyshire - Oman Sail

So bad that actually no one could even say - as it had often been stated during tough times - 'well, it could be worse'! With 3 different swell directions clashing and mean waves putting the trimaran's structure to the test, it felt as though the South was willing to make a long-lasting impression on the crew before they left its hostile latitudes! 'Unreal' was the adjective used by Charlie once he was able to actually sit down and type his report, after having exited the Roaring 40s on Day 57. after 37 days spent 'down there'! 24 hours later, the contrast could not have been greater and the 5 men found themselves going exactly where they wanted, under full mainsail and with a dry deck - the transition had actually been a tangible one, with a clearly visible line of clouds that indicated the wind shift. 'One minute 18 knots then the next 3 knots, the sea changed instantly too - unreal'. That word again! Knowing Charlie's tendency to shy away from all forms of verbal exaggeration, one can only imagine the intensity of those 48 hours onboard Musandam.

On Day 59 (March the 7th), the warm temperatures had definitely made a comeback for real with more than 20?C inside the boat - a real treat for Mohsin who had been suffering from the cold, more so than his North-European team mates - and the Doldrums were now just 1000 miles ahead. Making good progress, Musandam was banking miles in the perspective of uncertain days, whilst at the navstation skipper and navigator kept busy trying to optimise their route in order to cross the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ or Doldrums) at its narrowest point. 'The Doldrums is swings and roundabouts for the ETA (estimated time of arrival) discussion onboard, it just adds to the complexity of being able to make up a realistic ETA figure', wrote Charlie, understandably reluctant to provide a date - the reality of life at sea sometimes is difficult to apprehend for those waiting on dry land, and it is much wiser not to bet on a hypothetical arrival date than to keep on changing it every 12 hours! But as if that tactical challenge was not enough, Day 60 saw the return of boat breaking conditions, throwing the crew into bursts of cold sweat: the odds of finishing a non-stop round-the-world journey aboard a multihull are naturally low, so every situation which could potentially lead to gear failure is a genuine source of stress.

On Sunday the 8th of March (Day 60), Musandam had a 3000 mile advantage over the 80 day virtual pace boat, which in terms of physical distance equals the whole width of Atlantic Ocean between New York (USA) and the Western shores of England! With less than 3000 miles to cover until Muscat, the crew was experiencing the untamed power of tropical weather systems, as Charlie described: 'It's raining and sometimes that also means big increases in wind speed - we are in one right now, torrential rain and wind increased suddenly from 14 to 25 knots and big shifts. Then after a while you sail out from under the cloud and things settle down. It's not hard to see why this area was so feared by the sailors of old - sometimes sail powered ships would be stuck in the doldrums for days, weeks even, driving the crew to madness. We have the luxury of a good supply of freshwater supplied by the watermaker, rather than being reliant on rain clouds and ships stores. So in the time it's taken to write this, the squall is gone, Mohsin has had a shower in it and it's bright sunshine skies again, wind direction back to normal and we are doing 16 knots once more........nice.'

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