Almost everyone sails the same way around the world. Just keep heading towards the setting sun, avoid the rocks and really you can’t go far wrong. The reason for this is fairly simple. Next time you drain water out of the bath you’ll see the as it going down the drain it spirals, clockwise or anti-clockwise depending (in theory) on if you are in the norther hemisphere or southern.
NOTE: This is complete nonsense in something as small as a bath tub but completely accurate for wind on the something as big as earth.
In the north it goes clockwise, in the south it goes anti-clockwise. So where they meet, at the equator, the wind blows from east to west. The equator is full of sun, fun and rum. The high latitudes are full of cold, rain and pain. We sail the equator. We sail from east to west.
But why not just sail upwind!?
Boats can’t sail directly into the wind, the best we can do is about 45 degrees from upwind. So going towards the wind means zig-zagging your way roughly where you want. Imagine that you want to drive from New York to LA. Most people would drive more or less in a straight line. If you had to ‘sail upwind’ you would first sail to Honduras (45 degree away from LA) and then tack up towards LA. You can either take lots of small zig-zags or one big one, it really doesn’t make any difference to the distance and time.
So it takes longer, whats the problem?
Yes, if it were just that we’d be OK with it. Clearly we’re not in a rush, if we were we would fly as sailing is a incredibly slow way to travel. Going upwind is uncomfortable.
It’s windy. It’s always about 5 mph windier than it really is as you make wind by moving towards it. If it is blowing 15knots of wind and you decide to sail into it, it feels like (and sails like) its 20 knots as you are travelling at 5 knots into it. Going downwind in contrast will only feel like 10 knots. What most people don’t understand is that wind is not linear, it is logarithmic, 20 knots of wind is not twice as strong as 10 knots, it is considerably stronger. Wind power is proportional to the third power of the wind velocity.
It is bumpy. Going into the wind normally means going into the waves. When sailing downwind the waves slowly overtake you from the stern, lift you up and rather gently put you down again. Its rather slow as you are going in the same direction as they are, they have to slowly catch you up. Going into the wind if different. You are both charging at each other, colliding at combined speeds. Even with a heavy boat like Itchy Foot there is slamming as the bow falls off the top of the wave into the gap behind it. The boat shakes and slams, rocks and rolls as we plough into every wave, trying to push us back as our sails try to push us forward. You fight your way upwind.
It is tippy. Sails can’t move towards the wind. The best they can do is work a bit like a wing and be pushed sideways from the wind. In the same way that a wing on a plane is lifted up by wind passing over it, the sail of a boat is lifted up by wind passing over it. The sail doesn’t want to go forward it really wants to go sideways. But the boat has a deep keel under the water, the keel doesn’t want to go sideways, it resists. Rather like squeezing soap between your fingers, the boat gets pushed forward. But the force isn’t equal. The sails, which are high up, want to go one way. The keel which is low in the water wants to go the other. As well as being pushed forward the boat also tips over. The goal is to have just the right amount of tip – about 30 degrees.
Doesn’t sound like much fun?
No. In summary, going upwind is a slow, bumping, tipping, slamming, bouncing, shaking, shuddering, jarring, tiring and noisy experience. Five days of that took it’s toll on our nerves and mood. The only one onboard who didn’t lose their sense of humour was Teo, who was a rockstar on the whole trip.
The reward is that we’re now back in the Marquesas. One of the most beautiful places we’ve ever visited and safely out of reach of cyclones. We’re in good company and looking forward to Christmas.