Trade winds out of order
In this second leg of the Mini Transat 2021, after the departure from the Canaries with a rather light wind, Hugo The Sailing Frenchman on his Maxi 650 is stuck in the calm. For several days, he will have to deal with a wind of less than 10 knots. Not enough to make long surf as it is common to meet in these regions at this time: the famous Trade winds.
With these videos, Hugo shares with us the life on board a sailboat in regatta. A small sailboat of 6,50 m which crosses the Atlantic with a solitary skipper. Here we see him trying to catch the weather. Indeed, in this Mini class, any contact with the land (telephone, satellite) is strictly forbidden. The only thing left for the racers to do is to pick up the short waves to try to hear (and record) a weather report. Not easy when the interior facilities are reduced to nothing (or almost).
The future will tell us that Hugo did not make the right options at that time. The winners will point their bows to the south. The skippers who tried the northern option will be stopped by light winds. This is the case for Hugo, but he doesn't know it yet, without any means of communication as he is in the middle of the ocean.
