The weather

19 March 2020

Everything is well on board OOSTERSCHELDE. The ship is on her way to Rotterdam and will arrive there at the end of the month.

But we still have some miles to cover and as we are a sailing ship, our route is subject to the weather conditions. At this moment there is a complex system of high and low pressure on the North Atlantic. An area with a strong northerly and north easterly breeze is drifting slowly southeast and will be over the UK and the English Channel by tonight. A shallow ridge of relative high pressure with little wind is stretching over the Bay of Biscay in a north easterly direction.

OOSTERSCHELDE is following this ridge, avoiding the headwinds north of her. So far, this strategy works out perfectly. Yesterday we received a short message from the captain to inform us that they made good progress on a perfectly sunny ocean.

It seems like this weekend the north easterly winds will persist in the English Channel. OOSTERSCHELDE will probably drop anchor somewhere along the coast of Britany for one or two days until the wind in the English Channel decreases again. And then continue her voyage to Rotterdam.