Gulfstream- Eddies- Misc Info

Gulfstream Eddies ...Steve Black, the head of the Carib1500 gave a very interesting talk on how they form and their characteristics...here is a little about them

Eddies are a bend in the current that breaks off from the gulf stream as either cold eddies or warm eddies...and travel at speeds of 2-4knots.

North of the gulf stream they are warm eddies and south of the gulfstream they are cold eddies....we will be in cold eddies heading toward tortolla as soon as we cross around Cape Hatteress.

Cold Eddies rotate counter clockwise and can be as large as 120 miles across....
The Eddie moves the fastest on the outer edge and you want to be on the west bottom slope of the eddie so it will move you SE and not on the North side since it will push you NW.

Christmas Winds.....Trade winds North in Winter, South in Summer.....they do not exist any more.....The winter pattern 20 years ago gave the Caribbean the Christmas winds that were out of the East. Today with the weather change the Caribbean has more of the summer wind which is North East all winter.


If you get caught in a situation where the winds are going against the current you get very steep choppy waves....not good.

We will be sailing under Atlantic time......(Bermuda time) Atlantic time is GMT-4hrs Atlantic Standard Time, -3hrs Atlantic Daylight Time.

AS you watch the Rally from the transponders...boats to watch as to how they sail the course...one is Steve Black on a Swan 57 called CLOVER3....
Hope you find this interesting. Cap Jim