Quick update…. After almost two months nad 5,000 nm of sailing Sea Dragon has landed in one of the driest, harshest landscapes on earth. She anchored just this morning in Walvis Bay Harbor.
The Namib desert is a long, long way from the jungle harbor she enjoyed on Ilha Grande, Brazil! The Namib is an extreme desert driven by the constant presence of a powerful high pressure system. This broad area of descending air originally rises off the earth surface in the equator and descends in these subtropical latitudes. as the air rushes back to the equator, it forms the SE trade winds. However in Walvis Bay, the air is exceptionally dry as it comes out of the upper atmosphere. Right now, the crew is feeling the full press of this dry, hot (40+ C) air, surrounded by a sea of giant sand dunes – check out the “live map” button on the website.
In Walvis Bay she will make a quick refuel, take on fresh produce and the full crew. Skipper Clive Cosby flew in late yesterday and is drying out from a cold winter break home in the UK. In the next 48 hours she and her team will be off WNW to St. Helena Island and then across the Atlantic.