My apologies, I think I misread your post. On re-reading I see you were not equating the trade-winds and the horse latitudes.
Right you are. The Horse Latitudes are the region around 30[sup]o[/sup] with somewhat flukey winds. This occurs because above that latitude the winds are from the west and below it they are from the east. The transition zone is an area of rather undependable winds.
As I understand it, sailors worked hard in setting sails and changing tacks to get through the Horse Latitude zone and were happy when they finally reached either the trade winds or the prevailing westerlies. There they could pretty much just trim the ship and go.
Or a James Clavell fan - “rutters” feature in Shogun as the stolen, secret navigational aid that has made the Dutch voyage to the Far East possible.
As always, Clavell doesn’t let facts get in the way of a good story - but at least I knew the word 
Whoops! - sorry to resurrect such an old thread. I followed the link from a current thread on Columbus, got interested and forgot it had been closed for years :smack:
Yeah, we wouldn’t be fooled! It wouldn’t take us long at all to recognize Middle Earth.
I’m heading for Rivendell!
Let me slay this zombie before anyone gets hurt.
Gfactor
General Questions Moderator