Day 7, weather and ships……

Day 7, weather and ships…..

02 October 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

Dear F&F,

Yesterday was a nice sailing day, the evening got a bit cranky. The winds are definitely \”northern hemisphere\”. There is a small low pressure system now between us and Chagos which is moving toward Chagos. This should allow us to follow it in with the more or less current conditions.

The wind, being from the NE is a bit \”beamy\” and we\’re not as comfortable as when it\’s behind us. If it goes aft at all, I\’ll sneak a bit more northerly track in to avoid just coming down on the lee shore of the Great Chagos Bank. The bank is about 80 miles wide and very shallow. Once upon a time, an atoll that must have been magnificent.

We\’ve been in touch with \”Sunflower\” who is at Salomon now, but we may miss them as they may leave before we arrive?

Each day is a bit unique out here (of course), but we get a feel for the day depending on the \”squall scene\”. Last night, it was delightful not to have too many, today is setting up to be a squally one so far.

Yesterday, we crossed a major SE Asia/China to South Africa shipping lane and actually ended up seeing 7 ships on our AIS system. We spoke with two. One coming from China, the other going to Singapore. The one bound for Singapore, \”Eleni\” at 967 feet full of oil, actually had to turn slightly to avoid us. Pretty wild when you think about where we are. We spoke on the radio, his English was very good.

We did 161 nm yesterday, we\’re currently beam reaching in 17-21 knots with a reefed main and staysail. Fortunately, the seas are relatively calm. Relative being the operative expression…:-) 417 miles to go, we should be there on our Friday.

Stand by, feel free to write! Well enjoy hearing from you all..

Scott and Cooking Nikki….