Day 9, squalls, wind shifts and ships……

Day 9, squalls, wind shifs and ships…..

04 October 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

Dear F&F,

Well yesterday turned out to be a nice day, lots of \”breeze\” (18-25 knots) and we were able to make some northing. The swells became more tolerable and today feels like we\’re almost at the dock relatively speaking!..:-)

We saw two small junkie fishing boats yesterday. They were apparently just outside the \”Chagos Exclusive Economic Zone\” which means the fishing is good there. Last night, we passed our 12th ship, \”Friendship Freedom\”. A tanker full of oil out of the Persian Gulf. In his AIS \”destination\” column that we get as a read out on our electronic chart system, it said: \”ARMED GUARDS ONBD\”. A sign of the times…. This also of course assumes that \”bad guys\” can read English!

The ships are swinging away from the NW Indian Ocean. So will we btw! We were actually on a collision course with last nights tanker and I had to ask him to alter course on the radio which he happily did.

Last night it was rain, rain and of course, more rain. The night started off with an hour of 27-33 knot winds, then gusts to 35. It has backed off ever since. We\’ve actually seen short periods where there was no wind. Currently, 17-20 knots from the NNE and much calmer seas. We\’re now in no hurry to cover the last 125 miles as we will not enter the reef system till after good light tomorrow morning. I\’m sure we\’ll have to slow down late tonight.

We covered 145 miles the last 24 hours, which was fine as we were not going to make in today in any event. We\’ve been in email contact with \”Sunflower\” who is at Salomon Atoll and gotten some good local knowledge from them. We got an email today from s/v \”Saviah\”, the young Yanks who went direct from Cocos to Mauritius and they report several good whacking fronts and heavy trade winds 25 ++. This is why I didn\’t want to take their route AND, it can get much rougher in their last 1500 miles to South Africa with some huge seas. No thanks!

Watching the squall lines, sailing along. Weather should be gusty, a bit rainy/squally but not too much wind or sea the rest of the way. We\’ll be getting to Chagos just ahead of a low that will pass over us the next day or two. Glad we get to miss that one!

My report may or may not be a little late tomorrow depending on arrival time. I will put out the position report then as well.

KIT, Scott with Sleeping Nikki