Day One to Chagos….. 26 September 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)
Dear F&F,
The first few days are all about getting your sea legs and tummy back. I\’m doing very well for only 24 hours out of Cocos, we\’ll see how Nikki is when she wakes up. She was working on her celestial navigation last night which is a good sign.
It was a nice 20 knot day yesterday, but to be prudent, we took a second reef in at dark and it paid off. We had several hours of 23-29 knots during the evening and with the staysail poled out, we were fast and comfy. No speed records today, but a decent passage of about 175 miles. We\’re also staying a bit south due to what is effectively an ITCZ low pressure system. The ITCZ or \”inter tropical convergence zone\” is where weather from the northern hemisphere meets the weather from the southern hemisphere. It is often, rainy, squally and gusty. As the trade winds on our latest weather file show strengthening at this latitude, we may gybe a bit north and just follow the low\’s without catching up to them. I do so prefer to stay away from the high 20 knot wind field. Currently, we have two reefs and the staysail poled out. We\’ll see about a gybe shortly?
Nothing to exciting to report, all is going well. New position report out in a few minutes. (see links below)
KIT, Scott and Nikki