By the time I go on watch, the weather is calm, too calm in fact, and after a couple of hours I have to put the engine on as we are going too slowly.
Three or four hours later the wind has picked up just sufficiently to sail properly and we turn it back off. It’s so much nicer than with the horrid droning noise.
It’s a beautiful day; a bright blue sky with fluffy white clouds. It’s nice enough to lie in the sun in the late afternoon when the chance of burning has passed although when the sun goes behind a cloud, I scuttle back inside as without the warmth it feels cold in the breeze as we head further and further south.
I’m amazed at how much commercial traffic there is – 16 huge container/cargo ships have passed us so far in the shipping lane, and they are getting more frequent the closer we get to South Africa.
We hear on the SSB radio that most of the other boats are faring worse than us and certainly motoring harder as they have current going against them as they have taken the decision to sail closer to Madagascar. Staying further from the island has definitely had it’s benefits and has made for a more comfortable sail most of the time and saved us a good amount of diesel.
Our position is: 25 deg 54 min S, 49 deg 38 min E
Distance so far: 16922 nautical miles
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