India here we come !

Blue Magic
Mark & Chris Dewey
Sun 23 Jan 2011 19:33

Position 06:45.85N 076:35.15E

 

We left Sri Lanka late morning on Saturday and motored into head winds for the rest of the day until we cleared the coast early evening.

 

Once clear of the coast there is open water for around 200 miles until you reach the next coastline which is India. The wind and swell tend to accelerate between the land masses and we had a cracking sail with 25-30 knots of wind on our beam.

 

Unfortunately the sea was very lumpy making for a speedy but uncomfortable trip.

 

For the first time since leaving Gibraltar neither of us was able to sleep in our bunk in the aft cabin as we were being thrown all over the place.

 

It was also the first time that I have been sea sick since leaving Gibraltar – not very nice as many of our crew know only too well !

 

Today the seas began to calm and by 4.00pm we were in the lee of the Indian coast with no wind at all and the engine back on.

It was a relief to be in calmer seas and we both had showers and I even found the energy to hose off the encrusted salt in the cockpit.

 

By the start of my watch tonight (11pm) the wind was blowing again at 20 knots and Mark was pulling the sails out as I came up, so we are enjoying a lovely steady sail along the coast, heading for Cochin and expecting to arrive late morning tomorrow.

 

We are looking forward to exploring India.