Chagos to Rodriguez Day 3 - Another mixed day and a Position Report

Caduceus
Martin and Elizabeth Bevan
Mon 9 May 2016 09:16

Position                    11:17.45 S 071:42.65 E

Date                          1200 (UTC+5) Monday 09 May 2016

Distance run             in 24hrs 147nm over the ground, 138nm through the water

Trip total                  410nm over the ground, 395nm through the water

To go to                    Port Maturin, Rodrigues rhumb line 692nm

Route distance         1,144nm as originally planned

 

During the 24 hours there was a great deal of variable wind, both direction and strength, coupled with frequent rain mixed into the odd squall.  This meant that progress was only going to be made by motoring and gaining whatever advantage we could from the sails.  The swell has now risen to 2.5 metres on the beam so we feel that getting 147nm over the ground in the day is not all bad.  As we were motoring we took the opportunity to head more south, as advised by our weather router and fellow yachtsman, Alex Frowein, in order to give us a better angle for Rodriguez when we get to the more reliable, if robust, south east trades around 12S.  The 24 hours finished with 2 hours of fabulous reaching on our southerly course.  We are seeing a number of ships on AIS as we cross the route between Singapore and South Africa but nothing like the number encountered between Langkawi and the Maldives where ether destinations were India, the Persian Gulf and Suez.