Position                    13:43.98 S 070:41.86 E

Date                          1200 (UTC+5) Tuesday 10 May 2016

Distance run             in 24hrs 164nm over the ground, 162nm through the water

Trip total                  574nm over the ground, 557nm through the water

To go to                    Port Maturin, Rodrigues rhumb line 549nm

Route distance         1,144nm as originally planned

And here we are talking 5 o’clock AM and wind shadow, lest you think that the Skipper is growing a beard.  What is it about rain clouds; there you are sailing happily and then one comes around, the wind direction changes anything up to 90 degrees and after a quick blast falls away to next to nothing.  Following that it sulks for half an hour and then picks itself up and off we go again.  Just like a moody teenager.  In amongst all of this of course we shorten sail, close hatches and side screens on the cockpit and wait for the all clear to sound and reverse the procedure.

For the 24 hours, a much better run with just 2 hours motoring to keep the speed up I the shadows.  As of noon we seem to have hit more reliable trade winds.  Wit for tomorrows thrilling instalment.  We passed tw0o yachts, seen on AIS, A Swiss boat whose name did not report and a Belgian boat Illusion.  One was 7 miles to the north of us and the other 5 miles to the south, both doing 3.5 knots.  We tried calling on VHF but did not get a response from either.