Sunday, 1st November, 2015

Luna Quest
W. Eric Faber
Sun 1 Nov 2015 08:28
Noon Position: 25.06S 53.35E

Daily run: 147 logged miles

Whereas the night before was rough with strong winds from the Southeast, last night was the opposite with light winds from the Northeast and an uncomfortable sea that caused much banging of the sails. Our progress slowed markedly as a result and what with the banging of the sails we were very tempted to take them down and motor, but we did not in the hope the wind would return, which it did towards the end of the night, just enough to fill the sails.
The fleet set off yesterday aiming for a waypoint some 200 miles south of Madagascar in the hope of making for Richards Bay on a westerly course when the strong southwesterlies, supposedly, arrive on Thursday. The bigger boats will have no problem getting there in time, but the smaller fry may struggle and we are therefore pleased to have set off a day early. The waypoint seems a good one and if the wind is kind to us we may come near it, given it is some 550 miles away from our present position. We have, therefore, changed course from an earlier desired course of 200 degrees to around 235 degrees and in doing so have found some better winds. The new course necessitated a jibe and we are now running goose-winged with the mainsail poled out to port.

Our new water-towed generator arrived last Thursday, just in time before setting off on Friday. We have not yet had time to change over the plug and whilst the old generator is doing a brilliant job, the urgency to use our new Aquair generator has waned.

Eric