"Headed" to Chagos
S/V Galatea update
Neil Scott
Sun 17 May 2015 06:59
Firstly, to dispel any handwringing stemming from the title of mike's last post, I need to remind readers that our experiences have been faithfully meeting the definition of cruising: "fixing things in exotic locations"!! 36 hours ago, around 8pm friday, we made the right hand turn to head up to Chagos - 550 miles away, despite the forecast for light winds from difficult directions. It would have been far easier to turn left and make our way down to the trades and go directly on to Mauritius. But, we all felt that we really have to make the effort to get to Chagos even if it means sitting waiting for wind for extended periods. We had a good start the first 24 hours - about 150 miles. Winds have started to drop off and we are only now only making 4.5 to 5 knots. So, it will be a long final 350 miles, especially as we wont be able to go in a straight line - probably more like north about 100 miles, then west for another 300 odd miles. Luckily the seas have calmed down and make for smoother sailing which requires less wind. No fishing yet - we will leave that for Chagos. We have left the swells behind that mike previously described. Very clear, starry night last night - definitely the best since our departing Phuket almost 2 months ago. No clouds with lights all the way from one horizon across to the other. Venus, scorpio, southern cross milky way and much more. Beautiful. Otherwise, all's well on Galatea. - S/V Galatea (Due to limited satellite bandwidth, please delete any previous text in the string or compose a new message when replying) |