Thailand to Maldives Sunday 20th February

Vega
Hugh and Annie
Sun 20 Feb 2022 12:07


06:33.90N 075:26.81E
The wind did hold through the night. In fact it picked up to 20kts with a big swell. Not only that but there was cross swell also with the result that Vega corkscrewed violently and we were thrown from side to side. A good test for the new rigging but a bad one for the crew who, to say the least, was not a happy bunny.
Today things have calmed down as the wind and swell decrease and we have the cruising chute up again. With 170 miles to Uligan we know we are likely to have to motor when the trade wind gives out tomorrow so we need to press on to minimise motoring time.
Yesterday we had a jazz afternoon with John Coltrane and John David Baptiste (the new British jazz prodigy a few years ago who I saw at the Arnolfini in Bristol). We have run out of Archers omnibuses for our lunch time entertainment. Just as well because they have been dire. There is no significant storyline and just shallow mutually supportive banter between uninteresting characters. And then I discovered that all the other really interesting looking podcasts that appear to be ready to listen to are only “available” and need to be downloaded. Hey Ho.
It’s now 1700 local time and we are only five hours ahead of the UK now. The sun will set in an hour but the moon (still fairly full and very bright) won’t rise until a couple of hour later. This means we have an intense darkness after sunset and before the moon rises - dare we leave the cruising chute up?


SY Vega