Tuesday 17^th April 2007

Weather was overcast and gray, a sure sign that we are truly in off the Namibian coastline (+/- 300Nm). Good winds though. Namibian fish are also shy as they were not interested in biting today so Sharon is made a delicious Spag Bol for dinner.  There is absolutely no traffic out here and we find ourselves in the “desert” once again. It’s definitely getting warmer as we head up towards the tropics – this is most noticeable at night as we start wearing less and less thermal gear. During the day we fly the Spinnaker during the day but at night we fly a double headsail goose-winged – slower but safer. Swell 3m, SSE 4- 5, Log 610.5Nm, Bar 1018

Wednesday 18^th April 2007

Last night was a roller coaster ride with Jolly Roger surfing down large long period swells at speeds up 15Kn. A little worrying at first up but at the end we were cheering JR on to see how fast and long we could surf. Weather was still overcast but it cleared up by lunchtime into a beautiful sunny day. Today we crossed the first time zone so everybody changed their clocks one hour back. Explaining this to Jackson took some time. We expect to cross GMT at 20S. Fish are still not biting so it’s chicken curry and roti for supper. Tomorrow we will be passing near the Valdivia bank, which is a famous fishing ground, so hopefully a great fish dinner will be the order on Thursday. Saw 3 ships during the night it was almost exciting after not seeing anything for 3 days. Water temp is now up to 22 degrees and turning clearer and bluer. Today was our best run since leaving with 175Nm for the 24 hour period. Swell 3 – 3.5M, SE 5-6, Log 785Nm, Bar 1018.