It is only 140nm from Mauritius to Reunion a short hop for us, but a very different place. We are back in France! We have caught up with Slow Flight, met a boat from London and another 1980s Oyster so fun times.

Mostly we are preparing Star Charger for the trip to South Africa. This will be one of the most challenging passages that we do on our whole journey. It is 1500nm so about 12 days. The reason why it is such a concern is that we have two critical areas. First south of Madagascar and second close to the African coast. Leaving here we have a reasonable idea of what the weather will be doing as we round Madagascar. 

However we can’t know with any level of certainty what the weather will be doing in ten days time. There is a strong, 5kn current that flows down the coast of Africa, so we need to get there when the wind is blowing from the north. Des, the weather router, is on the case and we think we will leave tomorrow, but that may change. 

I have bought an Iridium Go satellite system so that I can get updates from Des and also send blog entries, so watch this space in the next few weeks.

Fair winds

Alasdair, Gill, Peter and Piero