Mauritius to Richard's Bay, South Africa - Day 3
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Thu 24 May 2012 09:01
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24:05.977S 50:55.971E
May 24, 2012
Three down, six to go.
We are nearly one-third of the way there, and are happy to
report that there's not much to report. We sailed about ten hours
throughout the day yesterday in wind blowing a little too lightly from a
direction a little too far behind us. But hey, that's sailing.
Rarely is the wind blowing at the right speed from the right direction.
But when it does...there's nothing like it. This is why we keep
at it - always believing the perfect sail is just beyond the next couple
of waves (or sometimes, days).
So, after ten hours of listening to our fragile and
elderly main and mizzen sails slap around in the not quite brisk
enough wind, we packed it in and motored through the night. And a
dark night it was, too. We saw the tiny sliver of the moon for about
fifteen minutes before the rain clouds rolled in. We never got a
horrendous downpour, but did get enough rain showers to keep things
interesting. I did feel a pang of guilt leaving John to take over the
night watch at midnight, just as a rain squall completely blotted out what
was left of the horizon. There he was, huddled on his new helm
seat throne (we dug out the cushion made specially for the helm seat and
cleaned it up, making John's delicate tush very happy indeed), bundled up in
fleece, rain jacket, life jacket and harness, surrounded by total darkness, the
radar showing a vast expanse of rain showers ahead, and what did I do?
Closed the companionway door leaving him in the cockpit to deal with the
rainy darkness alone while I flounced off to bed and six hours of
sleep. I think Don and I could really get used to this extra crew
thing.
This morning the wind picked up and moved to a more desirable
direction allowing us to sail nicely....almost perfectly. We're just
lacking a bit of speed, but maybe it's out there waiting for us just beyond the
next couple of waves (or days).
Bruce is still saying the ESE winds will re-appear tomorrow
afternoon (Friday) just as we pass the southern tip of Madagascar (this
should bring us that extra bit of speed). He's also still saying the
longer term forecast for the rest of the trip looks good. Can't ask for
better than that.
Anne
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