Passage from Cocos Keeling to Rodrigues S13:59:362 E090:23:126
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Day 2 Still making good progress, though not quite as quick as yesterday. New
gribs forecasting slightly less wind and more from behind. Changed from
the stay sail to a reefed genoa early morning and let one reef out of the
main. Wind and waves slightly more from behind. We didn’t get any rain
but did have blue sky which does make such a difference! Seas sometimes got
themselves together in alignment – still around 3 – 4m - but
actually not too uncomfortable at times. Before dark, we set out the pole
in case the wind went further aft in the night. At around 11pm, the wind
did go further aft so we poled out the genoa but that only lasted about 30 mins
then there was a wind shift so back over on to a 2 sail reach. Most of
the night was that transition between not quite right for a 2 sail reach and
not quite right for goose winging so we ended up 2 sail reaching a few degrees
south of our rhumb line with quartering seas which wasn’t the most
comfortable of rides. Normally we don’t bother trying to sail great
circles, as wind and current generally dictate something different. However on
this trip we’ve set up waypoints on the great circle route. Interestingly
it’s not much shorter (12nm in 2000nm) than the straight line, because we
are relatively close to the equator. The big great circle savings are in the
higher latitudes, or skirting the poles as close as possible. Just after
daybreak we were able to goose wing and now sailing a bit more down the
waves. Still have the big rollers coming up from the southern ocean and
wind waves on top of that but we have a bit of blue sky again. Managed a
pre-cooked meal last night so topped up on calories! Looking at the
longitude you’ll see we’re about ¾ way round the world –
would be nice not to have to go round that big bit of land called Date and time: 17th September 10.15 local (GMT + 6.5 hrs) Position: S13:59:362 E090:23:126 24 hours distance: 190nm |