Monday 13th
October
Shine On!
I see
no ships! Only a couple of fishing boats at the beginning from Bali, but since
then the only ship was seen on the radar a couple of nights
ago!
What
we have seen since Bali is an almost full moon every night over a partially
cloudy sky. It rises behind us in the East moves overhead and sets ahead of us.
It's been a touch windy with a 6 to 9 foot swell and Quasar occasionally
catching a wave on the stern to send her involuntarily up to windward, plus the
odd green one hitting the cockpit!
Imagine crashing through the waves in the middle of the
night into pitch-blackness! It happens frequently of course, but a full moon
makes a massive difference and night sailing becomes more pure rather than a
chore! You have light, warm winds, the moonlight dances and shimmers on the
waves, reflects off the boat's chrome work and you are crashing and heaving
along on a beam reach at over 8 knots listening to JB on your IPOD!
This Is Indian Ocean
Sailing!
We
are still making good progress. Wind is force 7 plus at times. Just fell short
of the 200 nm at 199.7! As at 5pm we are 204 nm from Cocos position: 11.29 S
100.17E. Touch and go whether we get to Cocos in the daylight on Tuesday. Just
another 2,300 nm from there to my dropping off point in
Mauritius!
Spag
Bog for dinner tonight and one for the freezer, although I will have to chuck
out some of Malcy's G & T ice bags to make
room!
(Author's note: JB of course is James Blunt, singer
composer of Shine On, not our much missed crew
member!)