can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

Exody - Days 269-271: It's like waiting for a bus..



.........none for ages then they all come at once! First up was Golden Zoushan on Tuesday, finding us a little off guard since first noticed at just three miles off, then one other and from Wednesday evening: Ocean Peony, Lawn Arrow, Ever Alliance, Hakkaisan and my favouritely named Hanjin Dangjin. She has been with me from first sighting for a whole four hour watch: for economic reasons the average speeds for cargo ships are low - so at her 9.4 knots (similar to World ARC recent averages for Makena and Tulasi !), she takes a while to pass us at our 7. We have been obliquely crossing the shipping route between the tip of Africa and Singapore, having four days and 630 miles to run to Port Louis, Mauritius.

We have been at sea for ten days and have enjoyed quite the most consistent and favourable trade wind and sea conditions of the whole rally so far ,including the transatlantic ARC+! Exody has clocked daily runs since the record of 189 on day 5 of 181,173,180,180 and today, Thursday 8th a bit less at 168. The conditions, as they say, 'softened' last evening with winds easing down to 13-15 knots from the 17-22 that we have mostly seen. For a spell it also backed to ESE - or UOA - up our ass - so we had the pole out goosewinging for most of yesterday but now it's back up to Force 5, just abaft the beam and we are happily reaching again with full sail set. We have seen only the slightest rain and a few cloudy spells but avoided most of the infrequent squalls.

In spite of all our efforts with fitting a brand new alternator in Darwin, we find that it has a mind of its own in deciding whether and when to deliver its specified output or not! So adequate electrical generation remains a problem, especially when we use the autopilot sailing close to dead downwind. So we have our towed generator deployed yielding 3 to 4 amps in return for a 1/4 to 1/2 knot lost speed- it is the only excuse I can find for our 'losing' Hugur who has crept further ahead overnight! Now we are on a reach again, all the steering is being done mechanically and excellently by the Aries gear, working well since the partial rebuild in Darwin.

Ship's time is still Cocos Keeling so we are enjoying the later sunsets at about 19.30 but not the later dawns! We reckon to lose our 2.5 hours to UTC+4 when we get in to port which will be sometime Sunday night early Monday if the favourable conditions prevail- eat sleep,sail,repeat x 4

Peter (Skipper)





Previous | Next