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American Spirit II - Day 290; Last Full Day in Mauritius , Skipper's Meeting for Leg 12 & Merlyn of Poole Comes to Dinner; Wednesday, October 22, 2014



Up at 5:00 AM; but I stay in bed until 6:00 AM. Then coffee and type 2 logs before anyone else gets up. Done with the logs by 7:00 AM.

Breakfast at 8:15 AM: eggs, potato, French bread and chilled fruit cocktail.

After breakfast I filled out post cards and we all filled in our debarkation forms for leaving the country.

From 10:10 AM to 10:25 AM I defrosted the freezer; then stored the fruit and vegetable cans that we'd taken out of the hidden hold area and put them in the main cabin bilge and storage area under the main cabin starboard settee; and under the V-Berth. Some of the cans had rusted by being exposed to sea water. How could that happen? Duh!

At 10:30 AM Joel started cleaning the boat bottom with Folie a Deux's electric Hooka. The Hooka has two regulators attached on 50 foot air hoses so you can breathe underwater. While he was doing this I put charts away under my aft cabin mattress; and pulled out the charts, group number 6 out of 7; and placed them on the main cabin table. Going 'under the mattress' is always fun. Why don't they make this queen sized mattress in two parts?

At 11:30 AM I walked into the mall/boutique area and got some Euros which we'll need in Reunion; then to a store to find out how much they would charge me to wrap up the model ship I received during the prize giving ceremony last night ($15); and walked to the post office and mailed my, Joel's and Jeremy's post cards. Then I went to McDonald's for lunch. You can never get enough McDonald's overseas.

Back at the boat by 1:30 PM or so; we then all went to the Keg & Marlin Pub for Wifi and for Joel and Jeremy to have lunch. Joel and I are back at the boat at 3:20 PM while Jeremy stays in the mall/boutique area doing some final shopping; and Joel takes a nap while I tidy up the cabin for our dinner engagement with Merlyn tonight.

At 4:00 PM Joel and I attend the Skipper's meeting for Leg #12 of the Rally, from Mauritius to Reunion. During the 1 1/2 hour briefing the areas covered include:

Clearing out of Mauritius;
The start of the leg and time of the start (2:30 PM);
Which port to go to at Reunion (the West one);
When to call Rally control before finishing the leg (1 mile from the finish line);
When daylight savings will begin in Europe (October 26) and the USA (November 2);
Fly the French flag in Reunion (Reunion is actually a province of France, not a separate country);
That berthing in Reunion is free, like it is in Mauritius;
That electricity and water are free in Reunion, just like in Mauritius;
To dress the boats (hanging up all sorts of colorful flags while berthed);
Where and how and when to get fuel;
Where the laundry, showers and marina office are;
Where the ATM is;
That we're having a 'Hash' walkabout Saturday morning at 8:00 AM;
Where the Jumbo supermarket is;
The name of our travel agent in Reunion (Dominique), who will meet us at the dock when we arrive on Friday;
The start of the leg in Reunion will be a 'rolling' start between 11:00 AM and 12 noon, due to possible fueling congestion;
That the next leg from Reunion to Richard's Bay in South Africa is Leg # 14 as there is no Leg 13 (anyone superstitious?); there are 17 legs in all on our circumnavigation, so we'll have only 4 legs left after we get to Reunion.

A preview of Leg #14 was also given and includes:

Madagascar currents;
Madagascar waypoint to use if weather and currents dictate;
That during the nets we will be asked to comment on currents, so boats behind the faster boats can make course changes before encountering adverse currents;
Agulhas current, will be 'uncomfortable' if you cross with a southwest, Low driven wind;
Start looking at GRID files once you get south of Madagascar, not before;
That Lows will occur every 3-5 days from the bottom of South Africa and head our way (Isn't this fun?!);
That the Rally program in Richard's Bay ends November 13;
That Richard's Bay to Cape Town is 895 nautical miles, not the 720 miles 720 miles I thought it was;
That Richard's Bay to Durban is 85 miles;
Durban to East London is 255 miles;
East London to Port Elizabeth is 135 miles;
Port Elizabeth to Mosel Bay is 175 miles; and
Mosel Bay to Cape Town is 245 miles.
That V&A Waterfront marina is a great location in the center of a great shopping and restaurant area;
Royal Cape Yacht Club is another location to stay at but its a 20 minute taxi ride away from the center of town;
That we should keep the marina we're going to apprised of our timetable;
Information about other marinas to stay at;
WWW.cruisingconnections.co.za - a good web site;
Southern Africa Cruising Notes, East to West; try to get;
Cape to Caribbean Cruising Notes; try to get;
World ARC trying to get copies of these guides that are no longer in print; with permission of the author.

In our paperwork for Leg 12 is a bonus question: How many hours is the elapsed time between the first and last boats to finish? We said 8 1/2 hours.

At 6:30 PM Jonathan and Sigi from Merlyn of Poole join us for dinner. Jenny is ill and can't make it. For dinner we have blackened chicken legs cooked on the grill by chef Joel; baked potato; freeze dried Spaghetti in Meat Sauce; freeze dried Pasta Primavera; and chilled pear halves for dessert. Plus a bottle of red and rose wine.

At 9:20 PM Sigi and Jonathan departed and we watched episode 3 of 'True Detective.' Our last episode. Too slow and the main characters have too many issues. Sorry David.

Too bed at around 10:30 PM, Joel and me. Jeremy stayed up to read and make a phone call, I think.

Brian Fox

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