14 September 2010
I was up until 1.30am on Monday morning writing up the blog. Now as I check it there are oodles of mistakes. But worse, I set out on this latest leg tired. Not a good idea. We just made it to the start line in time having taken on fuel but John and Jenny alongside us at the fuel dock were one hour later. The pilotage from the island out into the Indian Ocean for the start of Leg 15 could not have been more straightforward. Once we had negotiated the mayhem of boat traffic in the Benoa Channel and cleared the southern tip of the island, it was just a case of hang a right and sail a straight course direct for Cocos Keeling. We have 4960 nm of ocean to cross with three stops, Cocos Keeling, 1110nm, Mauritius, 2350nm, Reunion, 130nm, with land fall at Richards Bay, South Africa, 1370nm. This is new ocean territory for us and we are really looking forward to it.
We have been spoiled over the last couple of months with flat seas. Now we have no reefs to break the swell and as we pass the 1000metre contour into deeper water the swell is noticeably more meaning that we have to move around the boat much more carefully. The wind was more than we expected south east four, increasing to five overnight. We poled out soon after the start and only took in the main as the wind swung round more to the east. Neither of us slept well. One hour into my watch I had to get David up. There was a alarm over one of the yachts being pursued by a fishing boat but I think it was more a case of a poor Indonesian fisherman simply trying to protect his precious nets from damage. My watch was equally disturbed. I was suffering from a bad bout of prickly heat. But this should resolve itself soon now that we can keep ourselves and the boat a little cooler.
Susan Mackay