Tuesday, 5th October 2010 (Day 9 at Sea)
Total distance of this leg...................2,313 n miles
Rugby Matters
As I type this, we have the Muenster music playing on the sound system. It brings back such fond memories. A pity about loosing last weekend, but, but they live to fight another day....................look out Leinster! We will have to get out the flag and give it an airing in Mauritius.
Anyway, last night was a beautiful starry night, but still extremely cold.
We observed a number of falling stars shoot across the skies, and no traffic or fishing trawlers to be seen anywhere.
09.00hrs Radio Call ......... todays net controller is Destiny. They are the Catamaran that pushed us to the finish line on the last leg. We recorded the position of all the yachts and we still made ground on all the fleet (except Grand Filou) during the last 24 hours. However, Grand Filou is still 194 miles behind, and may not have enough time to overtake us, she is a "Shipman 63" and an extremely fast boat. She left the Cocos 2 days after we left the place.
Distance to our destination.................................795 n miles
Distance traveled..............................................1,554 miles
Weather...........................................................good
Sea state.........................................................moderate
Wind...............................................................20/22 knots ESE
The weather kept improving as the day wore on, we were able to leave the main hatch open for the first time in days, and open some of the port holes to air the ship.
Lunch consisted of egg salad sandwiches, this was specially to give the crew enough energy in case the Skipper called for the "Bag of Fear" which of course he did later on in the day, meanwhile we enjoyed the sunshine and great sailing conditions as we scooted across the Indian Ocean westwards to Mauritius, a real honeymoon destination.
17.00hrs We hoisted the "Bag of Fear" and this increased our speed by 1.5 knots........
18.00hrs We had covered 396 miles in 48 hours with just 729 miles to our destination.
21.00hrs Radio call, Destiny did the nightly roll call of all World ARC yachts, checking everyone is ok and keeping in touch with one another. Distance to destination.....................699 miles.
Neil went for a kip before the dinner. Gosh, he would nearly outdo Fats in the sleeping stakes. Terry says he would certainly win the "Golden Blanket Award".
Dinner was just a simple "rack of Australian Lamb" with creamed potatoes, and more cabbage. The clean plates spoke for themselves.
We got emails from some of our offspring, describing the great party our son Paul and Christine held in the R.C.Y.C to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary and Christine's (Wife) birthday. Well done guys...
We decided to change the watch arrangements as we have the "Bag of Fear" flying.
So it is as follows :-
21.00hrs / 00.00hrs......................................Skipper
00.00hrs / 03.00hrs......................................Neil
03.00hrs / 06.00hrs......................................Terry
06.00hrs / 08.00hrs......................................Aileen
That's all from a much more relaxed boat today.
Thanks Marion for all your concern and best wishes. Gutten Nacht.
Signed :- Stephen Hyde (Skipper)