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Bamarandi - 10th November - the boat changes colour



Position 23.24.158N 018.56.520W

We sailed through yesterday afternoon and evening uneventfully - sailing as close to our chosen route as we could whilst managing our bearing to the wind at the same time. Our engines have remained off apart from a brief period of less than an hour to help get us up into better wind.

 There was an unusual and interesting argument on the radio played out on channel 16 for all to hear between 2 large commercial ships arguing as to who should give way to who and on what side. One showed a clear lack of understanding of the rules of the sea and the other made it clear he was not happy about it!

First light came and revealed that the boat had received a makeover in the night. Much of the boat has gone from white to a dusty Dayle Winton orangey-brown. The winds blowing across from the desert on land have turned Bamarandi a different colour and will take some hosing down to clean off!

The dolphins have left us alone although Caitlin spotted some Kyle Whales in the distance and reported them to us all but we could not see them.  Maybe next time.

We had been flying our gennaker (like a spinnaker but a different size and shape) out front as the winds were in the right direction and at the right speed when to a loud bang it let go at the top of the mast and was in the sea in an instant. We were all on the flybridge - so quickly hatched a plan to retrieve it. The bottom was still attached to the boat as was the line on the side and by now the sail was trailing out under the middle of the boat between the hulls.

We released the bottom of the sail and sent it all out under the boat trailing behind us, then winched it closer with the remaining line attached - then hauled it out into the cockpit. The sail is undamaged and fully intact which is good news – the end of the line holding it at the top of the mast must have been chaffing on something as it had parted. The line is re-usable and we will re-attach and reset it when we are able.

At 1pm we had covered 376nm and have 519nm to go. After covering 189nm in the first 24 hours that means we covered 187nm in the next 24 hours so our average speed remains at around 7.8nm under sailpower apart from one very brief period.

It’s a warm but hazy day and visibility is restricted by the total cloud cover as far as the eye can see. Last night we had completely clear skies and saw several shooting stars so the cloud has appeared early morning and stayed with us.

The weather report tells us the winds will be good for sailing with nothing coming at us we should be concerned about.

Everyone fine on board, some sporting new items of clothing, all enjoying the passage.



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