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Nexus - On our way to RIchards Bay!




Well, we started out on a great sailing day with good wind for the start of Leg 14 to Richards Bay, but late in the evening yesterday we essentially sailed out of the wind as predicted in the forecast and we've been motoring since then in calm seas and light wind. It's a beautiful day and the Indian Ocean is a deep indigo blue which is beautiful, but has yielded us no fish so far. We were going too fast for trolling initially but we don't have that excuse anymore, perhaps the magic has gone out of Curly's Lures from Savusavu and we'll need to make a change! The fleet has thinned out as usual, we had five boats leave early because they are usually slow and wanted to arrive with us. At the moment they're about 120 miles ahead of us. The rest of the fleet has spread out and are behind us, except for NDS Darwin who are keeping pace alongside us as we motor, and it's really nice to have company on these passages. This one looks to be challenging, as this lull from the high pressure system will give way to strong winds (35kts potentially) and waves south of Madagascar as we turn the corner west toward Richard's Bay. From there we cross the Agulhas current, which is similar to but stronger than the Gulf Stream on our East Coast, and unfortunately there is the potential for a southwester coming from the cape, which will oppose it and make the waves bigger and confused. However, I've never met a forecast that didn't change and we have 6-7 days to go, so we're preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. We'll head in a little north of Richard's Bay and ride the current down to it, because the Agulhas current looks less organized to the North and the effect of the weather will be less we believe. Also as we head South, if the waves turn bad, we can sail inside of the 200 meter depth contour where the current and waves are much less strong. For now, we'll enjoy this beautiful day and night!

Russ and Laurie on NEXUS 17:30 10/2/1014 at 23 33.7'S;52 14.9'E

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