Indian Ocean cruising

Thursday
7th January 2010

Position:

17degs 05'469S
105degs 54'815E

Boat Time:
19:15hrs

The last couple of days have been pretty perfect from a cruising point of veiw - its been hot, sunny, and we've been carrying the medium weight kite constantly for the last 48 hours at least! I've been on the helm a couple of times and it surprised me to realise that in all my years of sailing millions of types of dinghies etc. that this is the first symetrical spinnaker boat I have helmed! However in light conditions with gentle swells the switch from little and asymetric to huge and symmetrical hasn't been to hard!

The only downer at the moment is that we're slowly losing ground and places on the other boats as wehead more westwards following the wind and its looks like we won't be making it to the scoring gate in time for any points. But not to worry as I'm m sure the 'Come-back Kids' will have something up their sleeves for tactics on the next part of the race! Skipper Pete has a cunning plan!

On night watch last-night we had a whole load of Dolphins with us for about 15 minutes. They were chasing the boat and playing in the bow waves. When you see them coming towards you through the water they look

like silver torpedoes and probably move twice as fast! They love jumping out the water, it seems, just so they can have a look at who's onboard and if there's anything interesting going on! We've also seen loads of flying fish, in the water during the day and on deck at night! During the day its not uncommon to see shoals of up to 50 fish take to the air at once, skimming over the waves.

This leg is a definite change from the Southern Ocean! The water is a different colour and feels different when it happens to go down your neck! - although that is much less common on this leg! Sitting on deck at 4 o'clock in the morning in t-shirt and shorts and moon-bathing is a pretty surreal experience. The nights have been stunning so far, although not very clear, only a few stars here and there, but when the moon rises and pops out from behind a cloud the whole sea becomes a great silver surface, and we can see almost as clearly as day light!

Skipper Pete has fitted and wired bunk fans up front which is a life saver at the moment! Altough the heat is bearable on deck with the constant breeze, downstairs has a definite sauna feel to it and its only going to get hotter as we head towards the Sundra Straits, Krakatoa, the Java Sea and the Equator!

Hope everybody at home is enjoying the snow! I must admit I'm quite a lot jealous that the one winter I spend away from home, it snows properly for the first time in forever! That said, I'd still rather be here! Wrap up warm and keep reading! Lily x