After a bumpy and uncomfortable 24 hours conditions are now significantly better sailing downwind rather than almost upwind, winds are still strong and Musandam is still moving fast towards the Cape of Good Hope. Lighter winds ahead and expected for the next few days as they negotiate a small high pressure system situated south of South Africa, a more problematic high pressure may block their path in around 4 days time and negotiating the Argulhas current (see more information below) can have some bearing on the decision for the transition from the South Atlantic Ocean and back into the Indian Ocean
We slipped past the Meridian about 0310 GMT, of course it was dark and with out ceremony, or celebration, we just keep going east. After yesterday’s experiences of zero gravity things have calmed down a bit, the wind is still as strong as it was but we are downwind rather than nearly upwind, so motion onboard is significantly improved. As a final send off from the violent motion I was treated to whacking my knee against the (very solid) carbon fibre cabin door. Mohsin had woken us up (I was going on deck to keep Thierry and his thumb dry) and we were on the way when we heard a bit of commotion on deck, usually this isn’t anything to be worried about, especially as often you have a 6th sense about these things, but none the less Mohsin appeared in the hatch saying come quick…. so I pulled up my wet weather trousers, thew on just a light jacket and made a turn (ill timed as it turns out) to run on deck to see what i could do to help… as I turned the boat jolted and I kneed the door harder than you would your worst enemy….Ouch!!! any way we get on deck…. as i got to the main hatch Loik was there all calm saying there was a mistake. Unfortunately Mohsin’s ears, buried beneath hat and hood, had heard Loik say “go get the others” where as what Loik actually said was “take off your gloves to come and help”. it’s such an easy mistake to make – especially with the wind howling like it was and going upwind there is so much wind and water across the deck, other bumps bangs and squeaks, that we often turn to one another and ask what they just said – only to get a shaking head and “wasn’t me” in response.
Thierry’s scuffed up his thumb the other day whilst going up the rig, it’s required a few bandages and importantly to be kept dry – very difficult in these conditions. He manage 24 hours below before getting back on deck, he could not resist it. His thumb will mend fully, and will be way better in a few days if only we can keep it dry – managing well so far.
With Thierry back on deck and me not having slept a bit due to my zero gravity experiences, Loik and he gave me a bit of a lie in… which was nice, still managed to do last minute video conference with Sunset & Vine/APP in Oxford, run the generator, collect the weather, sort the food and so on….. but also managed some good sleep too – we still have another 12 hours or so of fairly strong conditions so it’s good to put some sleep in the bank.
Looking slightly further ahead the conditions look mixed, south east of South Africa will be sitting a large high pressure which we must either sail upwind to the north of or get south – but it’s huge, so will be hard to get to the south of it.. we will just have to see how that moves the next few days and hope it can move in our favour, else we are in for a fair bit of up wind hard work again.. with the associated side effects.”