900 miles south of the Reunion Islands trimaran Musandam currently situated at 35° 07.4572 S / 057° 54.4294 E E. See latest position on the Race Tracker
Making steady progress directly north in a 20 knot south easterly wind, sunny dry conditions on deck have transformed life in the last 24 hours
What a difference a day makes, life onboard Musandam has been restored to comfortable and importantly (especially for Mohsin) they are heading north towards Muscat. The only cause for concern right now is a low pressure system situated south of Madagascar, they need to try an avoid getting forced to far west and being effected by the strong winds that will come with it and more uncomfortable upwind sailing, the low will move south by tomorrow (Saturday). Currently expecting to pass around 250 miles east of the Reunion Islands, then next on the radar will be the passage through the doldrums currently situated at 10-12 degrees south.
“It’s friday again, the past few weeks have really gone so quickly, we find ourselves coming in to the last weeks of the trip so soon. The last 24 hours has been one of change, we started out still with rough sea 3 reefs in the main and staysail and we have ended up with full mainsail and solent jib. It’s dry on deck, we are heading exactly where we want to go and making ground to the north very quickly, as we left the 40’s yesterday we saw a couple of flying fish, they seem to be a long way south, but a sign things are warmer already. Being dry on deck is a novelty again and Loik just came off a long stint on deck totally dry and without having to wear a foul weather jacket!!!! everyone’s mood is reflected in the change of weather.
The real end to the south for us was probably a long line of cloud that was the front that brought the change of wind and wave conditions. We had seen it on the satellite pictures, we could see it for 5 hours before sailing out from underneath it. one minute 18 knots then the next 3 knots, the sea changed instantly too -unreal….. a hue line of cloud, a big rolled edge to it stretching as far as the eye could see in each direction. After 2 hours of shifty and variable ( 3-19 knots of wind) we were away to the north east making progress to our routing waypoints and a general feeling of a line being drawn between two parts of the journey.
Have a look on the chart of Cochin in India, this is where the Volvo Ocean race visited and their experience of getting there varied greatly – one boat only managing 48 nautical miles in a 24 hour period, so ETA predictions change very quickly. The greatest challenge of modern offshore racing is that the boats have such great variation in speed. So a small increase (or decrease) or even a 10 degree shift in the wind direction will add (or reduce) many knots of boat speed – added to that a large sea state factor where we must also protect the boat and ourselves from traveling too quickly over too rough a sea.
It’s as frustrating for you spectators as it is for us onboard NOT knowing when we will finish exactly, but that’s meant to be part of the fun! This is a natural driven sport and that means we have to live with the variety that nature is going to give us!!!”