Wed 10thOct07 Yet another good sail today!
I was up well before dawn, watching bright Venus high in the East as the sky began to lighten - when "Crack!" - it sounded as though we'd been hit by a stone! 'Surely not!", I thought..... no, it was a big flying fish which had landed in the cockpit and was flapping about frantically! I took pity on it and threw it back into the water before returning to gaze at the sunrise.
The day has been another good one for sailing, with generally few clouds around and bright sun, although early on I let out the 2nd reef since the wind seemed to be dying - but it soon got back up & has been consistently around or over 25 knots. The seas have continued to be big & fairly rough & the occasional extra big one with a slightly breaking crest really catches us and slams into us. Fortunately, they're coming onto our port quarter - glad they're not on the beam!
I've been reading quite a bit and generally relaxing.... so not much more to report except that I'm pleased to be on this passage with its good winds and not heading for Chagos - 'Trudel' have been motoring for two days now in light winds, at around 6S (we're now at 18S) & had hoped to have arrived in Chagos from Cocos by now - but it looks as though we'll all arrive at our destinations this weekend, even though their distance to travel was much less.
Noon-to-noon distance (from noon GPS positions): 155 n.ml. Distance to Rodriguez: 499 n.ml. at noon