Sailing To Durban, South Africa – Leaving Moromba Bay – Day 1
Happy Halloween!
0800 – Wearily rolled out of bed. I was sick all day yesterday and the night before, it seems Madagascar had one final test for my belly and I lost….. 36 hours in bed leaves me feeling dazed, confused, and sore from so much time in bed.
Sailing to Durban, South Africa – Wind Dies, Motoring Along – Day 2
0500- Awoke with the sunrise but decided to stay in bed a little longer. Watch doesn’t start until 0600.
0600- Roll out of bed and greet Mr. Brady and the helm. Him and Jens are still splitting up Uli’s shift until he feels better.
Sailing to Durban, South Africa – Problems In The Night – Day 3
10:00- Took advantage of no morning watch and slept in a bit. Woke to the sound of the motor droning on and on. The rhythm can sometimes be very comforting as it chugs away. Started doing a bit of morning reading.
0800- Awake groggily for watch. Sometime overnight the wind has died and we are back to motoring along. This means lots of power and the ice machine is on. Decide to treat myself to an iced coffee while I read during my watch.
Sailing to Durban, South Africa – Flying the Drone At Sea – Day 5
0400- Alarm goes off. It’s O’ Dark Thirty and time for watch! I relieve Uli at the helm and all is well except the wind died a few hours ago as predicted. We are now directly on course but motoring along making 4.5-5 knots.
Sailing to Durban, South Africa – Swimming In 2000 Meters Of Water – Day 6
0800- I didn’t have watch until 1000 so Woke up a little confused this morning without the alarm. I thought it was super early but turned out I had slept until 830!
Sailing to Durban, South Africa – Scuba Diving At Sharky Bassas Da India – Day 7
0500- I awake feeling refreshed and excited. Even though I’ve really only had a few hours of sleep – it doesn’t matter. I know within a few hours we’ll be at Bassas Da India!
Sailing to Durban, South Africa – Running To Maputo For Cover – Day 8
0800- The wind filled in last night during watch and we have been sailing since. Not going fast but the motion of Delos is very comfortable. I open the head window on our port side and stare out at the ocean as I use the toilet.
Sailing to Durban, South Africa – Not A Bit Of Breeze – Day 9
0630- Awake to blue skies and the drone of Delos engine. I stare out the hatch for a while wondering where could all the wind have possibly gone? In just a few days it will be 40 knots here but now nothing when we need it the most.
Sailing to Durban, South Africa – We Change Our Plans – Day 10
0400- Wake up to dark skies and light breeze. We have sailed for a good part of the night which is nice. Surprisingly I’m not very tired even though I stayed up last night to watch a very weird movie called “Cell” with John Cusack.
0300- The wind has changed again, I can feel it from my bunk and it wakes me up. The motion of the boat becomes jerky and irregular. I’m trying to think back on another passage where the wind has been so temperamental.
0300- Another wind shift wakes me. The wind goes slack and seems to be toying with us. Never content long enough to make much progress. Delos slams around uncomfortably until Brady starts the engine and we make a little forward progress. Yuck, it’s gonna be another one of those days.
Chagos is quite literally in the middle of the Southern Indian Ocean. With Asia 2000 miles to the east, Africa 2000 miles to the west, and India 900 miles to the north it’s one of the most remote places a cruising sailor can dream of.
0430- The alarm goes off and I find myself feeling pretty alert even though I didn’t get as much sleep as I had hoped. Tucker and Victoria lured us over to Convivia last night with the promise of rum and conversation.
00:00 I’m pretty sure my head just hit the pillow, and yet here is Brady telling me it’s time for watch. Apparently I forgot to set my alarm. My bad bro! My head is fuzzy after only about 4 hours of sleep but it’s just enough.
Day 3
00:00- The wind is starting to come out of the south now. It’s nice and light, about 10 knots so perfect conditions really. I cut the engine off and unfurl the genoa. Delos is now cruising along at about 7 knots and perfectly happy.
08:00- What a nice feeling it is to sleep the whole night! Nothing like a solid 9 hours ? I peek my head out the aft hatch and find a cold, rainy, grey morning.
09:00 It’s 260 NM from Mossel Bay to Cape Town. The forecast is very light over the next two days and we decide to go for it. Better to have it light then against us.
