BOUND FROM: Rodrigues Island, Mauritius, Indian Ocean
TOWARDS: Reunion Island, France, Indian Ocean
TIME ZONE: GMT +4
NOON POSITION: 20°36.7’S / 059°23.3’E
DAYS RUN: 118nm
PASSAGE DISTANCE RUN: 243nm
DISTANCE REMAINING: 233nm
COURSE AND SPEED: WxN 247T, 4.6 knots
WIND: Wind Force 4, SSE
WEATHER: fair, 4/8 cloud, visibility very good, barometer 1019 millibars and steady
SWELL HEIGHT & DIRECTION: SE 1-2m
SAILS SET: All sails set
SHIPS WORK: A coat of varnish on the oars for the long boat, and a coat of primer on the kedge anchor. More paint on the hatch cover and spot painting tropical blue on the ‘aloha deck’ overhead astern. The blocks for the monomoy falls were removed and overhauled by taking the weight of the boat on a strop. All greased up and oiled now. Even the fall gets a light tarring as a sunblock.
REMARKS: The cats had an unfortunate flying fish for breakfast this morning. More practice tacking the ship back and forth this afternoon, four actual tacks with one missed stays and with three longtails flying overhead looping in and out between the masts; they looked like they were wondering what this big floating bird below them was doing, and if it meant there might be fish nearby!
Ship’s cat Fiji inspects the stitching on the mainsail