BOUND FROM: Reunion Island, France, Indian Ocean
TOWARDS: Cape Town, South Africa, Atlantic Ocean
TIME ZONE: GMT +3 (we retarded the clocks an hour last night, we’re now the same zone as Nairobi and Kuwait)
NOON POSITION: 29°14.9’S/037°32.3’E
DAYS RUN: 94nm PASSAGE DISTANCE RUN: 1,126nm
DISTANCE REMAINING: 1,129nm
WIND: Wind Force 3, NNE
WEATHER: fair, 3/8 cloud, visibility very good, barometer 1018 millibars and steady
SWELL HIGHT & DIRECTION: NE 1-2m
SAILS SET: All sails set except the flying jib
SHIPS WORK: Half day today!
REMARKS: To celebrate Christmas eve we had lots of delicious home-made cookies and sweets (mostly thanks to Amanda)and a drop of mulled wine, and played ‘Stealing Santa’ or ‘White Elephant’, where gifts from under the tree are unwrapped one by one and then swapped amid much hilarity. More presents and the big feast tomorrow! We had music playing all afternoon, and then Mark played us a recording of Louis Armstrong reading ‘The Night Before Christmas’ at supper.