Position Reports

Position: 21º 15.738’ S 35º 6.438’ E My watch keeps track of how long I sleep each night. I have always thought this was a pretty frivolous feature for my lifestyle. It seems like the kind of thing a high power business exec would use to come to some AH HA moment about their work-life balance. My life, I thought really didn’t require that kind of metric. Yesterday, as I was chatting with my friends on Saltbreaker, I came to the rather sudden conclusion that I am “all adventured out.” I’m making a lot of simple (inconsequential) mistakes. When I talk about wind direction, for example, I will reverse the ordinality, or I’ll read the battery voltage and add a volt when I say it aloud. These activities are so common, so core to our lives, that to consistently make mistakes in the reporting, is indicative of something greater. ...

Position: 21º 15.762’ S 35º 6.408’ E Last night we saw lightning that played like a firework display. The bolts would chain and burst. It went on for hours. As a result, we opted against our moonlit sail to the more protected anchorage. This morning we made the move. It was 6 stressful hours of slow motoring against current, but we are now safely tucked behind a decent spit of land for the impending SE blow. ...

Position: 21º 8.742’ S 35º 6.378’ E So glad that night is behind us. We returned to Convivia after the taco party to find the boat pitching wildly in a Northerly 20 knots. We hipped fatty and checked our anchor snubber and went below to put the kids to bed. After a few rounds of cribbage, Vick and I retired to bed. Sleep was not forthcoming. The bow was scooping up water every few waves, and when I went up to check, the snubber had broken (for the third time). I replaced the snubber and checked the rest of the boat. Even though she was 3 feet up, Fatty was floating every few waves, and when she went airborne again, would crash (with a shudder) into Convivia. The flopper stopper was so loaded that the shackle that holds the topping lift (the weakest link in that system) was starting to bend open. Normally, in these situations, I just attached the main halyard to the boom’s clue, and relieve the strain, but that halyard was attached to Fatty’s bridal. The answer was obvious but unwelcome. ...

Position: 21º 8.718’ S 35º 6.492’ E Yemaya arrived today with tons of fish. The kids have been reunited with their friends, and are happily creating animals out of felt while we all bop our heads to Frances England. Tonight is Trevor’s Birthday (Happy Birthday T) and we are talking about a fish taco and cake party on the sand spit. Looks like our next southbound window is Wednesday. All is definitely well.

Position: 21º 8.7’ S 35º 6.492’ E We arrived at first light in B. Diaz. There is nothing here but a little spit of sand and apparently it gets pretty rolly when the tide covers the sand. That said, it is beautiful in its way, and we are delighted to be here. All is well.

Position: 20º 15.708’ S 35º 50.328’ E The last 24 hours has followed the same pattern as the previous days of this passage. Many hours of tedious motoring (and hand steering) followed by some of the best sailing imaginable. Today the whole family was engaged in dreaming about our future. The kids both drew pictures of the tiny houses they would like to build and live in and we talked more about where and for how long we would like to live on land. ...

Position: 18º 48.222’ S 37º 46.128’ E Last night was one of the best nights of passage I have ever had. The exhilaration of gently flying across the ocean at 9 knots with nary a chop to the water, combined with the bright moonlit, star filled sky was an overwhelming experience. Add to that the difficulty of navigating this enormous gyre (to maximum benefit) and I was in a bit of sailor’s heaven. ...

Position: 17º 52.23’ S 40º 23.952’ E We sailed really nicely all night under a starry sky. We have a 2.5 knot current with us now and are flying towards Mozambique at 8ish knots. It’s strange to be in the middle of the Mozambique channel on the biggest news day of the decade (in the USA) and we are torn between wanting the blow by blow and being grateful that we won’t know until it’s over. If you have our at-sea email, maybe send us the results (and a big virtual hug if the news is bad). We are working out our backup plans… just in case. ...

Position: 17º 9.63’ S 42º 9.3’ E We motored for 12 hours last night, hand steering the whole time. Not fun. To balance it out we had a small meteor storm and a gorgeous moon set. We are sailing again now and spirits are high. All is well.

Position: 16º 34.98’ S 43º 47.178’ E Heavy rains last night helped us balance our water supply. The sailing has been, by and large, excellent. Spending our days playing family games and listening to podcasts and our nights staring up at an impossibly starry sky. All is well

Position: 15º 52.002’ S 45º 20.598’ E What a fantastic way to start a passage. We have been steadily increasing speed all day. At the moment we are beam reaching at 7 knots in nearly flat seas. About an hour ago we overtook a big local schooner that had smoked us earlier in the day when we were both down wind. There was some light hearted teasing and lots of laughs when Olive brought out her homemade bow. Then we ducked them and took off. Let’s hope these conditions continue throughout our passage. ...

Position: 15º 46.026’ S 46º 14.694’ E Katsepe will be our final anchorage in Madagascar. Just five miles from the big smoke, but feels as remote as many of the small islands we have visited here. Lots of nets to dodge, kept the sail interesting! All is well.

Position: 15º 43.878’ S 46º 18.762’ E Well that was an interesting passage. We left Morumba at 5pm, hoping to arrive in Majunga by mid-day (to get a head start on our clearing out and provisioning exercise). Poor wind and counter current slowed our progress, and by midnight we had made only 40 miles good. By the end of Vick’s watch at 3am we decided to turn the engine on. Just before she tucked in we both smelled something awful and burnie and chemical coming from somewhere near us. ...

Position: 14º 53.598’ S 47º 20.4’ E Arrived in Morabma after a great sail. Glad we left early because the land and sea breeze pattern that is like clockwork around here didn’t manifest today. Instead we got a sea breeze that took a little siesta in the middle of the day. Half of the fleet left in the last two days and the remaining half is right here or on their way. I love this feeling of getting ready for a big passage, in good company. ...

Position: 14º 31.8’ S 47º 37.998’ E Nosy Saba has been one rolly anchorage. We are super grateful for the flopper stopper this morning. On the up side, it is a gorgeous spot and our friends on Yemaya say it is some of the best snorkelling they have seen so far. All is well.