Heading north again

Jean-Luc van den Heede passes the exotic Indian Ocean islands

Day 81
Position at 1300: 40°12S / 69°39E
Wind 15 knots from W, slight sea.
Temperatures: day 17°C/ night 13°C/ sea 16°C
Distance covered in the last 24 hours: 155 miles.
To the Cape of Good Hope 2,469 miles.
Lead over P. Monnet 19 days and 12h.

Hi there,

I can see South Africa! No, not through the binoculars, because there's still more than 2500 miles left! But I did turn over my Indian Ocean chart today, which is always something of a special event, so I now have in front of my eyes not only the bottom of Africa, but also some names to conjure up some dreams: to the north The Seychelles, Mauritius, Reunion Island and to the south The Kerguelens, Marion and Crozet. Why not the final destination of some future cruises?

For the time being, the wind came back fairly strong yesterday, still head on. I've lost count of my tacks to get the best course west, and the albatrosses abandoned me, when they saw where I was heading.

I managed to avoid the worst calm zones and now following the advice of Pierre Lasnier (Météomer), I'm heading back up to 38°S to pick up some of the tropical low-pressure areas coming down the Indian Ocean, and which should provide me with some good winds in the next two days, which for once are not from the west!

See you tomorrow,

JL VDH

A day with Thomas Rochard's cuddly toy, a brown teddy marked "bears in love"!