Oct.9, 2010-Dispatch #3 From Indian Ocean

Day 9; 14.01.81S 85.14.9E Wind: 25kt E, Partial overcast, Seas: moderate, Speed: 7-8, Hdg: 265deg

We've finally turned the corner and are running down the latitude wing on wing headed directly for Rodriguez rolling along under blue or less grey skies on a sometimes blue ocean.

Despite that less than glowing report it is really better now than before on this passage. Now we have steady winds and have had no rain for 36 hours.

Yesterday after a particularly wet and dirty night it dawned bright and clearing. By mid day we had those ideal conditions we had been longing for and, also finally, "Fish On". Pierre caught a nice, small, Mahi Mahi which we cooked for lunch.

Today there is less sunshine but it is still good.

The boat is fine, most systems normal. The inverter is still marginal but we're using back-ups. The AIS system's GPS keeps going offline after we use the SSB radio and we've tried turning it off and shielding it with tin foil but no change. Today it looks to be hard down. We can still receive other ship's transmissions however. After cruising for 20+ years without AIS this is a small loss now. The SSB RF radiations at the frequencies we're now using seem to be tough on electronics and probably contributed to the AIS failure. It is also playing up with the Pactor Modem communications we use for sailmail as well as these postings. I'm looking at some ways to improve that.

Otherwise we're good. Water, fuel, and cooking gas, all OK. We get showers each third day.
Sailing is fine. We now have a full watch on chafe since we have about 9 days more solid sailing like this before we get to Rodriguez.

All is well.

Tomorrow should mark the midpoint of this passage and we're looking forward to it.

Fred & Judy & Pierre, SV Wings, Indian Ocean

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Click here to see the log book pages of our passage from Sumatra to Mauritius.