Day 87, Year 5: Passage to Cochin, Day Six
Date: Thursday, January 21, 2010
Weather: Clear Skies; NE Winds 12-15
Latitude: 06 degrees 50.956 minutes N
Longitude: 087 degrees 31.182 minutes E
Miles Traveled to Date: 656
Happy Birthday, Sam! We got news this morning from Constance that they are awaiting word on the birth of a grandchild. Maybe Ed’s newest grandchild and Sam will share a birthday. And my first seedlings spouted today, only three days after being planted. I think they were joining in Sam’s birthday celebration.
We haven’t touched a sail since yesterday morning, except for reefing the main at night and unreefing in the morning. The winds have been a steady 12-15 from the NE and we are moving along beautifully, often doing seven knots on a beam reach. We couldn’t ask for better sailing than we have had since Monday. We are staying close to Constance. They were ahead of us all night but a couple of hours ago we caught up with them and are now just a little ahead. I think they could push to go faster, but since we want to stay fairly close our current tactics are working nicely. The next big decision has to do with how we go around Sri Lanka and how we negotiate the traffic lanes there. All of the shipping traffic coming from the Red Sea to Southeast Asia comes that way, so staying out of the traffic lanes as much as possible is a good idea. But if you go too close to Sri Lanka you get in the middle of their fishing fleet and that is no fun at all. But avoiding the fishing boats means heading south across the shipping lanes and then coming back through them when we turn north to Cochin and adds miles to the trip. I, personally, vote for avoiding the fishing fleet and going the extra miles. Decisions, decisions.
The fact that we are going to India is finally becoming a reality. India is such a diverse country with more than a billion people and eighteen official languages. We have no plans for what we will do when we get there. We know we will anchor off Bolgatty Island, the only anchorage available in Cochin. Cochin, now referred to as Kochi, is centrally located in the state of Kerala and most likely we will limit out travels to this area as there is much there to explore.
Not much else to report today. I did laundry. We had tacos for lunch. Yum! And life is good. There are more clouds on the horizon this evening, so who knows what the night will bring. But whatever, we are just so thankful for the past four days of beautiful weather and fair winds.
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| From 100121 Day 87 Thailand–Happy Birthday, Sam |
