Day 225, Year 5 Passage to Madagascar, Day 6
Date: Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Weather: Repeat–Squally Night & Day; SE Winds 25
Latitude: 09 degrees 59.987 minutes S
Longitude: 059 degrees 23.599 minutes E
Miles to Go: 633

Windbird is more than half-way to Madagascar, we have lots of wind, and right now we have blue skies, so all is going well. Of course, the clearing skies and sunshine just appeared as it did at this time last evening. Today, as yesterday, was mostly overcast with squall after squall. Today’s squalls packed a little more wind than the ones during the night and yesterday, with some gusts up to 40 knots, but the strong winds come from behind us which makes it easier to deal with. The strain comes from having to constantly sit behind the wheel and adjust the autopilot. That’s easier than hand steering, but it does take full attention. So not much is getting done other than tending sails and steering via the autopilot. I must say now that the sun has come out, everything seems much better. When we are not dealing with a squall, the winds have been hovering around 25 knots. So we are flying across the waters even with a double-reefed headsail and single-reefed main. We put in a double reef in the main last night, but have decided to go with the single reef for tonight. If the winds continue as they have, we should make landfall on the western coast of Madagascar on Sunday. If that should happen that would make this a ten-day passage. We were expecting much longer, so we shall wait and see. Constance is now about 30 miles behind us but they are doing well. It’s hard not to move quickly in these strong winds, even with reduced sail. I did get to do a little reading about Madagascar during the night, and I think I’ll continue the research tonight and report on my findings tomorrow. But I’ll end with a couple of questions and I’ll bet you’ll know the answers. What island country is considered to be the world’s only Afro-Asian country? What is the world’s fourth largest island? More tomorrow.