A Fast Start

Chagos to Seychelles - Day 1

Date: Tuesday 4th August 2020
Local time: 13:20 hours
Time Since Departure: 4 hours, 10 minutes
Actual Speed: 6.8 knots
Average Speed for trip: 6.6 knots
Max Speed for trip: 8.7 knots
Distance Traveled so far: 27.6 miles
Distance to Destination: 1,071 miles
Time to destination: 170 hours
ETA: Tuesday 11th August, 11am

We’re underway! We left 4 hours ago, and have already covered 27 miles for an average speed of 6.6 knots – we’re losing about 1.5 knots to current, so our actual boat speed is over 8 knots – glorious sailing.

We have 2-3 m seas and 15-20 knots of wind on the beam – these are the conditions Steely was built for, so she’s having a great time. For us, it’s a little boisterous straight out the gates when we’ve been sitting on anchor for weeks on end, but we’ll adjust in due course, and in the meantime it’s important to make hay while the sun shines, as we don’t expect these conditions to last.

The good news is that we should have them for the next 3-4 days, so we ought to make really good speed for the first 750 miles of our 1,100 mile trip.

The bad news is that by day 4 or 5 the wind is forecast to get much lighter, so these average speeds will not last, and our ETA is likely to be at least a day or 2 longer than the computer is currently showing.

Right now, we’re heading a bit south of the “rhumb line” - the shortest straight line between Chagos and Seychelles. Typically there’s more wind down there, although the forecast we have at the moment suggests it won’t be too different. What will be different is the current though. The adverse current we’re experiencing now should die out in the next day or so as we make our way southwards, and then we’ll get a helping hand for a few hundred miles.

But the key is to try and avoid a really strong band of current due east of the Seychelles which extends for up to 200 miles. That can run at up to 3 knots against you, and given that by the time we reach that area we’re expecting the wind to have died down significantly, we could find ourselves effectively at a stand still if we’re not careful. One of our friends just arrived in Seychelles on Friday, and they got caught in that current – I think one night they managed just 15 miles one night when they’d typically travel 5 times that far in the same time.

By going as far south as we are, we’re going to end up sailing an extra 50 or 60 miles, but will hopefully save a significant amount of time if we can avoid the current altogether. Watch this space, we’ll know more about it in about 5 days time.

In the meantime, Sonrisa are about 3 miles behind us, and Erie Spirit about 12 miles ahead – it’s nice to travel in company.

There’s not much to do out here other than keep watch, eat, sleep and maybe watch a movie when you’re off watch. So if you’ve got the time, feel free to drop us a line on steelsapphire@myiridium.net with your news, or even what’s happening in the world. It’s now been over 3 weeks since I had internet, and although the worst of the withdrawal symptoms have passed, I’m still missing the rest of the world!