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Eight Days a Week, Welcome to Madagascar!…..

25 October 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere, +3 UTC)

Dear F&F,

Well we\’re here! 8 days, 10 hours and overall, a pretty nice trip. Friends Dave and Kathy on \”Sunflower\” should be here tomorrow afternoon and may be in for a blustery night according to the weather. There are two French boats here, both cats and French Flagged. The islands just to the West of here, Mayotte, Grand Comoro, Europa (and a few others) are actually part of the French Polynesian Department. The second language on Madagascar is French, the first is pronounced \”Malagash\” (Malay).

The trip over the top was pretty good overall. Our strategy was to drop the spinnaker 5 miles before the point and take in a single reef in the main in case the winds accelerated at the point. They did slightly. It was good we dropped the spinnaker sooner than later as we had a winch over-ride and it took a few minutes to get it squared away. There were a few bumps at Ilot du Nord, but no too bad. We approached at about a 40 degree angle to the island from the south, picking up the very nice landmark of Cape Andre Lighthouse (just SE of Cap d\’Ambre). This kept us out of the current streaming over the top of the island from west to east. Our west going current was giving us a 2 knot push, which became a 1 knot shove when we got right to the very top. The adverse current stayed with us for about 3 more miles, but the seas were flat (no swell). The wind stayed strong at 20-28 knots and we blast reached down the back of the island with the single reefed main and staysail. The wind stayed with us the entire 40 miles to the anchorage, mostly from the port quarter. A few weird adverse currents, but again, no worries.

We\’re pretty tired as I\’m sure you can imagine, so we wanted to stop in the lovely Andranoamby Bay and get rested tonight. We\’ve 65 miles to go tomorrow if we push on all the way to Sakitia Island; a resort island next to Nose Be. There is a restaurant/bar and advise on \”checking in\”. As this is a very poor country and very third world, we have to be prepared for implied bribes. We shall see.

So, \”we\’re here\”….write us,

KIT, Scott and Navigator Nik…..

At The \”Top\”, Cap d\’ Ambre, Madagascar…..

25 October 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere +3 UTC)

Dear F&F,

Land Ho! at 5:30 local time, we spotted several hills ashore on Northern Madagascar from about 25 miles away. We\’ve flown the spinnaker all night and it was a lovely night and sail. The winds were from behind us at 14-18 knots, the seas smooth and we\’re zinging along.

I noticed the lights of Diego Suarez (Antsiranana) about 40 miles out and have heard one radio conversation this morning on the VHF; a first in the last 1500 miles. We did 176 miles yesterday and actually had to motor for 2 1/2 hours as we lost the wind for awhile. Steadily, it came back all day and into the night.

Our plan is to sail up to about five miles from the top (all things permitting!) and drop the spinnaker. We\’ll see if the main should then be furled or not? We will motor around the top as to have easy and quick maneuverability. We\’ve been told there can be two strong currents meeting there and cause standing waves. As the conditions have been pretty benign these last few days, this may not be the case. The suggestion has been to stay very close to the shore and get around as quickly as possible. The other side may or may not have wind, but the seas should be flat. The entire West Coast of Madagascar is very shallow a long way out toward the Mozambique channel. We\’ll have to keep an eye on our track and the depth sounder.

Our next report should be from the west side of the island and I may do another blog later in the day after we\’ve rounded.

We\’ll speak with \”Sunflower\” later today to give them a report; email if the radio propagation isn\’t good. Nikki just got up to see Land Ho!….Ho, Ho, Ho!…

KIT, Scott and Navigator Nik

At The \”Top\”, Cap d\’ Ambre, Madagascar…..

25 October 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere +3 UTC)

Dear F&F,

Land Ho! at 5:30 local time, we spotted several hills ashore on Northern Madagascar from about 25 miles away. We\’ve flown the spinnaker all night and it was a lovely night and sail. The winds were from behind us at 14-18 knots, the seas smooth and we\’re zinging along.

I noticed the lights of Diego Suarez (Antsiranana) about 40 miles out and have heard one radio conversation this morning on the VHF; a first in the last 1500 miles. We did 176 miles yesterday and actually had to motor for 2 1/2 hours as we lost the wind for awhile. Steadily, it came back all day and into the night.

Our plan is to sail up to about five miles from the top (all things permitting!) and drop the spinnaker. We\’ll see if the main should then be furled or not? We will motor around the top as to have easy and quick maneuverability. We\’ve been told there can be two strong currents meeting there and cause standing waves. As the conditions have been pretty benign these last few days, this may not be the case. The suggestion has been to stay very close to the shore and get around as quickly as possible. The other side may or may not have wind, but the seas should be flat. The entire West Coast of Madagascar is very shallow a long way out toward the Mozambique channel. We\’ll have to keep an eye on our track and the depth sounder.

Our next report should be from the west side of the island and I may do another blog later in the day after we\’ve rounded.

We\’ll speak with \”Sunflower\” later today to give them a report; email if the radio propagation isn\’t good. Nikki just got up to see Land Ho!….Ho, Ho, Ho!…

KIT, Scott and Navigator Nik

A Slow Day…..

24 October 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

Dear F&F,

Yesterday was a slow one. It started out fast but then we hit a strong and unexpected \”head current\” which retarded our speed up to 2 knots for awhile! This along with the diminishing winds (as predicted), have slowed us considerably. Yesterday\’s run was a paltry 160 nm.

The sun is up, the seas calm, the winds around 10-12 knots. When Nikki gets up, we\’ll hoist the spinnaker and get going as I\’m concerned about rounding the \”top\” tomorrow during daylight hours. The spinnaker is the large kite like sail most of you have seen in the sailing photos. It\’s three times the size of our genoa which is what we\’ve had up for three days.

I\’d planned on being there tomorrow at first light, now I\’m hopeful for noon! If it gets really light, we\’ll motor to insure a day time passage of the \”top\”.

Dave and Kathy on \”Sunflower\” we\’re 125 miles behind us last night and hanging right in there. Very impressive for a 44 foot monomaran!…:-)

Nikki\’s been navigating, cooking, reading and watching the stars on her IPAD program every night. Last night was a good one for it too. Very clear, nice moon, but you could still see Jupiter, Mars and the brightest stars.

We expect an easy sailing day today, but I\’m a sailor and hence I knock on wood and am superstitious of such things….:-) KIT, landfall tomorrow…

Scott and Sleeping Beauty Nik….:-)