Location: 28° 10 S, 62° 11 E
Thursday 12:00, 02.01.2007

February has been good to us so far! We are wondering what Groundhog Day means in the Southern Hemisphere. At noon we were at 28° 10S, 62° 11E. We are headed 180 Magnetic at 8.3 knots. We did 208 NM in the last 24 hours, 402 in the last two days! We have gone 1532 NM since the Seychelles and have 2769 to go to Perth.

We are still on a close reach, sailing easy with a 15-18 knot breeze at 60 degrees relative. The seas have laid down and there is only an occasional “Wake Up!” splash in the cockpit. Some hatches are now open, making belowdecks much nicer.

Today is an “after the storm” sort of day, though we just had a good blow, not a storm. We are doing what sailors always do when the sun comes out — laundry, clean the mess in the fo’c’stle, check and empty all bilges, check and run engines, fix damage. We had one sheet part and one ventilator get taken away. We see a few minor problems with the sails, which will ave to be tended in Perth, if not before. We are in very good shape.

T/C Dora is giving us a great advantage to go south as she will pull the normally SE’erly trades back to NE and then N. We may have to continue south to 38 or 40 to stay in Westerlies, but we won’t know for a couple of days.

There is a French island at 37deg49S/77deg21E called Isle Amsterdam on one chart and La Roche Godon on another. Supposedly there is a French Meteorological station there (protected by more French Warships????). We don’t have any info on it, but if anybody finds anything on the Internet about it, please email me. We should go by and say “hi!” or “boo!”

All is well.