Location: 36° 27 S, 79° 12 E
Wednesday 12:00, 02.07.2007

The Schooner Maggie B’s noon position on February 7th was 36° 27S 79° 12E. We are headed due east magnetic at 7.2 knots, closehauled under all plain sail, with the wind from 160 magnetic at 12 knots. The wind has been backing steadily, and lightning up. By midnight tonight, we expect to be motoring SE against a 5-10 knot Easterly. We have come 2608 NM from the Seychelles and have 1824 NM to go to Perth.

Essentially we have to wait a day for the first in a series of Cold Fronts to catch up with us. The further to the South and West, the earlier we “catch our ride” to Perth. Ideally, we should be about 150 NM to the south, but we will do fine here. The fronts should bring in great wind for us. Maybe 25-30 knots, on the beam or quarter. We should have a fine ride into town.

In the Northern Hemisphere, one says “backing” if the wind is shifting counter-clockwise and “veering” if it is shifting clockwise. We are wondering if we should say it the other way around in the Southern Hemisphere, because everything rotates the other way around.

Last night was wonderful clear, at least after midnight. The celestial high point was seeing Scorpio all laid out like a cat on a sofa arm, with Jupiter coming up from underneath, as if working on a rendezvous with red Antares (yes, like Paul Antares in “Dune”) in the scorpion’s belly.

One correspondent has written to us to say that there is a special, endangered albatross living on Isle Amsterdam, the Amsterdam Albatross. It is apparently identifiable by dusky brown upper wings, rather than dusky grey. We immediately decided that our following albatross squadron REALLY had dusky brown wings. We did see a tag or two, which perhaps were just missing wing feathers.

On researching our delicious tuna, one reference book said that tuna schools sometimes follow along with boats, taking advantage of what the boat does to frighten flying fish and squid, making them easier to catch. It is funny to think that we have accompanying tuna, just as we have accompanying albatross.

Hannah today made what used to be her “Nova Scotia tea biscuits.” This time, she added some of our fresh vanilla beans from Madagascar, in a vanilla butter swabbed in on top, to make “Madagascar Sea Biscuits.” We had them at lunch in a lovely tomato-based fish stew. Yum. Chocalate chip cookies for tea time. Double yum!

One can’t ignore it getting colder any longer. All have chosen favorite blankets from the storage closet. Some are considering a second one. Night watch means “Tooks on.” (Took = toque = warm knit hat).

At about sunset last night I contacted Isle Amsterdam (AKA Roche Godon and Martin de Vivis) on the VHF. A nice French woman with a lovely accent answered. We no longer had the opportunity to land as we were 55 NM north and the wind had shifted to the South, but I thought that it would be fun to check in. She reported that there were 30 French on the island, that there was no protected anchorage, and that we were very welcome to come by. It made me think somehow of the Sirens, that we would land and the crew would be turned into pigs, or that it would turn out to be a SuperSecret French listening post, and that we would drop anchor and the French Frigate, that had been tailing us, would appear from behind the island and we would never be heard from again. Paranoia? Maybe.

Perth/Fremantle in perhaps ten days!

All is well.