So after 16 Days in the lovely Island of Mauritius, we were all ready to
push off, and head further west across the Indian Ocean – next stop – a
short 130 miles away is Reunion – a real French Island (Euros, Expensive,
and semi socialist – at least when it comes to Sailing boats!) but described
as a mini Hawaii (hopefully without the American tourists) – but enough
about what’s next
Mauritius – was a fun stop off with lots of Friends and family making the
trip to spend time with K8 & Her Crew, to the stunning beaches, the Sega
Dancing and another round of great WARC parties,
The official crew party was fun , in a British (style) Pub , awful food ,
but with DJ Nick to get the Music going and table dancing as is now expected
. Northy’s tours again put on a good trip, Eureka , a Colonial house
followed by a spectacular restaurant , the lookilikey competition results
were announced , with Adrian & Jens playing a blinder as joint hosts – great
way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
The unofficial Crew part mostly organised by the K8 and the Oyster 56 Into
the blue – was a blast with a live band, Great BBQ food and great dancers
– both female and transvestite! not to mention a raft of air hostesses who
somehow joined in the fun .

Prize giving organised by WARC – paid for by the Mauritius Tourist board was
fun ( for a wine free event – Note we prefer Free Wine events! ), Prizes
were excellent for once , and yes K8 managed to pick up 2 – most accurate
ETA and while first in class A , with the combination of class A&B for
prizes we were delighted to accept 2nd place the hard working and fast guys
on Faraway

Diana H – made another pilgrimage to see her loved one (and David)and had
a great time touring the island , all that essential shopping ( a carpet
??) a tea factory , Bird watching , Glass Blowing , Botanical Garden – you
name it !
From Richmond the Hearsum family Jane, Louise, Sarah, Charlie and Katie -
had a blast, Charlie (aged 15) catching the bug and loving driving a 72ft
Oyster to the Bay of Turtles , where a fun night aboard was had by all , as
ever with Jens spectacular epicurean delights .
While on the beach Rosie & Nick relaxed with Shaun & Emily – roughing it
in a mix of a Euro35 per night apartment and the New 4 Seasons Hotel -
while all the time still managing to make it to the main parties

We are lucky to be joined by Neil & Edda A – who are so looking forward to
their trip across the last of the Indian Ocean – Neil brings his
considerable Sigma 38 skills – with over 300 channel crossings, not to
mention a transatlantic or 2 and some Fastnet’s – Dr Edda ( not Dr Ed from
into the blue !) will be adding to our vast knowledge of medical matters -
so we figure, it will be motoring leg and the most hazardous medical ailment
will be sunburn – just our luck.

Finally we have to report that we may be in trouble with the Royal Naval Tot
Club of Antigua & Barbuda – as the K8 toast (good ships and wood ships….)
has been set to music – the instrumental version of Sailing by Rod Stewart -
and seems now to have become the fleet toast – hopefully Mike Rose will
forgive us for trifling with such serious Naval matters.

And so we have finally arrived in Mauritius (from Cocos Keeling) in record
time , sailing only 9 miles more then the rhumb line (sailed 2359 miles
rhumb line 2350 miles !), averaging 9.7 knots , or 234 miles per day -
with the most constant SE trades we have ever had, steaming along, all the
way, generally in 20 -25 knts of wind , mostly on a broad reach. We only
managed to get the kite up for the last 24 hours , and we did slow down for
some fishing – which included our biggest ever Mahi Mahi !(enough for the
whole WARC fleet).

Once again we are the fist Mono Hull in – and will have to wait a few days
for the rest of the fleet to arrive (although some folks are planning on
stopping off at the small island of Rodriguez along the way)

So tales of cyclones are something of the past – we dodged them all,
thanks to Bruce our ever reliable weather man – and can expect some heavy
rain and winds in the coming days – but safely tucked up in a marina.

So after 6 days at sea , we are making great progress – even if we have been
on the same tack since leaving Cocos Keeling – constant trade winds of 20 -
30 knts have kept us steaming along at an average of 10 knts – great fun .
however the seas have been bumpy to say the least. but aside from some
spilled dinner we have had no issues, other then, what to read / watch next
( Highly recommend -Andrew Marrs -A History of Modern Britain – which
requires a 2300 mile ocean passage to read !).

Many readers will come from weather obsessed England – as you can imagine
out here in the Indian Ocean we can’t tune into the BBC Shipping forecast (
other then World Service), nor can we watch the news at 10 on the TV – what
we do have is a great weather router – a private weather forecaster – of
course once a profession such a metrology has gone private and Bruce our
weather man is a great example of top notch weather men – nothing is as
simple as the old cry of ” more wind ahead ” No, today we get detailed
weather analysis , some of which on first reading will scare you, in this
case we are fine and so too hopefully are most of the fleet – who as ever
are behind us – but it is good to know that your weather man is looking out
for cyclones 2/3 days before they get officially named, that could give us a
real challenge – for now we on K8 will call the impending Indian Ocean
cyclone “Bruce” in honour of our weather man

From Bruce Buckley – our weather man who in a prior life spent around 15
years working in the Perth Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre dating back to
1978, so has seen hundreds of tropical systems develop into cyclones (
Hurricanes in Northern Hemisphere speak)

” The main tropical circulation has developed into a large scale low
pressure system I would describe as a multi-centred monsoonal low. These
tend to have the strongest winds around 200km from their centres under bands
of heavy thunderstorm activity, apart from where these bands spiral towards
the centre(s) of the low. At the moment there is a weakening low near 6S
57E, which is moving slowly towards the SW and is of no concern to us. Then
there is the main monsoonal low with two centres at the moment, one near 5S
75E and the other near 9S 82E. The other low to the east has weakened as a
significant feature. It is the centre near 9E 82E that bears watching.

Given this system’s current structure it is not likely to form into a
tropical cyclone within 48 hours and, in all probability, will remain a
monsoonal low. However, there are signs of an improving circulation and
upper level outflow and hence it is possible a tropical cyclone could form
beyond this. It is early in the season but TCs have formed in this region at
this time of the year several times before. The concern to you are the bands
of stronger winds that are developing under and near the very active band of
thunderstorms forming along the southern side of this low. This band is
currently centred along 12S between 75E and 85E with squally winds extending
south to around 14S. Gusty winds with lines of showers can be expected down
across the fleet as well, so be prepared for gusts to around 35 knots.

Average wind speeds are likely to be between 25 and 30 knots from between
ESE and SE. The low is likely to slowly move west south west over the next 2
to 3 days. However, with these systems it is common for one centre to die
out (the western one) and another to form, so do not be surprised if the low
appears to jump back to the east in the next report. In reality it would be
the formation of a new centre. What it means is that it is advisable to head
south of 15:30S Although the average wind speed is likely to still be
between 25 to 28 knots in this region, you should stay clear of 40knot or
greater squalls and areas of gale force winds associated with the band of
thunderstorms that is likely to edge southwards over the next 48 hours.

Otherwise the winds are as forecast yesterday morning.

For those of you who are looking at the GRIB files of the region, you will
notice a band of lighter winds in the region I am talking about. You need
to be very careful interpreting these as the computer models are very poor
at handling these sorts of weather systems. For example, at 12S 84E the
winds are currently averaging around 30 knots, with gusts probably close to
40 knots. At the same location the current prediction for this time from the
GFS model is for 17 knots of wind – not particularly accurate and somewhat
misleading. This system has not been named and is not likely to be, at least
for the next 2-3 days, and hence until there is a large diameter circulation
with gale force winds, the numerical models would not very accurately depict
the strength and structure of these systems.”

Note this is an edited version – so as to leave out tactical technical
information!

So in essence a little more complex then the usual question on people minds
in early October – Will I need an umbrella today ?

For half way Lunch today Jens will be making a half way roast and delicious
pudding – and we will relax for a few hours to celebrate only 1150 miles to
go until we reach Mauritius, and hopefully continue to dodge tropical
cyclones -FYI we are at 17S, 78E – so clear of this cyclone for now .

Indian Ocean Half Way Party –