March 14, 2007 - Maldives to Oman, Day 3
by George & Merima

Hi Everyone!

By Monday afternoon we all seemed to have settled into life at sea. Everyone is feeling well in the gentle conditions, and we're all getting a reasonable amount of sleep.

Winds were very light as we sailed all afternoon under spinnaker. Finally at 5 pm, the winds dropped to about 3 knots and the spinnaker collapsed. No sooner had we doused the kite and configured Moonshadow for motorsailing, the wind went forward and popped up to ten knots. We were able to make good way throughout the night. The 24-hour run from the day before was just 127 nautical miles, but we were happy to be sailing and saving fuel that we may need as the winds drop when we approach Oman.

The breeze gradually built throughout yesterday. By dinnertime we were making better than 8 knots over the bottom with at least a half knot of countercurrent holding us back.

There is not much to report on the fishing front, other than Tim is considering ways to marinate his old Moonshadow cap. He proclaimed that if we didn't catch a fish on the passage he'd eat his hat.

Yesterday was a most delightful day, seeming to pass very quickly as we listened and sang along to music, told stories and jokes, enjoyed some good meals, and - as is typical when there are Kiwis and Aussies on the same boat - lots of good humored ribbing.

We expect to reach the halfway point on the passage sometime tomorrow.

Cheers, George, Merima, Kurt and Tim