2008-Mar-08 Noon Postion

Indian Ocean
10'26.6N/66'32.7E

• 111 nm last 24 hrs
• 827 nm to Salalah, Oman
• 427 nm from Uligamu, Maldives
• Winds N 10-15 knots
• Seas N 2-3 feet

Getting better every day! We have had good winds for the last 24 hours, except at 2am we had to motor for 2 hours when the winds died out for a while.

Still many ships around. Right at sunset last night we had a ship coming over the horizon heading right for us. We called him on the radio and he was quick to come back to us saying he had us on radar and would alter course to avoid us. We gave him a big thanks since we were not able to alter course without starting the engine. We found out he was an ore carrier coming from Egypt on his way to India to off load his cargo. He asked us if sailing was our hobby, and we answered that we had been out for 2.5 years.

Right after that another boat came over the horizon heading right for us. This guy was smaller and only had one mast head light. He kept getting closer to Sandpiper's stern. By this time is was dark out. When he got less then a mile away we spotlighted him, then shined the light on Sandpiper's sails. We started the engine and turned 40 degrees to port to get out of his way. We called him on the radio. He came back asking us why we had signaled him with our spotlight and I replied that he was less then a mile from our stern and closing quickly. He said, with a French accent, not to worry as he had been plotting us and was about to overtake us. Then he signed out, not wanting to talk to us anymore.

We are not so sure he was really plotting our position as we had to keep motoring to get out of his way. He ended up passed only a half mile off Sandpiper's starboard side. We are not sure what kind of boat it was. But I am assuming it must have been some sort of French power yacht due to its high speed and small size. And who says the French are not rude?

More in 24,
Tom and Amy