06-Feb-2008 Noon Position

Noon Position
8'12.7N/95'48.8E
Andaman Sea

• 101nm last 24hrs
• 1,364 nm to Maldive Islands
• 112 nm from Similan Islands, Thailand
• Winds SE 15-20 knots
• Seas S 4-6 feet

As we were gloating about having great wind at noon yesterday, it went away. We motored till evening when we had enough wind to make 3 knots. Then at midnight it swung around to the SE, right off Sandpipers port quarter and picked up to 20 knots making for a fast night of sailing. The winds have continued to hold steady through the day and are hoping that it holds at current strength as we are making 5 knots with just the main up.

The winds are a bit strong at 20 knots, making for a bumpy ride with a few large swells rolling through making cooking and sleeping a bit difficult. We could put out the jib on the other side of Sandpiper. But going wing-on-wing downwind, Sandpiper likes to roll all over the place. With just the main out the rolling is not so bad. And we are still making good speed.

Nice to be back open ocean sailing with very few contacts the last 24 hours. Just 4 ships, all heading in a north/south direction. This is quite a contrast from sailing through Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand with fisherman all over the place. Here there is nothing but open ocean around us with not a single fishing boat in site.

We are having luck with Sailmail for now. But if you so not see a post for some time from us, no worries. We are heading towards a Sailmail black hole. The station we are using to receive these postings is in Brunei, 1154 miles to the east of us, and getting farther away every day. The next closest station is in the Red Sea, 3672 miles away and getting closer.

More in 24.
Tom and Amy