Ahhhhhh, Chagos�...�...We Made It!
29 May 2014 | Solomon Atoll, Chagos, Indian Ocean
We pulled anchor just after noon on May 24 and headed out of the pass of Addoo Atoll, Maldives, with our buddy boat s/v Smoke. The winds were boisterous and Gromit was pulling forward at a wonderful average speed of 8 knots. We were not on the correct course to Chagos, but decided to use the wind strength to get as far south as possible - even if off course - and out of the east-setting current that had plagued us so much.
Once the current eased - at around 4 degrees south of the equator, we were able to sail more towards our goal. The winds were still not favourable so we ended up zig-zagging down our course line. It was very frustrating, but at least we were going more or less in the right direction and not being swept off to the east.
The 3rd and last night on passage, we had perfect conditions. The wind was on the beam at 10-12 knots, the current was no longer against us and the seas were relatively calm. We had 3 sails up: main - 2nd reef, mizzen - full and jib - full to half reefed. Gromit was sailing beautifully between 6-7 knots, but we had to reef because we were going to arrive at Chagos in the dark and then have to wait to enter the atoll. We slowed to around 5 knots and arrived early in the morning. Our AIS showed a target about 7 miles away and found that our friends on s/v Smoke were approaching too! Smoke is a much faster boat and we thought that maybe they had arrived the day before. As we were approaching the atoll we saw a huge line of squalls behind us and checked on radar whether they would overtake us. It was soon evident that we were going to have to wait until they passed, so at about 5 miles off we jibbed (turn 180 degrees) and sailed slowly away. It took about an hour and a half and we jibbed again and headed to the pass.
We are now anchored in about 25 feet of clear water, sand bottom, in front of Yakamaka Island (you can see it on Google Earth). We are so thrilled to be here at last!
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