I thought I understood swells and how they are generated and travel. However, I must admit, I am now a bit confused. During our two day passage here we were bashed for about 24 hours by big, short period swells that made the ride most uncomfortable. They were short period waves of about 6 seconds with heights that went up 4 + meters. Given the short periods, this tells me that they were generated locally which make sense since they did not appear until the wind piped up to 25+ knots. They were large, mean and ugly as they would break with surf rolling down from their peaks into their troughs. One wave caught Leu Cat on it port stern quarter right as it was breaking and threw our bow 60 degrees to the south. As it turns out, Steve was just coming out of the salon into the stern cockpit when the wave hit us and was dosed when a lot of water poured into the cockpit. A little bit even ran into the salon.

Shortly after I posted yesterday's blog the wind dropped to about 18 to 20 knots and the seas mellowed a bit so that the swells were just 2 to 3 meters. While they still broke, the surf was tame compared to before. After an hour the winds returned to 25 + knots but the seas stayed the same and kept that way until this morning when we sailed behind the Cosmoledo Atoll and the protection it offered. Why the seas did not rebuild is a mystery to me.

Steve thinks it is because there is a sea ridge about 150 nm to the east of us which supports a few islands. That may be the likely reason but if the swells were wind generated locally then I am not sure that ridge would have much to do with it. I guess it will just remain a mystery to me�...

We are now anchored on the leeward side of Cosmoledo Island and our position is 9° 42.362'S: 47° 30.342'E. We are in 39 feet of water and anchored in what we believe is sand. The winds are still blowing 20 + knots and will stay that way until tomorrow however the seas are relatively flat which makes this a very nice anchorage. At times, some swells make their way around the atoll but for the most part, the seas are flat.

We have decided to stay here for the next few days. The winds are supposed to calm down at bit but they will be coming from the south. That is the wrong direction for us as they would blow us too far north so we will wait until the winds turn more southeasterly, which they are predicted to do in three days. We will be inspecting the GRIB files each day to see if that predictions holds and our last segment of our run to Madagascar will be based on the better winds. It is just a two to three day passage depending how far to the northwest the winds push you. We hope to get into the wind shadow at the NE tip of Madagascar makes, which is about 120 or so nm from our position. When we get into that, we will drop the sails, and turn south to make a beeline for Nosy Be.

Meanwhile, we will enjoy this anchorage. Steve and I will make some sail repairs (the second reef line needs to be replaced) and Mary Margaret will be cooking up a storm for our next passage. She already has made a large pot of beef stew and will be making her killer lasagna. Yum!