SE Trades

Hi All,
 
Friday night was the first night in the SE Trades and I was happy to see that we had an increment of pace on the boats around us when the wind kicked in. Sailing with J2, full main, central ballast and with all our equipment fully stacked on the port side, the boat felt really good, and these should be ideal conditions for the wide, powerful design of Bahrain Team Pindar.
 
In the middle of the night I passed within 7 miles of Saint Peter and Paul Archipelago, a group of rocks hundreds of miles from land and right on the route through the SE Trades. The highest point is 18m and even from 7 miles I could not see the light on the uninhabited rocks. I am sure there have been a few ships that have come to grief on these rocks, it would be easy to forget about them or miss them on your charts.
 
Saturday mid morning I crossed the Equator into the Southern Hemisphere, and gave some offerings to Neptune in the traditional manner, to bring good luck for the rest of the voyage. Most of the trip is in the Southern Hemisphere and the toughest sailing will be traversing the southern waters around Antarctica, so any favours from King Neptune are always gratefully accepted.
 
I was sorry to hear today that Jeremie on Delta Dore has had rigging problems and is going to Brazil to make repairs. I hope that he can do them with his materials on board and get on his way again. For those of you who don’t know, to stay within the Vendee rules, he would have to anchor by himself and do all the repairs with no outside assistance (except advice from his technical team) and then be on his way again without having touched land or received anything from anyone else. These are very tough, pure rules and unlike any other sailing race. That’s why we carry many more spares than you might normally take.
 
It certainly adds to the adventure to know that everything has to be fixed by yourself if you want to finish the course. Talking of adventure, just a hundred miles or so behind me now are Pete Goss and his small crew on the Spirit of Mystery, a small open fishing boat sailing from Newlyn in Cornwall to Australia, to recreate the passage made in 1854 by a group or friends who wanted to emigrate to Australia and just fancied doing it on their own boat, probably something they'd dreamed up in a Cornish pub. It’s a fascinating trip this time around and Pete writes brilliantly about it on petegoss.com. He probably also dreamed up this recreation in a Cornish pub 150 years later.
 
So 2 weeks gone on the Vendee Globe, the Equator crossed for the first time, and now winds are looking good to get down south. A lot of tight reaching to come, so the boats are going to get a good work out over the next few days.
 
Brian
 
PS: Air temp 32 degrees, sea temperature 27.3 degrees at 5 22S 30 06W.
 
Only wildlife to report is the occasional flying fish, no pollution seen..