February 22, 2002

Position @ 17:00 local: 13.04' North - 060.18' East

Speed: 6.8 knots

Course: 304 degrees magnetic

Fuel aboard as of 12:00 local: 480 gallons

Range remaining (12:00 local) at present speed and with generator running:- 1,056 nautical miles

Distance remaining to Salala (@17:00 local) 431 nautical miles

Before day's end we will be less then 400 miles from Salala, Oman. At our present speed we should be arriving midday on Monday. The excellent weather has held and the winds continue to blow from the Northeast - never exceeding 20 knots. The seas are mild and our motion quite comfortable. We are really beginning to see a cooling off with a high today of about 84 and last night the thermometer plunged to a chilly 78 degrees.
The Indian Ocean is as lonely as any we've crossed. We have seen a couple of container ships but no fishing boats. We know there are sailing yachts out there because we've been talking to them…but we've seen nothing.

We continue to talk with sailboats both en-route to Salala and some that are already there. We have gotten lots of reports that many boats have passed through the area and that there have been no reports of any incidents. We still hope to convoy with others however we won't be able to wait around long and if necessary will head out on our own.
I received a confirmation today that Peter Swanson of Passagemaker Magazine will be joining us in Salala for the ride up to the Suez Canal. Also David Siedman of Boating Magazine will come aboard for our final leg up to Athens. We look forward to having some new faces aboard.

Paul has put lines in the water this afternoon as our supply of fresh fish is getting thin. We are actually going to finish the last of the Wahoo that we caught between Phuket and the Maldives. The food aboard has been excellent and with the mild weather conditions, we have been able to do a lot of barbecuing. Last night we finished the last of the choice New York that we loaded aboard in Dana Point. The excessive freezer space aboard has been great.
One interesting thing about the Indian Ocean is the excessive number of flying fish. We've seen these flying fish across the Pacific and everywhere else but not in these quantities. Last night we shined our powerful mast mounted spotlight at the water abeam and the ocean virtually boiled with the startled fish. There are billions and each morning I pick up eight or ten that have become stranded aboard. Additionally, over every square foot of the boat are little skid marks where we've been hit by flying fish. I spent an hour today cleaning the decks but the topsides of the hull will require a lot of work when we get to Salala.

We'll be entering the Arabian Sea in the next few hours and biding farewell to the Indian Ocean that has treated us so gently these past few weeks.

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