Sailing To Durban, South Africa – Leaving Moromba Bay – Day 1

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Happy Halloween!

0800 – Wearily rolled out of bed. I was sick all day yesterday and the night before, it seems Madagascar had one final test for my belly and I lost….. 36 hours in bed leaves me feeling dazed, confused, and sore from so much time in bed. Pop a few pain killers and make my way to the galley.

0815- Made a quick pot of coffee and stared at Moromba Bay for a while. Such a beautiful, peaceful place. It’s got these very cool limestone islands all throughout the bay the remind me of Raja Ampat, Indonesia.

0830- Karin brought me a piece of homemade rye bread with cheese and tomato. So simple and typically Swedish. It’s a perfect combination with the coffee. I can’t believe we’re leaving Madagascar today. It feels right to set sail but also very sad because we love this country and its amazing people so much.

0900- Woke Brady up. He asked if it was 7:00AM yet. My answer- no bro it’s 0900. Time to go. His reply- Oh Shit.

0930- Anchor up and we motor out of the bay. It’s been raining all night and the deck and cockpit are wet. The morning is grey and very still. I put in our course to Durban, South Africa. It’s about 1,354 miles (give or take a little bit) depending on our actual course. Should take 9-10 days given the light winds we expect.

0945- The wind picks up to about 8 knots and we’re able to set sail headed SSW making about 4 knots. Very chill sailing. 1000- I decide to re-read “3 Years In A 12 Foot Boat” on this passage. It’s the book that I read back in Seattle so many years ago and sparked my dream to go sailing. I think it will be very cool to read again with a different perspective after so many years at sea.

1200- After hand steering upwind for the past 2 hours my watch ends and Karin takes over. We have been running very close to the coast in the shallows and decide to make a tack out to deeper water. We expect the wind to increase in the afternoon so better to make some distance offshore now in the lighter breeze before the waves get bigger. For lunch Brady reheats lasagne leftovers from last night’s dinner.

1230- Karin is doing well on her tack and we’re making progress offshore. I decide to take advantage of the calm seas and get a bit of editing done on the computer.

1300- Start feeling a little “squishy” and decide to close the computer and lay down for a nap. It’s too early to sit in front of the computer, don’t have my sea legs yet. Slept for about 2 hours and awoke feeling much better.

1500- Karin and I watched a movie in bed, such a luxury. We watched a strange doco from Werner Herzog called Into The Abyss about capital punishment in America. It seems like another planet from here.

1600 Feeling better now so worked on some video editing for a few hours and made good progress on a few sequences from Madagascar. Really great footage with lots of personality. Coming together nicely!

1700- Since it’s Halloween we dug out our masks/wigs/costumes and took a little snapshot for the old FB and Insta to send back to Delos Shore Support. Lots of fun dressing the German Bros up in colored wigs ?

1800- Brady cooked chicken surprise dinner with pineapple and rice. Delicious! Brady is always a good cook at sea.

1800-2000- Took another nap after dinner. Being at sea the first few days I’m always super tired and feel like I could sleep endlessly.

2000- My alarm rings and it’s time for watch. Uli is still feeling too sick to do watches so Brady did part of his. I relieved Brady and found Delos on course and doing quite well. The weather and winds are cooperating and we were able to clear some offshore reefs on the same tack. Really very beautiful sailing in calm seas and constant winds out of the NNW, making good boat speed between 6 and 7 knots.

2200- Watch completed and turn the helm over to Karin. All is well and our first day at sea finished. Turn into bed exhausted. Next watch at 0600.

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For more sailing adventures check out svdelos.com

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