Anchored at Ile Mouche to await daylight entry to Port of Djibouti.
Position 11° 45.188′ N 43° 30.277′ E
COG 251T
SOG 6.1kt
Daily Archives: 14 February 2020
Update from HF Sked at 15:00 on 14/02/2020
and Amenoz heading north to Masawa in the Red Sea. Acalephe has made the turn at Point A, IRTC and heading to Bab El Mandeb to enter the Red Sea. Libert‚ still in Djibouti and helped us with lat/lon for the anchorage at Ile Moucha – thanks Steve! We have 40 miles to run to The finish, ETA 0300UTC.
Position 11° 54.258′ N 43° 57.754′ E
COG 248T
SOG 5.6kt
The perfect ending
The seastate has calmed enough for us to make sail again. With full main and #3 headsail we are gliding along at 5.5 knots in 7-10 knots just abaft the beam. A long groundswell from dead astern and about half a knot of favourable current is just a sweetener on top. Bliss! We will be anchoring south of Ile Moucha, six miles north of Djibouti, as we expect to arrive around 3am and there are unlit obstructions in Djibouti harbour.
Position 11° 56.508′ N 44° 03.040′ E
COG 247T
SOG 5.6kt
DAY 14: We’re still alive
Made 143nm for the 24 h. Slow considering the wind but with only the small #3 headsail and big seas this is consistent with our conservative sail plane and the (unexpected) half a knot of current against us (GRIB showed a west setting current of up to a knot). Wind is now at 15-20 knots from the east with 2-3m easterly long period groundswell and shorter period NNE sea of about 1m over that. Still pretty rolly and not worth putting more sail up. We both got a solid 4 h sleep on our off watches as there was nothing to do for the watch keeper except stay awake, keep a lookout and hang on during the wild gyrations. Expect to make the anchorage in Djibouti in the early h tomorrow morning.
Position 12° 13.390′ N 45° 18.974′ E
COG 250T
SOG 5.4kt
Log 9,743 nm
Engine 215.0 h