The Broken Compass's departure strategy is to leave in bad weather. Port Louis was no exception as we left with the heaviest wind in over a month. Two separate coast guard officials warned us of the rough conditions. The second official took one look at our boat bucking next to the wharf and started questioning our decision to leave. We joked he would rescue us in a couple hours. He did not share our humor. Being the only yacht foreign to Mauritius, we assumed credibility as they permitted our departure. It took 5 men (and 1 woman) to push Broken Compass boat off the dock as we left Le Caudon Marina. Motoring (yeah... motoring) out of the harbor, a disabled small craft was under tow back from an unfortunate day. The 8 foot swell at the channel entrance knocked us around for a while before we hoisted the sails to break into open water. The “It's good to be back out at sea” feeling was short lived as a series of lightning storms battered us for the rest of the day and throughout the night.
Lightning storms at sea are an interesting experience. They are beautiful to watch from far off in the distance. At some point as the dark clouds and flashes of light move over head you come to realize your situation: Two hands on a metal wheel steering two tall trees held down by steel cables across a relatively flat ocean. If lightening bolts were tails, the Broken Compass would be the donkey. Resigning to the very real possibility of getting struck is the only way stay sane for hours of blinding flashes amongst sheets of water and ripping winds.
Day 3 we spotted a orange life ring floating a few hundred meters away. Taking the opportunity as a practice man overboard, we made some fancy maneuvers under sail to retrieve the prize. The 25 knot breeze taxed our victory as we limped away from the event with two pieces of our head sail instead of one. The faded Chinese symbols on the life ring concealed a boat's story we would never plumb.
The ocean highlight is always the fish. We caught a nice Wahoo shown above in addition to a few large Dorado. One day we hooked into the fish of a lifetime: the blue marlin. Neither of us have ever seen its equal dead or alive. The creature performed a series of acrobatics and entertained us for about five minutes before effortlessly breaking through the 150 lb leader. Following the fight, he breached one last time to wave farewell as he swam off in search of the old man in the sea.
(NASA satellite image of Tropical Cyclone Funso)
Reaching the half way point, our crack weather guy from South Africa warned of a cyclone predicted to intercept us. A race for our lives ensued. Over three rough and wet days we logged 440 miles and positioned Broken Compass downwind of our destination. We suffered 36 hours against 30 knots of wind and 15 ft swells to earn our last 25 miles upwind. During this trial, we sent a diver in the water to pull off a line wrapped around the propeller. We thanked our guardian angels as the Tropical Cyclone Funso passed in our wake. Exhausted and in the middle of the night, we tossed two hooks in the Durban harbor mud. We crashed and slept like babies while Makai woke up from a 4 day slumber to take anchor watch.
