Christmas Island to Chagos 8am 25th May 2000

Paul's Nautical Adventures

Christmas Islands to Chagos (Phase 4 part 4)

8am 25th May 2000,

Spirit of ISIS crew is ready to weigh anchor at Flying Fish Cove and head of to the start line for the next phase of t he race to the Chagos Archipelago. So with a last glance at Christmas Island, a place which we will all remember for a long time we head off........... Ready, willing and able ISIS heads of with Paul and Nick - the dynamic start line duo preparing us on what the plan of action is for this start line. We headed out to carry out a couple of practice starts - with Paul saying at 8.5 minutes we will be going in this direction at t his speed and Nick shouting from below - right a bit left a bit - Bull's-eye! After our practices it was ready, steady and we are off - fir st across the line and leading the fleet. A great way for the crew to start the phase!

Once again it was sun, sea and Spinnakers for all boats for the next few days, on ISIS we became very proficient in exchanging the lightweight Spinnaker for the heavyweight and vice versa - this was confirm ed by the lack of shouting and descriptive language used by Dughall as time has progressed, rather than him coming out and saying - "hey you are getting quite good at this!" - but then again this is sailing! The fleet managed to stay fairly close together for the duration of t his phase - I think we must all be getting good at this!

Being at sea for 10 days with not a lot else to look at but the boat and each other, it was really great to pass by the Cocos Islands after 5 days and out popped the cameras - something else to see. We passed between both islands, closer to the north island - reef, sand and Palm trees - another remote island to visit? With all this sea and sky stuff, it is always good to see one of the other boats in close proximity and once again we had the opportunity to offer Minerva a cup of tea as the crossed behind our stern one evening.

Apart from that, the sail was generally very comfortable and everyone relaxed into the trip, which was the longest stretch for us on board . Lots of book reading, chatting on deck, even the occasional CD was played. We even had a little competition to write a verse and the best one came from Dr Nick: I once had a notion, to cross an ocean To discover, I know not what, So I crossed the ocean, The Indian Ocean To discover, it is blinking hot! On the helm, the idea was to sail the boat in as straight a line as possible as fast as possible towards Chagos, a task which we all managed to do. A combination of our helming skills and our spinnaker patching up sessions admirably handled by Herbie, our resident seamstress , meant that ISIS was either in front of the fleet or not far of it f or the duration of this phase. The last 24 hours were quite tense as both Juno and Minerva were creeping back up on us and with each hour snatching back a bit of our lea d, Diana was on White Sails as she had lost her Spinnakers, which meant that she was a few hours behind leaving a tense and close finish for ISIS, Juno and Minerva. As we approached the Salomon Reef, the Atoll where the finish line was and where we would be anchored, both Juno and Minerva were closing in on us and it was going to be a close finish. ISIS did it we crossed the line first and were holding our breath to see if Juno would make it across the line within our penalty time of 1hr 15 minutes and all credit to them - the came in an hour after ISIS to win the points for this phase, closely followed by Minerva. All 3 boats gingerly made our way in towards the anchor point as the Atoll is full of reefs at varying heights and the navigation is somewhat tricky - but we all managed it, had a beer or two to celebrate our arrival and prepared to wait for Diana, who came a few hours later. A couple of the ISIS crew went out to assist her with the navigation in the dark, others chatted and socialized with the crew from the other boats - a good start to another interesting stopover........... Julie Walker.

Chagos

We reached the Salomon Reef after 10 days at sea and were welcomed in by the cruising yachts anchored within the Atoll - a friendly mixed bunch from all over the world - Scottish, English, Australian, New Zealanders, Americans, Austrian even Russian - and the Millennium Fleet - what a mixture! The first piece of information we were given was that at 5pm we will see lots of dinghies heading to shore to their social club - where they meet, chat and have a few beers. The invitation was gladly accepted and the fleet was well represented by ISIS, Juno and Minerva. A short while later, Diana arrived and the full compliment of Millennium yachts were together again relaxing in the beautiful surroundings of this Atoll. Minerva had invited all the boats to a bar-be-que on the beach, the night after all boats had arrived, so during the second day, Hugh, Luc y and the Minerva crew worked hard to prepare the area - building a B B Q and making arrangements for the evening. The BBQ was attended by all of the fleet plus an open invitation was given to the locals to join us in a great evening on a very special island. As you can imagine the evening was a great success and everyone was well fed and watered - the locals brought along some of their specialties from tandoori cod, to salad made from Palm Tree, to home made marshmallows - amazing what you can create in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Food, beer, wine and lots of interesting conversation made for another excellent Millennium evening!

The next day or so was spent with everyone chilling out and relaxing in one form or another! Some read books on the beach, snorkeled, walk ed round the island, sat in the sun and chatted, some went of outside the Atoll to do a spot of diving - very much a quiet day for most. It was back to the boats for dinner and each crew ate dinner together , a couple of the boats had some of the locals over to dinner and some more socializing took place. After dinner, some headed of to get a good nights sleep but a small group of girls from each boat headed back out to the island for one last look at the sky from this most exquisite island in the middle of the Indian Ocean - another day for the memory banks! Julie Walker.