Light winds all night, altered course a little more northerly to enable a bear away and put the north
easterly monsoon behind us when, if, we find it. Complexity reported yesterday that they were
already sailing downwind. The wind is veering slowly so hopefully it will come soon. The seas are
becoming more like an ocean swell as the distance to land to the north and east increases.

Another moonless night, yet to see the new moon; great for star gazing. The sky began to lighten
at six. Temptress crosses into UTC+4 later today. Bread making watch this morning, first time in
ages. Trying out the ‘French Village’ flour bought at Pastry Pro, Langkawi. It’s a whole meal flour
with grains in it, mixed it two cups to one of white bread flour. Thinking of curry for supper using
the yellow and green striped squash we bought in Cochin, an aubergine and lentils with a Kerala
style cabbage dish to accompany it. Haven’t yet had breakfast but already planning the day’s meals. Have beetroot to cook too, will use these for sandwiches.

After yesterday’s fishing woes we dug out Squid Vicious (remember him from our Pacific
crossing?) and trolled him behind the bird. Kevin rebuilt the little octopi/hook combo with some really big hooks, we will try that later.

During the morning we shook out the reef and are now dashing along in flat seas at some six or
seven knots over the ground, the wind is still forward of the beam though. Enjoy it while we can as
the forecast looks like a recipe for motoring from tomorrow. At noon we flogged the clocks to
UTC+4, lunch therefore was at the new noon an hour later! Bread looks fantastic but had salad and salami wraps for lunch with a side of beetroot and tomato.

My jumper sleeve is getting longer, will it be too long? Think the next garment I knit will be a top
down one, that way you can tell how long things are and adjust. Here I’m knitting in the dark as
my row gauge is longer than the pattern requires though I am knitting fewer rows between the
increases to try and compensate but it does seem overly long with a further 40 odd rows to go. At least the cuffs will keep my hands warm!

And the maths has begun. It seems it’s the nautical equivalent of ‘are we nearly there yet’. How far
is it from Cochin to xxx, how far have we come, oh then we are one third/half way or some other
milestone. As of four o’clock today we have covered 596 nm since departing Cochin, about one
quarter of the distance to Djibouti or about a fifth of the distance to Suez. Measuring distances
and doing the sums occupies twenty minutes or more between book chapters or during afternoon tea.

We have a cuppa every afternoon usually accompanied by a biscuit or slice of cake. Having
finished the pandan layer cake yesterday (thanks Gen & Jeremy of SY Sea Monster) today Kevin
cut into our Indian Plum Cake. Moist and crumbly, stuffed full of fruit, nuts and sweet spices it’s a
cross between Christmas Pud and a naked Christmas Cake only better! I wish we had bought two.

So the yellow and green striped, oval shaped ‘squash’ bought in Cochin has seeds like a
cucumber, a very firm faintly cucumber tasting flesh and a tough outer skin. Possibly some sort of
non-sweet melon? Any ideas? I chopped up some to put in the curry. Even raw it has little flavour
but the texture is pleasant enough and it didn’t go mushy when given ten minutes gentle simmer in the veg curry.

Noonday Run: 129nm
Noon Distance to Suez: 2740nm approx