The fleet is in. Welcome Mauritius!! Dressed in colourful flags, we have become something of an attraction for tourists and locals alike. Where have you come from? Where are you headed? What was the scariest moment? That last one is easy to answer…..
When we were about two thirds of the way across the Indian Ocean, one of the boats, Firefly, suffered a daytime, mid-sea collision with a large ship. By large, try longer than 250 metres! This is a story that should be told by those who experienced it. 
The good news is nobody got hurt and Firefly has remarkably little damage for a boat that scraped down the side of a ship that must have looked like an endless wall of black steel. Truly terrifying; it has caused all of us to ponder the hows and whys endlessly. Talk about ‘but for the grace of..’!
Mauritius is like a favourite cocktail – a twist of French, a dash of brit, a large shot of Creole. Majority Hindu, Port Louis still awakes to morning prayers from the colourful mosques around town. Add some pretty substantial catholic churches and you have religious tolerance at its very best. What’s not to like about this place?
Ressie loped across the Indian Ocean, 2340 nm in 11 days, and nearly two days ahead of the rest of the fleet. Baz and Jon are real pros now. Jon made the torpedo room his den in any weather (move over, Mike!) and he and Baz seemed completely unfazed by the 3 metre swells that kicked in on day 3. We did tear the spinnaker, and lost the windex windvane (which landed, unbelievably, in the cockpit!)… but all is being repaired now and Ressie has a new coat of bottom paint, too. Ready for the gurus, then…
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