Stage 3 – Cocos-Keeling Atoll to Rodrigues Island
Posted by Graham Cox
In his classic book, TREKKA ROUND THE WORLD, John Guzzwell noted that the Indian Ocean has a reputation for being a rough place for small boats – and it has, whether one is traversing the tropical trade wind routes from east to west or the other way through the Southern Ocean – although it treated John and TREKKA with remarkable kindness, especially on the leg from Cocos (Keeling) Atoll to Rodrigues Island.
He even flew his mizzen staysail for much of the time, covering 858 miles in the first week, giving him the fastest weekly tally of his entire circumnavigation. TREKKA took just under 18 days to complete this 2000-mile passage, and John wrote, ‘I am amazed at how easy it was… The weather was perfect, day after glorious day.’
Conditions have been more boisterous for the MGR fleet, possibly because they are making this passage a month earlier than John Guzzwell did. They have experienced 25-35 knot winds and 3-4m seas at times, complicated by a persistent SSW-SW swell coming up from deep in the Southern Ocean, where Spring storms are still raging.
The MGR leaders have also been sailing faster than Guzzwell’s TREKKA. Every week on the ocean is different, let alone every season, so direct comparisons need to take that into account – nonetheless, CAPUCINETTE, leading the fleet as usual, ran 975 miles this week, with IMMORTAL GAME, ORIGAMI, and PETER PUNK not that far behind.
Renaud says that he does not worry about distance sailed, whether for a day or a week. He concentrates on maintaining a high average speed. Like the old saying, ‘Mind the pennies and the pounds will mind themselves’, he knows that a high average speed will result in good mileage.
On 25 September he wrote, ‘Hello, since last night it’s “rock n roll” aboard CAPUCINETTE. Wind gusts at 35 knots! The waves not too high but aggressive (and) regularly pass over or lay down the boat. According to Windy, this should go down a notch in the day. Better, because these are really difficult conditions. Am almost halfway to Rodrigues.”
On 29 September, he said, “So today is full sun. It is 29° in the boat. The waves are not high but completely disorganized. Maybe 2-2.5m. The wind is east, and between 25 to 35 knots. I am carrying half of the jib and the mainsail is down what I call three and a half. We don’t have four reefs, but it’s a bit more than three. It is complex to sleep as well, because the boat is moving one side to the other side all the time (rolling). So, it’s difficult, but it’s only three days before arrival, so it’s a nice day! I think it will be better during the night, the wind will go down a bit. I try to sail very safely, try not breaking anything.”
When asked about CAPUCINETTE’s remarkably straight track, as shown on the YB Tracker, he said, “(Sometimes) you have to do more miles to get better weather, like it happened about three days or four days after the start from the Cocos Keeling. But why should I make more miles when the boat is not making any acceleration?” Both Renaud and Dan sailed north of the rhumb-line for a few days out of Cocos, to take advantage of local conditions, but have since sailed a very straight course parallel to it.
It looks deceptively simple on the tracker, but Renaud admitted it took hard work to maintain such a steady course and still sail at high average speeds. “It’s a permanent work. If you want to keep your course (steady), you must be all the time on your sheets, all the time. Because the boat is not changing direction but the wind is always changing.”
CAPUCINETTE is in good shape, though Renaud has a major problem with condensation and mould. “With all the rain we have had, all the wind, and waves from everywhere, you cannot open the hatch. And a lot of the time, you are on the side, I don’t know how far. I don’t know how close the mast is to the water or whatever, but it’s very far. Then you have to close the air vent, because if you don’t, you have a shower in the boat. There is condensation everywhere.”
He went on to joke that in a few days he’d be able to harvest mushrooms. “I will make a salad with it, so it’s always good! The humidity, according to my hygrometer, is 92%. I think, for the moment, this is the hardest passage so far, due to this problem of humidity in the boat. And also, the Indian Ocean is exactly as everyone is saying. It’s a rough one. It’s difficult with the waves from everywhere, but we have not seen the big waves coming from south-west yet. So, let’s touch wood and we’ll see how it goes.” He should be in Port Mathurin, Rodrigues Island, by the end of the week.
On 24 September, Dan wrote, ‘That was a strange afternoon / night. After being becalmed in a messy sea, the wind swung to the SW at 30 knots with pelting rain, so I needed to go upwind for a number of hours. Also managed to hit something in the water with force, but don’t appear to have caused any problems onboard. I worked hard to keep the boat going until the wind went back to its normal direction, then I crashed out and got a few hours’ sleep this morning.’
The next day he added, ‘Another milestone reached today. Currently passing 82° East, which means that since setting off from Panama last December, I have now completed over 3/4 of the world in longitude aboard IMMORTAL GAME! A wet and wild one onboard last night, but the sun is coming out now, and I’m hoping to get a few things dried out, and some charge into the batteries.’
On 28 September, he noted, ‘A comedy of errors today. Managed to get hit by an even bigger flying fish today (possibly taking vengeance for his mate yesterday). Being so rolly out here, and with everything wet below, I managed to have a whole container of couscous go flying, before it expanded everywhere. To top it off, I opened the hatch right at the correct time and took a wave below deck, onto my leeward bunk, drenching everything, including my conveniently-open clothes bag. Fingers crossed for some sun tomorrow.”
The following day he said, “There’s not a lot of swell, to be honest – there’s probably only a couple of metres. But the sea state is short and choppy, and IMMORTAL GAME is rolling pretty violently. The wind’s coming from the SE, and there’s a bit swell from the SW. You often get one that comes over the side.
“I can’t say that I’ve enjoyed this passage that much. It’s probably been my least favourite so far, but it hasn’t been terrible, nothing serious, it’s just difficult to rest, to get sleep in. I’m looking forward to getting the Indian Ocean over and done with.
“I’ve done a lot of two-sail reaching, with a bit of jib and the mainsail reefed. I’m trying to give the spinnakers a break where I can on this leg. But the problem is, everyone behind me is going faster and faster, which means more sail area in order to stay competitive. I’ve done a fair bit of hand-steering, just because of the waves. It’s just the odd wave that rounds you up, but when they do, they slow the boat right down. If you’re on the tiller, you can sense the ones that are going to spin the boat off-course before they hit and compensate.
“I haven’t been cooking so much this leg. I’ve just been eating more meals cold, straight out of the bag, or out of the tin, particularly when the wind is up. But I’m still eating pretty well. Also, food was quite expensive at Cocos Keeling, so I didn’t reprovision all that well, and I’m pretty much sick of the food that I’ve got. I’m looking forward to getting to Rodriguez and having a good feed.
“Everything’s a bit wet on board. There hasn’t been much sun, so it’s been hard to dry stuff out. When there is sun, it tends to be windy, so that means more spray is coming over the side. I don’t think I’ve got anything that’s dry at the moment. It’s also hard to charge batteries.”
Asked how his skin was coping with those sorts of conditions, he replied, “I try to clean myself up as often as possible. I’m still showering in salt water, rinsing with a bit of fresh at the end. I need to look after my face, because I always get a bit of a rash there, and on my back. But I haven’t had too many issues.
He has not slept a lot this leg. “I’m finding it difficult to get to sleep because the boat will round up, or it will slam off a wave, or something will wake you up. It’s nothing to be concerned about, it’s a really cool boat in a big sea. There’s been a couple of nights where conditions were a little bit lighter, and I crashed out for a fair bit of the night, but other than that I’m probably only sleeping a couple hours a day. If I’m on deck, I’ll steer for a few hours, and then I’ll just come below and lay down. If I fall asleep, I do, but otherwise I just try and conserve energy. I haven’t had to do a lot of sail changes, so I’m not overexerting myself.
“I sleep on the windward side, mostly from a performance perspective. I set the leecloth up tight and essentially sleep on it, with my back arched into it. At the moment, the wind’s pretty much from behind, so it’s more difficult to sleep, as the boat’s rolling from starboard to port all the time, and it’s quite difficult to keep the body in one position.”
Due to the overcast conditions, Dan hasn’t a lot of battery in reserve. “I mostly keep everything switched off at night and just check every 45 minutes or an hour or so, to make sure there’s no boats coming. I think there might be sun today, so fingers crossed. My batteries are both at less than 50%.”
Asked about water consumption, he said, “I’ve still nearly got 100L. I’ve only used about 40L so far. For whatever reason, I haven’t been using much, mostly, I think, because I’ve been trying to keep myself from not falling over and rolling around the boat!”
Asked about his new sponsor, Bravo Sails, from Adelaide, he said, “They have supported me for many years. Obviously, we’ve got Quantum sails on these boats, but now that I’m in need of new rigging, they thought that was an opportunity to help me out They’re a great company and provide a range of services.”
Jakub reported that the first few days out of Cocos were very windy, but he was enjoying the sail. “The Indian Ocean is pretty good. I don’t know if it’s me getting better in sailing, or the Indian Ocean is more suitable for me. I like the angle to the wind, going off the beam, or even a close reach. It’s much better than the trade winds, where you are rolling side to side. I prefer to roll to the one side instead of one-two!
“The first few days, BIBI was smashed by the waves many times, but has proven to be really durable. And then I had a couple of days with the wind on my stern, so I was goose-winged for a little bit. Last night, the winds started increasing, and I’m sailing now at an angle of about 95-100° to the wind. The Windpilot copes with that very well, the course is steady, and I’ve just been reading my book since I woke up this morning.
“The seas are slight to moderate. They are getting a little messy, but they are not aggressive. I’m getting struck by a small wave maybe once every hour, and I also have some waves coming from my stern. I presume this is the first sign of the new wind coming. There are also some swells coming from the south, but they are not breaking yet. It’s a beautiful, sunny day and I’m charging my battery. The wind is maybe 16, gusting 22 knots at the moment, and I ‘ve been making everything ready for the stronger winds forecast. Last night, I slept nearly all night, so I’m fully fed and rested.
Yesterday’s forecast said that I will be facing a good 36 knots, but today’s forecast downsized this a little bit. I think this is due to my tactics. From the beginning, I wanted to point south as much as I can, because then I’m closer to the high-pressure system, and then the winds get softer. Secondly, in the case of very heavy weather, I will have more room to go with the wind without losing too much ground. Plus, there was a secondary equatorial current down here, which I caught a little bit.
“I am happy with BIBI’s progress. I have the main on the third reef, plus the jib and storm jib. I wanted to try the cutter rig. It doesn’t work very well this way, but I’d rather have the storm jib up, because in a very strong blow I can lower the jib and main and carry on under just the storm jib.
“During the heavy weather earlier, I got a bit wet, not too much. There’s never been a wave coming into my companionway. I have a very old canvas canopy over it, and when it rains, water drips through, but if there is some spray coming across the deck, only a few drops come inside. Sometimes I get wet from the rain, or from splashes, and then have to come inside. I need to figure out some way to cover the lee bunk with plastic, so that I can I can lay down with wet clothes on. But other than that, BIBI is fully dry.”
Jakub is still cooking regular meals. “I have started eating my dry freeze-dried food, because I needed some meat and forgot to buy any last time I was getting supplies. I have a few tins of tuna and sardines, but no beef and pork, which I’m kind of missing. Yesterday I ate a dehydrated meal of beef, potatoes and peas. It wasn’t very tasty, but then I did some pancakes in the evening with Nutella, just to spoil myself.” He noted that when the sailing was easy, he tended to eat more.
BIBI is only about 30 miles south of Argo, and a little ahead, but it is too far for VHF radio contact. He has had no contact with other vessels, either. “The first few days out of Cocos, I saw around 10 ships, sometimes three or four a day, but once I dove south, I haven’t seen any at all.”
He keeps his AIS, Echomax and VHF radio on all the time. However, he was shocked to find a ship creeping up on him one day, with a close CPA, despite the alarm not sounding, or getting a radio call. Upon investigation, he realised that he’d switched his AIS alarm off when approaching Cocos, due to the number of signals from boats in the anchorage, and forgot to reset it. Ditto the VHF – it was still set to Channel 20, the working frequency of Cocos Keeling.
It could have led to disaster, but Jakub has the luck of the Irish on his side, as he laughingly admits. “I also have two angels, one in Ireland, one in Holland, praying for me, and I have one fairy in Poland. She’s also a professional witch, and she’s casting spells for me. So, I’m quite safe.”
He added, “It’s getting colder. Two nights ago, I pulled my beanie out, and last night I put my shoes on for the first time, and also opened the sleeping bag for the first time for many months. Two nights ago, when I was laying in the bunk and the hatch was fully open, the air felt like winter in my nostrils.”
He says that he has become used to this ocean-voyaging way of life. “I’ve been considering the difficulty I’m going to face switching from adventure mode into normal life after the MGR. Living on BIBI has become my world. I haven’t slept in a bed even once since I started in Portugal.
“But I’m already planning the next adventures, and I’m booked for the next two years. And when the next MGR starts, I’m going to show up in Portugal to see the new entrants, to give them some advice, and feel that magic vibe again between the MGR sailors.” There is no doubt that this event has been a transformative experience for Jakub, and probably for all the MGR skippers.
On 26 September, Jasmine’s mother, Susan, wrote, ‘Jasmine left the beautiful Cocos Islands at 2:30am local time on Tuesday, initially clearing other boats in the anchorage using her electric outboard, then gradually putting up more sail as she cleared the island. On the first day, she was hit by lots of squalls, which sucked all the wind away only then to deliver it back with a vengeance 30 seconds later.
‘It then settled down. She’s now going at a great speed but expecting conditions to pick up more soon, through to Tuesday. The sea-state is fairly big, with constant waves several metres high. There is other shipping around too. She can see squalls in front but is planning to try and avoid them. She’s aiming to head south of where the rhumb line is shown on the tracker, to enable an easier passage on the final approach to Rodrigues Island.
On 29 September, Susan posted, ‘Jasmine says that not much has changed in the in past few days, consistent wind and sun with some big waves, making surfing fun. She is pretty exhausted, and has been heading to bed when it gets dark, at around 6.30pm, but waking at least every 2 hours to check position, sails, conditions etc. There has been a lot of shipping, particularly fishing boats, which only seem to appear at night. This means even more broken sleep, when her Echomax alarm goes off. Conditions are building again today, with strong gusts and potentially confused seas, as the next weather system comes through.’
Jasmine noted that her Starlink connection, as with others in the fleet, has been unreliable. “Sometimes it takes an hour to connect, and then it’ll just drop out for no reason. I think it’s because there’s certain areas of the world where there isn’t Starlink coverage – South Africa, for example. The closer we get to South Africa, the worse it’s going to get. I think we’re all going to struggle around there, which is not great because that’s where we will need weather information the most.”
Speaking of weather, she said, “It’s a bit rough, with waves crashing over. I’ve got a tiny bit of main and jib out. It’s also a bit bouncy, which is annoying because there’s so much wind, but I can’t really do much with it to make me go at a decent speed. And the wind also isn’t very consistent. It was shifting around a good 20° last night, which made it tricky to adjust the Hydrovane.
“It’s wet on deck – the minute you go outside you’re likely to get a wave straight over the top of you, so you spend most of your time in the cabin. I went out this morning to adjust the Hydrovane and got a wave over me. I don’t plan on spending much time outside unless it’s sunny, because it’s a bit colder now. As soon as you get a wave over you, it’s just freezing and miserable, and then you can’t dry anything out.”
Jasmine, like Adam, lives in her swimming costume when its warm, which saves on wet, dirty clothes, but admits that she is now wearing a t-shirt as well. That does not sound like much defence against the cold, but then this is the woman who swam the length of the British coast!
The cooler weather might account for the fact that she is eating more than usual, and sleeping well. “I had a big bowl of pasta yesterday. I’m sleeping fine, just having really weird dreams, and obviously get woken up when suddenly NUMBATOU gets overpowered and I fly to the other side of the boat.”
The boat had been rounding up (broaching) quite a lot, especially during the previous night. “I was trying to sleep, but the wind kept changing, and I didn’t know whether it was just that I was overpowered with the sails, or whether the Hydrovane needed adjusting. I dropped the mainsail, but realize now that it was the just the Hydrovane.”
Asked about battery power (which she has had issues with in the past), she said, “I’m not running my AIS, I’m just using my Echomax, because there’s not many fishing boats around. The traffic is all just big container ships now, so the Echo Max warns me earlier than the AIS does. For me, the AIS just drains so much power. When it’s off, I’ve got loads of power. If the AIS is on, it can drain 50% of my battery in a day. If I was to get a new AIS, I would not combine it with the radio either.”
She has some new sails coming, but says she hopes to keep them as a backup. “My A7 has a little hole in it that I need to repair, but hopefully it’ll last, along with the others. If they do rip, though, you’re screwed, so I’d rather have some spare ones on board. “If I didn’t have spare sails, I’d have to sail more conservatively, and then I’d be so much slower.”
NUMBATOU has about 1000 miles left to Rodrigues. On hearing that Port Mathurin is reported to have lots of restaurants, she said, “Good, because that’s one thing I’ve missed, actually eating food off a plate rather than from a pan.” Not to mention FRESH food, with Créole, African, European, Indian and Chinese influences reflecting the varying cultures of the population!
Ertan was also having trouble with his Starlink connection, and his Iridium phone was not working well either. He said, “It has been sunny up until today, but now it is overcast and quite rough. The sea state and the wind are coming from the south, so it’s difficult to keep a high speed unless you want to be extremely uncomfortable. It’s not very comfortable as it is!
“I took the jib in this morning, and am sailing with just the triple-reefed mainsail, doing about 4 knots. The wind is blowing around 25 knots, and the seas are at least 4m. But they’re not breaking, so you climb up and you come down. Every now and again, one goes over the boat, but not that often, thank God.
“I think this is going to last for a couple of days. I’ve not been out on deck at all for the last two days. I’ve just been lying inside (on his cabin-sole ‘cot’) and watching stuff. I have tons of stuff downloaded, podcasts, movies, series, and education programs, lots of stuff. So, I’ll be laying down in my cot for the next few days, it looks like, at the moment.”
In this weather, he is just eating freeze-dried food, porridge etc. At least the conditions are not affecting his sleeping patterns. “Oh, I sleep 10, 12 hours a day, so I am well-rested.” At this point in our conversation, contact was lost.
When Josh called, he said that the wind was blowing 25 knots, gusting 30, from the SSE, with at least 3m seas. “It’s sort-of on the beam, varying between 90° and 135°. It’s funny, because it was less windy yesterday, and yet the waves were a lot bigger, and breaking. Today it’s windier, but the waves are smaller and just rolling, they’re not really breaking.”
Asked about cross-swells, he said, “It’s not as bad as it was. The first couple of days out of Cocos, we were just rolling from side to side, but I’m kind of out of it now, it’s more just wind-waves now.”
The South Atlantic windvane has been handling conditions well. “I’ve been doing some hand-steering because the sailing has been really fun. The windvane keeps the boat just as straight and fast as I can, but it’s fun to steer through the waves.
“When I started out, the wind was pretty light, so I just had one reef in the mainsail and two in the jib. Then, as the wind picked up, I took the main down to the third reef and sheeted the reefed jib in pretty tight, because SKOOKUM wants to round up in the gusts. I just do 120 miles a day. It’s been pretty easy.”
Everything is good aboard. “I got one wave inside because I had not dogged down the hatch, and ended up getting the leeward bunk a bit wet, but otherwise it’s dry below, and everything is in its place.”
He uses his climbing harness to secure himself in his bunk, ensuring a safe, comfortable sleep, without the risk of being thrown across the cabin. “I wear my harness while I sleep, and clip myself to the side of the hull. Depending on where I lay in the bed, it’ll actually steer the boat a little bit. If I lay against the lee cloth, the boat will go one way, but if I lay against the hull, it’ll go another. When I want to lay against the hull, the harness holds me in place. And that way, I don’t get thrown across the boat if SKOOKUM gets knocked over. I’ve been wearing my climbing harness for three days straight, but for me it’s normal -it’s like sleeping on a mountain ledge, where you have to clip on so you don’t roll off into the abyss!”
The weather is set to improve in a day or so. “Tomorrow it’ll be windy again, and then Wednesday, Thursday, it moderates a little, back down to 18 knots. I had a couple of squalls last night where the wind was probably 35 knots. I pulled the main down for about 10 minutes, and then I put it back up. I’m expecting a bit more of that tonight.”
Asked about how he stays dry, he said, “I just try to time it. I look outside to see if there are any big waves coming, then I go out and do what I need to do. I have gotten wet a couple times. I take my shirt off before going out, and just towel off when I come back inside. I’ve been staying pretty dry, actually. Mostly staying inside with the hatch closed.”
Asked if he didn’t get cold working on deck bare-chested, he said, “I’m surprised at how warm it is, even at night. When I come out at night, I’m like, wow, it’s still really warm out here.” Of course, this is a man who is used to chipping ice off glaciers to make his morning tea.
He is still eating heartily. “I’ve just had breakfast, some granola with powdered milk, and last night I had Spaghetti Bolognese. Tonight, I’m going to make fish tacos. That’s my favorite, so I always look forward to that.”
Asked about the difficulty of cooking in these conditions, he said, “I keep the stove locked up when I’m not using it, so it’s not swinging around all the time. I just unlock it and do my little bit of cooking, and then lock it back up. The motion of the boat, and the conditions, are really similar to what I experienced in the Atlantic on my way to Antigua. It almost feels like I’m going upwind because I’ll occasionally hit a wave and the boat will stop.”
Asked about entertainment, he said, “I’ve been listening to audiobooks and watching movies that I downloaded and saved on my phone, but wait until it gets dark to do the latter, because otherwise it’s just too bright – there’s too much glare on the screen, it’s not enjoyable. I’ve also got a couple of print books to read. A Finnish couple in Cocos gave me a book called SAILING ALONE, by Richard J. King, that I am really enjoying.”
When asked if everything was good on the boat, he said, “No complaints. I don’t think I’m going to get much solar today because it’s cloudy, but the batteries are OK. I’ve never had any electrical issues. I run the Echomax, the AIS, and the chart plotter all the time, plus the navigation lights at night, as well as whatever I’m charging – my phone or my little 12-volt fan or whatever. I like to get up every half an hour and glance at the chart plotter and see how fast I’m going, how close I am to being on course, and how many miles I’ve done while I was sleeping. The total consumption each night is only about three and a half amps.”
SKOOKUM probably has the best electrical and electronic fitout in the fleet, not surprising given that Josh is a professional in this field.
The other area in which Josh has unique experience is harvesting water in remote locations. He did fill a couple of his 25L containers with rainwater from the tank at Direction Island, but has not used it. He plans to treat the water if he drinks it. He was lucky enough to get one container filled by his Finnish friends from their watermaker, which he is still using for drinking, and another was filled on Thursday Island that he has not touched. Small-boat voyagers have a lot in common with Bedouins, not least when it comes to water consumption!
At this point, a large, black cloud loomed over SKOOKUM, and reception became so poor that the call had to be terminated. Josh has 1,400 miles to go to Rodrigues. If he can keep up his pace, he should be there in 10 days.
In other news, Kerry Waugh notes that by 29 September, Adam and LITTLE WREN had sailed 1,000nm on this passage – the official halfway mark between the Cocos Islands and Rodriguez Island. Adam reported, “Over the last 2 days, conditions have been good, a welcome break from previous strong winds. Ahead lies a few days of stronger winds, but nothing outside the ordinary – just part of life at sea.” He’d earlier reported a small tear in the mainsail between the second and third reefpoints. He has also shaved his head, giving him a startlingly different appearance.
Eric reported that the motion was so violent he was sleeping on the cabin sole aboard SUNBEAR, wedging himself against a bucket to stop himself from sliding around. “It’s not for being sick in!” he joked. On 30 September, he reported that the seas were about 3m from the SE, with a 2m swell coming up from the south.
Pilar, who is consistently sitting in 4th place, said she’d love to take a shower in the cockpit but it was too rough. Already sporting a large bruise from an earlier fall, she chose to have a wipe-down instead.
Without a doubt, the 2025 MGR skippers are ‘earning their stripes’ on this stage of Leg 3, and by the time they reach Cape Town will be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with John Guzzwell and other legendary small boat voyagers.
