After a good night’s sleep we were both up early to enjoy a cooked breakfast and get the final activities completed for our departure. This included Roy popping to the fresh market to get a few things, then collecting our clearance documentation from the agent. By 1100 we had weighed anchored and had made our way back out the narrow channel with Golden Spirit and Talulah Ruby III not far behind.

Unfortunately, when we first chose our departure date, the forecast had indicated the northerly winds would abate to below 10 Kts by yesterday afternoon, but, by this morning, they were still a stiff breeze at 10 to 15 Kts, making for a very uncomfortable start to our passage to Soma Bay in Egypt. It was also not a good start in that we crawled along at 4.7 Kts, pounding into wind and waves with both engines on, a double reefed mainsail and a triple reefed headsail; the latter to help give us some lift.

We’d already calculated that our average SOG (Speed Over Ground) had to be 5.2 Kts for this passage in order to make Soma Bay before the next band of strong northerly winds arrived. With this start, we were already behind, but, by the time we exited the inside channel at Port Sudan, the winds had dropped, the sea had started to settle and we’d made up our lost time, enjoying an average SOG of around 5.7 Kts.

Tonight, in deeper waters and expecting to intersect the shipping lane early tomorrow, we continue northwards.