It looks like we are in the trade wind belt now.  We are now at 8'42S 90'10E and are running at 290' with a big 10ft swell in the general direction of Chagos.    Great conditions today, sunny with about 15 knots of wind.  Progress varies though with us only progressing just over 130 miles from noon to noon. Neil achieved the speed record on his watch of 9.5 knots as he surfed down a giant swell!  

Yesterday afternoon we were stuck in a giant squall, over 6 miles in diameter , with torrential rains at times. We couldn't escape it and it felt as though we were been sucked into its centre as it was the only thing on the radar and we were always in the middle, even with quite strong winds we couldn't go more than about 3 knots. It felt for a while that we were in the Indian Ocean equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle, so we kept a look out for the missing Malaysian airplane. 

Unfortunately the wind-vane self-steering mechanism is buggered. The swell from the rear combined with Neil's new, improved rope system for holding up the water paddle has displaced the cog mechanism so we are not sure if it can be fixed while we are sailing. 

Update from Chris, (Neil and Mike are snoozing)

Bron, I will send you and email but if you don't get it can you send an email to me at galatea {CHANGE TO AT} mailasail {DOT} com.

- S/V Galatea