10th January 2009
We left at 10:30 today with a fair breeze up our backsides and soon got our headsail poled out opposite the main and had a good 6.5 knots going. Since then, the wind has turned more Northerly and abated so, although we are currently managing to keep the pole out, we are 10 degrees low of our course. Seas are a bit rolly so there is the odd slam and bang as the mainsail slaps around. We are hoping that the current conditions will improve tonight and will continue to improve as we get away from land. We think that the Northerly slant and the dying of the wind this afternoon is due to the convection on land.
Naz is feeling very heavy with all our supplies and quite sluggish.
11th January 2009
Today has been a good wind from 120 degrees apparent but, with a wineglass bottom we have been rolling like a P.I.G.
Surprising 136 miles for the 24 hour run. With the amount of time we spent lolling around with little wind, I would have thought we would not have achieved even that poor figure. Fliss must have done some good sailing whilst I was in bed.
12th January 2009
We went through the Nicobar Channel at 14:15.
We couldn't see anything due to haze but you can tell that people live on the island with the amount of single flip flops & plastic bottles.
13th January 2009
Fliss....
Not a very nice night last for us. The wind picked up and in the gusts I couldn't slow the boat down, I reefed the headsail so many times I was only left with a scrap out. With wind brings waves & they were a total pain as they had us rolling like a pig, nothing scary out there just hard work keeping an eye on Naz... we're very heavy at the moment so we won't let her to go too fast as she could go out of control. Still the same today but I'm hoping that it'll ease by tonight. It's not that windy just mucky.
Pete...
Fliss tells me that the seas abated quite early on and she now has full headsail out doing 7+knots. I must say that it is much more comfortable.
14th January 2009
Last night, we eventually got what can only be described as the perfect Ocean passage making weather. Wing on Wing, we had 2 reefs in the main and some rolls in the headsail and surged along all night at 6-7.5 knots. A good 24 hours run of 160 miles. This afternoon, the wind has eased and we are moving at a more leisurely 6 knots.
15th January 2009
Another blinding sail today with the wind blowing about 20 knots from 130 degrees with 2 reefs in the main, the pole out and surfing the waves. For 2 days, we have been doing 6-7 knots giving us over 160 miles per day without feeling pressed - when we do feel a little over canvassed, we simply roll a lump of headsail in and maintain the same speed. A few waves "get us" since they are from the rear quarter and can sloosh us around but these are rare.
Pete....
I read "Smileys People" by Le-Carre the other day. About a load of boring ex-boarding-school boys going "ra-ra" whilst making-up funny handshakes and pretending to be spies. However, it included a paragraph that has a strange coincidence. It reads "Which was funny because her real name was not Felicity at all; Felicity was what she had chosen for the other nuns. Her real name, she had told Alexandra as a secret, was Nadezhda, meaning 'Hope'." Two unusual names, both of which accompany me across the Indian Ocean.
16th January 2009
Just been waving to people on a large container ship - the first visible human contact since Thailand. We spoke to Tobogan today, they are 14 miles ahead of us and Nancy has an inner ear infection that is not responding to antibiotics so they are dropping into Sri Lanka to see a doc before sailing further into nowhere.
Another good run yesterday of 174 miles - almost our record. Of course, we have been cheating with a good current running underneath us. Last night was really quite peaceful as we ran at 6-7 knots but the wind has come on the beam and we are back to 2 reefs and a bit of bouncing in 25knots. Hopefully, it will revert back more to the rear later.
17th January 2009
We had an interesting night last night. We were knocking along at 7.5 knots and, just before my off-watch, we put a few furls in the jib. For some reason I could not sleep and so, after about an hour, I got up and decided to go for the 3rd reef in the main. After all the messing (since it is a difficult one to do), I eventually went back to bed only to get up again shortly after to put the tenth furl in the jib. Having gone back to bed again, I heard Fliss cussing and bemoaning the umpteenth burst of heavy spray that was frequently dousing the cockpit so I got up and she went to bed instead of me -" until the weather calms down"
There were only 3 ships visible when Fliss went to bed but these soon multiplied. Most could be ignored but they were all travelling either with us or against us. The ones coming towards us would come in flurries of between 4 and 7 of them all doing their various speeds and loosely staggered. One of the early sets almost ran us down and only drastic action on our part saved a collision - I could clearly illuminate the bridge with my heavy duty torch.
From then on it seemed up to us to play dodgems regardless of what COLREGS say and we weaved and dodged our way through these convoys of ships with the wind blowing 30-40 knots (as strong as we have ever experienced at sea) and spray and airborne spume lashing the cockpit.
We decided that I was not going to get any sleep and that we needed somewhere to get a little R&R. The initial thought was to get behind the lee of Sri Lanka and then hove to - so we set off towards land (all GRIB Files show a dead wind zone there). This took us straight through both shipping lanes and things got a little busier. Getting in front of any ship was dicey since heading-up slowed us down considerably so we weaved around the back of each and lost our windward edge with each one. Anyway, we made it through the lanes just as the sun was coming up cruised down the coast with ever decreasing wind and seas.
We sailed to Galle harbour and hove to just 5 miles off with hardly a breath of wind. I have just had 8 hours sleep and it is now Fliss' turn before we set off once again to the Maldives.
Fliss....
It was a foul night. Being short I can't see over the spray hood and with all the big ships around I had to have the hood down. As soon as one wave hit the side of Nadezhda and sent gallons of water into the cockpit soaking me from head to foot another one surely followed. I admit the air turned blue. I was totally fed up with it. I'd only been on watch for 2 hours with another 3 to go... arrggghhh.
Pete being my hero took pity on me & told me to go off watch, I was grateful & immensely relieved.
Big ships & gale force conditions are not a winning formula for me, I hate it with a passion.
A real shame as we bobbed by Galle, Sri lanka it would have been nice to check in but we decided against it as they want to charge you 175 pounds. They also put the Navy on your boat to check if you have any bombs (They still have problems with Tamil Tigers) we didn't want the navy onboard as they'd have seen our 70 ltrs of spirits and they demand a lot of it as gifts or they would have confiscated it. “Supplies” on Nadezhda are protected at all costs even if it does mean sitting out at sea for 12 hours.
Fliss....
Quite amusing just sitting there as a fishing boat came up to Naz wondering why she was just bobbing about, they must have thought she was abandoned. They came over gave me a wave then moved off.
An hour later they came back offered me some fish then left. Another hour later they came over again. They must have wondered what the hell I was doing.
17th January 2009
Yesterday we left our heave-to position at about 18:00 local time and tacked through the counter currents dodging loads of local fishing boats. Further offshore, we picked up some West going current and headed towards Uligamu on a close haul. The winds around the bottom of Sri Lanka always seem to be either light or counter to the prevailing winds. We had been going for about 6 hours when the wind veered 90 degrees, we tacked and it increased slightly. Soon, we were about 80 degrees to the wind and bombing along at 7.5 knots. We had 2 reefs in the main and furled away a large portion of headsail and had a good nights run. Today has been more of the same - quite windy, wind on the beam, 7+ knots through the water and over 8 knots over the ground. Unfortunately, it is a bit of a wet ride though.
The forecast shows that the winds tend to die as we approach the Maldives due to the shadow effect of a big stationary high that sits over India. Our rough guess is that the winds will ease by 21:00 tonight and we are hoping for a more restful evening although, eventually, we might have to resort to motor. I think that a peaceful end has been earned but would mean hoving-to off the Maldives because we would then arrive too late to make landfall with good light.
18th January 2009
The current has decided to go against us at about 1 knot slowing our progress somewhat and making it impossible to get into the Maldives by sundown tomorrow. We resigned ourselves to our fate and kept going with a good wind. By the time I came on watch at midnight, Fliss had unfurled some headsail and we were doing 6.5-7.5 knots over a smooth swell. I upped the anti and gave the full headsail and we surged along at 7.5-8.5 knots averaging about 8 through the water and 7 over ground. The Maldives were back in the adgenda. Over the evening, the wind piped up and veered causing us to pole-out and reef quite significantly but we kept going in the 7-8 knot region.
19th January 2009
The wind is slowly dying now and we have full poled out jib, full mainsail and staysail - the whole works. About an hour ago, we dropped into the 6's but, fortunately, the current against us had weakened to nothing. We must keep 5.5 knots as a minimum and we dropped to that about 10 minutes ago. I said to Fliss "Nearly time to turn the Donk on" to which she replied "Why? We are doing 7.5 knots over ground!". Happy days!
20th January 2009
We arrived here at 10:30 (Thailand time, 08:30 Maldivian time). The sun was too low to really see the coral but the local officials guided us in their dory to a patch of chain-grumbling stuff so we shall see how well the anchor pulls back up when we leave! Must go and snorkel over it since it was only in 11 metres depth.
5 Officials come on board and are very polite but have a rainforest of paperwork too be filled in, signed and stamped. You need 5 copies of the crew list and everything must be "chopped" with your own boat stamp (don't know what they do if you don't have your own boat stamp). It is the first time that anyone has requested use of our rubber stamp.
We saw Manta Rays as we were dropping the hook, they were ghosting through the anchorage and we also saw them whilst we had our arrival G & T's. We cleaned up, pumped up the dinghy and then promptly slept for the afternoon.
We are going on an organised tour with Ben and Corolla from "Lasse" on the 22nd. Boat trip, lunch included and some good snorkelling sites. Only about 12 dollars per person and sounds like a good deal. Tomorrow, we will familiarise ourselves with our surroundings and then get to work with boat jobs (cockpit varnishing, top-up varnishing, repair of sail covers, rig-check and various sundry items).
21st January 2009
We went snorkelling today and we're was a bit disappointed with the marine life, we've seen better. Tomorrow we're off with a load of other yachtie's to do a boat trip. Loads of snorkelling & hopefully we'll get to see some Manta Rays. We've seen them right by the boat but we couldn't get in the water with them as we were getting ready to anchor. Friday it's dinner on shore as were going to do a traditional Maldivian dinner.
22nd January 2009
Pete....
All the people in the anchorage went on a tour on a local boat to a couple of other islands in the atoll. We were treated to a view of the local school, the hospital and wandered the hot dusty streets of the local villages. The most interesting part was the local boat building. A wooden pleasure boat was being built on the shore and, elsewhere, they had polythene tents enclosing moulds where they were building glass fibre fishing boats - BIG ones all in various states of build from the bare mould to complete hulls. Noone was working on them and we did not see any other forms of wok being done either. We still don't know how these people earn a living - maybe it is all subsidised from Male. Certainly, the immigration and customs and health people (who all have separate offices) are heavily subsidised. Yes, we also got a stamp in our passports!
Local School - Nugget of Learning
Local Boat Building
Nials & Lisa from "Lasse"
We did a bit of snorkelling and had a local lunch of noodles and fishy bits and then back to the boat where we met up with Sheldon and Vanessa on Zappler V for a barbecue.
We are anchored near the temporary coral breakwater here. They are just starting to build a new resort here and have made some attempts at digging a small harbour to get supplies ashore and I am sure that a posh new harbour will result. The resort will occupy the Southern half of the island and the locals are a bit concerned about having their island taken over.
Fliss....
Quite amusing as if you needed to use the loo you were taken to a locals house. As I found my way to the bathroom I had to walk past a man fast asleep in bed. He woke up & nearly jumped out of his skin. What was a white lady doing in his house!
23rd January 2009
The traditional dinner was excellent, they went to so much effort. Coconuts opened as drinks for us, banana curry, fish curry's, dhalls, chappati's and loads of lovely spicy food... really good value for 6 pounds each. The table was laid beautifully and the local men kept coming around offering us drinks of sweet tea. The ladies are nowhere to be seen. It would appear that the dishes are prepared by individual ladies in their own kitchens.
Local Dinner
24th January 2009
We have been fairly lazy since we got here apart from a little varnishing (new coats on the tiller and cap rails and repair varnishing around the cockpit). Yesterday, we went off with Sheldon and Vanessa and did a drift dive on the other side of the island which was fun just floating by the side of the dinghy being taken by the current. We saw a couple of turtles and some very interesting bright blue fish. We then finished up by doing a complete circumnavigation of the island followed by a barbecue on Zappler that included a humongous fillet steak. Vanessa is a trained cook so the meat was superbly accompanied by sauces and other delights.
Apart from the varnishing again, we have not done a lot today. We went ashore to find the laundry and were shown to an outdoor area with a well. We were hoping that some enterprising soul on the island would be providing laundry services but it is not to be. Fliss and I will have to handwash.
Boats keep on turning up here and there are now 31 in the anchorage. Last year, they had 100 boats visit. They must find it odd that this mass migration occurs from Mid-Jan to Mid-Feb and then they see no other boats for the next 11 months.
25th January 2009
Today we saw the Manta rays in the anchorage and quickly got snorkels and fins on and got in the water with them. They are spectacular. The first one we saw seemed to be showing off as it swam straight towards us with gaping maw and then dived under us and cartwheeled over and over in graceful arcs showing us its white underbelly speckled with black dots. Steve from Toboggan had has waterproof video camera with him and has made us a CD of the footage which is very, very good.
Manta Ray
26th January 2009
Sheldon and Vanessa joined us with the Mantas and I have also got some good photos and video from our little camera. Following Hong Kong, Fliss has now ticked off another "Must do before I die" experience - let's hope she doesn't use them all up too quickly!
We are now a group of three for our convoy in the Gulf of Aden. Another catamaran called Aldora has agreed to join us. They are a real sailing catamaran (rather than the motor-sailor Zappler) their words not ours. They will outrun us if they tried but are happy to hold back to stick in a convoy. They will leave Uligan in a couple of days and meet with us in Salalah. The Blue Water Rally will be leaving Salalah in groups between the 13th and the 18th and so we will have them hot on our heels after we leave on the 12th.
No comments:
Post a Comment