FOR SUPPLEMENTS TO MY BOOKS GO TO THE CORRECTIONS PAGE ON THE IMRAY SITE.

Indian Ocean updates

Indonesian Import duty update

Gulf of Aden Piracy update

The Wrong Way to India

Transatlantic eastabout

UV and the Antipodes

Gibraltar to Canaries November 2007

Lanzarote to Mindelo (Cape Verdes) 2007

Cape Verdes to Antigua 2007

Indian Ocean

The following are some important changes extracted from notes for the 2nd edition of my Indian Ocean Cruising Guide. (www.imray.com)

Routes through Indonesia to Malaysia and Thailand

From Darwin yachts tend to head W towards Coco Keeling and on across the southern Indian Ocean or proceed NW up through Indonesia to Malaysia and Thailand before heading W across the northern Indian Ocean. There are several rallies from Darwin to Indonesia where yachts effectively cruise (and race) in company and these are detailed below. The advantage of a rally is that the paperwork for clearing in and obtaining a cruising permit is organised beforehand and dealt with quickly and efficiently when you arrive.  If you are making your own way up through Indonesia then it has been suggested that Benoa on the island of Bali is a good first port of call as the staff at Bali Marina help with clearing in and obtaining the cruising permit.

Yachts heading up through Indonesia will often stop at Benoa, Ambon, Surabaia, Pantai Mutiara on Java, and Nongsa on Batam. 

Formalities

A cruising permit (CAIT) and a social visa (Budaya visa) must be obtained in advance. The CAIT is valid for 90 days. The social visa is valid for 60 days and can be renewed monthly up to 6 months.

The social visa will be issued for 60 days at the nearest Indonesian Consulate and is renewable each month for a total of 6 months. The CAIT and social visa can be obtained at the Indonesian Consulate in Darwin. It takes at least 4 weeks to process the CAIT so prepare well in advance. The CAIT can be renewed for another 90 days in Indonesia.

Once in Indonesian waters you must go to a port of entry first where you must obtain a tourist visa valid for 30 days. (You can obtain the tourist visa in Indonesia if you are a national of the USA, Australia, S.Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, UAE, Finland, Hungary, UK, Italy, Japan, Germany, Canada, S.Korea, Norway, France, Poland, Switzerland, New Zealand & Thailand. If not you must obtain the tourist visa before you arrive in Indonesia.)

Note   It is no longer necessary to clear in and out of every port in Indonesia. The commodore of the Royal Bali Yacht Club has resolved the matter with the relevant officials and a letter is available (in Indonesian & English) from Bali Marina which you can use throughout Indonesia. Now it is simply necessary to clear in at a port of entry and clear out of the last port of entry you visit (often Nongsa Point Marina).

This whole process is so labyrinthine that many choose to go on one of the rallies from Darwin to Indonesia.

Yacht Rallies

Note   Rallies came and go according to the political situation in Indonesia. So the old Darwin to Dili Rally no longer runs and the Darwin to Ambon Rally, the granddaddy of them all that started in 1976, is now scheduled to run again in 2007.

Darwin to Kupang Rally   This is now the most popular of the rallies and leaves Darwin in late July and goes direct to Kupang on the W end of Timor (Kupang 10°09’.5S   123°34’.3E). The distance is approximately 450 NM and most yachts complete it within 5-6 days depending on the winds. On arrival at Kupang rally participants are cleared in and the social events begin. This is now a substantial rally with 90 yachts taking part in 2006. See www.sailindonesia.net

Darwin-Bali-Langkawi Rally   The Darwin to Kupang Rally is now stage one of a larger rally finishing in Langkawi in Malaysia. This rally carries on from Kupang up through Indonesia to Singapore and then onto Malaysia. In Indonesia the rally visits a series of cultural festivals on the islands of Alor, Lembata, Flores, Borneo, Bali and Java. At each location social events ashore have been planned and of course the passage through officialdom has also been smoothed. At Singapore other participants join for the second stage Sail Asia Rally which leaves in early November. This stops at Port Dickson, Port Klang, and Pangkor, before finishing at Langkawi. In future years the stopover ports may change. See www.sailindonesia.net and www.sailasia.net .

Darwin to Ambon Yacht Race   This is the forerunner of the current rallies leaving Darwin and was first held in 1976. Until the event was suspended it attracted up to 100 entries for the 600 mile leg to Ambon. The race is scheduled to begin again in 2007 and leaves in late July. See www.darwinambonrace.com.au .

Darwin to Saumlaki Rally   This smaller rally has sailed in the past from Darwin to Saumlaki on the island of Jamdena. Officials from Ambon fly in to carry out clearance into Indonesia.

Australian Regulations

Yachts must now give 96 hours notice prior to their arrival in Australia. This can be done by phone +61 3 9600 3604 Fax +61 6275 6331  or email yachtreport@customs.gov.au  

NOTE  Yachts travelling from Australia to Christmas Island and Cocos Keeling must have a valid Australian visa before they arrive. Australian and NZ passport holders are exempt from this requirement. This means you must have a multi-entry visa OR a valid visa from a previous entry into Australia. The following excerpt from Australian customs applies:

For Immigration purposes yachts travelling to or from Cocos (Keeling) and Christmas Islands and the mainland of Australia are deemed to have not left Australia if their trip is within 30 days of departure from the mainland Australia or these islands. Persons on board these yachts must ensure that their visa covers the entire period of their stay including travel time between the mainland of Australia and these islands. Customs and Quarantine clearances are required on both arrival and departure.

Chagos Regulations

NOTE   In 2007 new regulations were introduced for yachts intending to stop in the Chagos archipelago. At the time of writing the following regulations are to be implemented, though things may change in the future.

IMPORTANT NOTE

For the latest information on regulations, charges and permitted anchoring areas go to:

http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029394365&a=KArticle&aid=1174558806718

1.           All yachts must obtain a permit IN ADVANCE from the British Indian Ocean Territory Administration (BIOTA) in London.

2.           Mooring fees for the Chagos Archipelago have been raised from $100 per month to £GBP500 per month. IMPORTANT NOTE: tHIS HAS NOW BEEN REVISED TO £GBP100 PER MONTH.

3.           On application for a permit a Visitor Permit Request will be sent. This must be filled in with the dates that a yacht will be in the reserve and sent back with the mooring fee to BIOTA. At present there is no way of paying over the internet but it is hoped that in the future a system will be in place so credit card payments can be made.

4.           Once the form has been completed and payment made then the BIOTA Permit, the regulations governing the reserve and the co-ordinates showing where yachts can moor will be sent. It is expected that moorings will be laid at some time in the future.

5.           Yachts attempting to enter the Chagos area without a permit may be liable for a term of imprisonment up to 3 years and/or a fine of up to £GBP3000.

6.           Regular patrols of the Chagos area will be made and visitors must abide by the regulations concerning the marine reserve (no fishing, fires, damaging coral, harming native species, etc.), must keep pets on board, and must conform to customs regulations regarding illegal drugs, firearms, etc.

British Indian Ocean Territory Administration, King Charles Street, London, SW1A 2AH,

United Kingdom. Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7008 2890 or 2691  Fax: + 44 (0) 20 7008 1589 e-mail: BIOTadmin@fco.gov.uk

In an environmental report entitled the Chagos Conservation Management Plan (2003 by Dr Charles Sheppard) the damage caused by yachts both in the anchorage and in activities ashore is specifically mentioned as having a detrimental effect on the marine reserve. Given that visitors here illegally speared fish, set up permanent moorings in the coral, set up makeshift camps ashore and cut wood for barbecues and fish smokers, then it should come as no surprise that drastic action would follow. Sadly future cruisers will either have to pay the hefty permit fee or as is more likely, avoid Chagos altogether.

From the Skylax blog 02-03-09

This information supercedes the older information below from the Skylax blog in December

The piracy question in the Gulf of Aden

Foremost on most cruisers minds is piracy in the Gulf of Aden. At the outset its important to stress there have been no reliable reported cases of piracy on yachts in India/Maldives or the Red Sea. Piracy is an issue in the Gulf of Aden and specifically off Somalia. There has been a lot of uninformed reportage on yacht piracy in the Gulf of Aden (and elsewhere), much of it just plain wrong. While there is a risk in the Gulf of Aden, there are higher risks of yacht piracy in other parts of the world, notably Venezuela. In 2008 29 yachts were attacked in Venezuela, 3 people were killed and 5 badly injured (data from the Caribbean Security & Safety Net). In 2008 there were 3 incidents of yacht piracy off Somalia and none off the Yemen with no-one killed or injured (according to MAIB statistics). It’s also interesting to note that two of these yachts were close to the Somali coast which has always been a big no-no in this area for fifty years and more. There have been other incidents in the Gulf of Aden in previous years and it is a worry for anyone transiting the area. That said there needs to be more objective assessment of the situation rather than the scare mongering so evident in the yachting press and on internet sites.

There are problems making these sort of comparisons. Some of these are outlined in the section on Piracy in the Introduction. Basically piracy is armed robbery in international waters as opposed to armed robbery at, say, an anchorage. The distinction is to some extent irrelevant as the outcome can be the same: injury, death and loss of possessions. Its not much help talking about piracy in this theoretical sense when the outcome can be so dire for yachts on passage and at anchor. None of us want to be the victim of piracy and for most the chances are slim. Some 250-300 yachts transit the Red Sea every year and for most the real concerns are the age old ones of cruising sailors, namely wind, sea and weather in general.

Some yachts will get together in Salalah and sail in convoy down into the Gulf of Aden to Aden or Djibouti or sometimes straight through to Eretria. Yachts wanting to sail in a convoy with other yachts must be able to do a similar speed under sail and power. Generally a diamond-shaped convoy shape with a yacht at each corner is favoured. There can be real problems here when yachts cannot make the same speed as others in the convoy and the group must slow down. General rules are that yachts do not show lights at night, VHF communication is kept to low power only, and some even take down the radar reflector.

Recently the increased piracy against merchant shipping (the real targets for pirates) in the Gulf of Aden and off the east coast of Africa has prompted the EU, USA, Russia, China and India to increase the naval presence in the area. A safe corridor has been established where the chances of a naval vessel being nearby is increased when using the corridor. The joint command cannot guarantee you will be safe in the corridor, but the odds are that you will be. The safe corridor is shown below and west bound ships will use the northern side and east bound ships the southern side of the corridor. Each separation lane is 5 miles wide and the two separation lanes are separated by a 2 mile buffer zone.

The location of the corridors is as follows

West bound northern corridor: 14°30’N   053°E   14°25’N   053°E   course 252° to 12°00’N   045°E   11°55’N   045°E

East bound southern corridor:  11°53’N   045°E   11°48’N   045°E   course 072° to 14°23’N   053°E   14°18’N   053°E

Recommended communication procedures are

• Call for help on VHF Ch 16 and MF/HF DSC.
• Contact UKMTO phone +971 50 552 3215   Email UKMTO@EIM.AE

If no answer call Marlo Bahrain +973 3940 1395  Email ARLO.BAHRAIN@ME.NAVY.MIL

From the Skylax blog 21-12-08

Pirate Alley

'Safe' corridor set up by combined task force through the Gulf of Aden

 As the waters of Somalia pop up in the news every day with yet another ship hi-jacked by pirates operating out of Somalia, it’s interesting to take a look at the piracy map from the IMB (International Maritime Bureau) and the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre. There are a lot of ships out there getting hi-jacked and a lot more attempts. (Note: I find the map a bit clunky and slow, but it may just be my computer.)

Looking through the data that comes up on the map for 2008 it’s interesting to see that the two yachts which the pirates boarded were very close in to the Somali coast, one off the east coast and one off the northern coast. The strategy for this bit of coast has always been to keep closer to the Yemen coast, around 100 miles off Yemen, which keeps you well away from the Somali coast.

 With all the pirate activity going on here the naval fleets of the world are finally sending warships into the zone. A Maritime Security Patrol Area (MSPA) has been set up by the Combined Task Force 150 (CTF 150) to provide a safer route through the gulf. The patrolling warships cannot guarantee that attacks won’t happen in this area but yachts sailing through the gulf will be much safer along this patrolled route. Warships in the group are given a certain sector of the MSPA to patrol so yachts should be able to reckon on one of them being nearby. Yachts going through in a convoy may be able to set up a radio sched with the MSPA though there are no details for doing this at present.

 The co-ordinates for the ‘safe’ corridor are as follows. I’ve put them into ‘gates’ and they run from WEST to EAST.

Gate 1: Waypoint: 12 35N 045E   Waypoint: 12 15N 045E

Gate 2: Waypoint: 13 40N 049E   Waypoint: 13 35N 049E

Gate 3: Waypoint: 14 15N 050E   Waypoint: 14 10N 050E

Gate 4: Waypoint: 14 45N 053E    Waypoint: 14 35N 053E

I’ve plotted these waypoints roughly onto google earth so you can see where the ‘safe’ corridor runs.

TOP

This is an article I wrote on going the wrong way at the wrong time from the Med to the Indian Ocean. We sailed on from India to SE Asia and then I sailed the right way at the right time back to the Med.

 'This is the BBC World Service. There are reports that Eritria has invaded the Hanish Islands near the bottom of the Red Sea and occupied Greater Hanish Island. A number of Yemeni soldiers manning the garrison have been killed and the commander of the Eritrian force reports that 80 soldiers have been taken prisoner. The Yemeni government is sending forces to repel the invading force including a number of naval craft and Mig fighters'. None of us said anything but just looked at each other as we tacked towards the Yemen coast under Greater Hanish. We had spent five days in the anchorage at the top of the island wistfully hoping the strong southerlies would die down a little from the 30-35 knots they were blowing at. Partly because we were getting frustrated at just sitting there and partly because Colin had to fly back to London, we had decided to buckle down and beat to windward whatever the wind Gods were doing in this part of the world. Now it seemed there was going to be a bit of a war as well.

Tetra in the Med

I had left Turkey in September and sailed Tetra down to Cyprus where Colin and Frank were to join me. Tetra is an old fashioned long keel yacht built by Cheverton in the Isle of Wight in 1962 and rather small yacht at just 31 feet for this sort of voyage against the prevailing wind and current. At least she does steer herself to windward with nothing more than a bit of rope tying the tiller off so really it was a matter of the three of us accommodating ourselves in the space available along with the truckload of provisions from Orfanides supermarket in Larnaca. Once through the Suez Canal we pottered around the coast a bit before picking up a good northerly blow reaching Massawa in Eretria in something under 5 days. Even loaded down the old lady had averaged 130 plus mile days.

As we listened to the BBC World Service at the southern end of the Red Sea there were some strange theories about the reasons for the Eritrean invasion. The most popular was that the Hanish islands were going to be turned into a tourist resort by an Italian company. You have to wonder whether anyone had done their homework and worked out why these arid, volcanic and quite unattractive islands, at least in the tourist sense, without even a decent beach, would make a good tourist destination when there are much better places scattered all around the Red Sea. The only thing they have in abundance is fish and maybe some oil underneath them. The only occupants we came across were Yemeni fishermen who were as piratical a looking bunch as you could wish for, but after the exchange of a few gifts we were showered with more grouper and snapper than you could reasonably eat in a week. In their leaky old dhows, constantly pumping to keep them afloat, the Yemenis were after shark for the dorsal fins which can fetch up to $300 a kilo in Hong Kong. Every evening they came in and anchored nearby and if successful hoisted their sharks aloft and cheered.

The problem is that I knew that the wind and current would be against us, but only in theory. The bruising reality of beating to windward in 30 knots and against the current meant that a days run was lucky to be 50 miles and it was difficult to sleep, eat or do anything except wedge yourself in the cockpit and turn your head away as green water cascaded over the deck and into the cockpit. There are times I wish for 150 feet of ocean-going motor yacht instead of 31 feet of old fashioned sailing yacht. Our worst patch was 12 miles made good in 10 hours, but eventually we made the small strait on the east side of Bab el Mandeb and as we passed through the 'Gate of Tears' we had our own personal version of why it was called thus and it had nothing to do with sorrow at leaving the bottom of the Red Sea.

In the Gulf of Aden the wind dropped to 20-25 knots and the current also lessened although there was still enough of it to make it slow going. The coast is real 'Lawrence of Arabia' stuff with sand dunes, crusty brown old lava flows, brown rock and hardly a blade of vegetation anywhere. This is rugged desert country although the high mountains depart from that picture of rolling sand dunes going on forever which normally make up notions of the desert. At sunset it was mesmerising as the land turned to a ruddy brown and seemed to be outlined in a ghostly mist although that may have been helped by the encrusted salt on my eye-lashes. The oil refinery at Little Aden in the approaches to Aden proper was a welcome sight.

In the bumpy bits at the bottom of the Red Sea I had rashly promised all sorts of things to Colin and Frank to avoid a mutiny. Amongst these promises was a slap-up meal with all the beer they could drink. The thing is, nobody had mentioned that in the last war in 1994 the north had won and being more fundamentally minded than the south, alcohol was banned. Except for a few of the large hotels where beer was $5 for a small can. It was an expensive promise but Yemen is probably one of the few places in the world where you can duck out to borrow a handful of riyal from Omar, the local yachty’s friend and taxi driver, in order to pay the overwhelming bill.

Colin left us in Aden and flew to Oman where he was due to fly back on Christmas day. Frank and I reinforced the rudder with a steel band welded up at the local garage and carried on beating up the coast against the wind and current. We spent Christmas in Balihaf, a near deserted bay that looked like something out of Beau Geste with a ruined sand coloured fort set in a sand coloured landscape. Huge sand dunes several hundred feet high rolled on into the distance nearby punctured by black lava plains and peaks. Christmas pudding complete with custard was conjured up by Frank although the visiting locals preferred the biscuits and tea with a minimum of 5 teaspoons of sugar.

Somehow I had never thought of Yemen or even the Middle East as volcanic, but it is scarred by lava flows and there are small peaks and craters everywhere along the coast. The beaches here are the best in the world and the water so clear that you can see the bottom at 10 metres. Fish are abundant and in the end we had only to put out the line and within an hour you would have a good sized tuna of some description or occasionally dolphin fish. We had to declare no-fish days in the end because we got so sick of it, and I love fish.

Mukalla is some 300 miles up the coast from Aden and is like a different world, a sort of mini-Manhattan from the distance although closer in it is a little more derelict. The British influence is still much in evidence along the coast, but it did come as a bit of a shock to find Omar (another Omar) the immigration man reading not just E M Forster’s A Passage to India but also a critique of the book. We spent a week here stocking up with fresh fruit and vegetables and generally relaxing before setting off for India. Omar was rewarded with a bottle of Cypriot brandy for smoothing the way and it is worth noting that in countries where something like alcohol is banned, it is a currency with which you can get just about anything.

Most yachts on a west to east passage choose to come down the Red Sea in July or August and then cross to India or Sri Lanka on the tail-end of the southwest monsoon in September or October. In my research for crossing the Indian Ocean at the wrong time of the year I had little to go on except for an account of a crossing A.G.H. MacPherson made in Driac in 1937. MacPherson is little remembered these days, but if you visit the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich you will come across the MacPherson collection, a wealth of nautical pictures and prints collected by MacPherson over many years and then bought by Sir James Caird for the museum. (Spell Driac backwards.) MacPherson started sailing late in life in his late fifties and the boat he sailed in was not dissimilar to Tetra at just 32 ft and of similar shape and displacement. His description of beating out of the Gulf of Aden was none too encouraging: ‘… accused Niko (a hired hand from Paxos in Greece) at first of steering his favourite course of WNE; but the cause was soon apparent …. with the current dissipating some of our hard-earned winnings’. MacPherson tacked 230 NM up the coast to Oman before heading SE for the tip of India. We in fact only went about 100 NM up the coast before attempting to tack out of the Gulf of Aden. With some effort we finally broke free of the current and it is an indication of how hard we were pushing that we covered 120 miles hard on the wind in the first 24 hour run before we realised the current was no longer pushing us back. The only problem was that we were headed for the Seychelles and not for India.

One of the reasons for tacking out of the Gulf of Aden and trying to stay high was not just to get a more favourable slant towards India, but also to stay clear of Somalia and Socotra. Socotra, the large island on the southern entrance to the Gulf of Aden has long had a reputation for piracy. However the state of anarchy in Somalia and the rapid evacuation of the American peace-keeping force in 1995, leaving behind a sizeable amount of modern weaponry, exacerbated the situation and in 1995 at least 15 ships and yachts had been seized by pirates operating out of Somalia over an 8 month period. In 1996 the area was declared a no-go zone for shipping of any sort. Consequently yachts have tended to hug the Yemen coast and keep well clear of Socotra. As it was we slipped past just 60 miles off the coast and within the known zone for piracy, running no lights at night and keeping a good watch out by day.

It is one thing to sit down with charts and pilots to sort out how you are going to get somewhere. It is quite another to be out there with currents pushing you back and daily runs of 50 miles however hard you push it. Looking at the wind direction for the time of year I reckoned it would be blowing in an arc so that on the W side of the Arabian Sea it was a true northeast going to north in the middle and northwest towards India. After we had been hard on the wind and heading down towards the equator for ten days with only northeast I had to admit that my protestations to Frank that it was all going to be alright and the wind would become more northerly, sometime, were beginning to sound a bit hollow. Privately I was beginning to think that the Seychelles might be a nice place to go anyway. And then one morning we were magically heading east and a few days later ENE towards Cochin in India. In the end we got down to just 9º above the equator and by the time we reached Cochin had covered something over 2100 NM hard on the wind when the direct route is just 1700 NM. It took three weeks to do it. On the return trip a year later it took Tetra 13½ days to get from Cochin to Mukalla, a 126 miles a day average and testament to going the right way at the right time of the year.

‘What’s that smell’ said Frank. ‘India’ I replied. A combination of smoke and dust and steam. The smell of land and fecund vegetation. After the Red Sea and the Sahara, all baked rock and sand, the palms lining the shores at Cochin are a vision of the Tropics. We were shocked by the verdant green of the jungle after not seeng any real vegetation for several months. Closer in the green opens up to the dust of Cochin and dust-coloured buildings around the edge of the water.

Much of old Cochin still stands on Fort Cochin at the entrance on the starboard side of the channel. Warehouses line the water, Diaz and Son, Harrison and Co, the Seagull Hotel, reminders of past powers and old trading companies from the golden days of the spice trade. Cochin was known to Roman sailors and Nero was said to wear only  silk imported from this area. Vasco de Gama died here in 1524 looking after the Portuguese interests in the port and was buried on Fort Cochin until his body was returned to Portugal 14 years later. The Dutch replaced the Portuguese and in 1795 the British arrived. They controlled the outer port from 1795 until independence shipping out tea, pepper, spices and coir. In the early 1920’s Willoughby Island where yachts clear into Cochin was built from mud dredged out of the channel so that the harbour could accommodate ships drawing eleven metres, the maximum draught of the Suez Canal.

There are reminders of an older civilization in the entrance channel. Great cantilevered Chinese nets hang over the water on either side of the entrance with an ingenious system of stones on the landward end to adjust the balance. The net is lowered into the water and when the head-man decides the time is right, half dozen pairs of hands pull the pole down and whoosh the net out of the water. I didn’t see them catch very many fish but then perhaps it was the wrong time of the year.

Cochin is built on islands in an estuary and much of the communication is by boat. It has been called the Venice of India, but it’s better than that because it is a real working port and city with none of the tarted up façade of a tourist town. Old pinnaces with BMC diesels ferry the population around and for 15 rupees (less than 30 pence) you can do the whole harbour circuit. Sailing canoes with patchwork sails carry all sorts of goods, flour, rice, fruit and vegetables, tins of dried milk and ghee, to the different parts of Cochin around the spits and islands. The canoes are poled until a favourable wind lets them set a sail made of old sugar and flour sacks stitched together. Around the Bolghatty Hotel where yachts go to anchor after clearing in at Willoughby, dugouts follow the tide line to catch small fish and prawns. Throw-nets are used and I found a renewed respect for the balance needed in these frail craft when I missed the last ferry back and had to haggle with a lone fisherman for a ride. The old gnarled fisherman made me lie on my back in the bottom of the dugout amongst all his slithering shiny fish and then went like stink for the yacht anchorage. My extra weight in the dugout caused it to leak a bit faster than normal and he was worried he couldn’t keep up with the baling. For days afterwards I discovered little fish lodged in my shoes and my clothes.

Shifting cargo around Cochin

Cochin is becoming more popular with cruising yachts in this part of the world. You get a hurricane proof anchorage off the Bolghatty Hotel, some of the cheapest living and the best fruit and vegetables in the area, and with a bit of looking around and ingenuity you can get most boat repairs done. India makes a lot of stainless steel goods and you can get stainless thermos flasks, food containers, dishes and tumblers, and in the backstreets there are a few workshops which will weld stainless steel boat bits as long as you supply a clear and precise drawing.

Cochin is a secure place to leave a boat and we spent two weeks travelling up the coast to Bombay and on our return Tetra was sitting there safe and sound. You can hire wonderful 1950’s Morris Ambassadors which are still made in India and with a driver the cost is minimal, around 6 rupees (14 pence) a kilometre. From Cochin the coast up to Goa is little travelled and there are wonderful deserted sandy beaches, thick jungle, and not a lot of tourists in sight until you reach Goa itself.

Few yachts cruise the west coast of India. For every port you visit you must clear in and out, a labyrinthine process which can take anything from four hours to a full day. In practice most yachts come across on the tail of the southwest monsoon in August to September and head towards either Bombay, Goa or Cochin. The officials in these three harbours are used to visiting yachts and can cope with the clearing in process. Of these harbours Goa and Cochin are the two worth bothering with. From Goa you can get a fast catamaran ferry to Bombay and spend some time visiting there if you are so inclined. The anchorage off Panajim is a bit out of it but well protected. Ashore in Panajim there are lots of good restaurants and adequate shopping for supplies.

Cochin is the overwhelming favourite of the three harbours and many yachts will make straight for here from Oman when going east and from Sri Lanka or the Maldives when going west. Cruising along the coast is also complicated by the fact that you need a visa BEFORE you arrive and those visas start running from the day of issue. That can mean you only have a month or two left to run on your visa and it is difficult to get an extension in India.

Sailing along the west coast during the NE monsoon is literally a breeze with land and sea breezes prevailing. Up to 20-30 miles off the coast the land and sea breeze effect is well developed and consistent. The sea breeze normally fills in around 1200 and blows onto the coast at around 10-15 knots until it dies in the evening and the land breeze takes over around 2200-2400.

Around the state of Kerala there is much to see if you feel disinclined to make a long trip through India towards Bombay and the north. Kerala has the same sort of Portuguese and old English architecture you find at Goa, but without the tourists. In the backwaters south of Cochin there is a maze of waterways, some served by small ferries and others by poled canoes. In small clearings and on larger plantations the pepper vines that the Portuguese, the Dutch and the English fought over grow curling up around trees as high as 10-15 metres up. I have a lot more respect for black pepper after seeing how laborious the process of gathering the tiny fruits from the twisting vines is.

You can’t take your yacht into the waterways and in any case the relatively shallow depths and shifting banks would make it very difficult, but you can get around on local craft and the ferries. The jungle is overwhelming and the bird life prolific. And it is all so quiet you can hear a coconut drop at half a mile. Further south there are long sandy beaches of the sort that make tour operators drool at the mouth and small shacks serving freshly grilled tiger prawns. There are few good anchorages and in case you can’t go ashore if there is a policeman in sight so it is best to travel by land leaving the yacht in Cochin.

From Cochin we sailed down to Galle in Sri Lanka and then across to Thailand and Malaysia. In all Tetra clocked up some 7000 miles, much of it to windward, by the time I reached the Dinding River on the west coast of peninsula Malaysia where I was to leave her for the southwest monsoon and the rainy season. Frank returned to teaching in New Zealand after his sabbatical and I returned to noisy bustling London. In late 1996 and early 1997 I sailed Tetra back to Turkey.

Yemen

India

Rod Heikell   1997

Indian Ocean Cruising Handbook  by Rod Heikell published by Imray 2^nd edition due Autumn 2007.

TOP

Transatlantic eastabout

 I wrote this in 1999 in a La Nina year. There is a brief coda on the same crossing in Skylax in 2005, a normal year.

Traditionally yachts crossing from the Caribbean to Europe have left the Leewards in late April or early May for Bermuda and then head for the Azores sometime around late May to early June. The last leg to Europe is usually in July and preferably before the end of August. The logic of this route is that from the Caribbean there will usually be easterlies and southeasterlies until around 26°-28°N after which winds will become variable with usually a bit of motoring in the final approaches to Bermuda. From Bermuda the traditional route to the Azores has been to head northeast to around 40°N until westerlies are picked up.

While I was in the Caribbean with seven tenths I continually came across people who asked me why on earth I was going all the way up to Bermuda before heading for the Azores. Go direct was the advice and although at first I was sceptical, in the end a few friends who had made the trip and a number of delivery skippers persuaded me this was a viable option.

I had a few questions garnered from the pilot charts and The Atlantic Crossing Guide.

Q. Won’t there be a lot of calms en route?

A. Probably no more than you will encounter on the route via Bermuda.

Q. Will I need a lot of diesel to motor part of the way.

A. Yes and no. For yachts that can sail in light airs and have light air sails like a big genoa and a spinnaker there should be few problems. Heavy yachts that need half a gale to move them should take on a lot of jerrycans of extra fuel.

Q. Do I sail a direct rhumb line route or head northeast for a while before turning east.

A. Silly question. It depends on what weather systems are developing although generally a rhumb line works out just as well as heading northeast then east.

So it was that I left St Maarten for Horta on Faial on the 13^th of May, loaded down with as many goodies from the supermarkets on the French and Dutch sides as could be squeezed in, but with just two extra 5 gallon cans of fuel and three 5 gallon cans of water. For the record seven tenths holds nearly 50 gallons (200 litres) of fuel in the main tank and uses a smidgen under ½ a gallon (2 litres) an hour which gives us nearly 6 knots at cruising revs in a flat calm. The main water tanks hold a hundred gallons (400 litres), I think, and for most of the voyage we washed dishes in salt water and rinsed in fresh. Well, at least until closing the Azores when fresh water was used for everything from the dishes to showers.

Before I left I plotted 3 mid-Atlantic waypoints on the pilot chart. These were pretty much guestimates based on the prevailing winds at that time of year and information gleaned from those who had already sailed the direct route. Although the waypoints were more for reference than absolute waypoints with the actual route to be dictated by weather information we obtained en route, in fact we passed close south of all three. The waypoints are shown on the accompanying map.

For weather information we mostly depended on Herb’s (Southbound II) weather net on SSB 12359kHz at 2000 UTC. Although we were not logging in, but just listening, there were more than enough yachts in the general vicinity to plot what was happening weather-wise. His analysis of the weather situation and routing information is simply superb. In addition the US National Weather Service gives a high seas forecast up to 35°W with 13089kHz at 1130, 1730 and 2330 UTC being the most useful.

Seven tenths arrived in Horta a shade under 21 days after sailing 2300 miles at an average speed of 4.56 knots. Nothing startling except we arrived with around a quarter tank of fuel. I had been hoarding it for the final approaches to the Azores where the Azores high usually means little or no wind for 200 miles around the islands. In fact we had enough wind to keep sailing nicely and so ended up with a fuel bonus. The best 3 hour run at night was 23 miles in squally conditions, but much of the time was spent at pretty sedate speeds of around 3-5 knots with everything up. I carried the 150% genoa on the roller reefing and a lot of the time it was all out. In addition we had an asymmetric spinnaker which was used when the wind was under 10-12 knots for that extra bit of power. Wave height seldom exceeded 1-1½ metres and was a benign long swell most of the time.

This year there seemed to be an increasing number of yachts taking the direct route and most of them averaged around 18 to 25 days. Some just hit it lucky and had good sailing while others carried a lot of fuel and motored when the speed dropped. A 50 foot catamaran that left a couple of weeks after us took 14 days. By contrast those doing the traditional route had a miserable time of it. If there was not enough wind then depressions unusually bombed up over Florida and passed close to Bermuda. On the Bermuda to Flores leg a friend of mine in a 34 foot boat took 21 days and some took longer.

If you are heading towards Europe from the Leewards it makes a lot of sense to head direct for the Azores. You will be covering somewhere between 2200 to 2400 miles, whereas the distance to Bermuda is around 900 miles with another 1850 miles to the Azores if you are lucky. In practice most boats do 2000 plus miles on the Bermuda to Azores leg. Which leaves you with a total of at least 3000 miles on the traditional route assuming all goes well.

I should add a rider to all this. 1999 was a La Nina year and so weather was not typical. Tropical storm Arlene brewed up on the 11^th June and passed 100 miles east of Bermuda before dissipating on the 18^th June. The hurricane season this year in the Caribbean is expected to be nearly as bad as last year which spawned two extremely destructive hurricanes in George and Mitch. So it may be that the easy direct crossing I had and the troubled crossings from Bermuda were somehow a result of a La Nina year. That would be so except that those I have talked to who have crossed in other years have had similar experiences to mine. On reflection the only thing I would do different next time is take a bit more diesel in jerrycans.

Green waypoints seven tenths route. White waypoints (approx) Skylax route. Map from VPP.

In 2005 we travelled the same route though leaving from Antigua instead of St Maarten and heading directly for the Azores, specifically Horta again. We left at roughly the same time and instead of curving north towards Bermuda as I had in seven tenths, headed directly on the rhumb line route. 2005 was not really El Nino or La Nina (they do not necessarily oscillate between the two) but had some El Nino tendencies (source data from NOAA). The weather though was very unusual and even Herb Southbound II pronounced it unlike anything he had seen. Amongst the anomalies were:

• A hurricane skipping over central America from the Pacific though it quickly disintegrated in the Caribbean.
• Lows flying off the east coast of America and especially lows with associated fronts coming off Florida and persisting.
• Huge troughs that persisted for days and hardly moved. We went further south than I have ever been on the eastabout trip to try and get around one persistent trough which really only dissipated when we had gone way south.
• In between all the lows there were persistent headwinds and everyone whether north or south of the rhumb line experienced around two weeks of light headwinds in early May.

In Skylax we took two days longer than the same trip took in seven tenths and sailed 2800 miles to cover the 2100 miles of the rhumb line. In seven tenths we sailed only 2300 miles to cover the 2100 rhumb line route. Next time I would probably follow the arcing route that I did in seven tenths, though I suspect much of our travail in Skylax was the result of bum weather and things could easily be better in a subsequent year on the rhumb line route. We were also hampered by our small jib in the lighter stuff (see my entry in the blog on Sails).

Skin Cancer

Aussies and Kiwis know a thing or two about skin cancer. That ozone hole over the Antartica extends over Australia and New Zealand and they have had high rates of skin cancer for years. Extensive publicity in both countries has worked to some extent and visiting yachts headed down from the Tropics should take note. In Australia and NZ you are more at risk than in the Tropics and often you can literally feel those rays biting into your skin. Some of the below is adapted from my RYA Mediterranean Cruising but applies even more so to the Antipodes.

Skin cancer has increased dramatically in recent years, mostly because of the fashion for sunbathing and returning from a two week holiday in the sun with a tan. On a yacht you are at an increased risk of skin cancer because ultraviolet radiation is reflected off the water. Ultraviolet rays in sunlight affect our skin causing it to produce a pigment called melanin which gives the skin it’s colour. Sunbathing increases melanin temporarily but also damages the skin and can lead to skin cancer.

There are three types of UV radiation, UVC, UVB and UVA, but it is mostly UVA that we have to worry about. UVA is largely unaffected by the ozone layer and penetrates deeper into the skin than UVB.

The main risk factors for skin cancer are over-exposure to UVA and skin colour. Individuals with fair or freckled skin burn easily. Dark skins are at lower risk although they are still at danger from skin cancer.

There are a number of things you can do to decrease the risk of skin cancer. The Australian slogan ‘slip, slop, slap’ encapsulates the best advice which is

·         Slip on a shirt. It is important to know that a lot of fabrics like white cotton do not stop all the UVA hitting you. Darker fabrics and some specially designed shirts will cut out a higher percentage of UVA.

·         Slop on sun-block or sun-tan cream. Depending on your skin colour this should be a high SPF cream. For areas commonly exposed like the face and hands use total sun-block.

·         Slap on a hat. Wearing a good sun hat with a wide brim should become second nature. There are plenty of hats around with a good brim and a strap to hold on it on when there is some wind. Baseball type caps give some protection but not as much as a proper brimmed hat.

In addition to this advice think about the following.

·         On a boat a bimini keeps a lot of UVA from directly getting to you although some is still reflected off the water. A permanent bimini will radically decrease the UVA getting to you compared to getting grilled in the cockpit all day.

·         In harbour or at anchor an awning again cuts down on UVA exposure.

·         If you are snorkelling wear a T-shirt and waterproof sun-block or your back and the backs of your legs will be grilled. With the water lapping over you and cooling your body as you swim along the surface it is easy to underestimate how burnt you are getting.

·         Stay out of the sun over midday. This is the period when UVA  radiation is highest. If you are going ashore try to time it for after 1500.

Some UVA gets through cloud so even on cloudy days there is a risk of UVA exposure and you should ‘slip, slop, slap’.

Lu and Trina on Songline in the Hauraki Gulf in 06. Note hats and long sleeves. That sun really does bite.

Gibraltar to Graciosa

Skylax en route from Gib to the Canaries November 2007  From the Skylax blog

06-11-07

We slipped the lines at Marina Bay at 0630 and it’s still dark. I’ve been talking to boats on the dock for the last week suggesting there will be a lot more wind around and after Tarifa than there is here, even if it is all in the right direction blowing out of the east. Bill and Sharon on Sunrise, a beautiful Sabre 452, are leaving with us.

We make our way out into the roadstead and weave our way through all the anchored ships, ferries zooming off to Morocco and bumboats going back and forth to the anchored ships. It’s busy. We put three reefs in the main (yep –we’ve been here before) and motorsail towards Tarifa. Bill comes out in Sunrise and puts everything up. Maybe I’m being a bit over-cautious, but I stick with it.

Sunrise, Bill & Sharon's Sabre 452

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Get hold of a copy of Colin Thomas’s Straits Sailing Handbook and follow his advice to the letter. It’s worth the price just for the advice on getting in and out of the Straits of Gibraltar, but also has a lot of information and pilotage for the coasts around Gibraltar.

By Tarifa the wind is kicking up and Sunrise is starting to round up. Just after Tarifa it’s up to 35 knots and it’s not long before I’ve got 40 knots on the clock and we are doing 7-8 knots under a triple reefed main and nothing else. Bill tries to wrap up the genny, gets it in a muddle but finally rolls it up and puts three reefs in the main.

OK I'm no Spielberg, but we were rocking around a bit as we were ejected from the Straits of Gibraltar with 40-45 knots at times. Still, made for a fast beginning to the passage. Sunrise is off to starboard, both of us under triple reefed main only.

We fly downwind with F6-7 and more in the gusts until midnight. It’s usually like this on this trip to the Canaries. Come out of Gib like a cork out of a bottle and then once you are off the African coast and a little bit around the corner the wind dies away to a gentle Force 4 or so and there you are putting up more sail to keep you moving comfortably through the Atlantic swell.

Once you get down the African coast the wind drops off appreciably compared to the Straits of Gibraltar and you will soon be untucking a reef or two.

10-11-07

We have been slowly sailing downwind for the last four days. Sometimes with the wind on the quarter, sometimes wing and wing straight downwind. The days drift by in a relaxed fashion as the miles are clocked off, nothing spectacular at 147/132/123/127 miles from noon to noon, but not too bad either in the light winds. We see a few ships and bizarrely keep nearly bumping into Sunrise for the first three nights. Bill and Lu have a radio sched so they are nattering away in the evening.

Bill turns on the iron spinnaker to try and make Graciosa before the light goes, but we keep on drifting downwind and eventually make a night entrance into the southern bay on Graciosa and nearly bump into the outermost boat which doesn’t have an anchor light on. Once we have the anchor down and are enjoying a glass or three of good Spanish red, someone on the outermost boat notices we are there and comes up and turns on the anchor light. Fool…

11-11-07

We move around to the yacht pontoon in La Sociedad on Graciosa and find a berth. Nice people come up and take our lines. La Sociedad is wonderful. A small fishing village where the streets are sand and 4 wheel drives rule. It has a few restaurants, a few shops, and posters everywhere proclaiming La Republica di Graciosa. They have no truck with big tourist hotels, most of the waters around the island are a marine reserve, and don’t want villas and English pubs. Viva La Republica di Graciosa. It’s the first place in the Canaries that I actually like and compared to the tourist ghettos of Lanzarote, Fuenaventura and Gran Canaria, it feels a bit like what the Canaries were 30 years ago (so I’m told).

Graciosa inner yacht pontoon

After three days I pay the modest berthing fees (there is no water or electricity on the pontoons even though the connection boxes are there, and I figure this is intentional so the place doesn’t turn into some cloned marina like others around the Canaries), around 7 euros a night for Skylax (46ft), and take a quick tour of the church with a distinctly nautical theme.

13-11-07

Puerto Calero Marina makes a good base in November when Las Palmas on Gran Canaria is choked full of ARC boats and you stand no chance of getting in there. 

We motorsail down to Puerto Calero on Lanzarote. OK, it’s a purpose built marina with villas scattered around it, but Mr Calero has succeeded in making it a lot less sterile than other places in the Canaries. We have been here before and the welcome is wonderful. They try never to turn a yacht away, however humble. It has a cetacean museum funded by Mr Calero. There is a drinks party with wonderful snacks for visiting yachts (that happens to coincide with the Bluewater Rally boats that are here before leaving for Antigua – in light winds and even worse wind on the nose, but that’s how it is when you are on a rally and D-day approaches, Departure day that is) and for 28 euros a night you get water and electricity included.

That's our tender (Endeavour) opposite - or is that vice versa?

We hire a car to go supermarket shopping and sight-seeing in Arrecife and drive over the moonscape that is Lanzarote to see Sunrise in Port Rubicon on the south side. It’s a huge marina and despite restaurants and bars, it lacks a certain something. Bill and Sharon have hired a car and come to see us in Puerto Calero and somehow we cross tracks mid-island.

TOP

Lanzarote to Mindelo (Cape Verdes)

Skylax off the Cape Verdes. Photo Andy O'Grady

22-11-07

We potter out and fill up with fuel at the entrance to the harbour and then set off for the Cape Verdes. Very soon we are bowling along down the west coast of Fuerteventura headed for somewhere Lu and I have not been before. I’ve cooked a big goulash for the first few days. Fuerteventura is a big island and by dusk we are still not clear of it. We always cook up a big stew or ragu before leaving, enough for at least two dinners and sometimes more. It just makes it easy on everyone if a hot dinner is pretty much ready to go for a couple of days.

Skylax in the seas off the Cape Verdes. Photo Andy O'Grady

26-11-07

Mostly we have had Force 4-5 (14-20 knots) from the NNE-NE with occasional small increases up to Force 6 (25 knots) and a few lulls where it has dropped off to Force 3 (under 10 knots), though not for long. The wind is pretty consistent. We have carried our foresail downwind rig for a bit, genny poled out and staysail poled out the other side (lots of string), but this rig really needs 20-25 knots as the staysail is pretty small. Now we have taken it down and have a double reefed main up and the genny with the wind on the quarter.

Downwind rig. That staysail is a tad on the small side for anything under 20 knots.

Downwind rigs are something we have not really thought enough about. The main chafes on the lower cross-trees and especially on the leeward runner which is off and sliding lazily back and forth over the lower cross-tree chewing away at the main. Our staysail is not really big enough for a proper downwind rig with the genny out the other side, so we are caught betwixt and between for a downwind rig in the 12-18 knot range. Higher than that and the staysail is big enough.

Even so we have been making pretty good progress: 133/144/149/158 NM daily runs.

28-11-07

We have been talking to Andy on Balaena for most of the trip as we agreed to meet up in Mindelo a few months ago. Andy and I wrote Ocean Passages and Landfalls and, though we have met on terra firma, we have not met in our respective boats. Balaena is a 42ft gaff cutter that Andy built, a modern gaff cutter as Andy is always quick to emphasise, and he has certainly been clocking off some healthy daily runs in it. Mind you we haven’t been dawdling too much either and have clocked off 166 and 164 NM runs in the last couple of days.

Around 20 miles off Mindelo I saw a flash of tan sail on the horizon and we hove-to to wait for Andy. Balaena came flying across the swell, all sails up including the gaff topsail, a wonderful sight, and as they went past we took photos of Balaena. Then we opened up the genny and flashed across their stern while they took photos of Skylax. Weird to meet up at sea, literally, and then sail in company down to the port.

Balaena off the Cape Verdes. Photo Lu Michell

We got in just at dusk and anchored off in the harbour. 968 miles in 6 days and 6 hours, not too bad with Skylax throttled right back. We took waypoints on the way in as Bill on Sunrise was some distance behind and wouldn’t arrive until after midnight. Even worse Bill had some problems with his rudder, water was swooshing up through the bottom seal and into the boat and the rudder itself was making an awful clonking noise.

We cleared into Mindelo the next day, friendly officials and a good feeling ashore. Cruiser gossip can be a funny old thing. I had read an account of piracy off Mindelo, well not actually piracy but a trawler that was going slowly and didn’t show it’s stern (and name) to the yacht that reported the alleged incident. Actually that’s not piracy, that’s just a trawler working and they do go slow when dragging the trawl. Again in the Caribbean I came across a couple of yachts that told me that they didn’t go to the Cape Verdes because of piracy. I told them how wonderful it is, that lots of yachts now go this way, and that the piracy reports are spurious, but they were convinced that there are pirates there.… despite my first hand report. What can you say?

Mindelo looking out to the anchorage over the outer marina pontoons. If it looks hazy, that's because it is though this photo was on a bad day. When the wind blows strongly enough you get red Sahara dust over everything and we are still washing it off. And it does blow some at times, around 35 knots or so on one day, but the holding in the anchorage is good and the moorings in the marina are solid although a bit of surge creeps in.

We anchored out for 3 days or so and it’s quite comfortable with just a bit of ground swell creeping around into the bay. Local advice is to remove loose items from the deck, but I have to say I didn’t hear of anyone losing anything and there had to be 20 yachts anchored off at times. A local will come out on his surfboard to offer services, but agree on a price beforehand. Our laundry cost us more than anywhere else I have cruised – ever, but then water is scarce and expensive. There are a couple of small supermarkets ashore, a good fruit and vege market up the high street, and a rowdy fish market along the waterfront. Ashore there is the Club Nautico, but on the street behind is a place called The Yacht Club on a 1st floor terrace with good food, cold drinks, and WiFi! The Yacht Club will often have live bands on the weekends and Cape Verdes music is stunning, the best I have heard in local bars/cafes since Cuba. They are accomplished musicians, the music is stunning and often sad, lamenting exile and struggle on the island or celebrating life, love and making love. Don’t miss it.

Lu in the main market up the high street.

Cape Verdes music in the Yacht Club just behind the Club Nautico. And WiFi as well ...

Mindelo fish market.

The new marina is up and running here, 28 euros a night for us. The electricity (220V) is included but water is charged for and is not always on, so fill up when you can. The water is all from a reverse osmosis plant and so tastes fine and is potable despite some reports I’ve read. It’s metered and not cheap so be a bit frugal. The security here is excellent and Kai, who runs the marina and has long been the inspiration for yachting in Mindelo is looking to expand the services. Those at anchor can bring their dinghies into the marina and leave them there for a small charge.

We spent 10 days in Mindelo and I would now always take this route going east to west across the Atlantic. Partly because Mindelo was such an enjoyable stop and partly because the trip from Mindelo to Antigua was easy as well with the wind on the quarter for much of the time.

In Mindelo Bill's (Sunrise) rudder, on the Sabre 452, needed something doing it to it. It was banging back and forth in the slight surge in the marina and water had been coming in at an unacceptable rate on the last few days down to Mindelo. So Andy and I dropped it, towed it over to Andy's boat, and I got out my epoxy and biaxial cloth (never leave home without it - there was none in Mindelo) and we repaired the stock where it goes through the bottom bearing. Then Bill towed it back and with the help of Tuga, a diver in the marina, we put it back in again. Bill got safely across to St Lucia when at one point he thought the dream might all be over.

And then what happened. A Spanish Beneteau Oceanis next to me in the marina popped out their rudder and so I donated the last of my epoxy to a good cause. They were headed for Venezuela - just hope they got there. I'll be expanding on the subject of rudders and other boat bits in the near future.

TOP

Cape Verdes to Antigua

 Dec 7th to Dec 21st 2007

We left the Cape Verdes on December 7th and motored out into the channel between Sao Vicente and Santo Antao with three reefs in the main as there is an acceleration zone reported between the two islands. Off Mindelo there was around 20 knots of wind from behind and for a while I contemplated taking a reef out. A little further towards the southwest end of the channel the wind piped up to 30-35 knots so we left the third reef in and zoomed out into the Atlantic – well at least until we hit the wind shadow of Santo Antao where the wind dropped off altogether though the sea didn’t. It took a couple of hours motoring to get out of the wind shadow and then we were off with the wind on the quarter and pointed directly for Antigua.

In Mindelo we had picked up a refugee off an ARC boat, Kaiso, that limped in with keel problems amongst others. Everything came out of the boat as most of the hatches and ports had been leaking and three of the crew opted to jump ship. Arabella walked the pontoon looking for a ride and although we were quite happy with just the two of us for the crossing, we decided to give ‘Rab’ a lift to Antigua where she was to join another boat.

The days ticked by with daily runs over 160 NM and up to 171NM with everything on under-drive to keep it easy on us and on ‘Mole’ the autopilot. Most of the time we had two reefs in the main with wind E-ENE at 18-25 knots. We could have carried more sail but the girl was happy and ‘Mole’ in charge without any strain, so we left it at that. There were a few BBC’s and LBC’s (big black clouds and little black clouds) around, but fewer that the previous crossing further north and with less weight of wind in them. There was not a lot of rain in the squalls either compared to the previous more northerly route and we carried a fair amount of the red dust that blows over Mindelo all the way to Antigua.

Often we didn’t bother to reef the genny in as we were a little under-canvassed anyway. Most of the time we carried a reefed main and the genny poled out and when were making too much northing and not enough westing, we simply gibed the main over and headed west for a bit. I still have a theory that the wind goes more towards the NE in the day and back towards east at night, though we are not talking major shifts here.

We ate well, too well, and when it looked like we were going to get to Antigua well before christmas the mince pies were consumed, and then the christmas cake, though we didn’t get around to the christmas pudding and brandy butter until after we had arrived. Lu baked bread, we lost several fish and lures, and generally slept, read, ate and navigated to Antigua.Lu makes bread .... and buns

We entered Freeman’s Bay at 0300 on the 21st, probably a silly thing to do, but we did so very slowly and I have been in there a few times before. After the anchor was down we popped the cork on a couple of bottles, though we were by now pretty dog-tired so the last bottle didn’t get finished before we all crashed.

It was hard to believe we were there with so little fuss after the previous crossing and encounters with Tropical Storm Peter in 2003. Still, a dip in the morning into the warm soupy water of Freeman’s Bay soon convinced us we were in the Tropics and a trip ashore and a celebratory bottle of Carib sealed the matter.

Ahhhhh Antigua

And the other Antigua in St Johns when the cruise boats are in ...

 TOP