Archive for October, 2010

Lat: 12 58.545′ S
Lon: 65 38.785′ E

Most of the time, we’re pretty happy adventuring on the other side of the world but tomorrow will be an exception. My cousin Melanie is getting married on Sunday, and while we’d love to leave the boat on autopilot, catch a passing freighter, fly to the US for the wedding, and then retrace our steps back (Pura Vida would still be sailing toward Cape d’Ambre), it would be a bit of a stretch. Tomorrow will definitely be the day I’ve most wished to be back in the states (OK, those two days of seasickness in the Caribbean are a close second). We love you Melanie, and wish you and Michael the best. We promise we’ll bring you a well-travelled wedding gift, but shipping will probably be about 8 months.

We made a couple of milestones today: we entered a new time zone (GMT+4), and we now have less than 1000 nm to the Cape d’Ambre at the northern tip of Madagascar. We’re averaging over 6 knots so far, and except for the 36 exciting hours when we had a double-reefed main up, it’s all been just the jib, which is definitely our workhorse sail. The sailmaker in Block Island, Florida definitely did right by us when he re-stitched the whole jib after we dropped it off for a small repair.

You’d think we would be going crazy about now, but we’re not. In a complete reversal of her initial reservations, Lauren is really enjoying the time out here. She was actually talking yesterday about wanting stay out here enjoying the beauty and peace (did I mention we haven’t run out of cheese yet?). I can definitely understand her perspective. The days have been sunnier lately with fewer squalls and the seas, though still large at times, aren’t as rough and confused as they were earlier in the trip. With the weather forecast calling for lighter winds the rest of the way, it’s looking like the roughest part is behind us. You might think we’d get bored out here, but we haven’t yet.

If you’ve ever been to the beach and been mesmerized by the sight of the waves breaking, then you’d probably understand how we never get tired of watching the waves. Waves on a beach are just plain boring after you’ve had a chance to watch mid-ocean waves. Beach waves are almost all the same; no matter how far they’ve travelled they all meet a similar demise, standing up and curling until they break into white water and spend the last of their energy in a flattened surge up the beach. In mid-ocean, they’re much more diverse and dynamic. Surfers have a myriad of names for the various shapes a breaking wave can take, but sailors haven’t been as creative in naming the offshore shapes. Like Lauren described in the last blog, some of the more exciting ones are fast and steep, rushing toward you, often with a foamy, breaking crest. Laying in the salon, we can see the crest of the large wave towering above the solar panels and speeding towards us. Just when you think, “Wow, this one’s going to get us” it disappears as the boat rises gracefully on the face of the wave and in a second it’s underneath us, sometimes with a slap on the underside of the bridgedeck, and in the next second it racing off toward Oman and all we can see from down in the trough is its steep back and white crest. You could go on for a while about the long, smoothed-out, slow rollers that amble in from distant storms, looking more like minor geographic features, the short, steep, squall-driven waves, the occasional steep ones from the south that slap you on the side or give you a quick knock-around by lifting one hull while dropping the other, and the big foamy ones from directly astern that gurgle like white water between the hulls while they slide underneath us. Watching them out there as they’re all superimposed, crossing paths, riding over each other, swelling up in lumps, or charging in a line makes you feel lucky to be out here.

DSC_0661 Leaving the Indian Ocean in our wake as we slide down a wave

It still amazes me that we see birds every day, no matter where we are. It’s astounding to me that they can survive at such great distances from land, always counting on plucking their next meal from the sea and navigating the featureless oceans instinctively. Now that we have a radio, they’re not our only companions. Getting to talk to someone for a couple of minutes every during a net and listening to news and entertainment broadcasts really adds to the day. Unlike in the Pacific, we also see quite a few cargo ships. Most of them only show up on the AIS, and don’t come into sight, but a few have come within 2-4 miles, which is pretty close out here. We’d stopped seeing them on the AIS for a couple of days and I thought perhaps we were out of the shipping lanes that run from South Africa to Asia when Lauren sighted a ship only a few miles away that didn’t show up on AIS. I tried calling them on the radio to check the status of their AIS transmitter, but got the not so unusual no-response. After a reboot of the AIS and chartplotter, we now see ships crossing our path on a regular basis again.

The last couple of afternoons have been dedicated to repairing leaks. Both the leak in the port forward cabin and the starboard engine room turned out to have the same cause. Someone who was either ignorant or lazy beyond even my capacity for such things decided to install something by screwing mounting screws directly into the hull below the waterline instead of using more appropriate methods. The downside of drilling or screwing a hole into your boat’s hull below the waterline would seem to be obvious, but I guess it’s not enough to prevent a shortcut in some cases. A bit of underwater epoxy has stopped up the leaks, but the water damage will probably take more work to remedy in spots.

With our 12th nightfall and the customary sunset squall behind us, it’s time to enjoy a couple of treats — the now full moon rising through the scattered clouds and a delicious garlic naan Lauren just finished making. Mmmm.

DSC_0678 Delicious garlic naan

Downhill from Here

Lat: 13 04.346′ S
Long: 70 11.721′ E

These last couple of days have been some of our best of the passage. We are making great time without even trying. We did get inspired to put up a double-reefed mainsail a couple of days ago when our speed dwindled down to 5 knots, but we dropped the main around midnight that night when we were careening down waves at 10 knots! Getting it down in the dark in pretty strong winds and 10′ seas was pretty exciting. We got out our harnesses for the first time on the passage and clipped onto something while on deck. You can’t be too careful in that situation.

cresting Cresting waves make for boat surfing

Since then, the trusty jib has continued to move us in the right direction at an average speed of 6.3. Yesterday was our best day — 180 miles! That might be a record for Pura Vida, although we had some similar days on the passage from the Galapagos to the Marquesas. We also crossed the halfway point yesterday, which is a major milestone. It feels like we are on the downhill slope even though we still have over 1200 miles to go before we are safely anchored in Nosy Be, Madagascar and having a celebratory toast.

Neither of us are in a race against time at this point. I mentioned in my last blog that Dallas was finding projects to keep him busy. Well, eventually he ran out of those, but he has been a quick study of the art of doing nothing (I’m a good teacher, LOL), and we have been engaging in a lot of practice together over the last two days. We listen to music or the news, watch the waves, reminisce, tune in for our twice daily radio chat, cook, do dishes, shower, read or work on a puzzle, look out for other boats, watch the weather, and that’s about it. Somehow that’s enough to make the hours fly by–when we’re not on watch, that is. The wee hours of the morning can get a bit long.

Some days we are more active than others. Laziness creeps in insidiously, sapping my motivation, but each time I make an effort to overcome it and get off of the settee, I feel better for it. Even a seemingly mundane chore such as doing dishes in the cockpit can be enough to fire up my engine and brighten my day. Then there’s usually leftover energy to devote to exercising or having my own private dance party in the cockpit. (Of course Dallas is invited to the party, but he usually sends his regrets, LOL.)

dallas

In big seas even getting up to eat can feel like a chore

Our energy level also depends on the sea state. Lately the seas continue to be quite large (up to 12′) but from the aft quarter (the southeast), like the wind. This makes for a comfortable motion and doesn’t interfere with our activities. Occasionally, though, we get large waves across the beam that rock the boat a bit. They typically strike when Dallas is in the cockpit checking our course, as if they know that this is a sailor who really hates to get wet! Last night we took a big one on the beam while Dallas was chatting with S/V Bahati on the radio, and it sent part of our dinner flying from the table to the settee beside him. Nat from Bahati is normally very sympathetic, but in this case just said, “I’m glad to hear catamarans get some of that, too.”

I haven’t spent much time on monohulls, so I can’t really compare, but I love the way the cat glides over big waves from the stern. We can be down in the trough of a wave and looking up at the next one, much higher than the boat, that looks as though it is going to break on top of us, when all of the sudden we find ourselves sitting on top of it. Then we simply glide down into its trough, or if its a particularly steep wave, surf down it, which, in the case of these waves on the port quarter, means that our stern gets pulled very quickly to starboard. Meanwhile the amazing autopilot is constantly counteracting to keep us on course. (I hope that our friends on S/V Marionette are coping with the wind and waves as they hand-steer to Africa! At least they are headed to Mauritius, which makes for a shorter passage.)

big sea

A big one coming up on our stern

The boat is holding up like a champ except for a possible slow leak somewhere in the port hull. Dallas found the port bilge full of water today and is trying to diagnose the problem. More on that later…

We hope everyone back home is doing well and enjoying some leisure time of their own.

Small Fish

Lat: 13 05′ S
Lon: 77 14′ E

We finally put a double-reefed main up yesterday and we’ve made good time ever since. The seas are more regular now, and we’re getting so used to 10′ waves that they really don’t look big to us anymore.

We had a pleasant surprise a couple of days ago when we found that we can receive US Armed Forces radio broadcast from Diego Garcia. The signal is excellent and it’s great to hear US news and the baseball playoff scores. The US news out of Diego Garcia BBC news broadcast from Africa are now part of our evening routine.

Other than that, there’s not much to report other than a bit of a flying fish mystery. For some reason, nearly all of the flying fish that I’m finding on deck in the mornings are only 2-3 inches long. We’re used to a range of sizes from 2-3″ up to nearly a foot, but for some reason only the small ones are showing up out here.

DSC_0632 In the northern Indian, only the small guys are finding their way aboard

We get a weather update over the sat phone every couple of days when we post a blog and so far it’s been all tradewinds in the forecast. We’re hoping that continues…

Boisterous Trades

Lat: 12 57.259′ S
Lon: 82 17.001′ E

One of the ways to break up long passages is to make milestones of the various intermediate events. We enjoyed two today; we now have less than 2000 miles to Cape d’Ambre and we just entered a new timezone (GMT +5). We’ve been making good time for us, averaging about 5.8 knots so far. Lauren baked an excellent loaf of wheat bread, the best looking loaf yet, and promised to bake a loaf every 1000 miles, which should work out to once a week if we can keep our speed up.

DSC_0630 I’m impressed

Alll is well aboard and the days seem to fly by. Lauren is working her way through the 3-foot wahoo we caught and we’ve had enough power from the wind generators that we’re able to run the freezer to preserve it. The daily radio chats with other boats are really nice and yesterday we listened to a fair amount of news and entertainment from the BBC via Singapore. The used ICOM SSB has definitely been worth the cost and installation effort. I’ve also been happy that my homemade antenna, grounding system, and DC block have us sending out a booming signal to boats 3000 miles away. This morning was the first time that atmospheric propagation conditions didn’t allow us to make contact.

The Southern Indian Ocean has a reputation for being rougher than the South Pacific or South Atlantic, and so far it’s matched its reputation. The trades seem to be a little more boisterous, but the biggest factor is the sea state. Large waves or swells from two or more directions seem to be the norm and overcast, squally days also seem to be common. Usually squalls pass by with a bit of wind or rain, but don’t impact the sea state too much since they’re relatively short-lived. On this passage, however, the seas seem to instantly get a meter higher when we near a squall, although the rain has almost always been light. I’ve also been surprised by how many times the sea state seems to be settling into a typical pattern of moderately-sized waves from the current wind direction (generally SE) only to have the boat rocked by large cross-swells from the south 10 minutes later. Being on a heavy catamaran does seem to make things easier. We’re much drier and the motion isn’t nearly as bad. The monohulls we’ve been in radio contact with have reported things like cockpits full of water from swamping waves, decks frequently awash, bruised bodies from being thrown in unexpected directions below deck, a boat half covered in flour after making a loaf of bread, and a salon table being damaged beyond repair primarily from the force of the crew being repeatedly tossed against it when trying to maneuver below. At the end of several weeks of this type of treatment, you get to try to round what sailors have traditionally termed the Cape of Storms. It’s no wonder the Suez route gained such popularity with cruisers until the recent Somali pirate situation. Luckily we get a little better angle to the waves since we’re sailing to the northern tip of Madagascar and our boat in general handles a blow pretty well as long as the wind isn’t forward of the beam. So far, we’ve made the first 800+ miles on just the jib. We haven’t adjusted it in 2 or 3 days, so we really can’t complain about tough sailing.

Another difference between the South Pacific and Southern Indian Ocean has been the amount of plastic trash. There was little-to-none in the Pacific and it’s been pretty bad here. Between Bali and Christmas Island you couldn’t walk out on deck and look around without seeing several pieces of trash floating by. The winds and currents push it westward, and there’s a beach on the east side of Christmas Island with so much trash that there are garbage bags at the parking area so that everyone who visits the beach can pick up a bag of trash and bring it back to a bin on their way out. Based on the current patterns, the nature of the trash, and general impressions during our visit to Bali, it seems like the source for most of the trash we’ve seen is Asia. The beach on the east side of Direction Island at Cocos is in a similar state, and as a lot of the beach rubbish throughout the world is flip-flops (jandals in NZ and thongs in Oz), I was hoping to replace my second pair of flip-flips and do a bit of beach cleaning at the same time. Unfortunately, there weren’t many in my size and most needed more repair than the ones I’m wearing, so I had to leave Cocos without recycled footwear.

DSC_0585 Washed-up trash on the beach at Cocos

DSC_0586 Fellow flip-flop forager Johnny taking a break from the effort

We’ve continued to do a bit of reading about Madagascar using saved websites, cruising guides, etc. It sounds like an interesting and extremely poor place. Theft of dinghies and outboards is a problem that will be new for us as well as the occasional boat burglary. The people are so poor that boats sailing through last year reported that even empty glass and plastic jars are valuable trading items that can earn a seafood dinner. I’m not sure what they’re used for, but it could be related to the local rum being sold for about $1/liter and being dispensed into whatever container you bring to the store. We stocked up with some cheap T-shirts and about a dozen cheap soccer balls in Bali, so with the standard trading items we have around, Lauren’s hoping we should be covered for a lobster dinner or two. Between negotiating bribes, avoiding theft, trading for dinner, and dodging notoriously nasty low pressure systems known as “busters” it should be an eventful trip from Madagascar down the Mozambique Channel to South Africa.

Lat: 12 45.708′ S
Long: 86 42.940′ E

We are making good progress, especially now that the wind has become more consistent (15-25 knots). Yesterday was our best day yet — 154 miles. Dallas informs me that we are almost a quarter of the way to the cape at the north tip of Madagascar. Already?! Ha ha.

It’s a long passage for sure, but we are now settled in and enjoying it. The key to these long ones seems to be just keeping oneself occupied. I’ve always had the capacity to be a daydreamer, so I don’t have much trouble with that. (I remember calling a friend after running out of gas on a long stretch of highway, and her response was, "What goes through your head? Bubbles?") What’s more, I tend to view these long periods of solitude on the open sea as an opportunity for me to reflect, appreciate, ponder, and dream — a spiritual experience, if you will. Of course it’s not necessary to be in the middle of the ocean to have this kind of experience, but something about being out here day after day, without any of the hustle and bustle, distractions, noise, etc. of the mainland makes it extremely easy to get into a quiet, euphoric place.

Dallas, on the other hand, has no bubbles in his head and was raised to stay busy. (I was too, but I’m taking a break!) He has been able to stay occupied so far with reading, a bit of software programming, and video editing, but I think we’re going to have to get pretty creative to keep him busy for another 2+ weeks. Wish us luck!

It’s also not a good sign that he’s talking about food that we don’t have already, but I think he’ll be OK. We have plenty of food on board, although we are out of fresh fruit, and our fresh veggie supply has dwindled down to potatoes, onions, and a couple of questionable-looking cucumbers. (We’ve started taking our vitamins to supplement.)

It’s of little use to Dallas, but we have plenty of fish! We caught a wahoo yesterday — a real one, this time. After seeing its dark blue bands and its dorsal sail fin, we realized that the two we’d caught prior were not actually wahoo but barracuda. Apparently I’m a fan of both! Anyway, the wahoo was 3′ long, providing 8 nice filets, so I’m glad we have enough wind to power the freezer.

wahoo So this is what a wahoo looks like!