Night watch, when the wind is gentle, sea kind and moon lighting the way is quality time to think. In these waters "think" means things like....are we going to make it through these pirate infested waters, is that light on the horizonone of them, how will we respond to an approach, have we got our emergency procedures sorted etc etc etc.
The emergency VHF radio channels have been jammed, presumably by these pirates, hurling abuse at all and sundry passing sailors, their mothers and their countries of origin. These "pranksters" (to give them an unduly polite name) intercept bonafide calls and even make bogus mayday calls, thereby voiding this form of communication in a real emergency. They also play soundtracks of lurid sex scenes from b rate Hollywood movies for some unfathomable reason....maybe distractive entertainment for sailors on merchant ships. We have paid them the greatest compliment and now turn off our VHF at night.
However in daylight we recently tuned into an entertaining conversation between ships to hear a Mexican officer telling his counterpart on the other ship that this was his first transit through the Gulf of Aden for some time as he has been sailing the Pacific between Asia and the USA. He said he did not know who was
worse to have on his ship, the US Coastguard paranoid about the terro threat over there or the "pee-rats" here. We have adopted his Mexican/English "pee-rats" as it is so appropriate.
worse to have on his ship, the US Coastguard paranoid about the terro threat over there or the "pee-rats" here. We have adopted his Mexican/English "pee-rats" as it is so appropriate.
Other day time chatter between ships indcates a general concern with the piracysituation, with the ships forming convoys through the Gulf of Aden (GOA) in accordance with their speed. One watch captain told another that the transit corridor (which is 500 miles long) is becoming fairly safe now but the result of
this high level of security is that the pee-rats are moving their activities further offshore.
this high level of security is that the pee-rats are moving their activities further offshore.
As we mentioned in the previous blog we have registered with the security forces control centre for the GOA and we communicate by e.mail at noon each day with our position as they are currently tracking our progress to Salalah. Their guidelines make it clear that vessel owners should make their own security arrangements to minimise boarding as appropriate to your own vessel, which in our case with barely a 2 metre height from water to deck is not much of a challenge for a tall athletic pee-rat with long legs. So P has been postulating
about deterrent and self preservation options, albeit a little late now. The best he could come up with....... Deterrent - maybe we should have electrified the safety rails with a Gallagher electric fence system.
about deterrent and self preservation options, albeit a little late now. The best he could come up with....... Deterrent - maybe we should have electrified the safety rails with a Gallagher electric fence system.
Self Preservation - maybe we should have converted the aft deck to become a temporary live sheep meat
carrier. This way we could make genuine sacrificial offerings to people we know appreciate live meat (B - I have edited this line out 3 times now but it keeps getting back into the blog....). B had the idea of inviting a friend, a soon to be retired accountant who shall remain nameless, along as crew. Unfortunately he declined. B's rationale was not that he would bambozzle the pirates with numbers, no, rather that he would be good for the ransom money and thus we might all get out safely...
carrier. This way we could make genuine sacrificial offerings to people we know appreciate live meat (B - I have edited this line out 3 times now but it keeps getting back into the blog....). B had the idea of inviting a friend, a soon to be retired accountant who shall remain nameless, along as crew. Unfortunately he declined. B's rationale was not that he would bambozzle the pirates with numbers, no, rather that he would be good for the ransom money and thus we might all get out safely...
As an added measure we have a list of basic words and simple phrases in Somalian....we are going to have lessons in the cockpit over morning tea (yeah right). However, based on the VHF broadcasts from the pee-rats we know they have a good grasp of the more colourful and less polite english words - these form a true international language and phraseology it seems.
This leg has as usual for Musketelle and her herculean but aging crew has been a voyage of three parts....
Part 1 - the beginning as per normal was very trying with variable head winds testing our resolve coupled with B getting her motion issues stabilised.
Part 2 - The middle section has been a full week of sailing in consistent and at times strong winds forward of the beam on the starboard side for the whole time. This means the boat has been continuously leaning at 10/15 degrees for 170 odd hours on its at times rolly course without respite in winds up to 30 knots.
Part 3 - Now the third part as we close within 200 miles of the Oman coast the wind is finally backing to the East to come onto the aft starboard quarter to hopefully push us into Salalah.
Since departing the Maldives we have had a developing moon which generally makes for great sailing. At this point in the voyage however this is now a burden to us and a benefit to the pee-rats who apparently and surprisingly prefer daylight hours or well lit nights.
As the Indian Ocean leg from Phuket comes to a close we reflect that we made the correct decision to break the 2600 mile voyage into three sectors by stopping at Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
You have to compartmentalise everything on all of these sectors to make it achievable. We even break our days and nights down into sections as we count down miles achieved and waypoints passed.
You can take the boy away from competitive yacht racing but you can't take racing out of the boy. P even has B thinking faster faster faster on her watches and only last night she spent the whole three hours of a watch adjusting the steering by points of a degree at a time and tweaking the sails to maintain
constant boat speed to ensure we beat the previous nights performance. The driver is we don't want to be out here longer than we need to and as long as we are not in gear breaking mode it keeps monotony at bay.
Until next blog.
constant boat speed to ensure we beat the previous nights performance. The driver is we don't want to be out here longer than we need to and as long as we are not in gear breaking mode it keeps monotony at bay.
Until next blog.
B&P All@Sea
