Passage Report 24

Sahula Passage Report No. 25

February, 2009-02-10

Goodbye Goa, Hello Salalah, Oman

1100 nautical miles: Sahula's second ocean passage. 10-14 days crossing the Arabian Sea. The forecast is NE'lies, moderate to light winds. Sahula is well stocked for weeks to Egypt.

She leaves with the Vasco da Gama Rally fleet. A stop to clean her bottom and she is away.

The winds are contrary. Sahula sets her course with a NE'ly. Then later in the evening it is a strong Northerly. Northerlies are a head wind. In 22 knots, the sea builds. Sahula is bounding through it. It is wet sailing under a full moon.

Crew is seasick. Nothing more debilitates the ability or moral. Crew's wife receives an email that she would not want to be here.

Sail changes are frequent. Headsails can be furled but the mainsail has to be reefed. It's a frustrating process. The headsails are furled, Tanya is fired, Skipper has to bring down the mainsail to two reefs and winch down the sails aft end, then raise it. Crew struggles to put Sahula's bow into the wind. Steering is an evolving skill. It is demanding wet, work.

Further offshore the wind is more consistent. The Course Master electronic self steering stops. Sahula is without her "third" crew. Arial (Aries windvane self steering) is easier to set with the Course Master holding to course. Crew struggles to set Aries.

Once set, Arial works well. Sahula glides along in "sustainable" mode, using natures wind and sun to steer and generate electricity. It is slow sailing as Arial requires a balance between sails and rudder. Windward helm (bow moving to wind) can override Arial. Less sail means fewer knots. The Course Master can override this requirement.

Skipper seeks electronic skills applied on a rolling and plunging Sahula. The hydraulic pump is without power. Fuses are checked. The electrical "board" provides a daunting obstacle. Through Peter in Sydney the manufacturer sends instructions: "send the black box to Sydney."

Crew recovers on the fourth day. Moral rises, 800 nm to go, the seas beauty and the remoteness are enjoyed. Sahula, Skipper and Crew are in the "groove." A flock of seabirds fishes to port.

Sahula crosses the invisible thin line that guides commerce from Suez to Middle East oil and India. Mammoths abound, silently looming large into the horizon. At night one alters course for Sahula. A rare event. Deck lights inform the watch. Perhaps, being steel, Sahula is prominent on the watch radar.

With no electronic auto pilot, demands on Skipper and Crew are 24 hour, 7 day manual self steering if none or insufficient wind.

Crew advises hand steering is impossible for more than a short time due to a previous shoulder injury. Crew's past yacht experience took no account of the vagaries of the yacht machine. Skipper's position is a quandary. Without a third crew, Skipper must essentially self steer the yacht unless Aries is set. There are some ten days and nights to Salalah.

Skipper is effectively solo sailing and expresses concern at the late advice and approaching "pirate" zone. Options are considered including finding a third crew. A consideration is whether the disability may worsen.

A pray is made for wind sufficient to set Aries. It remains unanswered for the next ten days to Oman. Tanya alone or with sails is taxed to the extreme.

Sahula wallows in a glassy Arabian sea. It is a short time to find sleep and relax. Skipper enjoys a swim, albeit a bath, in a 3000 meter, clear blue, Arabian Sea. Crew stands shark watch.

Another dilemma: Sahula carries 290 litres of fuel, insufficient to make Salalah without wind. The forecast is for hot sunny windless days for the foreseeable future. Tanya is slowed to low revs to conserve fuel.

Sahula carves through a green blue oily ocean. "Green" algae covers the ocean surface. Skipper is reminded of a poem:

" Deep Blue Sea"

"As I sail through the unknown,

The waves seem to open up into mounds of unknown sea.

The wind blows vigorously over my face.

My hair rustles like a hurricane.

Then, all is still.

I see a faint patch of shimmering light.

Is it fire or

The sun glistening its streaks of gold onto the waves?

Behind that place of golden warmth

It is cold a bitter

Revealing darkness is coming

It is sticky and smells like a decaying rat

If we don't help soon there will bee

No blue green sea.

(Annalise Haigh, Aged 9, Age Group Winner North Queensland Conservation Group Environmental Poetry Competition, 2000.)

A premonition perhaps? It is ignored by pods of dolphins leaping high, playing around Sahula.

At night, Sahula's wake and folding wave tops sparkle blue white with phosphorescence. The ocean is alive with minute white lights eerily flashing. Then moonlight rises, shimmers and continues the "son illuminaire."

Tiredness disorientates Skipper. The compass malfunctions, Sahula seeking to find direction entangles the fishing line around the propeller shaft. Skipper, plums the energy depth, dons the snorkel and, over an hour, with a sharp knife and cuts the line free. Doctor Stanley tends to many Skippers' wounds from barnacles clinging to the hull.

Mollie (spinnaker) flies free in light winds. Sahula is underway under hand steering.

Other yachts report varying winds. Sahula's sea remains light to glassy calm.

Moral is an undulating graph of hope and despair.

Crew becomes cook. Food is plentiful. Meals are simple but healthy. Fish, eggs, vegetables and fruit dominate.

Skippers prepares a bread mix, but Asian flour is finely shifted, more suited to pancakes. Banana cake resolves to pancakes

Packaged biscuits from Asia are caramelized sweet. Cashew nuts provide snacks.

Tanya sips ever reducing fuel. Watches of Crew "on" for one hour, off for three. Skipper tired, cannot enjoy reading or sketching.

Days stretch out into a weather report of continuing calm conditions. Crew notes that the Pardys, renowned cruisers took 50 days on the same passage.

On night watch, Skipper reaches out to a figure on deck. In hallucination comes sanity. Crew takes the watch.

Middle East colours of napier yellow, white and ochre are reflected in the dusk sky. The sun sets yellow white.

Invictus IV looses all power on motor. "Bud" her skipper is a retired US lawyer and State Supreme Court judge. Discussion criss crosses the airwaves on how to organize a tow. Sahula couldn't reach their waypoint with current fuel. The radio waves bounce with possibilities.

Sahula presses on advising Invictus that we will tow them if we can reach them.

Invictus 4 is 80nm distant is in a shipping lane. A tow is imperative.

Invictus carried by the current edges closer to Sahula. Both yachts rendezvous in the early morning. Sahula takes fuel from Invictus and passes a tow line. Slowly they head to port.

Two days later the stark, praying mantis like, container cranes of Salalah, Oman seem to form a guard of honour for the arriving yachts. Cheers rise from the anchored fleet. A long sleep is overdue.

The port's container terminal is huge. It is a transition port, similar to Singapore where containers are interchanged and stored.

Immigration, Customs are efficiently concluded. Mohammed, the agent, in long flowing robes, arranges experts to fix the autopilot and outboards. Sahula soon has hydraulic, digital self steering and resurrects a Plastimo wheel autopilot. Olive and Olive Too are soon driving Zod.

Omani's friendly smiles and quite efficiency welcome Skipper and crew. Salalah is a modern city of freeways and stark "block" Arabic buildings. None are higher than the minaret. All are separated by dusty dirt streets except around palaces and government buildings.

It is a man's world. Few women, young people or children are seen.

Salalah's claim to fame is the ancient trade in frankincense and the Al Kaleeff. The former is the sap of the tree, ground to make powder or perfume. It was carried by the "three wise men" to Jerusalem. The Ah Kaleeff is the greening wet season unusual in a region more noted for its extreme dryness.

A tour takes Skipper and crew to the UNESCO Frankincense wadi. At this World Heritage Cultural Site, the small, gnarled trees eek existence of hundreds of years. We follow the frankincense trade route to Ubar, World Heritage archeological Bedouin fort site and palm filled wadi. However, World Heritage fails to protect the ancient palms. They are being sacrificed to draw down the water table to irrigate. livestock grass.

Lunch (camel meat, rice and salad) is alongside the huge sand hills that mark the deserts of the "forgotten" corner of Oman, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. It is hard to imagine the ancient camel trains passing this way enroute to the markets of Europe.

Nessr, the driver presents Skipper with an Arab headdress tutoring him in how to "wrap"

it.

"Liv", a Finish yacht arrives. Sture and Gangel are worried about Umberto on Calefel. Umberto, a solo sailor, enriches cruising culture. His boat, all 24 feet, is run down and looks it, yet it and a sea dog, have survived years of cruising. Umberto has a unique money making venture. He seeks out unhappy cruising couples and mentions a miracle drug to improve their relationship. The husband rejects it, the wife shows interest. Umberto buys it at a local chemist and after doubling the price, satisfies

the happy couple. The drug is "Viagra."

Liv is worried Umberto hasn't arrived from Goa. Late at night he finally arrives. He anchors finds about high cost in Salahah, doesn't "book" in with authorities, and leaves. Salahah is none the wiser. Skipper donates 20 litres of fuel to get Calefel to Aden. No pirate will profit from raiding Calefel.

Christiane, an Australian yacht departs taking the "Protected Corridor" route through pirate alley. They are advised the sail between the North and South corridors for maximum military protection.

Reports of two previous fleets being harassed by fast fishing boats.

Sahula prepares to leave with the Rally fleet.

Next Report - Pirate Alley.

Best

David

Sv Sahula

25th Feb, 2009