svbeachhouse

Category: 2012 Blog

  • Day 9, squalls, wind shifts and ships……

    Day 9, squalls, wind shifs and ships…..

    04 October 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

    Dear F&F,

    Well yesterday turned out to be a nice day, lots of \”breeze\” (18-25 knots) and we were able to make some northing. The swells became more tolerable and today feels like we\’re almost at the dock relatively speaking!..:-)

    We saw two small junkie fishing boats yesterday. They were apparently just outside the \”Chagos Exclusive Economic Zone\” which means the fishing is good there. Last night, we passed our 12th ship, \”Friendship Freedom\”. A tanker full of oil out of the Persian Gulf. In his AIS \”destination\” column that we get as a read out on our electronic chart system, it said: \”ARMED GUARDS ONBD\”. A sign of the times…. This also of course assumes that \”bad guys\” can read English!

    The ships are swinging away from the NW Indian Ocean. So will we btw! We were actually on a collision course with last nights tanker and I had to ask him to alter course on the radio which he happily did.

    Last night it was rain, rain and of course, more rain. The night started off with an hour of 27-33 knot winds, then gusts to 35. It has backed off ever since. We\’ve actually seen short periods where there was no wind. Currently, 17-20 knots from the NNE and much calmer seas. We\’re now in no hurry to cover the last 125 miles as we will not enter the reef system till after good light tomorrow morning. I\’m sure we\’ll have to slow down late tonight.

    We covered 145 miles the last 24 hours, which was fine as we were not going to make in today in any event. We\’ve been in email contact with \”Sunflower\” who is at Salomon Atoll and gotten some good local knowledge from them. We got an email today from s/v \”Saviah\”, the young Yanks who went direct from Cocos to Mauritius and they report several good whacking fronts and heavy trade winds 25 ++. This is why I didn\’t want to take their route AND, it can get much rougher in their last 1500 miles to South Africa with some huge seas. No thanks!

    Watching the squall lines, sailing along. Weather should be gusty, a bit rainy/squally but not too much wind or sea the rest of the way. We\’ll be getting to Chagos just ahead of a low that will pass over us the next day or two. Glad we get to miss that one!

    My report may or may not be a little late tomorrow depending on arrival time. I will put out the position report then as well.

    KIT, Scott with Sleeping Nikki

  • Day 8….Uh!…

    Day 8, Uh!…..

    03 October 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

    Dear F&F,

    Well, the last 24 hours has not been lots of fun. Squalls, rain and most importantly, wind from a less favorable direction. We passed a few more ships on AIS yesterday and had a bit of a start this morning (1/2 hour ago) as we came upon a dilapidated looking 150 foot fishing vessel only a mile away. It was all lit up and motoring the opposite direction toward Indonesia. It still gives me a bit of a wake up call and reminds me of how I do not want to see such vessels. Given where we are, it\’s a needle in haystack meeting, so I\’ll hope it\’s the last one.

    Our issue at the moment is that we\’re in the low pressure squall zone and the winds are trying to keep us south. We have to get north and around the lee shore of the Great Chagos Bank which is sitll about 200 miles west of us. It\’s 80 miles (at least), north to south and Salomon is 40 miles to it\’s north. So, we\’ve got to keep speed and work north of it in a NNEasterly wind. Not so much fun. We\’ve a 3.5 meter swell (10-11 feet) from both behind us (east) and in front of us (north) as we work to the northwest. No big breaking seas which is the bonus or you could say, I\’m looking at the glass half full…:-) I just looked and we\’ve done 157 miles. Two more days like this and we\’re home free.

    I must fix the stove. The propane safety switch has apparently died off. I have a spare. Just no fun working on it in the lumpy seas.

    KIT, more tomorrow, Scott and Nikki

  • Day 7, weather and ships……

    Day 7, weather and ships…..

    02 October 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

    Dear F&F,

    Yesterday was a nice sailing day, the evening got a bit cranky. The winds are definitely \”northern hemisphere\”. There is a small low pressure system now between us and Chagos which is moving toward Chagos. This should allow us to follow it in with the more or less current conditions.

    The wind, being from the NE is a bit \”beamy\” and we\’re not as comfortable as when it\’s behind us. If it goes aft at all, I\’ll sneak a bit more northerly track in to avoid just coming down on the lee shore of the Great Chagos Bank. The bank is about 80 miles wide and very shallow. Once upon a time, an atoll that must have been magnificent.

    We\’ve been in touch with \”Sunflower\” who is at Salomon now, but we may miss them as they may leave before we arrive?

    Each day is a bit unique out here (of course), but we get a feel for the day depending on the \”squall scene\”. Last night, it was delightful not to have too many, today is setting up to be a squally one so far.

    Yesterday, we crossed a major SE Asia/China to South Africa shipping lane and actually ended up seeing 7 ships on our AIS system. We spoke with two. One coming from China, the other going to Singapore. The one bound for Singapore, \”Eleni\” at 967 feet full of oil, actually had to turn slightly to avoid us. Pretty wild when you think about where we are. We spoke on the radio, his English was very good.

    We did 161 nm yesterday, we\’re currently beam reaching in 17-21 knots with a reefed main and staysail. Fortunately, the seas are relatively calm. Relative being the operative expression…:-) 417 miles to go, we should be there on our Friday.

    Stand by, feel free to write! Well enjoy hearing from you all..

    Scott and Cooking Nikki….

  • Day 5, Transition? A message from afar…..

    Day 5, Transition? A message from afar…..

    30 September 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

    Dear F&F,

    The last 24 hours has been interesting. Yesterday, we were in more frequent squalls which came from the south, crossed over us, rained on us and moved on. The winds shifted a bit, but mostly the intensity ranged; 12-28 knots. With one reef and the staysail poled out to windward, all was easy. The seas a bit confused and lumpy, but overall pretty comfortable. We\’ve done exciting things like the morning routine of cleaning all the dead flying fish off the decks, topping off the diesel and of course, the expert Ms. Nicola Woodrow, \”celestially\” guiding across across the sea, sextant in hand…:-)

    At 4 a.m. this morning local time, we switched watches and Nikki told me that the wind had just quit. We motored on one engine and soon the wind started to shift to the Northeast! This may be the transition from the Southern Indian Ocean weather to the Northern Indian Ocean weather. This transition zone is known as the \”ITCZ\” (inter tropical convergence zone). Sailors in the Pacific are quite familiar with it when sailing from the US to French Polynesia.

    For a detailed explanation, \”google it\”…:-)

    The winds have turned north east now, wind speed around 12-16 knots. So with full main and reacher, we\’re on the starboard tack (now there\’s a change) and reaching directly toward Salomon Atoll. The seas have really flattened out, the swell around 2 meters and we\’re very comfortably zipping along around 6.5 – 8.5 knots.

    We just received an email from Mike and Linda on s/v \”Integrity\”. They\’re out of San Diego, California and are currently in Spain. They noticed our position on Winlink and told us that friends of their\’s from Alaska are in Salomon Atoll now aboard s/v \”Sunflower\”. We\’re looking forward to meeting them. Hopefully we\’ll get an email from them soon?

    We made a very slow 153 nm today. \”Beach House\’s\” average is 175 nm and \”Ms. Piggy\” is feeling her weight…:-) The trip is in jeopardy of taking 10 days instead of 9, but we shall see what the winds have in store for us. We\’re just over half way, 724 nm to go!…Currently, drying air (less humidity), calm and pleasant sailing conditions. Watch out for Nik, she\’s going on deck to \”shoot the sun\”…

    KIT, Scott and \”ON WATCH WOODROW\”…:-)))

  • Day Four to Chagos – breakage and a fix!…..

    Day Four to Chagos – breakage and a fix!…..

    29 September 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

    Dear F&F,

    The miles are clicking away, but overall this passage has been fairly slow. We\’ll most likely do around 155 miles today. I always do my planning on around 170 miles/day. The reason is squalls. We get 20-22 knots for several hours, then a line of squalls come by and the wind is 9-15 OR 27-28. So we must sail accordingly. Overall, we\’ve kept the amount of sail we carry down in case a big squall line blows hard and would then otherwise stress the sails and rig.

    Speaking of which. We went to reef the main (make is smaller) in expectation of the above conditions. Fortunately we decided to do this well before dark. When we were taking in the first reef, the down reef control line just snapped in two! This would be a potential disaster as without this line we cannot adjust the size of the main sail and as you know, we\’re along way from the marine chandlery. Also fortunately, I could reach the roller drum and knew how to replace the line. Good fortune has us having at least two line up for the job of the correct diameter and length.

    I used a spectra line we used to use for a former main preventer system and we began the minor surgery. First, we removed the 10\” diameter cover off the roller drum mounted about 7 feet up the mast where the boom connects. It\’s this high as the deck in front of the mast is where we have to access the plate. Carefully removing the four screws and cover, we exposed the line wrapped around the furling drum. I then counted 29 wraps of the line around the drum as I removed it. Nikki and I fed the new line in place, threaded it back through the leads and rope clutch and we were back in business. The furling system has a lock on the drum which I normally do not use. I will use it from now on to remove the stress on the furling line. It also held the boom mandrel in place which enabled me to swap out the lines. All done within an hour and before dark. We then finished taking in the reef we\’d started to test it; all worked well.

    Currently, it\’s 6:45 a.m. local time and we\’ve about 890 nm to go. A squall is coming by and the wind is shifted to the east (temporarily) and has dropped to 12 knots. Rain\’s a commin\’!

    As I send this blog to be posted, I\’ll be picking up our GRIB weather file from saildocs. This file is a a computer generated map of the expected wind and sea conditions for up to 5 days ahead. It\’s usually quite accurate in the open ocean. It often under estimates the wind speeds by 2-5 knots.

    Position report will be posted in about an hour. We\’ll be half way this time tomorrow, now expecting an approximately 10 day passage.

    KIT, Scott and of course, sleeping Nikki

  • Settling In….

    Settling In….. 28 September 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

    Dear F&F,

    Last night was night three for us and it takes about till the third day to settle in on a long passage. Since we\’d made a few three day passages in the last month, it felt like we were more or less still in our routine. We saw a thousand foot super tanker on our AIS last night. I haven\’t a clue where he came from, but he said his destination was \”Pacific Basin\”. That\’s about like saying, \”somewhere on planet earth\”…:-)

    A frequent writer, Ken from Norwich, England asked about water depths? Several people have asked so… 16,000 – 17,000 feet or about 4,800 – 5,100 meters. If you can\’t stand up in it, does it matter?….:-)

    Conditions have been generally mild with winds in the 12-20 knot range. We\’ve been flying the genoa to port on the pole and a full main for almost 36 hours. When the squalls come by, the rain lasts a few minutes and then the wind dies off and shifts for a half hour or so. Then back to normal. We\’ve motored only to get away from the wind holes; a total of about 30 minutes in the last three days. Each day so far has been progressively slower. Today we\’ll do about 150 nm (nautical miles). We\’re still staying south as the weather predicts steadier winds below the rhumb line. The rhumb line is the straight distance from point A (Cocos in our case), to point b (Chagos in our case). We\’re currently about 90 nm left (or south) of the original rhumb line.

    Just sailing along, Nikki diligently working on her sun shots.

    KIT, Scott with Sleeping Nikki (really, she\’s only sleeping because she\’s off watch when I write the blog…:-)

  • Entering the Back of Beyond……

    Entering the Back of Beyond….. 27 September 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

    Dear F&F,
    Last night we anticipated another bit of breeze so we took two reefs in the main and kept up the full genoa. The wind never came. By midnight, we\’d shaken both reefs out and the wind has steadily dropped into this morning at about 10-14 knots. The seas are calm and we\’ve had a few rain squalls; to be expected with these \”ITCZ\” type equatorial low cells. (Google ITCZ – Inter Tropical Convergence Zone).

    Nikki\’s been very diligent and working hard on her Sun shots and working them up to keep a running fix. Celestial navigation of course has more or less gone out with the dial up telephone, but Nikki\’s always wanted to know how to do it and … she\’s learning.

    As we now get about 320 miles west of Cocos with 1200 miles to go to Chagos, you can certainly feel how we\’re entering the \”Back of Beyond\” as they say down under. From the perspective of the central USA, we\’re pretty much on the opposite side of world. As Jimmy Buffet wrote, \”The Far Side of the World\”.

    We actually saw a Japanese fishing trawler on our AIS system yesterday, only 9 miles away. A bit gray, cooler and pleasant conditions. Just wish we had another 5-7 knots of wind. Drifting along…. KIT,

    Scott and sleeping Nikki (NO, she doesn\’t sleep too much, she\’s just off watch when I write!)….:-)

  • Day One to Chagos…..

    Day One to Chagos….. 26 September 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

    Dear F&F,

    The first few days are all about getting your sea legs and tummy back. I\’m doing very well for only 24 hours out of Cocos, we\’ll see how Nikki is when she wakes up. She was working on her celestial navigation last night which is a good sign.

    It was a nice 20 knot day yesterday, but to be prudent, we took a second reef in at dark and it paid off. We had several hours of 23-29 knots during the evening and with the staysail poled out, we were fast and comfy. No speed records today, but a decent passage of about 175 miles. We\’re also staying a bit south due to what is effectively an ITCZ low pressure system. The ITCZ or \”inter tropical convergence zone\” is where weather from the northern hemisphere meets the weather from the southern hemisphere. It is often, rainy, squally and gusty. As the trade winds on our latest weather file show strengthening at this latitude, we may gybe a bit north and just follow the low\’s without catching up to them. I do so prefer to stay away from the high 20 knot wind field. Currently, we have two reefs and the staysail poled out. We\’ll see about a gybe shortly?

    Nothing to exciting to report, all is going well. New position report out in a few minutes. (see links below)

    KIT, Scott and Nikki

  • Half Way Round…..Departure – Cocos to Chagos Archipelago

    Half Way Round…..

    25 September 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

    Dear F&F,

    The weather ahead was my concern yesterday. There was a system of weak low pressure cells along our route. For the most part, these were knocking the wind speed down so much, we might not be able to sail very effectively. I have more diesel fuel aboard that at any time in the history of \”Beach House\” sailing, but don\’t want to see how much of it I can use. Topping off at Cocos Island was $2.42/liter or $9.15/gallon!

    The World ARC Rally (which Cindy and I last saw in Bora Bora two years ago) has caught up to us again. About 7 of the boats arrived yesterday and that with the improving weather told me it was time to move on. \”Fidelis\” (a Morgan 45 like my Dad had), pulled out as well to head to Rodriguez Island off the SE of Madagascar.

    The seas are a bit big at 3-3.5 meters, but not too much \”sea\” so it\’s okay. We\’re still getting our sea legs, but with the reefed main and full genoa on the pole to port, we\’re zipping along in 18-22 knots of wind.

    An old Riddle: \”How far can you run into the Forest?\”….. Answer: \”Half way, because the other half is out\”…..

    And that indeed is where I find myself today. Since Cindy and I left Bahia Herradura, Costa Rica, \”Beach House\” has now sailed just about exactly half way round the world.

    This is a big ocean and we\’re trying to do it in bites. The two big bites are from Cocos to Chagos and Chagos to Madagascar. I expect the sail to take about 9 days and our permit will allow us to stay up to a month. I doubt we\’ll stay that long, but it\’s nice nonetheless. Chagos is supposed to be like the world was thousands of years ago. Pristine white sand beaches on almost untouched atolls, lagoons teaming with fish. Hope it\’s true.

    For those of you who have asked about Pirate territory you\’ll be happy to know! First, I contacted NATO\’s marine force for Piracy in the Indian Ocean. They told me that our journey would be \”out of high risk areas\” with all the usual disclaimers of course. Second, we learned from someone in the Piracy Watch/Prevention industry, that there has been know incidents south of Chagos as well as several hundred miles to the West. When we leave for Madagascar, we will be heading Southwest, skirting away from even the remote areas. The naval forces are apparently quite active throughout the entire Western Indian Ocean and it\’s paying off. They are even flying unmanned drones out of the Seychelles to keep an eye on things. It seems the marine version of this awful business is getting more and more shut down. Apparently, it\’s now easier to kidnap westerners in resorts in Kenya and Tanzania. Still not good, but better for us. So have no fears, all is well and thought out.

    1467 miles to go! KIT, position reports and blogs daily. (First position report tomorrow) Scott and Sleeping Nikki

  • Weather Delay…..

    Weather Delay…Cocos Island

    Dear F&F,

    We did some relaxing and touring around in the dinghy yesterday awaiting the latest weather to see if we\’d be off today for Chagos. We tried to find the local (one and only) Dugong here at the western edge of Direction Island, but no luck. We then took advantage of the very calm conditions to motor over to Horsburgh Island (at the entrance to the lagoon). We did not go ashore, but saw the WW2 big gun that was to protect the entrance to the lagoon in case of a Japanese invasion. We also went to Turtle Beach (no turtles) on Home Island and a lovely trip over to Prison Island. Prison Island can be walked around in about 5 minutes. It\’s a small, lush tropical setting with sugar white sand beaches inside the lagoon. A lovely day all in all.

    Bruce/June and crew aboard s/v \”Ainia\” left this morning for the North of Madagascar direct. Their route will initially take them south of here and keep them away from the unsettled squalls which would be following us to Chagos if we left today.

    Hence, we\’re on \”weather delay\”. It seems that if we wait 24 hours (possibly 48), we\’ll be back in settled average trade winds for our journey. Of course, weather is always subject to change! There is a very strong low pressure system right off the Antarctic coast at the moment. You ask, why should that concern us? The long tail on the front (which is very weak up in our latitudes) is causing unstable, moist air to mix in which will cause squalls. This is rainy/dry, windy, no wind and a bit aggravating after awhile. As my Mom used to say, \”discretion is the better part of valor\”, so we shall sit.

    Standing by for weather window…May take another day trip to West and Home Islands.

    KIT, Scott and Nikki