Captain Scott ~ Friday, October 19th, 2007

Warship Augsburg came along side at sunset. We are beating east ward in and out of rain squalls--the first rain we have seen since May. Now we are Just past the "Horn of Africa" which is its most eastern point of Africa. Hense Africa and Somilia are behind us. We still have to get around Socotra Island which is ahead. By tomorrow night we should be free of the Gulf of Aden and be able to set a course to the Maldives. The German warship circled us and came within 25 yds with all her crew on deck. Great photo op as we were doing 8kts to windward with rail down and old glory streaming.

Captain Scott ~ Wednesday, October 17th, 2007

Now, 36 hours out of Aden. A reasonable beat--comfortable, but still a beat. Last night had build ups over Yemen with lightning but its been crystal clear since. We are just entering the pirate high risk area and will be in it for the next 2 1/2 days. Somalis transport illegal immigrants across hereabouts and pirate anything they can catch on the way. For sailboats it’s the #1 pirate area in the world (Malacca Straits for commercial). However, we have good reason to feel safe. We have called Collation forces on the phone and are giving them daily positions. As a result we got over flown by military aircraft this morning and talked to it on VHF. There is a German Frigate on patrol in these waters and she knows we are here--and we have a direct telephone line to her. We are also far off the Somali coast and there are lots of freighters about. So it’s all bad news for those of you who were betting on the pirates!!

Captain Scott ~ Tuesday, October 16th, 2007

We left at 0600 at dawn on a beautiful day. Aden is on an extinct volcano. We sailed down the coast of high sheer crater walls with a central spine that looked like the back of a giant sleeping lizard.

We had a wood plank that we used to get on and off the boat when we med moored. But from here on there will be no use for it as we will always be anchored out and using the dingy.We took it ashore thinking someone could use a nice piece of wood. But the gate guard insisted that we take it to customs first and pay duty on it. So we float tested it.

Back in Massawa the gate guard insisted on looking at our shore passes which he pretended to read. So we always handed him the passes upside down. Aden was a joy but we are yet another day behind schedule. Now sailing, beating to weather in 14kts witch with the small jibis perfect. Pretty as a picture, just like poetry!!

Captain Scott ~ Monday, October 15th, 2007

Few people work during the month of Ramadan. The week after Ramadan is the Eid festival and nobody works. It is their most important holiday and the town is filled with country folk looking to party. And Oct 14th is their independence day. With holiday on top of holiday we are having trouble getting some basics to leave. Dinner ashore is movie stuff. Its packed and everyone dressed up. The women all wear berkas which is new in the past 6 years--Saudi influence. The men wear a large belt with an even larger curved dagger. The dagger is upright over the navel.

Dave bought this outfit and the locals loved it. I got my dagger my last time through. One local showed us his belt which had bullets on it. Just like a cowboy he grinned. Not many bars in town but we found one. A Russian Surgeon sat down with us and...Well no one out drinks a Russian. As a military officer he was stationed in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Everyone seems very happy to see us and we feel very safe. So as the only yacht in the harbor I have decided to fly the flag. Noted that the Cole was blown up here only 300 ft from where we are anchored

Captain Scott ~ Monday, October 15th, 2007

We have an expanding list of boat projects that we have spent the last several days working on. We broke a jib sheet coming in. On any real jib it's an easy exchange but on this sail the clew is unreachable. We replaced the sheet using a bosuns chair. We can’t calibrate the high pressure on the 110 freezer and have given up. And our secondary bilge pump needs parts that we aren’t going to get. When Jeff washed out the bilge replacing the watermaker membranes back in Jordan, we found some fresh oil mixed in. This led to a leaking seal on the gen set. The rear seal was replaced in Turkey and the new leak is in the front seal. As we have no way of fixing it, the generator gets diapers for the near term. The alternator bracket on the main engine has always been a problem. Mark Jones found all 3 attachments to the alternator fractured and got this fixed last year. Now the 2 bolts that hold the other end to the engine broke. Dave has spent 2 days drilling out the old bolts, finding new ones the exact size, taping and solving the problem.He is really happy when presented with such a challenge and I am even happier to have him. We had tea and then dinner with Roy Facey who is a mysterious, well connected Englishman. He gave us up to date pirate info. 2years ago an American was boarded by a pirate. The American blew him away with his shotgun and became a local hero. Pirates don’t have civil rights here--or Yemen has few attorneys. We will have a 48 hour danger area that will start on the 2nd day out of Aden. We hope to depart tomorrow AM

Message from Jeff ~ Sunday, October 14th 2007

Jeff called on Sunday and sends his best to everyone. He said he's working really hard but is enjoying the trip and having fun. It's a trip of a lifetime and the experience is priceless. He'll try to keep in touch as best as he can. Keep the comments coming, when he does not have internet access I read them to him when he calls.

Be Safe
Clara

Captain Scott ~ Saturday, October 13th, 2007

We have had nothing but light air until we were 50 miles from Aden. Then suddenly the wind came in with a big sea. 22kts on the nose. A blessing as we were able to beat our way into Aden by Friday afternoon. Still we were a little beat up and in need of a vacation. 10 hours of sleep and Saturday dawned a lot brighter. The customs man came aboard for the sole purpose of extorsion and the fuel dock manager wanted an extra 10% under the table to open during a holiday---the entire week after Ramadan is a holiday.

The fuel dock was filthey and we waited 2 hours while the manager went to the bank to make sure our money was good. Finally a guy wearing a sheet with a towel on his head showed up to pump fuel. The hose was for super tankers and covered with oily filth. But fuel we got!!
Like Scarlet Ohara in Gone with the Wind said " I sware I'll never be hungry again". And so fuel is everywhere. Tanks overflowing, 7 jerry cans filled and a few pickle jars will see us to the Maldives.