Jeff ~ Monday, October 29th, 2007

I just got off the phone with Jeff, he sends his love to everyone. He's in Sri Lanka and said that he's having a great time. He said to tell you that even though you hear that people outside of the US are anti-American, he's found it to be just the opposite. He said the people he's met have gone out of their way to make them feel welcome. Jeff's a little homesick and misses everyone however, it's still a trip of a lifetime and he's happy with his choice to take on this adventure.

Captain Scott ~ Monday, October 29th, 2007

Galle, Sri Lanka: The last 2 1/2 days getting here was for the most part anti climatic--boring. For 3 days before we had surfed with main only doing 200 mile days but with the goal in site, the wind shut down. So a lot of the last 2 days was under engine, downwind, in left over seas. Downwind in light air is the worst as the apparent wind is so light that the sails slat and the boat rolls without wind pressure to hold her. But frequent squalls woke us up. One night a heavy rain squall hit with 30 kts of steady cold wind and driving rain. I was as happy as a pig in...a squall. Pitch black--no visibility--the boat leapt ahead at 13kts--the red glow of the instruments was all I could see--really fun and I literally sang in the rain. Our dragonfly resurfaced and Kendra screamed when it landed on her. So Dave caught it and threw it overboard. The boat was doing 10--the wind 18--and a half hour later the dragon fly flew back through a hatch. So it lived till Sri Lanka. Hope we are not the cause of the Sri Lankin Dragon Fly Plague. Aden to Galle13 days 4 hours--2,282nm

Galle: I have been here before in 99. It's a Navy base and a civil war is going on with the Tamil Tigers. The fighting kills many daily but Westerners are left alone--as long as they are not in the wrong place at the wrong time--like a Navy base. So we were greeted by 2 patrol boats with mounted machine guns and told to anchor for inspection. The inspection by 2 Navy officers was to see what we had that was worth extorting. Rum. They demanded 4 bottles and got 2. Then customs came aboard and demanded 2 and got one.Then the port authority wanted some--a rapacious lot. My son in law Brad tells me that this mail gets forwarded to people who do not know me. They are puzzled by the references to rum. To set the record straight--it’s my crew that needs the rum--not me. The base is sealed at night. Anti sub and personal nets close the entrance. 4 patrol boats move around. A bunker at the entrance uses a search light and has a 50mm cannon. But it’s the anti personal depth charges that go off irregularly that makes sleep difficult. Dave and Kendra will go inland to the mountains tomorrow.
It’s a beautiful country--the spice island

Captain Scott ~ Thursday, October 25th, 2007

Thursday, 8 18n 68 08e Commanders alerted us to a low forming ahead and so we are diverting a little south to keep on its good side. The north tip of the Maldives is only 290 ahead. Last night the winds increased to 20/28kts from the NW and we are humming along. All day today the seas have built and the wind 25/32kts. Also the barometer has fallen some and squalls are moving through. Typhoons form here this time of year so we are watchful. We can always bailout to the south. We rolled up the jib, eased the main, and were soon seeing 13.5kts of speed. Max wind in the squall was 44. At exactly this exciting moment I spotted a pod of whales. We flew by them. I counted 9 spouts. Possibly each whale had time to blow twice so maybe there were only 4 1/2 whales