Jeff's Log updates ~ Finally have internet service trying to play catch up

Monday, 10/29/07, 10:30pm, Galle, Sri Lanka

We’re here, we’re here! We arrived at Galle, Sri Lanka at about 12:30PM local time and were greeted by two patrol boats with machine guns mounted. Two navy officers came on board and searched the boat. I was up on the boom, closing the sail cover and removing the main halyard when they arrived. Scott hates dealing with officials, but didn’t wait for me to get down. They weren’t searching for bombs or guns; they were searching to see how much liquor and cigarettes we had on board. They walked off the boat with two bottles of rum “for the captain, not for me”. Next, was the customs guy. All he wanted was two bottles of rum. Scott gave him one. Next was port security. Two guys, they wanted booze. I told them we weren’t a liquor store, and they should go talk to the Navy. I gave them each a pack of Marlboros.

Now for the bright side, we went to dinner tonight at the hard rock café. It’s a quaint little place on the beach a short tuk-tuk ride from here. My driver, Edgar is a nice 32 year old chap with a wife he adores, and three children. He promised to take me for a day trip when I get a day off. He’s going to help me find a nice gift for Clara, as he is hooked up with people that guarantee their goods in writing. He also invited Scott and me for dinner at his house, when he learned that Dave and Kendra will be gone. I paid him 10 dollars US at the end of the evening, which is just a ton of money here, and he promised that He would take extra care of me when I take my day trip.

We are the only yacht boat in the general vicinity. We’re all alone on a floating dock that the Navy uses. It’s about a half mile walk to the gate through some muddy dirt roads, but very secure. At night, they drag this anti-personnel net over the entrance to the harbor, and at unspecified intervals, they explode anti-personnel depth charges in the harbor. The guys at the gate are all heavily armed with a variety of weapons. Everybody that we have met treats us very well, and even people on the street will go out of their way to welcome us. It sure is a far cry from what you read or see on TV. So far, I like the food too!

Tuesday, 10/30.07 8:30PM Galle, Sri Lanka

I had a full night’s sleep [except for the antipersonnel grenades that sometimes shook the boat] and boy did I feel chipper this morning. Dave and Kendra left to go to the mountains, and I helped with their luggage and road with them to the gate. On the way, there was a tuna boat being offloaded, and we stopped to let Dave take pictures. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me, but maybe I’ll be able to get them from Dave.

I made the arrangements to refuel the boat, and that will happen tomorrow morning. In the mean time, I emptied the forepeak sail locker and cleaned it again. I had a little fuel spillage up there as we were leaving Aden. When the high water problem came into play, the fuel problem got a lot larger, as it floats. Just call it another lesson learned, as that mistake will never happen again on my watch.

After that, Scott took me to lunch at the Hard Rock. We ordered the same thing that was real good last night, and today, the squid was tough and chewy. The house fried rice was excellent, however, and the drinks were strong, so everything kind of balanced out. Chukka, our driver gave us a little sightseeing tour, and the whole experience was very pleasant and relaxing. The view from the beach at the Hard Rock is very tropical and romantic. It sure made me miss Clara a little more than normal. Chukka hooked me up with a Sri Lankan sim card for my phone. And it is now fairly economical to call home. I took advantage of that immediately and talked for an extra bit.

Tomorrow will be fairly busy with the refueling. After that, I am going to change the oil in the main engine, so all of the dirty jobs will be done in one swoop.

Saturday, 11/03/07

We are under way again to the next destination which is Puckett, Thailand. We departed from Galle at about 10:00AM. The mainsail cover would not unzip, so I had to climb up on the boom and wrestle it open. In Thailand, it will have to be replaced.

Sailing along the coast of Sri Lanka was very nice. We were close enough to the island to watch the coastline go by.

Before we left, I had to go in to the agent’s office to pick up our sailing permission. Chukka and Edgar were both there to say goodbye. Windsor the agent was running late, so I returned to the boat and he brought the paperwork to us. Then the Navy came and checked for any stowaways we might have and we were off.

Captain Scott ~ Monday, November 12th, 2007

5:45 PM In Thailand and the 5757nm leg from Crete to Phuket has ended. Crossing theIndian Ocean was my 15th ocean crossing. A second potential typhoon is now brewing in the Bay of Bengal behind us but our crossing was fairly uneventful. We were making fast miles with an 11 kt reach but with PhuketJust 65 miles ahead the wind quit and then blew dead on the nose. So we dropped all sail for the first time and powered in. RPM was set so we would arrive at dawn and so we did. I have sailed here before but still was struck by the pure lush tropical beauty. David Brennan will stay on and do the Kings Cup. Afterward Jeff will baby-sit the boat till I return in March. Then we begin the final leg of the 4th circum navigation. From Thailand to Alaskavia Borneo, China and Japan.

Captain Scott ~ Sunday, November 4th, 2007

11:35 PM Monday 2 days out of Galle: As we left the harbor we passed the Swan 53 coming in. She was "Who Dares Wins" the same boat we passed in the Gulf of Aden. She took exactly 5 days longer to get to Galle I guess they didn’t dare enough. So while they were being shaken down by the Navy we sailed east ward along the coast of Sri Lanka. As pretty a coast as there is--tropical, lush,white beaches, palm trees, crashing surf, mountains behind. By nightfall we were at the SE corner of the Island and leaving the shore. The pretty daytime sail turned frustrating---the sea became lumpy in a lot of current, frequent rain squalls returned, 1000 fishing boats knew that we were in the best spot for fish, AND 3 1/2 kts of current against us!! If we sailed at 6kts through the water, our SOG was only 2 1/2! The ETA read out for Phuket was for sometime in 2008. So we had to use the engine to get the boat speed up to 9 kts. Even with this we only covered 120 miles in the first day. Day 2 and 50 miles off the coast. Rain and lighter wind saw us use the engine full time. But now away from fishing boats and the adverse current was down to 2 kts. Monday and the weather cleared and adverse current down to a manageable knot. We are running wing and wing under sunny skies and all is right in the world.

Captain Scott ~ Friday, November 2nd, 2007

9:28 AM We leave in the morning. The Brennan’s had a great time in the mountains. Cold at night, old tea plantations, high water falls, elephant, orphanage, Buddhist temples(including one that has his tooth). Their big purchase is a300 lb statue 18th century of Ganech. Back in Galle the big story is theTsunami. Most people we met lost one or more family member. The train was washed off the tracks with a thousand dead and so it goes. The USA gets local credit for its aid. 3 yachts were here and all destroyed. I spent the last 3 days down the coast on one of the prettiest beaches that I’ve ever seen. All travel by Tok Tok--a 3 wheel motor bike. Refuel by Jerry can. 120gal is a lot of jerry cans. 6 Tuna boats in port all Malaysian owned. They unload 75 tons of tuna each. It takes days to off load the catch which all goes by air to Japan or the USA. I wrote earlier that this is Typhoon season. One has formed behind us heading for Oman. No problem for us. 1100nmto Thailand.

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