[p]pjr4728
[s]
pos: 16 19.835n 40 4.954e
sp: 0
h: 0m
w: 11kn N, CC nil, SS 0.3m NNW
d: 07/04/19 20:00 GMT+0300
You may be a little perplexed by our silence for a wee while. There?s a bit of a story behind it so, dear reader, I suggest you might wish to grab a nice cup of tea and we?ll begin?

?Bab-el-Mandeb? (BEM), the straits guarding the S end of the Red Sea, apparently translates as ?The
Gates of Sorrow? and I can tell you, they were open, but seemed intent on business, as we passed
through!

It had all started SO well too!: We had a cracking day to start, after exiting the IRTC on Friday evening, covering the 115nm to the south entrance of the BEM, where Eritrea and Yemen are separated by only 15nm or so, by 1500hrs on Saturday afternoon. It was thus cool to be able to sight both the continent of Africa and the Arabian peninsula at the same time.

The lovely following wind that had assisted us all day continued to increase a little, speeding our passage to around 7kn through the narrowest section by dusk (1830), on the west side of the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) used by the commercial shipping traffic. We chose the west side as it gave more distance from Yemen, given it was still light as we passed through this (reportedly) ?dodgy? area.

There was only one mildly tricky bit to negotiate, around the Hanish Islands, at about 0100 Sunday morning; this being where we had to squeeze through between a few ships steaming towards us using the southbound TSS to our east and have sufficient clearance from a small island/reef to our west (whose position the chart helpfully suggested may not be accurate, lol!). Anyway, no real
problems, so far, so good.

At this point we had about a 27kn following wind, which as we were doing 7kn in the same direction, is effectively only 20kn over the boat. It was however building towards the forecast 30kn and our speed increased as it did?we averaged 7.5kn to 0200 and 8.0kn in the following hour. Not bad given a theoretical maximum hull speed of 7.7 eh?!

By 0400 however, the wind had climbed well beyond the forecast strength (when WILL we ever learn??!!). We were now averaging 8.2kn each hour and the apparent wind (over the boat) had climbed to average around 36kn, the true wind speed therefore being about 44kn - with occasional gusts to 54kn. This wasn?t particularly appealing to be honest and brought on a sense of déjà vu from our first passage out of NZ. Sadly, Sam and Brett weren?t around this time to lend a hand at the helm tho?!! It can get quite tiring, as the waves were coming quite thick and very fast?Not toooo huge at this point (most were ?only? 2-3m), but very fast and often, with a period between crests of only 3-4s.

Hand steering is better in these conditions, not least because at night you can still get a good ?feel? for what to do with the steering as the wave comes under and which side it may be gusting from the wind on the side of your face. In daylight you can add keeping one eye on the waves (behind) to one on the wind speed and direction (indicator) in front of the helm. Unfortunately, either does however get a wee bit physically and mentally draining after a while!

We were therefore alternating between hand steering and using the autohelm, a device which can control the wheel and turn the yacht to keep it on a compass heading you set.

Sadly in this type of conditions though, the term ?autohelm?; is a bit of a misnomer!?It?s far from ?set and forget? and can?t possibly be left to its own devices: In daylight you need to be facing back looking at each wave, what angle it appears to be coming in at and where it?s going to break relative to where the boat will be when it does - and what its buddies behind are up to, too. As you do this, you?re trying to judge whether to leave the autohelm be (assuming it will adequately correct the boats direction on the heading you?ve set, in time to cope with that wave - and how that correction may affect the yacht?s attitude to the next wave, and the wind) - or coax the autohelm 10 degrees this way or 20 degrees that way, to keep the stern relatively perpendicular. All the while you have to be conscious that you don?t want to go too far left as you might catch a wave and broach (putting the boat too side-on to those nasty waves), or too far right and
accidently ?gybe?. This is when a wind passes across the stern (or you deliberately move the stern through) and catches the other side of the sail. The results can be ?painful? if it is not done deliberately, as the boom tries to cross over FAST and with great power - even with our ?preventers? rigged -with high potential for damaged gear?and broaching the other way is also then a distinct possibility, unless you can correct it quickly.

At night you can?t see what?s coming and just have to guess from what the instruments and the boat is telling you. All in all, a little stressful when you are having to process this set of judgements (and either turn the wheel or hit the right autohelm buttons) every 2-4 seconds, for what was turning out to be hour after hour.

Helpfully at 0600 (while Sue was trying to catch some much-needed sleep) we received a call over the VHF from a ?Coalition Warship?. These don?t tend to send out their position on AIS for obvious reasons and seem particularly wary of small boats close-by after the odd attack in this region. ?Could you please change direction 30 degrees to starboard and maintain for the next 7 miles to avoid us?. Hmmm, a tad inconvenient this, not only because of the dash below required to the radio: While dawn has just broken, such a course change required a gybe and it was blowing 40kn apparent over the boat at the time. ?Errrr, well that?s not that easy for us right now, but we?ll try??

Anyway, a ?planned? gybe WAS successfully achieved (wearing ship , where you get to the same point of sail by going ?the long way around? was not an option in those conditions as it presents the side of the boat to the oncoming waves and risks a broach). 10 minutes later, said warship appears in our rear view mirror. They come back on the radio: ?Oh, we see now you are a sailing boat, thanks for doing that, but you can now resume your original course. And do give us a call if you require any assistance?

Of course, I was tempted to reply, as they serenely chugged on by, ½ mile away, that the only reason we would need assistance would be being put into difficulty through their bloody ill-timed requests. The ship?s nationality remains a mystery ?.but I?d swear the accent was distinctly French.

Around 1000hrs the wind had dropped a little and so had our speed, averaging ?only? 7.4kn. But the forecast was for the blow to last all day and beyond, so you just KNOW the weather is just toying with you a bit, the respite is temporary and really it is probably just girding its loins to come back with just that wee bit more power?.And so it proved.

By 1100 our average was back up to nearly 8kn and the radar GPS told us we were surfing down some waves at 15 (our paddle wheel speed log having long since spat the dummy).

At this point I joked to Sue that I was ready to get off this train at the next station, but unfortunately ? or probably fortunately ? this here train wasn?t stopping. I wasn't actually finding it THAT scary?even though when seen through these conditions, the sea can be a frightening place (yes, I know that is probably a contradiction!): You know you can?t control it, just try to ?manage?, as best you can, how you cope and above all, try and look after the boat. In fact, not unlike some climbing adventures, it?s actually quite damned liberating, because clarity, being ?in the moment?, IS everything?Nothing else matters, not some spat you may have had 24 hrs ago, not what you would prefer to be doing instead at this moment, not your plans for life in 10 years time?None of that ?stuff? matters - just total focus on what you need to be doing, as a crew, at that moment in time to ensure your boat stays in one piece, is heading in roughly the right dire
ction
and avoids hitting anything blunt and hard. Of course this is likely to give you all the best chance of being able to pontificate on that ?other stuff?, once you?ve ?got through?!

Anyway, I?m probably boring you, so will try not to go on for toooo much longer!

The good news was that eventually the blow thankfully dissipated 12 hours sooner than we were expecting, as by 1500hrs ? 3pm that afternoon, our average speed over each hour had dropped to under 7kn. Funny how you adjust, but after a real blow, ?only? 30kn wind can feel like a gentle summer?s breeze! The other good news was that we?d achieved 176nm in the past 24hrs, putting us that much closer to our destination. That?s actually not that fast for some yachts, but I think matches ?our? record for Windchase, which we'd recorded in a gale on her delivery trip from Auckland to Picton 8 years previously.

By nightfall we could start to get some proper rest, as the wind began to drop to 20-25. Unfortunately, it also had begun to swing around to the N, the direction we wanted to head. In fact we started motor-sailing with the engine, as it was rubbish for the direction we wanted to go and even then, we had to veer NW. Off we chugged into the night, Sue taking watch and I all but comatose. When morning dawned it was apparent that, while we had made it halfway across the Red Sea, even with the engine assisting both the direction and speed we were able to make given the wind and waves, were not that flash ? heading us off towards the Saudi/Yemen border. Now, these two countries are not the best of buddies right now (although most around here seem to be having some kind of spat with a neighbour, or themselves), but it didn?t seem like continuing bashing in that direction was a particularly great idea. The other tack was just as bad, basically ?horizontal? or along the line o
f
latitude, making no northing whatsoever towards our destination. The forecast was for these N/NW winds to stay around 18-20 for the next 24-36hrs, so we thought long and hard ? well, about 30 seconds, and decided ?bugger this? - turning SW towards the islands off Massawa, Eritrea.

Late that afternoon saw us anchored in calm water in the lee of some low cliffs of a deserted island in the archipelago. The next island over however clearly wasn?t so deserted, as within 15 minutes of dropping the hook, we were visited by the Eritrean Navy (or what passed for it in these parts ? actually 3 guys in a runabout.) ?Hello Sir, have you got a permit to stay here?? ?No.? ?Have you got any cigarettes Sir?? ?Yes.?; ?No problem at all then, welcome to Eritrea and enjoy your stay.? Bliss! Anyway, just a little short of where we?d intended to ?land?, here officially ended our longest passage to date ? 2,352nm (4,356km) in around 19 days 5hrs (av 5.1kn or 122nm/day).

The next day we mooched along further west, back in 'cruising mode', anchoring within the lagoon of a reefed island this time. Later we were joined here by 3 local fishing boats, exchanging a few things like hooks, and more fags - for a massive fish, which made Sue and I a great curry and took Mili to what seemed to be doggy heaven itself.

Finally, the next day, we made it to the port of Massawa. Again we received a very warm welcome from the officials here, who issued us with a free 48hr ?shore pass? instead of us shelling out for a longer visa. We remained tied up to the wall the whole of our stay ? no problem and again no charge ? with frequent visits from the dockside workers keen to make Mili?s acquaintance ? I guess the novelty helps!

Ashore, within 300m walk, we found numerous simple but good restaurants. And a number even served Beer!!!. We did also meet a few land sharks, but even these had some charm. On the whole the people, while apparently mostly very poor, were almost universally very welcoming. Quite a few thankfully had a reasonable command of English too, which is good as our Arabic and the local language was limited to a few scratchy phrases!

Replenishing the diesel supplies WAS an admin mission, involving several visits over 30 hours to the Ministry of Tourism to apply for and then collect the required letter of permission to buy it. Once we got our grateful hands on this however, it was a quick process, with the help of a restaurant owner Mike, to get a pick up truck and head to the station with jerry cans, dosh and the all-important official letter!

Immediately behind the road with the restaurants lays the ?Old Town? of Massawa. This is a maze of narrow alleys bounded by mostly dilapidated buildings?but where you were assured by locals - and felt - completely safe to wander. The town was struck by a serious earthquake in 1921, a war with Ethiopia in 1977 and more trouble around independence in the early 1990s. It?s difficult to tell which is responsible for the state of the buildings (apart from the ones with holes from bullets or tank shells that is!), or whether it?s just the result of sheer grinding poverty. But there was usually a wave, a smile and/or a shouted welcome, frequently a little shop behind the most inconspicuous door, and other things to add interest to wanderings, like one of the earliest moslem shrines, which even pre-dates Mecca.

Further towards the ?New? town (on the way to the Ministry of Tourism, again!), more interesting stuff?a great museum (with very enthusiastic curator who gave us her undivided attention for a full guided tour!), my first encounter with guys with AKs (very low key, they just asked me to walk to the bank I was headed to via the other side of the street ? They were probably just National Service dudes given some poxy guard duty of the housing complex they were stood next too!), first sight of camels being used to carry wood to the market and a most unexpected sight?road cones and a crowd. It made us wonder what was going on..Nek minut, up fly 3 african dudes on MTB?s, in full team kit, turning at the cones ?.It was obviously some kind of race?But just slightly bizarre (having seen the state of everyone else's bikes).

Oh and the other highlight as usual of course was travel using the local buses (3 nakfa or roughly 20c takes you anywhere in town). Here the venerable Hi-ace continues to offer sterling service. In one I took, I counted a grand total of THIRTY men, women and children. Plenty of produce too but thankfully, no goats.?It was like a game of Twister with strangers! My old van Ron would have most proud.

We cleared out of Massawa after only 60hrs (yes, they were very flexible about the 48!) and headed just 25miles north to yet another deserted island. Here the new mainsail we have been carrying since Cairns finally got bent on. (The old one has done way better service than we ever expected after its repair just before we left NZ, but did blow out a panel during the gale and while repairable, we just thought we?d treat Windchase and ourselves for the uphill slog that usually forms the N half of the Red Sea to Suez.)

Today we?ve headed a further 40nm north, where Mili could take her final shore leave for a couple of days at least, before we head off on a shortv2-3 day passage to our original destination at Suakin in Sudan. I have to say, she was pretty damned excited when she hit the beach tonight, her first since Sri Lanka!

On the map we have just realised we?re only 17.5m or about 3hrs north (and 80m west) of where we actually got to 6.5 days ago! But we?re here and here in relaxed mode, so what the heck!

That really IS all for now folks? I said I would TRY not to go on for toooo much longer, not that I wouldn't, right?

[END]