Weatherly Sailing Adventures
We left Male on a very light breeze, and stopped by a reef on the way for a snorkel, taking it in turns to idle the boat while the other swam, since the water was too deep to anchor by the reef. I saw a lot of small fish, including orange clown fish, yellow striped coral trout, and parrotfish.
Most of the sail over was in less than 12knots of breeze, with one day up to 16knots. It was probably the easiest sailing I've ever done. We were on one long tack all the way from Male to Socotra, at the mouth to the Gulf of Aden. Much of the time was assisted with the engine, which was performing beautifully. Only one day it konked out, due to a clogged fuel filter, which was easily remedied. Luckily I had 220L of spare fuel on deck, in addition to the same volume in my main tank, giving me a total motoring range of 1500nautical miles at cruising speed.
Every morning at about 8am we logged in with the Flying Fish Net, a radio net looked after by cruising yachts venturing across the Indian Ocean and up the Red Sea. I enjoyed these sessions where each yacht gave their position and wind strength and direction, and also provided much appreciated information about the ports ahead.
Approaching Socotra, many huge bulk carriers steamed past. One night, I thought one was approaching so I altered course slightly, then manouvered back when passing, but it appeared he was altering course toward me also. It was a fishing trawler, and we were only 1/4Mile away when he sprang a powerful spotlight at Weatherly. Convinced he was a pirate following us, I switched off all lights and woke Chris to hide valuables, and be prepared for any boarding. False alarm, he gradually grew more distant, and faded from radar. I guess he was busy with fishing and it was me who'd veered towards him, but shows how nervous I was getting about piracy and close encounters at night.
We saw many dolphins playing at the bow, sometimes leaping out of the water playfully.
A few days before arriving in Aden, after chatting on his satellite phone, Chris announced that he would take up some computer job in Bangladesh. Well, after he abandoned unexpectedly in Male with another crew, it was probably a good thing to be rid of crew with such low integrity and commitment.
But now I was stuck again, facing the prospect ahead of wasting more precious time in internet cafes looking for crew to sail from Aden up the Red Sea. A remote location to have crew to fly to, and a sailing region way off the average crew's radar.
