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ALL AT SEA
PART 5
When I last wrote – it seems an age ago now – we were preparing to leave Sri Lanka. We got the last of the fresh provisions, put diesel fuel on board by stretching a garden hose across another work boat and siphoning it from barrels on the back of a truck. Of course, we were late, three hours later than promised, but that was about usual for Sri Lanka so no surprises there! All the right forms filled in and stamped, all the local money spent and radio permission granted to leave the harbour, so off we went. Or would have done had we not been stopped by a naval patrol boat because we hadn’t done a form for them!
No problem. I grabbed a used Crew List from Singapore, put the ship’s stamp on it and signed it with a flourish, and all was well again.
Great sighs of relief as we quietly motored away from the land in very light weather conditions, washed the dirt from the shore off the yacht and looked forward to an easy Trade Wind sail across the Arabian Sea and into the Gulf of Aden. It being the start of the North East Monsoon, we knew we could expect light favourable winds for the next 3,000 miles. Perfect sailing in fact. Will I ever learn?
Day Two. Still light conditions and then near disaster! We started the auxiliary generator in order to run the fresh water maker and the deep freeze. I should explain that most yacht electrical systems are 12 volts D.C. and this is supplied by an alternator on the main engine. Some systems – like our fresh water maker – have high demands and need 240 volts a.c., just like your domestic supply at home. Our auxiliary generator is supposed to provide the 240 volts but shortly after being started it filled the yacht with thick black exhaust smoke. The special heat resistant rubber exhaust had blown apart.
Not normally a big problem, but when we got the pipe off we found the interior lining (this type of pipe is wire reinforced, in two layers, made of different types of rubber) and the whole pipe was rotten. No chance of cutting out the damaged section and no spare on board. While the loss of the deep freeze was annoying, it only meant that our fresh food was going to spoil. The loss of the water-maker was far more serious because we had left Sri Lanka with our main water tank almost empty because the water-maker cannot be run in harbour (honestly, the very expensive membranes are destroyed by the oil and other pollution always found in harbour). We checked the second – reserve - water tank, only to find that the water in it was foul and undrinkable. Serious problem!
We always carry some emergency water in containers, in case we ever have to abandon ship and take to the life raft, so I calculated that if we were very careful, this would just last us if we made an average crossing time.
To further add to our worries, the 12 volt alternator started to give problems with reduced output which meant us having to run the engine for battery charging eight or ten hours a day instead of the usual four.
I won’t labour on about the vagaries of the weather and the hardship of sailing across tropical seas in temperatures in excess of thirty degrees centigrade. Sufficient to say that the Monsoon was late this year and the wind was always from ahead! Nevertheless, we made fair time across to the Red Sea, still with enough drinking water and with only 1,200 miles still to go and plenty of diesel fuel left for the critical last 500 miles to Suez which always has the wind blowing hard from the North. Again, will I ever learn?
First, the autopilot failed. This normally steers the yacht on it’s chosen course, allowing us to navigate, do essential maintenance, prepare food or just put the kettle on for a coffee. There was an emergency unit on board, but that didn’t work! This was a real tragedy because it meant having to steer by hand, watch on watch, for the rest of the voyage. Never fun at the best of times, but the best of times were over for us!
That was because it blew from the North, all the way up the Red Sea! Sometimes it just blew hard, sometimes it blew very hard! We had sails reefed down almost to storm size and beat from East to West and back again for day after day. Sometimes we made as little as 40 miles good. Whenever conditions eased slightly we used the motor to help and this soon used up our fuel reserves. The whole yacht was coated with a thick layer of salt – the Red Sea has the highest salinity of any open sea – and we were getting very short of drinking water. So short in fact that the Skipper’s essential reserves of tinned tonic (for his evening G & T) had to be shared out just for drinking.
Eventually, we got a break in the conditions. In the Gulf of Suez, amongst Egypt’s main oil fields, we had an almost windless afternoon – our first for four weeks - and found a fishing boat at anchor. A crewman waved us around to his stern and streamed a line so that we could tie onto him without actually going alongside. As we picked up the line, some thirty faces appeared in the most densely packed fishing boat stern I have ever seen. They had all been at prayer, facing East of course, and there we were between them and Mecca!
Without a word of English between them, they took one of our 20 litre Jerry cans and filled it with diesel – all the spare they had. We responded with 200 Rothmans which certainly cheered them up. It may have been expensive fuel but worth every penny……..
The 20 litres would not have taken us far, but meant we would be able to use the engine to navigate with safety around all the oil field activity. Good news indeed.
Blow me if, having taken fuel from another ship at sea for the first time in thirty years of professional yacht deliveries, within two hours we were offered more fuel by one of the oil rig guard ships which was off duty and at anchor! We passed across two jerry cans and they asked “Only two, you can have more if you want!” I wasn’t going to be greedy. Those two cans plus the fuel from the fishing boat and our emergency reserve would be sufficient to get us safely to Suez. We left the guard ship with all their crew fishing, and with an extra pack of 200 Rothmans as our ‘thank you’.
Having fully tested us, the wind Gods decided enough was enough and let us motor the last hundred miles to Port Tawfiq – the southern entry for the Suez Canal – without any more trouble. Our agent – the splendidly named ‘Prince of the Red Sea’ motored out to meet us at first light and piloted us to our mooring. Two very tired and thirsty but satisfied sailors, safely in harbour. We had done our 3,500 miles and broken the back of the whole delivery. And got there before Christmas, even if by only a day.
What we didn’t know then was that the Moslem fasting month of Ramadan, for the first time in over one hundred years, ran directly onto our Christian Christmas holiday. Most businesses – including the banks – would be closed for a week, and our only working day was likely to be Boxing Day. More about that later!
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