One Week since Freo

          Completed one week since leaving Fremantle. I have found the first week to be the hardest to pass, letting go of the land ties, after that the days start passing faster. Unfortunately one needs to go through the first week afresh after every halt!

          Another calm day of sailing. Less than 20 kts of following breeze and a following sea making the boat move sedately, sometimes so much that one forgets that she is moving at all! Very glad that the preventer is working otherwise I would have been at my wit's end trying to stop the boom from thrashing about in these conditions!

          Watched a movie after dark and got out to see a nice starry sky. The first time in the past week! Can't sit out and admire it for too long though, due to the cold. Nice sunset earlier. Not often that you get to see the sun going down in the sea all the way!

A nice calm day in the Southern Ocean

Looks like a Cold front coming from the South met a Warm front from North not too far from us today. The result was a foggy day with intermittent drizzle, light winds and fairly calm sea. The wind didn't die down completely as I feared it would and we managed to keep moving at a leisurely 6 kts on a beam reach. The preventer rigged at Fremantle proved its utility as now even in light winds with a quartering sea  the boom does not thrash and the boat keeps moving. I had tried rigging it up during the earlier leg but ended up without much success and a mangled snatch block! The flaw in my arrangement was pointed out by Jon Sanders, a veteran at Solo circumnavigations, at Fremantle and looks like he was spot on!

          A sedate day, some quick cook Rissoto for dinner followed by a movie on the laptop. A far cry from being hosted by Pip & John last Friday to a dinner of gourmet Pizzas at a fancy place in Perth followed by a nice drive through the King's Park Botanical garden!  

First Night in the Roaring Forties

We crossed 40 Deg S latitude today, home of the "Roaring Forties"! The wind has slowly backed from being Easterly last night to Northerly through the day and is now blowing from the NNW about 20 to 25 kts. That gives us a nice fast reach to sail onto the Southern Tip of New Zealand. It also means that we are not thumping into the swell any longer but cork-screwing about due to an almost quarterly swell. It has been raining on & off since morning with a thick cloud cover making for a cold gloomy day and a colder dark night.
        
          Saw a Ship's AIS icon on my chart plotter after lunch at about 3 Nm. Couldn't sight him visually and realized that I was yet to fix the VHF MMB set that had stopped functioning the day after leaving Freo. If the Ship wanted to call me or warn me there was no way he could, so got down to figuring out the loose wire that was the culprit. Not so easy on a jumping boat and with my terrible skills as an electrician! First managed to shut off the Chart plotter by pulling some wire, cause for real concern! Then managed to create enough sparking to panic and switch the mains off only to switch off the auto pilot with them! Ran out to get the boat under control, got the auto pilot going and spent the better part of the day sorting out the connections. Thankfully everything came on line by evening. Just another day on board!          

Rounding Cape Leuwin - Finally!

As I write this we are crossing the longitude of Cape Leuwin thus effectively rounding the first of the three "Great Capes" that make for a Circumnavigation. The next will be Cape Horn followed by the Cape of Good Hope. It has been a fairly uneventful day with a decent breeze that has been backing from ENE to NNE making us sail in the direction we want to go at a healthy pace. The wind has been picking up for the last couple of hrs and is expected to back further which will allow us to gradually starting reaching and  picking up speed without slamming around too much.

     The mystery of the broken clew of the Genoa and subsequent shredding was finally solved by John Sharpie, our good host at Fremantle and an experienced sailor. He reckons that a big wave must have hit the Genoa as we were slamming through the waves making the clew part. We were, when the incident happened, sailing upwind in a fairly large sea and had waves washing over the boat. One wave too big and that was the end of the sail!

     On the day I left Fremantle I met an old friend Timothy Ettridge. We had worked as part of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston's support crew during his Velux 5 Oceans race in 2006. It was quite a coincidence that he arrived at Fremantle the night before I was leaving and was there to see me off! Giving a link to his blog (here) for some photos & philosophy!  

Goodbye Fremantle

Mhadei left Fremantle as planned on 01 Nov at 1030 local time on a nice sunny day after a sojourn of 05 weeks. The stay at Fremantle proved to be an excellent break for both the boat & the crew. However, it was time to move on before the land legs became too strong and the sea legs started fading from memory!

     We ran into head seas soon after rounding Rottnest Island North of Fremantle. It was almost a beat for the next two days in winds between 20 to 25 kts. The first night the Clew of the Genoa parted making the sail flog uncontrollably. By the time I could furl it the poor thing had shredded itself! The winds finally eased today and I managed to take down the torn sail and replace it with the spare one. Luckily we bought the sails from New Zealand and the repairs can be carried out at the loft it was made. Survived on some scrumptious Bologenese sauce so thoughtfully packed by Pip Sawyer till today's breakfast . I was supposed to have it with pasta but the boat was bouncing around so much it was much easier to have it with bread instead! Tasted as good!

     We seem to be sitting in a High pressure system since morning which means light and shifty winds. For once I am not complaining as otherwise it would not have been possible to change the sail. The weather forecast is predicting backing of the wind to Easterly and then NE direction which should start taking us towards New Zealand our next destination. 

One Week in Fremantle

It has been little over a week that Mhadei sailed into the Fremantle Sailing Club escorted by a powerboat bigger than herself with the wind blowing over 35 kts. She was well received by representatives of the club, the Australian Navy, the Boat's agents and the mandatory Customs & Quarantine officials who finished off their inspections in no time and made us feel at home. Mr Jon Sanders, with four Solo Circumnavigations under his belt dropped by to check us out. Next afternoon we had a little reception at the club with the Hon Counsel General of India, the Indian Naval Attache, CO HMAS Stirling and a host of retierd Indian Naval & Army Offrs in attendance. My crew & lone support team Lt Cdr Abhilash Tomy fetched up the next day by air. Mhadei had beaten Air India by a good two days! Giving a link to an article published in the main newspaper in Western Australia.

 http://thewest.smedia.com.au/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=V0FOLzIwMDkvMDkvMzAjQXIwMjgwMg==&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom 

We are presently enjoying the hospitality of the club & the City of Fremantle with Mhadei at a secure alongside berth and self at a serviced appartment not too far away. The club is planning to have their Opening season event on 11 Oct and we are invited for the sail past. Probably the first time an Indian boat will be taking part! Started working on the boat, cleaning up, changing chaffed lines, sending sails to the loft for minor repairs, a mast climb to check the fittings on top and a dive to check the bottom. Like the old adage,"a housewife's work is never over", the work on a boat is never over either, you always find something that needs to be done!

Apart from working on the boat there are small pleasures to be enjoyed! Like sleeping on a bed for the entire night instead of a bunk & a sleeping bag, making a cup of coffee and breakfast in the morning without bracing yourself for the next roll, having a hot water bath daily without having to worry about the watermaker, going to a vegetable market and buying fresh fruit, taking a long brisk walk without running out of walking space and the list goes on.........! Funny how many things we take for granted on land! Staying in a serviced appartment means I can mess around in the kitchen and my crew is the only & obvious guinea pig who eats whatever is served to him with a smile including some juicy Kangaroo steaks two days back!

     Looking forward to attending a concert by Jagjit Singh in the evening at the invitation of the Hon Counsel General!

 

Land Ahoy!

Mhadei got alongside safely at Fremantle Yacht Club Marina at 1630 (GMT + 8). More later as it is difficult to do "Elbow Bending" and blogging at the same time!