Goodbye to the Tropics

          Mhadei crossed the Tropic of Capricorn at 0742 this morning saying goodbye to the Tropics and warm weather for the next six months. The sea has calmed down so it was a pleasant day onboard with fairly good progress in light winds. The only worry is that we are still drifting too much to the West and will have to cover all this distance once we get Westerly winds which may still be about two days away. We are also heading for the permanent High Pressure system in this area which would mean light winds till we manage to dodge it. Not complaining much though after the bashing in the Trade winds! Good to take it easy for a change because the present forecast shows the Westerlies blowing at 35 kts, about 10 kts more than the Trade winds! Hopefully we will have to negotiate them down wind and down swell so things should not be that bad. We will just have to see as it comes as this is uncharted territory. Will need to start taking out cold weather clothing from tomorrow as its already becoming quite cold as soon as the sun goes down.

          The comments on the blog indicate a fair amount of curiousity about Mhadei's crew and their metamorphosis over the last three weeks at sea. Posting some snaps of the Skipper, Cook, First Mate, Publicist etc etc lounging on the deck, satiated with a heavy "Dosa" lunch  and enjoying the good life aboard a Million Dollar yacht in the middle of South Indian Ocean!

          Had a new type of bird for company in the evening. So far the ones that have been following us were dark brown with a yellowish beak. This one was greyish white with a much longer wingspan. Difficult to click good snaps as they keep moving constantly, often a hair's breadth from the water even in the worst of sea conditions. Makes a land based human mind wonder as to how they survive as the nearest land presently is over 1000 miles away! Posting some photos of sunset which are nowhere close to the spectacular ones we saw at the Equator but then it gives an idea as to why the Equatorial ones are so special. My gmail account which should have received my plotted position by now is refusing to open so will just have to wait for the next blog. Very roughly we are about 80 miles South of the Tropic of Capricorn and almost exactly below Chennai!

                    

20 Days and 3000 Miles

          It has been 20 days since we left Mumbai and we have covered over 3000 Nm so far. Not too bad! More or less what was expected. Though we still have over 2000 Nm to cover once we get in the Westerlies and start making some Easting. As I was making my position report in the evening, I realised that despite covering almost 80 Nm through the day, the distance to Fremantle had remained constant at 1900 Nm miles since morning! It may actually start increasing if we don't make any easterly progress soon! Well such are the ways of Sail boats! Covering these 3000 miles also means that Mhadei has sailed over 10,000 miles in her brief service with the navy since 12 Feb 09. Thats 10,000 miles in less than 07 months with hardly a whimper! I think the credit entirely goes to her builder Ratnakar Dandekar and his team at Aquarius Fibreglas, Goa. I hope atleast now the "Great Indian Bureaucracy" will relent and pay up the rest of the money due on the boat!

          As we near the Tropic of Capricorn the seas have calmed a bit and the wind has reduced. At the cost of coming down in speed a little I am still keeping the two reefs and stay sail on through the night just in case the wind decides to change its mind and starts blowing again. While we have done sail changes and reefing at night it is always avoidable & uncomfortable, specially now that it has also started getting cold. I think we are away from the opperesive tropical heat till next year! In fact henceforth the sun will be welcome, as I discovered this morning when I saw a cloudy sky and remarked to myself that its going to be a cold day and it would have been nicer if it was a clear sunny day! 20 days back I would have said the exact opposite!

          The covering of the 3000 miles passage was duly celebrated with an impromptu recepie of Corned mutton garnished with Onions and Gherkins. When the cook decided to serve the same fare for dinner because he doesn't like wasting food, the Skipper had had enough and decided to wash it down with some soup first followed by the last can of Phoenix Beer from Ile Maurice from the last trip. No more beer on board till Freo but a good stock of South African Vines and Cognac for the special occasions!

          The improvement in weather was also celebrated by the screening of the movie Chicago! One of the crew's all time favourite! Since morning all that has been watched are the promos & and behind the scenes sections etc. The actual screening is scheduled on completion of this blog when the battery charging will be over, the engine cut off and there will be silence on board to enjoy the fabulous soundtrack!        

And the Battering continues..................

          Its been four days since we headed into the trade winds and started thumping South South West. We are still at it and if the weather forecast is anything to go by will continue for the next couple of days! The winds have remained a steady SE about 20 to 30 kts gusting to about 35 kts. Normally we should be able to sail a Southerly course with such winds. Unfortunately the winds have also whipped up a swell of over 4 mtrs. Trying to sail closer than about 50 degrees to the wind means heading right into the swell, making the boat to stop dead with each wave while making her slam hard which may cause avoidable damage. So we are heading SSW aware that we are actually increasing the distance that we will need to travel eastward once we get out of the trades and into the Westerlies.

          The cook has finally relented and started doing limited heating so we had hot coffee in the morning and some hot soup and ready to eat Biryani for dinner.Yesterday was some homemade heat & eat Upma with dry fish. Absolutely delicious! I think my mom seriously needs to apply for a patent for her dishes before someone steals the ideas!

          It has started getting cold after sunset reminding us that its the winter season in this part of the world. At present course and speed we should be crossing the Tropic of Capricorn (23 1/2 Deg S) by tomorrow night and will remain South of it till next year when we are back in the Indian Ocean heading home! So as much cause for celebration as the Equator crossing I suppose!

          My tracker for the project seems to be busy tonight so giving this morning's updated position. Have a good night.

Romping turns to Battering

Since this afternoon Mhadei is being battered by strong winds and big seas. The winds are blowing to 20 - 25 kts with regular period of gusts beyond 35 kts. This has build up a large sea of over 4 mtr and Mhadei is heading into all this mayhem! The weather forecast is predicting the conditions to last for a couple of days more so we seem to be in it for the long haul! The cook has flatly refused to do anything with fire because while the gimballed gas oven keeps utensils steady against rolling, it does not have any solution to keep them on when the boat thumps itself on a wave and the pots tend to fly off vertically! So the skipper is left to scrounge for himself by nibbling various tidbits in the galley! Mhadei bashes on regardless and all the skipper can do is sit and give her that sagely and time tested advice,"this too shall pass!" 

Out of the Doldrums Romping in Trade Winds

Yesterday afternoon, becalmed after going through yet another squall, we drifted across an invisible line and finally stumbled into the Trade Winds! The wind picked up in a matter of minutes and stayed with us. In fact by midnight it became a bit too much for comfort necessitating another reef in the main and replacement of the big Genoa with the smaller Stay sail. While the trades make you move they also build up the sea. Also since they are blowing from exactly the same direction we need to go, we have to sail close to them and the resultant swell. The result is that Mhadei has been tossing and slamming around as if possesed! Needless to say everything onboard has to be done slowly, mostly with one hand, the other being busy holding on to the nearest handhold. Often the waves wash over the boat so all Port holes need to be closed, making the insides warm & humid and you get drenched with salt water sitting on the deck.

     This state is likely to continue for a week atleast with the weather forecast promising 26 kts of breeze and 5 mtr waves in the next two days! We are also getting slowly pushed to the West due to the direction of the wind and the waves which means once we are South of the trade winds we will need to travel that much more to the East. Well as of now there is nothing much we can do about it but grin and bear it or on the tossing Mhadei it should be "grip and bear it"! Though this is anyday better than the wallowing around in the doldrums. The squalls have reduced in their frequency and intensity. Also since we are already moving with reduced sail, when a squall hits it cannot do as much damage as when under full sails. The cook has started serving quick fix meals of almost ready to eat food instead of the elaborate menus of dosas and hot "Dal - Chawal"!

     Tonight, as I write, there is a glorious full moon up in the sky. We left B'bay on a new moon. Its been 15 days and 2200 Nm so far. Wondering whether we will make it by the next new moon!                       

                                       

                 

Doldrums still clutching Mhadei

The doldrums made their presence felt again with a squall last night and then very light winds through the day. I had let down my guard and kept the full mainsail up at night with the Wind Vane steering the boat. Got up past midnight for a routine check and found a squall almost on top of us! Hectic activity of reefing the main and getting the Wind Vane off  followed and we just about made it through! Need to remember that we are still very much in the ITCZ (Inter Tropical Convergence Zone) commonly known as doldrums. Another day or two and we should be out hitting the trade winds. Light and shifty winds through the day which died out completely by afternoon. The sea was also fairly calm so made use of the opportunity to change the two broken battens from the Main sail. That involved getting the entire sail down, climbing about 3 mtrs up the mast a number of times to remove the pieces of broken battens, and finally sitting on the boom and mainsail to insert the replacements. I think my horse riding skills, unused since passing out of the Academy 21 yrs back, came in handy in trying to sit on the boom of the rolling boat and working with both hands. But that was a task that required to be done before getting into the stronger trade winds. The broken pieces have already damaged the sail a bit and in sustained strong winds the damage could only increase. The battery monitor, an instrument that tells me the amount of battery capacity I have and when I need to charge them seems to have gone off finally. It had become erratic since

yesterday so thought of removing its connections and cleaning them. But having done so its just refusing to revive itself! Now I don't have any idea how much battery I am left with or when I charge whether they are actually charging. I think I will just run the generator every 12 hrs to ensure that they never run out of charge. May increase the diesel consumption marginally but with an efficient generator that should not be a cause for concern. Started the Watermaker for the first time during the trip as one of the tanks had become half empty. Not bad for 13 days of sailing! Another round of spectacular sunset in the evening with an already bright moon to the East. Looks like another sleepless night ahead as the wind keeps dying out every now and then. When it dies out you need to get on the deck and tighten the main sheet to stop the boom from thrashing around and when the wind picks up you need to rush and ease the mainsheet as otherwise the boat starts healing too much! Its also been a warm and clear day so a lot of moisture must have gone up which will eventually come down as a squall during the night and knowing our penchant for getting under every squall in the area we better keep our guard up!

                                                                                          

Greetings from the Southern Hemisphere

On the morning of 31 Aug 09 at 0848 hrs, Mhadei crossed in the Southern hemisphere at longitude 090 Deg 23' E! King Neptune who resides at the equator took one look at us and remarked,"You two! Not again!" This being our third crossing since May this year. Slightly North of the Equator the wind shifted to SSE making us head North East so it was time to tack and head SSW, a course we will maintain till almost 35 Deg South, then turn East for the home run to Fremantle. Looks like we found the South east trade winds right from the word go as we have been getting a steady breeze since morning. It takes us back to West a bit but atleast we are moving. What a change from the last 11 days! Both the wind and swell are against us so we are bouncing nicely but thats better than wallowing around in light winds and worrying about squalls. It was good to cross the line finally! Changing tack on a long passage involves certain lifestyle changes. For example for the last 11 days I was doing everything leaning to the right, now my leanings have shifted a distinct left! Not unlike our politicians I suppose! My galley being to the Port side and the boat leaning on the same side I could leave one odd cabinet open while cooking, this morning while preparing breakfast the contents tumbled out because the boat had started leaning to Starboard! While the doldrums near the equator drove us nuts with the squalls and shifty winds they also showed us some spectacular sunrises and sunsets. The beauty of the human mind is that the bad memories get erased quickly while the good ones stay on. So the bad weather is already a distant memory while the vividness of the sunrise on 30 Aug will remain in my head for a long time.