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11/11/2011 2:47 AM 

Sorry, no pics.  Uploading via iphone.  Low Bandwidth.  Leaving Padang in about 1.5 hours to head North to Sabang.  May or not check out some of the islands.  Cheers Everyone.

October 30^th, 2011 ~ 5:00 p.m.

It has been better than one full day at sea now. Somehow I’ve settled in a bit faster on this passage than I normally do. Relatively steady 10 knot winds from behind and a moderate swell have helped. Just before dawn the largest pod of dolphins I’ve seen on this trip charged the boat. They probably spent half an hour leaping and dancing across Jargo’s bow wave. I tried to capture a little video so I’ll post it along with this when possible.

I am in something of a strange mood. It must come from the combination of watching Zeitgeist 1 & 2 along with reading Steinbeck: A Life in Letters. The latter haunts me as Steinbeck is easily my favorite author. As someone who aspires to write something worthwhile I was hoping to regain the inspiration I got from the book the first time I read it. Reading the letters today seems to only manifest a bit of self loathing and insecurity in the fact I’ve not yet buckled down to write anything other than this blog. There are always excuses, but I don’t think any of them amount to more than procrastination.

Zeitgeist raises many good questions. I found myself arguing with the majority of the points made, but at the same time my arguments may only be small exceptions. I am not sure the bigger picture they present isn’t correct. Which is better, standing in limbo unknowing or taking a stand and believing in something, right or wrong.

October 31^st, 2011 ~ 2:00 p.m.

Happy Halloween!!! I don’t know what you did, but I celebrated with loads and loads of real blood and guts. Just after dawn I dropped my trolling lure back in the water. Not an hour later something hit and hit hard. Reaching down I knew it was large based on how much stretch it was taking out of the shock cord I use for a fishing snubber. Hand over hand I pulled the real life monster closer to the boat. The beast had a mouth full of razor sharp teeth, huge black eyes, black zebra stripes on a silver body, and a dark blue/black back. Wahoo! No really, it was a wahoo.

I think he is probably the biggest fish I have ever caught and kept. Conservatively, he’d go just better than four feet and 20 – 25 lbs. I even got photographic evidence of this one. Any larger and I don’t think I’d be able to eat enough of the fish to justify dispatching the creature. However, Bali isn’t the best place to pick up fresh protein. I made a chicken curry just before setting sail and it was beginning to smell dubious already. Unless I caught a fish, I was down to canned meats and one package of bacon. Thank you wahoo.

Jargo and I are still rolling along to the West, literally rolling. The winds are light from the East, I am sailing West, and the swell is from the South. Not a great combo for comfort. Every few minutes a good swell passes sending Jargo swinging like an upside down pendulum. With each tilt of the mast the sails dump their wind and snap taught on the reverse roll. It can be quite maddening. If I weren’t still averaging ~ 5 knots I don’t think I’ could take it.

I almost made a rash decision last night. Playing with my charts I realized I was going to pass within a few hundred miles of Christmas Island. For boats crossing to South Africa it is one of the first stops. If I just turned about 25 degrees to the South I could be back in Mexico or Texas inside of eight months. It isn’t that I don’t want to see Thailand, but that it sure does make for one hell of a long detour. For better or worse, the cyclone season begins tomorrow and I won’t put myself in a situation to get caught out in the middle of the Indian Ocean. So, home will just have to wait another year and a half.

Good, bad, and ugly it is a great day to be at sea.

November 1^st, 2011 ~ 10:00 a.m.

I can’t yet say I am becalmed. I have two knots of wind in excess. The sailors of old used to scratch a backstay with a fingernail or whistle for the wind. In my experience trying both methods near enough together is asking for trouble. I’ve tickled my backstay which given enough time should produce the required breeze to help me continue West. A bit of time will tell.

For as long as I’ve had the desire to write I’ve envisioned the result being a novel. Just like trying to surf goofy footed I may be fighting my nature. Fictional story lines, symbolic themes, and vehicles temporal and geographical don’t seem to manifest themselves in my mind. I’ve dozens of ideas to explore, but my best chance for text in print will be firmly based in non-fiction. My literary low hanging fruit lays in the realm I know best, sailing and the sea.

With every little brainstorm that comes I try to jot down a note capturing the idea. I’ll let them accumulate for the rest of this passage fermenting in my mind and on paper. By the time I reach Thailand it will be time to pick one and enforce some discipline. It isn’t a complete lack of ability that scares me so much as the fear I can’t simply master myself. Four to five hours a day at the keyboard five days a week should be enough. Even if the result isn’t worthy of the transition from byte to ink the discipline to put the words down will be worth the effort.

November 2^nd, 2011 ~ 2:45 p.m.

Slow day at sea. Working West by North making 5.4 knots in 10 knots apparent. Wind and swell from the ESE. Not getting a good charge off the alternator. Tried tightening the belt, but no good. Too worn out to tighten again. Have to pull off the refrigeration compressor belts to get to the alternator belt. Will let things cool off and get it done around sunset. Too hot to be wrenching on a hot motor just now. Coolant water was low and somehow the oil level was high. Hope I am not bleeding something into the oil system. Will be keeping a close eye on fluids.

Had a few fishing boats around last night, but none close enough to even force me off my course. They have so many lights on you can see the glow of them well over the curvature of the horizon. Still, I’ve been getting ten times the amount of sleep I’d have gotten going the other way to Phuket via Singapore and the Malacca Strait.

Lunch today was bread with cheese and tomato. Couldn’t bring myself to eat another piece of Wahoo. I am eating two to four, two inch thick steaks a day. There is so much left. I may debone the steaks and make a soup or at least poach a steak or two in coconut milk or some sort of tomato sauce. I can’t believe it, but I need something other than flash seared, rare wahoo with wasabi soy sauce.

November 3^rd, 2011 ~ 2:30 p.m.

I call yesterday afternoon a good days work. Around 5:30 in the afternoon I pulled the engine cover off, removed the refrigeration compressor belts, alternator belts, dug out new belts, and replaced the lot. Some people meditate, I turn a wrench. I think I got the notion from Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. The job usually starts with a cup of coffee and a few minutes thought while my noodle absorbs the caffeine. Plan laid, the work begins. When finished the productivity feels better than any therapy session I’ve ever tried.

Waking this morning my ear was screaming into itself. Everything sounded muted and the whole of the ear was excessively sensitive to touch. Not too surprised really. Just before leaving Serangan harbor I had to jump over the side and scrape the coral reef off of the propeller. Without question it was the nastiest water I’ve ever dipped a toe into let alone my whole body. As soon as the job was done I showered and dumped a quarter of a bottle of alcohol into each ear. I guess some damn dirty bug missed its dousing.

I’ve got an onboard medical manual, but it is far, far more limited in scope than what I’d like to have. Fortunately for this problem I found an entry on ear infection in children. Right on both counts. A quick mixture of acidic alcohol (50/50 isopropyl/vinegar) and a large irrigation syringe and the hearing was already much better. Luckily I found the old antibiotic drops left over from when I almost poked my eye out in the Society Islands. My doc friend informed me back in Panama that you can use eye drops in your ears, but not the other way around. Even eight hours later the pain is almost gone and I can still hear. Rinse and repeat.

I am craving ice cream damn it. I never crave things I don’t have at hand. Need to squash this quick.

5:15 p.m.

I fixed the ice cream craving with the closest thing I could find, an ice cold beer. It is after 5:00 after all and not far from sundown now. I left the corral gate open so my mind could wander for awhile. Ideas come and go and the interesting thoughts get scribbled down. Years ago when I started this voyage I was fixated on finding out what makes mankind want to explore and adventure. Out here off the Southern coast of Java I still don’t know.

One of the most common questions I get is, “how much does it cost to go cruising”. As cliché as it is, the only answer is that it will cost as much as you will spend. It might not work as book idea, but I may have one for a docu style travel movie. The challenge: What is the greatest adventure you can create for $10,000? The idea would be to find as many people willing to have an adventure, with their own money, and video all of it for a movie or series for TV. The trips themselves could be watched live via the web with updates coming in from all participants. A few good sponsors like SPOT Messenger or Lonely Planet may providing some basic gear, but also a $10,000 prize could make it go. If the idea could be sold it might make a great short series. I am thinking something like Ewan McGregors The Long Way Round where he and a mate rode motorcycles around the world. This however would be for regular people on limited budgets.

If I were participating I’d try to find a small, free sailboat and cruise down to the Western Caribbean. The funds might be supplemented along the way with passengers/backpackers looking for lifts. Alternatively, another long motorcycle trip would fit the bill. Five or more interesting trips could round out the story. What do you think? I might have to hit up the few TV people I know about this idea and see if it has legs. Could make for a really fun project: series, TV, or book.

November 3^rd, 2011 – ~ 3:30 p.m.

Still 415 miles to Padang or the first anchorage in the Mentawi Islands. The winds are really inconsistent blowing anywhere from the due East to Southwest. The speed tends to hold around eight or ten knots but rises to 18 and drops to five regularly. One good thing about a slow passage is that if you are willing to go slow, it gives loads of time for taking stock.

Two years and ten months have passed since I sailed from Texas. In the first two years I think everything was so new that I was constantly learning to live this lifestyle. Slowly things have been moved more and more into autopilot mode. The great challenges have mostly been worked out. The corral gate may be open, but the grey matter doesn’t want to gallop.

Throughout my life I’ve had the despicable habit of returning to school. Working or not, I always seem to miss having a new intellectual challenge. I am missing it now I think more than I ever have. I’ve not found the next challenge, but I am clearly looking.

November 5^th, 2011 – 05:00

Well and Truly Becalmed

The air is still and heavy and the seas have gone flat. To the Northwest the stars and moon have been blotted out by clouds. On my current course I am still 450 nautical miles South of the Equator. I’d hoped to be able to sail much further North before hitting this kind of calm. Perhaps it will pass. If not, welcome to the doldrums.

When I clamored up on deck at 04:00 I was no longer sailing, but drifting at 0,7 knots towards the North. Jargo wasn’t cutting through the water fast enough to even maintain steerage. Normally I’d still sit back, have a snooze, and wait for a breeze, but not this morning. The tell tale glow of the fisherman’s flood lights are all around me on the horizon. Not close, but enough of them I am clearly in a fishing hot spot. I think it in everyone’s interest that I exit stage left.

A quick fluid check, release of the propeller lock, and Jargo us under power for the first time since I motored out of Serangan Harbor. She makes a much better sailboat, but she can do a pretty good trawler impression when I ask her. The old Perkins 4108 is ticking over smoothly at 1500 rpm giving me just under 4 knots. It isn’t fast, but it does get the job done and conserve fuel. I’d almost forgotten this was an equatorial crossing. I guess I need to start planning some sort of shell back party.

Same Day 23:45

No wind all day. No problem. The engine has been purring along making around four knots and when possible I’ve used the two to four knot breeze for a boost. Sitting just now in the cockpit I didn’t want to believe what I was seeing. The dark patch was surely a trick of the moonlight through dark clouds? No, that is effing land! LAND HO!!! Not where I expected to find it, but there sure enough. It is amazing how much light is gathered by a good pair of binoculars.

Eventually a navigation light just made itself visible. Using a combination of old and new I took a bearing on the light and plotted it along with my GPS position and the charted position of the island. Everything lined up. Even at 9.5 miles away the island looked like I could have thrown a stone and hit it. My course is good, plenty of sea room, and I’ll pass easily tonight. There is a bay called Kiowa Bay which I would love to put into being the tribe my Indian side is from. If the timing had been different I’d have done it, but I won’t stand off tonight. Best to keep moving. Fuel is a real concern out here and if I’ve really run out of wind this far South of the equator then I’ve got some tight figuring to do.

November 6^th, 2011 15:00

After a 34 hour diesel burn I’ve just shut the engine down. Not because there is any wind, but because there isn’t. I’ve still got 250 miles to Padang, the only sure place I can find more fuel. I could probably motor all the way there, but am unsure. Just having passed the island last night a one knot current setting southeast made itself known. Motoring at 1700 rpm with sails up to harness what I can of a four or five knot breeze I was only making 3.2 knots. Not good enough.

I’ll let the motor cool off to check the fluids. Crossing the equator and coming into poorly charted ports I don’t want to take any chances with having power when I need it. I figure conservatively I burn about 0.5 gallon of diesel per hour. With charging batteries and the fridge about 7 gallons got used from Bali to the time I started running under power. 34 hours run time gives another 17 gallons or 24 gallons used out of a tank holding ~ 70 gallons. 46 gallons remaining or around 90 hours motoring time. Padang is 250 miles out. At 3 knots that’s 83 hours. See what I mean? It is too close to cut.

Jargo can usually make good one half of the wind speed. With four or five knots I’d hope for at least two, but am getting one knot good. It slow going, but the sails aren’t flogging so there is nothing to do but sail on. I’ll at least make what little use of the wind there is until it drops off completely. It may be a very weak sea breeze that will die out overnight. I’ve poured over charts and Ocean Pilots, but there seems to be no escaping this current. More of this distance must be closed under sail. Onward we roll.

November 7^th, 2011 09:00

It is a line running East West. On the East side, the water appears calm and smooth. On the West side it is choppy and seemingly turbulent. Surface appearance makes for an interesting deception. The sea is a tricky woman.

The line itself is about 80 feet wide. Where the two different conditions meet there are very small wavelets jumping towards the sky. The line is littered with seaweed and plastics on the West side. I’ve crossed the line twice and conditions, though fascinating, are troubling for my passage. On the West side, my speed through the water is 5 knots which matches my GPS speed over ground. On the East side my speed through the water is also 5 knots, but my GPS speed over ground is 3.1 knots. The line separates still water from that water that is rushing southeast down the Sumatran Coast.

I am running just West of the line now hoping it will turn back North letting me stay nearly on course. Right now I am heading due West. No good. I may have no option but to cut back to the northwest towards Padang and plod through the contrary current. This may be the longest 1000 miles I’ve ever run down.

For any other boats that may take this route I’d strongly advise to stay well offshore to the West of all the Mentawi Islands. The Enganno Basin is no place to be working a sailboat North. Five to seven knot winds, a one to two not South setting current, and unstable equatorial conditions make for tough going. I’d close with the coast and try to get in the shallows to see if the current didn’t lesson, but the whole of Sumatra is a lee shore. If a big storm comes or one of the infamous Sumatran Winds I don’t want to be anywhere near the coast.

November 8^th, 2011 16:00

There is not even a whisper of a wind. The ripples do not dance on the water and the sea is flat and reflecting the surface of the sky. The air has weight and Jargo must force herself through the mass of air, parting it just as the bow parts the sea. Here just two degrees South of the equator the sun beats down with animosity. It is impossible to stand directly under it for any length of time. The current still runs contrary, the engine still burns diesel. 130 miles to Padang, but the fuel tank is rapidly decreasing in volume. I’ve never cut it so close.

22:00 – Had to cut the engine. Two problems now. First is the continuous problem of fuel. I may have enough to motor right into the harbor, but I could also easily run out just short of the distance. Falling just short would leave a very shoal, reef strewn entrance to navigate under sail. I can’t chance that kind of trouble. The second is that my engine keeps losing its cooling water and overheating. I thought I had the problem licked in Bali, but apparently not. Solutions for both.

A gentle, but lovely 4 knot breeze has sprung up and I am making way at 2 knots through the water and 1 knot over ground. It is very slow progress, but it is progress. Every mile I can run down without burning diesel reduces the risk of getting into trouble. It may take a few more days, but I’ll get there.

For the engine I’ll still have to charge the batteries and the fridge at least once a day. As long as the breeze holds I’ll let everything cool off overnight. In the morning I’ll refill the coolant and fire the engine on to charge. I should be able to track down the leak and rig some sort of fix. It is a bit elusive, but I saw some green coolant in the bilge so at least I know it isn’t leaking back into the engine or some other obscure problem. I’d guess either hard to spot leak in a hose or maybe another pinhole leak in the heat exchanger.

On the upside, it is slow going, but there is no swell at all. The boat is steady as a rock and the sails stay full even in a 4 knot breeze. It is rather pleasant believe it or not. 107 miles to Padang. Normally that would be less than 24 hours away. At this rate its two to four days out still. Good thing I put lots of nice food on board in Bali.

November 9^th – 06:30

Not much sleep last night. The four knot breeze I’ve been trying to sail by has shifted often. Even when I can gather the gentle puff of wind in the sail my forward progress isn’t enough to overcome the South flowing current. Every rising tide the current goes from 0.7 knots to almost 1.6 knots. I am losing ground.

I fired on the engine at 04:00, but it overheated almost immediately. All coolant was gone again. I got things refilled and let the engine run for a few minutes. Eventually I found a hose that has been cut by the stainless steel hose clamp holding it to the heat exchanger. As the engine got warmer the water began to boil out at a rapid pace. Now I am just letting it cool off so I can trim the hose end and hopefully solve the problem.

14:30 – It will be a sprint to the finish. The hose appears to be holding water now and the engine is running smoothly. Here are the back of the envelope numbers. 85 miles to Padang. At 3 knots/hour that is 28 hours of motoring. At half a gallon/hour I need a minimum of 14 gallons. I think I’ve got 17 in the tank and should have 5 gallons in a jerry can on deck. It isn’t much wiggle room, but time to get into port. I’ll feel much better about things if the wind would just give me a boost. As it is a light breeze is on my nose and slowing me down to 2.7 knots. Change wind. Change.

November 10^th 22:00

I’ve made Padang. I’d like to be more excited, but an ominous feeling has settled over me that I can’t shake. For the first time in two years I locked my dingy to the boat tonight. Thirty minutes later a local charter boat captain came over and said it wouldn’t do the job. He didn’t really speak English but he could say, “lift the rubber duck. You want rubber duck, lift rubber duck”. Needless to say the dingy and engine have been lifted onto the davits.

To say a place is bad because there is dingy theft would be to write off many great cruising grounds. I can’t say why this place feels wrong to me but it does. Prices are more than double what they were in Bali for fuel which feels like a scam. A harbor master who is corrupt wants 300,000 rupiah, or $35 just for dropping the anchor. More if I need paper work done.

I’d like to explore this spot, but when I ignore my gut bad things happen. Tomorrow I’ll pay more than I should for fuel just so I can go. I’ll find a wifi connection to post this and then I am off. The islands to the West hold some promise. The natives there still live as they have for hundreds of years and I’d like to meet them. I wish I was excited to be here, but I can’t shake this bad feeling.

Just across the harbor there are maybe 80 tanker ships waiting to load coal, cement, and oil pulled from Sumatra. No ships unload here, they only take on cargo. The resources are then sold to China and the goods purchased with the resources are then off loaded in Jakarta. One reason things are expensive here is everything is imported to Java then shipped overland here. The conveyor belts and coal dust may just be leaving a bad taste in my mouth. In the truest sense, I just want to cut and run from here.

I may be offline again for weeks or up to a month. I’ll visit a spot or two in the outer islands then head for Sabang. From there I am off to Phuket, Thailand.

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