Written by:
7/18/2012 4:20 AM 

July 13, 2012 – Anchored.  I left Ibioh, Pulau Weh at 10:00 hours on July, 11th.  Welcome back to the show.  Things started pleasantly enough with a gentle breeze and a motor sail around the islands to the West.  Initial winds were perfect to hold a course SE along the Sumatran coast line.  Large squall at 15:00 pushed the winds around and out of the South.  There they stayed.

In 30 hours I covered better than 150 miles, but made only 18 miles good towards my goal, the small island called Bangkaru.  Jargo was flying a double reefed mainsail and 100% jib and going hard on the wind.  Flying along at 5 – 6 knots the bow was pounding fiercely into the building swell.  Several times the lee rail was under water.  I would have reefed the jib, but without it full Jargo made too much leeway and could not hold a satisfactory course.

Making very little good progress despite hard, fast sailing I threw in the towel yesterday afternoon.  I’d fought for 30 hours to make way South, but turning around it only took 3.5 hours to erase those gains.  I now hide behind a small heavily jungled island waiting for a wind shift.  No wifi or cell service to get quick weather, but should pull something down via the HF this afternoon.  This was a hard start.  Sumatra is going to be all about the weather windows from here on down.

Found a few rips in the main sail.  Will spend the afternoon today with needle, thread, and sticky back tape.  First project however, coffee and a big hot breakfast.

July 14th – It’s the kind of day when you find a maggot in your potato.  I am on the wrong end of Indonesia.  My plan for months has been to run down the Malacca Strait to the Sunda Strait and into the Indian Ocean.  Dodging cargo ships and days of motoring combined with my love of Pulau Weh led me to another option.  Sadly, sailing down the West coast of Sumatra may be a bridge too far. 
Winds have reached at least 30 knots from the South every day for the past four days.  As of now I see no signs of relief.  My hope was that the SW monsoon would have a bit more of a westerly component allowing me to sail SSE down the coast.  It just isn’t happening and the constant severe weather is taking its toll on my mind, spirit, and boat.

I am facing two options and I don’t particularly care for either one of them at the moment.  First, I can stay put and wait for a weather window that will let me get South.  Even a few hundred miles could make the difference as the winds should ease nearer the equator.  Secondly, turn tail and head back the way I came.  That means reentering the Malacca Strait and turning SE down towards Java.  The benefit there being that the whole island of Sumatra buffers the Strait from the winds I now face and fight. 

At the moment I can’t come to terms with either option.  I had a good HF radio contact last night with my good friend on s/v Mooneshine.  Where I sit I have no cell service or means to contact anyone.  Using WWII technology we had a conversation bridging some 1500 miles.  That’s no small feat.  He is passing me weather info, but I need to find a source of my own with more detail than the HF weather fax transmissions provide.  I think that means that tomorrow morning I head back to Pulau Weh where I can pilfer wifi or at least use the cellular network to pull down grib files.  It will also let me find an ATM for the diesel I am going to need and fresh potatoes.  I didn’t know maggots ate potatoes.  Nasty.

Same day, a bit later.  I’ve been playing with maps which are always dangerous if you own a sailboat.  There is a third option.  Scratch Cocos Keeling off the list and sail direct for Rodriguez Island.  The run is 2,400 miles long.  The winds now are very strong, but would put me off on the right course immediately.  This would eliminate any back tracking, extended motoring, and long delays in time and miles.  For example, from here down the Malacca to Cocos Keeling and across to Rodriguez would be 3300 miles.  That makes a pretty damn big difference.  The single largest draw back would be missing my friends who I could catch in Cocos.  I hate back tracking and I hate burning fuel.  This option lets me return still to Weh for fresh produce then sail almost immediately.

July 15th – The blue grey mountains of Sumatra are sliding past like Jargo is standing still and the island itself is revolving.  The brilliant fiery sun is inching down to the horizon in the West.  Jargo is slipping through the water like she was born from the sea, not some manmade intruder in this space.
I woke this morning before the dawn.  A dream disturbed my sleep.  The first dream I can recall where I was on a sinking vessel.  I remember turning on the bilge pumps, grabbing a bucket, and bailing water furiously.  Eventually I realized the water was not getting deeper nor was the boat sinking further.  The vessel had bottomed out in a small shallow pond.  Closer inspection revealed the boat was made of something akin to wicker.  It wasn’t my boat.  Jargo won’t sink even in my dreams.

Rousing from my sea bunk I was determined to return to Pulau Weh for some company, weather, and time to determine my best course of action.  Crossing the small bay where I was anchored the wind was down to 10 knots and the seas were calm.  I’d had no weather, but determined if I’d been given a gift I’d leave the horse’s mouth alone.  Forgetting all arguments I’d wrestled with the day before I went South towards Cocos Keeling.  I sit here now in the midst of one of the most glorious sails I’ve had in many, many months.

A steady 10 – 12 knot breeze is coming from the SSW and Jargo glides along under sail alone at better than five knots.  The seas appear to be made from something different than the tempestuous, angry breaking waves I found here days ago.  It is moments like these that bring home the beauty of what I am doing and how I am living.  I still have to remind myself at times that this is Sumatra!
I’ll ride this breeze just as long as she will let me.  350 miles to the equator.  1050 miles to Cocos Keeling.

July 16th – Tuna, tuna everywhere and not one will take my lure.  They’ve been jumping clean out of the water today.  Nice five to ten pound tuna.  Sadly, either they don’t like my lures, or there is something about my fishing rig that isn’t fooling these Sumatran fish.  The story was the same when I came this way from Java.  In fact, that was the last fish I caught. 

My fresh provisions are holding up well considering they are already over two weeks old.  I still have many good potatoes, onions, tomatoes, apples, oranges, and a big cabbage.  Not to mention the homemade bread and fresh baked banana bread I made with the over ripe bananas from Pulau Weh.  Cheese is also one of those things I’d been craving for months.  It just is not a part of the Malaysian, Indo, or Thai diets.  Eventually I found a specialty shop that sold two lbs bricks of New Zealand cheddar and bought two of them.  Everything I make these days is covered in melted cheese and it is delicious.
Since yesterday afternoon it has been a mix of motoring and sailing.  The winds are very calm, but in the early afternoon the Sumatran island heats up under the onslaught of the sun.  Those updrafts of warm air draw in the cooler breeze off the sea.  From about 14:00 hours to almost midnight I’ve been able to sail South on these breezes.  After that the wind dies and I am left burning my precious diesel.  Still, I am conserving enough fuel to potentially make Cocos Keeling without needing another fuel stop.  This is my hope anyway.
Generally a lazy day today.  Feels good.

July 18th – The drone of the engine fills the air with reverberating power.  The tachometer reads a measly 1400 rpm.  For that slow ticking of the engine Jargo pushes through the sea at a lethargic three knots.  It is extremely slow progress amounting to no more than 80 miles in 24 hours.  There is ample power in reserve, but every extra 100 rpm increases fuel consumption.  I watch the level of diesel fuel like a thirsty castaway measures his remaining potable water.  With luck and a breeze my remaining fuel should just get me to the trade winds still some 400 miles further South.

The sun has been blotted out by thick cloud cover for days.  A slow steady drizzle forces me to keep the hatches closed eliminating the presence of any liberating breeze.  This is not my preferred way to travel on board a sailboat.  While I sail alone I am in good company.  For hundreds of years sailors have bemoaned the belt of water five degrees above and five degrees below the equator.  This is the doldrums.  The best one can hope for are calms occasionally broken by strong squalls.  Every mile seems longer than the last.  One more day should mark the halfway point in my passage through this wind desert.

18th Continued - Closed with the island of Nias so I could hopefully pull weather and send an update.  Last word while I can send it is that all is well on Jargo.  Slow, frustrating passage, but plenty of time for eating, sleeping, and sadly burning diesel.  May not close the islands or coast again so will post again when possible from Cocos Keeling or Rodriguez.  Cheers.  If anyone cares to try I am on SSB at 1200 Zulu on 6224, 1300 Zulu on 8725, and 1305 on 8107.  Ham speak if that makes no sense to you at all. 

Oh yeah, one computer has died, one to go.  Current position N 00* 54.32  E 097* 21.08.

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