Log and Journal

March 21-24, 2007

Passage to Where?
By Lois Joy
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           March 22, 0615: I am on morning watch, approaching the islands clogging the "neck" of the strait between Africa and Middle East called Bab el Mandeb, the Gate of Sorrows, or the Gate of Tears. Right now, my chart shows that we are sailing over numerous wrecks of old ships buried hundreds of feet below. I think of how difficult it must have been for those old sailing ships, maneuvering through this strait without engines. The strong tides and currents here—along with an adverse wind--can smash a tall ship right onto those islands.
          But Ray, our trusty autopilot and ship’s computer has the situation well in hand. Everything is cool and under control on Pacific Bliss. I am having my morning Starbucks as we pass by. The ships enter a mandatory "separation scheme" here, similar to that of Singapore Straits and Malacca Straits, so they are all in line now, the ones going north, as we are, are to our port, the ones going south are far away to port; we are sailing along right at the outside of the shipping lanes. So far, this part of the passage has been easy. And we have RADAR now; I leave it on Stand-By and take a look every 10 minutes or so. It shows me all the ships within 24 miles. It is so, so fortunate that we were able to find an expert to secure and install a new Magnitron in Aden. I found the radar especially valuable last night, when the ships were all helter-skelter, before becoming orderly to enter the separation scheme (which was only enacted here in 2003.
         We are sailing with the jib only in 16-20 knots of wind. In fact, we have been sailing steadily ever since we left port at 1:30 PM yesterday. This is great. Nice, easy sailing with the rare "fair winds and following seas," that almost never happens. The guys are sleeping. By the time they are up, we will be in the Red Sea. Awesome, when I think of how far away that seemed to us when we were back in Thailand over the holidays.
         If we continue to have favorable winds, we plan to skip Eritrea and continue sailing to Suakin, Sudan. This is the advantage of not having a buddy boat right now, with radar and crew, we really don't need it. Quite a few yachts left the day before we did, when I was too sick with a stomach bug to leave, but some are already anchoring to get a rest. Most are couples. If we had a buddy boat, we would be committed to going along with the program. This way, we are free to just keep going if all is favorable. (And after the strict rules of the Camel Convoy--see story Passage through Pirate Alley--we are ready for a little freedom.
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        March 23: It is 6:15 the sun has just come up, a fiery orange ball through a haze of dusty pastel blue. No streaks. Just the sun. The wind is still blowing strong at Force 6, over 20 knots from the south as we head north. This steady wind has generated humongous waves. We are sailing with only the jib out,which seems reasonably comfortable. We were sailing with the main yesterday, but as the wind and waves increased, PB wallowed in the troughs. What a job getting the main down! I had to steer directly into those waves in a 22-knot wind! I’m thinking that this is a preview of what it could be like if the wind switches to northerlies roaring down from the Med, as it usually does halfway up the Red Sea. No thanks! If that happens, we will be forced to day-hop, hiding from the wind in marsas (anchorages protected by reefs), moving on again when it calms down. I pray that we are lucky enough to sneak up to Egypt in a calm period. Every extra day we spend along the lower Red Sea is one day less of our planned R&R in Egypt. But we’ve learned to just take it as it comes. Nothing we can do to control the wind and the weather!

         We are about in the center of the Red Sea channel, having begun our crossing from the Yemeni (Arabian Peninsula) side over to the Eritrea side. Eritrea is another filthy poor country, and we've decided to skip it. Had we needed fuel, or been motoring in no wind, we may have stopped; that seems to be the destination of most of the fleet. But we have a forecast of favorable winds until March 26th, when it dies, and as you know, all the pilot books say to take advantage of a southerly here when you have it. A boat a few miles ahead of us, Pacific Pearl, is heading for Sudan and after hearing this forecast from them, and their plans to go there, we changed our course yesterday. So instead of crossing directly on a beam reach, as Massawa would have been, or navigating through myriads of reefs, and having to arrive in the daylight as Port Suakin, Sudan would have been, we are going directly through well-lit and marked shipping channels to yet another dirty, dusty shipping port.

          I take a look around, scanning the horizon for ships, nothing. I look at the radar, blessed radar, always at the ready on stand-by. No ship for 12 miles. Amazing! I had imagined lots of ships in the center of the Red Sea. But then, past the "neck" this sea becomes huge. I don't see a thing around me but sea, just as if we were in the Ocean. At the neck, I could see both the Arabian and African shores.

         Our crew is fine, sleeping right now. Just ticking off the miles and days again. 425miles to Port Sudan.
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March 24th, 0600:
         Well here it is another morning and we are on a different course, motoring along at 5.5 knots over ripply seas, winds 10 knots from the north. 90% cloud cover. Something's brewing. Yep. This is the way the Red Sea is. Yesterday, we made the decision to pull into Eritrea after all. Pacific Pearl in the Info section of the Red Sea Net said that the Weather Buoy program has the wind switching to northerlies already yesterday on the African side of the Red Sea near Port Sudan, where we were headed, then strengthening from the north for the next two days--totally different than what that program had told us about southerlies until the 26th. Weather seems to be quite local here, and our SailMail Grib files are useless. We had 20-30 knot southerlies on the Arabian side yesterday, at the same time as the grib files said we were having 5 knots from the south! So we contacted Pacific Pearl right after the NET and set up a contact sched, since they were only 10 miles away (unplanned, now we have a Swedish buddy boat). Both yachts were on a course for Port Sudan, a gradual NW crossing of the Red Sea, then we made a decision to go to Eritrea after all. When we made the decision about mid-morning, we'd already gone past my original (Jimmy Cornell) way points to Massawa, a logical and gradual heading northwest, so we had to make a more WNW heading. We headed into huge seas with a main sail, double reefed and a double reefed jib, enduring a very uncomfortable beam reach over huge southerly swells all day.

         Chris, our Aussie crew, seemed in his element because he'd never sailed on a fast beam reach like that with us. Sailing 10 knots with reefed main and jib most of the way crossing the Red Sea pumped the adrenalin like racing. So I teased him to make up for my own misery. Bump. Bomb. Clank. Clang. As I rescued our galley "liquor cabinet" storing it all safely in bubble wrap in the Queen's Bilge, I told Chris that if the wind truly does NOT turn northerly in the next two days after all, I'll explain our destination change as a fast, desperate beer run for Chris, since we have only 4 beers left (and 3 of those have been earmarked for arrival). Beer was not available on the Arabian Peninsula. The word is that since Eritrea is not a Muslim country, they have plenty of cheap beer, so we'll buy a case for Chris. It's fun to have a young man around to joke with. Adds life to Pacific Bliss.

0620: Land Ho!
        I see a mound through a 90% cloud cover. Eritrea. We will arrive on African shores shortly after noon. The last time Pacific Bliss was in Africa was the Port of Tangiers, after crossing Gibralter. We are ready for a rest and for whatever Eritrea might bring.

Total Passage: 443 Miles