Oct.24, 2010-Photo Updates Now Posted

It's been nearly a month since September when we dropped off the grid back in Indonesia. Now, here in Mauritius, we've got an Internet connection again and though it is expensive to use it seems to work good enough.

We thought we'd catch you up up on all the photos we've been taking.

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
In the Mentawai's

Click here for more photos of the Mentawai Islands where we visited just before leaving Sumatra.

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
ITCZ Sailing

Next we sailed south looking for the SE Trades. We had miserable and stormy conditions before finding SE Trades and some blue skies eight days later.

(Every other yacht coming across the Southern Indian Ocean this season has reported similar, or worse, conditions.)

Click here for more shots of the rough conditions we found in the ITCZ.

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
Boisteous Trade Wind Sailing

Even when the sky cleared, the wind didn't drop much, the seas stayed big, and we rocked on Westward.

Click here for more shots of trade wind sailing.

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Tied up In Mauritius

Eighteen and a half days after leaving Sumatra we tied up Wings along side the sea wall in Mauritius. 2700 miles: a momentous crossing for us.

Click here for more shots of our arrival at Mauritius

So that's the crossing in a nutshell. We've said we are sailing westward until we stop.

For now, we've stopped.

wingssail images-pierre yves hadamar
Westward

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Mauritius

September 30, 2010-Stepping off the Edge of the World

We've come back to the edge of the world and we are about to step off.

This time for keeps.

We're in the Mentawai Islands half way down the west coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. Out here there are few people and nothing but wild, untouched islands and big surf and to the west of us lies only the vast ocean. There is no convoy of yachts waiting to depart with us. We are alone.

This is the edge of the world.

The time to depart for Africa is near. Just one more look at the weather forecasts and we can weigh anchor and head south to the Trade Winds.

And take a right turn.

Twenty four hundred miles to Rodriguez Island in the Southern Indian Ocean. It's the big hop.

Are we ready?

Yeah, it rained last night and we filled the water tanks. Yesterday we visited a small town out here and bought a little more diesel so those tanks are topped off too and we found some veggies and got a couple of chickens for the freezer. In Pedang the day before we finished other preparations: the gas bottles were filled, the new radio tuner was installed and is working, the alternator was rebuilt and is working, all the provisions we can fit were stored aboard. We even bought a few kilos of Sumatran coffee direct from the roaster. We are about as ready as we will ever be.

How about the crew?

Judy and I and our great crew member Pierre are healthy and optimistic and anxious to get on with it.

It's time to get going, time to take that step off the edge of the world.

We can't post links or photos from the HF Radio system we are using to post this, but you can go to wingssail-images (see link at the top of the page) and see the photos we posted from Pedang.

We'll write more later.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Sumatra

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September 25, 2010-The Jetty at Teluk Bayur

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Fishing boat at Teluk Bayur

The old wooden jetty was a wreck already but there was no other choice for a yachtie wishing to go ashore in Pedang’s Teluk Bayur since the surf on the shoreline is too huge to consider. However landing in the dingy at the Teluk Bayur jetty is a real adventure; the waves rise and fall about three feet and you have to time your leap from the dingy to or from the jetty, but you could do it if you were agile.

That was before last night when the big wave wiped out the whole jetty. It knocked the surface planks completely off the pilings and scattered them like pick-up sticks. To go ashore for our shopping trip in Pedang today we scrambled over the wreckage.

Scrambling ashore was a piece of cake compared to coming home because the local jetty workers decided to fix it while we were gone.

They were right on the job and they industriously attacked the ruined jetty with saws and new timbers but to fix it they had to dismantle the remains. By four in the afternoon there was no jetty, only the skeleton under which surged the whole Indian Ocean dashing itself on the rocks with a mighty power.

So I, being the designated driver waiting on Wings with the dingy, came in early and spoke to the jetty owner, “Sir, Madam is coming back in an hour and she can’t cross that ruined jetty. Can your guys help her?”

This is what I like about Indonesia:

He said, “No problem.” And when Judy showed up later with her bags of provisions the whole work team, about 15 guys, stopped work rigged a temporary walkway of planks for her to cross and the owner himself handed Judy to the dingy. It was still scary for her but she made it.

We have experienced nothing except the friendliest and most courteous treatment from all the Indonesians we have encountered in Sumatra. We love them.

But Pedang, which is the capital of West Sumatra, is still a difficult stop over. Aside from the adventures of the jetty the town is large and confusing. There are few stores where we can buy the provisions we need and the market is so huge even Pierre got lost. On top of that few people speak any English and our Indonesian is limited so asking is not usually productive. We have not even found Sumatra coffee beans but in truth we have managed to get most everything else.

We are here doing our last minute shopping before checking out of Indonesia for Africa, and that is something. The boat has been a problem with its minor breakdowns, and continues to be, but we cope, and we are on schedule.

So we are pretty happy.

We’ll update you soon on our actual departure date from Indonesia.

Fred & Judy (& Pierre), SV Wings, Sumatra


Click here for more images from our last stop in Sibolga

Click here for photos we took on the way to Pedang, which is across the equator

September 16, 2010-Sailing to Sibolga v2

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
Sumatra Anchorage

(Revised)

We arrived at the outer mark at dawn and we smelled the wood smoke of the cooking fires in the soft offshore wind.

It reminded us of another morning long ago when we arrived under sail at San Carlos, Mexico, also at dawn, and when we also smelled the smoke of the cooking fires onshore. The smoke smells the same and the sky at that time of the morning looks the same also and while we could not pick out Tetras de Cabra here in Sumatra, even the spiny backbone of Sumatra Island looks similar; memories also flood back of other dawn arrivals.

We passed a solitary fisherman standing in a canoe and he looked like a clockwork stick figure as he rhythmically bent at the waist to pull his net in, hand over hand.

At 08:00 the anchor splashed down off the Sibolga, Indonesia waterfront and we looked at the town as we quietly folded sails, each of us with our own thoughts. We liked the looks of the town with a small central area of low buildings surrounded by houses built on stilts over the water and houses in the hills behind. There are several mosques visible and the whole place is surrounded by steep hills: picturesque.

It was also nice to achieve this objective: arriving at Sibolga, which is several hundred miles down the coast of Sumatra and over six hundred miles from Langkawi, Malaysia, where we started this journey, is a major milestone for us. Here we will formally check into Indonesia, do some shopping, try to get an Internet connection, and rest up from the last 12 days of our crossing from Malaysia and the trip down the coast.

The trip so far has been good. We’ve been motoring a most of the time in the calm Sumatra summer but getting some nice sailing days too. The overnight sail into Sibolga from the Islands was very good with a steady 15 knot westerly behind us most of the way. We set the kite for a while but blew the jibe and had to take it down then then decided it was too much trouble to trim it so rather than reset it we we shifted to a jib. It meant easier sailing.

There have been some stunning anchorages along the way with pristine white sand beaches and clear water teaming with fish and wildlife but we’ve had little contact with the few local inhabitants. The Islands are mostly empty of people. We did talk every day on the radio to our several surfer friends here on various boats for the world class surfing. We have seen plenty of awesome surf which we have stayed well away from.

Frequent minor breakdowns have been a daily occurrence and have been troubling. They have kept us busy and my heart really sinks with each new problem; not because I have to fix it but because it makes us wonder how things will hold up on the big crossing, but we have dealt with them all and are buying some more spares here in Indonesia for the trip. Our friend Tony told us that any day where nothing has failed by noon is a good day and we do expect more of the “unscheduled maintenance”.

But we’re here, we can do some shopping, and it is happy ship aboard Wings. Judy and I are relaxed and doing well, Pierre has turned out to be a great crew member and we are all looking forward to the cooler tradewind days ahead;

Sumatra is hot.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Sumatra

Click here for more photos from Sumatra

Click here to see a few of the Sibolga Residents

Click here to see the log book pages of our sailing trips in September 2010

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Sumatra

September 7, 2010-Rounding Sumatra

It is midnight.

Judy and Pierre are in the cockpit drinking wine and talking about life and I am below at the computer writing emails. We are in Seudu anchorage on the west coast of Sumatra Island.

Yes, Sumatra Island, Indonesia; at 1500 today we sailed around the western most tip of Sumatra Island.

So we have done another U-turn: we left Malaysia and are, after all, bound for Africa.

How did this happen?

After our gut wrenching decision to turn back from our planned voyage to Africa last month we have spent a month of soul searching, but also relaxing, at Rebak Island Resort in Langkawi where we sort of recovered our mental balance. This period of calmness has been beneficial. It has allowed us to look at things with a better perspective. Unless we wanted to sell the boat which we are unwilling to do at this time because living on Wings and sailing is still our life or stay in Malaysia permanently, which we also don't want to do even though we have liked it there for this month, we needed to do something about getting Wings on the move again.

We have decided to accept the help of a good friend and former crew member from Singapore, Pierre, to sail Wings to Africa. Judy came up with this idea after another mutual friend Tessa told us Pierre was available. When we contacted him a few days later he agreed and was even excited about the idea. With Pierre on board many of Judy's concerns are lessened and he is a big help. She can even opt out of the crossing from Reunion to Richards Bay if she wants. Plus her back has been fine. All of these factors added up to us making the choice to again face the ocean, this time with the addition of Pierre. We still have plenty of doubts, but we now feel that this is a doable trip. After we get to Africa we will still have some decisions to make but we will have been thinking about it for months, not hours, like last time.

We left Langkawi on Sept 4 and are now on the west coast of Sumatra. We did a lot of motoring but had some great sailing as well. We will depart Pedang for Rodriguez around the end of September. That is the big jump, over 2400 miles.

We will update the blog when we can.

Judy & Fred, SV Wings, Sumatra

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Click here to see the log book pages of our sailing trips in September 2010

July 28, 2010-Arrived in Sumatra: Tough Trip

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Rough Sailing

We have arrived in Sumatra, Indonesia and are anchored in Sebang after a rough two and a half day passage, all upwind and mostly in high winds and very rough seas.

Here is the story I wrote after the first day:

Judy took one look at the dark line of clouds and said, "We're going to get it".

It came fast and just as we got the jib down the first cold wind hit and the rain hit my back like icy pellets. The water and the sky were black but a layer of white spray swept over the waves. Then the spray enveloped us. Clouds of white water flew past to leeward, over the whole boat. The wind hit 38.

We soldiered along for a while maintaining our course under double reefed main alone but the wind just increased and increased. We saw over 43 knots. The sail flogged at times. I watched the clock and wondered how long it would last. These squalls don't last long I'd heard, and I hoped, but it went on for hours. We turned and ran off with it which helped quiet things down on board and the wind vane happily steered the boat through the wild waves. We were under control and surging along without any problem now but the wind still howled, the spray still flew by, the waves were big and hissed past us like angry cars, and we were going 8-10 knots towards a lee shore. Even at 75 miles away Sumatra loomed to leeward. It was only a matter of hours before we reached it. I was counting on the fact that the squall would pass and we could resume course but this might be a risky assumption. Perhaps this was not a squall but a storm. What if it persisted for the whole night? I didn't want to end up forced to beat off a dark and unknown shore; many ships have been lost in those situations. So after three hours of running off we decided to change strategy. We trimmed the sail to slow the boat down sheeting in very hard and we came up onto the wind with the sail over trimmed. It worked. Now sailing at 3-4 knots into the howling breeze it was rough and we were again covered in spray and all the lines and rigging groaned under the load I put them under but at least we were no longer heading towards the beach.

I watched the wind drop and when it was time for Judy's watch the wind was 20 and she came on deck. We were going 5 knots. Things seemed to be better.

I went below.

Soon Judy began to moan, "Oh, Oh, Oh!" The wind was back to over 40. I came back on deck as fast as I could get dressed and we turned downwind again.
This went on for most of the night. It was a very hard night. The tension of the high winds and rough seas was emotionally draining. It was one of the worst nights we've had on Wings and it was the first night of our cruise to Africa. We talked about whether we really wanted to do this anymore: cross oceans and get into storms. We need to have some serious discussions.

By midnight the wind dropped again and we turned on the motor rather than shake out the sails; we didn't know how soon we'd need to get them in again.

By morning the wind was gone and we set sail. The discussion about whether we can keep facing these oceans, or want to, is put off for now.

That was day-one. Day-two and day three were nearly as bad. We arrived OK, no problems, just tired and shaken and emotional for being tense and scared for three days. The discussion is back on.

Click here to see the other photos from the rough trip to Sumatra

Click here to see the chart of our trip

And click here for more shots from this trip

And here (before we left)

Click here to see the log book pages of this passage.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Sebang, Sumatra

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July 23, 2010-Indian Ocean Itinerary

Click Image to enlarge

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
Our Route

Sailing Legs

ITINERARY

Sailing to Sumatra
Two hundred and fifty miles to windward from Phuket to Palau Weh in Banda Ache. Keep an eye on the weather and pick your time to tack.
Departing July 25, Sailing time: 2-3 days

Sumatra
We sail first to Banda Ache, to the port of Sebang which, with any good breeze, we should make in a couple of days and at any rate by the end of July we will call there to pick up our Indonesian permit, arranged by Lytha in Jakarta. After Ache there are the bays and harbors and unpopulated islands down the west coast of Sumatra to explore, the white sand beaches lined with coconut palms, the small towns, the surfer camps. We’ve a list of twenty or so stops and the chart shows many more but with only a month allowed in Indonesia we can’t hit them all.
Pedang, just south of the Equator, is the capital of West Sumatra and there is a good market so that is where we plan take on provisions and from where we will, by the end of August , take our leave of Indonesia.
Cruising Sumatra-The month of August

Sailing to Cocos Keeling
From Pedang we’ll be heading nearly due south past the off lying islands and towards the atoll of Cocos Keeling. Standing out from Sumatra Island we should soon begin to sniff out the SE trade winds which blow through the gap between Australia and Java. Then we’ll leave the light winds and rain of Sumatra behind and enter the belt of steady trades which bring boisterous sailing and the white wakes across blue seas which mark the passage of a fine sailing yacht on a speedy, if wet, close reach.
Departing August 28, Sailing time: 4-5 days

Cocos Keeling-Early September
Four of five days of sailing will bring us to the twenty four coral islands around two atolls which were once the domain of the self proclaimed king of Cocos Keeling but now a possession of Australia. the Cocos will offer a respite from the hard sailing and a last chance to pick up a few items at the supermarket on West Island.
Staying in Cocos Keeling-5 days

Passage to Chagos Islands
This is what we came for and the vision of Wings racing to the horizon, romping across the seas under the clear blue skies, with the sails free…that is the vision which is impressed on our brains. Downwind sailing in the SE Trades; across the Indian Ocean. Here we go!
Departing September 8, Sailing time: 8-9 days

Chagos
After sailing west across 14 degrees of longitude we will drop anchor in the uninhabited northern atolls of the Chagos archipelago around mid-September . Exactly in the middle of the Indian ocean, Chagos is remote, protected, a reserve, and yachts who visit there are restricted by the British who own it to a few locations, and none anywhere near the US Base on Diego Garcia. But for natural beauty, good fishing, and peace and quiet, this is the spot.
Staying in Chagos –two to three weeks.

Passage to Rodriques Island
This could be a hard leg: over 1100 miles of close reaching in fresh trades. Wet, rough, fast. This leg might be the one to endure. We’ll have to manage our speed to stay comfortable. Stay tuned to see if we do that.
Departing October 2, Sailing time: 6-8 days

Rodrigues Island
Forty two square miles of mountainous terrain occupied by 35,000 mixed African and French creole speaking creole island dwellers (with maybe a bit of English or French) this island is way off the beaten path, receives few visits from yachts, and Port Maturin, the sleepy capital of this remote Indian Ocean outpost will be an interesting place to drop a hook and recover from the passage down from Chagos.
Staying in Rodrogues, 1 week

Passage to Mauritius
Two hundred miles running dead downwind…should be easy sailing.
Departing October 15, Sailing time: 2 days

Mauritius
A country of with an interesting past (Dutch settled, French owned, British takeover, and independent since 1992) a mix of primarily African and Indian people, English speaking, democratically elected government, free education & medicine, bustling tourism and business, Mauritius was a major port before the Suez canal changed the world shipping routes and a major sugar producer until falling sugar prices led the government to a program of agricultural diversification and manufacturing.
There are ports and marinas here and we are looking forward to a visit but by the time of our arrival, mid-to late October, cyclone season will be approaching. The duration of our stay will be limited.
Staying in Mauritius, two weeks or less

Passage to Reunion
121 miles, it’s an overnighter. Piece of cake.
Departing end of October, Sailing time, 24 hours.

Reunion
French to the max, the island of Reunion is a Department of France, rugged, remote, claimed to be one of the most unique spots on earth. We’ll call there for a brief stay and watch the weather for a departure for Africa
Staying in Reunion, Maybe only 3 days

Passage to Africa
The longest and most dangerous passage of this whole trip, we’ll sail southwest around the southern tip of Madagascar, and then cross the Mozambique Channel and the Agulhas Current watching the weather intensely as being in that south running current in a southern gale presents extreme risks to yachts.
Departing November 2, Sailing time: 8-10 Days

Africa-Richards Bay
A town of 54,000 and a good harbor with a healthy marine industry, this will be our destination and first stop in Africa. This is as far as we’ve planned so we’ll have to wait until later to fill in our African itinerary, but rest assured in includes wild animals!
Staying in Africa: Unknown

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Phuket, Thailand