Enroute Maldivs - Day 8 and 9

Well, al good sails must come to an end. We motor for about 4 hours in h lee created by the bottom tip of Sri Lanka. Then the wind filled in, as expected. The GRIB forecast showed the winds getting channelled down the slot created between India and the island of Sri Lanka. GRIBs had 25kts, but closer to 22ks in h section we were crossing.
The last day and half has been some of the most uncomfortable, "why am I here" sailing we have done in the past 10 years of cruising. The winds were steady for awhile at 35-36kts, the illformed seas were 8-10 feet on the beam. We ended turning south of our course a fair amount to stop most of the waves from crashing over the starboard bow and sliding back to the cockpit.
All and all, a most un-fun few days -- it will be interesting how the trip sounds when I tell the story over a beer two weeks from now: fast, rambunctious seas, great passage???
We will arrive at Uligan, Maldives tonight and probably have to wait offshore for most of he night to make a day light entry on our Wednesday.
Day 8 noon-to-noon run 170nm
Day 9 noon-to-noon run 207nm, new record for us!!!!!

--short

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Enroute Maldives - Day 7

More ships, more miles long fish nets, good sailing.
All was good till early this morning - still dark. The winds picked up and the shipping traffic was tough to avoid. Too much of the worlds commerce flows through these waters. After dodging a few ships and heading around a net we ended up with the wind blowing 20-25 kts and a little in front of the beam. Making good time and relaxing as a large ship had just passed us as close as they like to get, about 1 mile away. A little while later we get hit with a slap on the bow and a wave launching into our open hatches. Nothing like salt water in your berth for grumpy crew. The wave was the unseen wake from the cargo ship.

Noon to noon run: 175nm


--short

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Enroute Maldives - Day 5 and 6

Yesterdays noon-to-noon run was 160nm. It would have been better if we had not had to take a detour around a 14 mils long drift net (or long-line??). We spotted an AIS mark with a fishing vessel name on it plus (3). I wanted to head well north of it, but the winds and currents were not cooperating. So we gybed and headed south. After a little while another AIS target showed up with the same fishing vessel name plus (2). This second one was attached to first and was 9.25 nm apart. Along the way we started to spot new, white egg-shaped floats with black lines tied on and leading directly down. After continuing south a third target showed up with a its name with a (1), another 4.5 miles away. Making for a 14 mile long way to clear cut the oceans. The fishing vessel itself finally showed up on AIS and I tried to hail him on VHF radio. I wanted to see what the path out of this was. After many calls the fishing vessel did not respond. I figure the reason he didn't respond was because he knew the first thing I was going to say was "No Hindi, English".

Next day was a big day. We reached the half way point and I had a shower. Pretty exciting.
162 nm noon-to-noon
--short

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