Suakin to Greek
It
is so unbelievable how this fine
sand is pressed in the smallest holes, chinks and into every piece of
equipment. Even the front side of every rope is brown, front side of
sails, front side of everything. The wind is blowing till one day the
anchorage gets nervous, a sosolala good forecast appears and 4 of the
5 boats are leaving. None of us with the same target, none of us
leaving at the same time, everybody has his own tactical plans how to
trick the wind and when to do which maneuvers to come to north, a
very interesting experience for me.
Forecasted is light north wind, followed by several hours of doldrums, then some hours of
the beloved south wind, before finally after a short no wind period
very strong north wind with 30-35kn will batter the boats. The most
important – be on a safe spot when the strong north wind comes.
On
this leg i made my first tactical mistake but in hindsight it
is always easy. The south wind came around noon and the 30kn northerly
was prognosed for the next morning 0800. I was afraid of the north wind and so i ducked already in the evening into the 3 miles
deep Khor Shinab as i believed the north wind will come earlier but
had no chance to make it to the next safe spot before 0700 so i
missed the largest part of south wind, a big mistake in the Red Sea,
but who would think that a weather forecast is right on time?
Anyway it was a good
place, and finally 3 of us where together again sitting out the
howling wind. There was absolute nothing besides sand and sand and
sand, some camels and in the evening a control from 3 Navy guys. Very
refreshing boys, specially the youngest who tried to climb a little
to careful on board as he forgot that his feet also should come with
him, the Navy boat moved away, his hands on my boat, his feet on the
other, and he got longer and longer, finally kind of jumped so that
he was not completely in the water and this way saved his beloved
cell phone in his pocket from drowning.
The second guy i
chased away as he did not want to leave his AK47 on the Navy boat. I
told him no guns on my boat, looking angry and then nr.2 and nr.3
stayed on the small Navy boat. When their check was finished i gave
each of them a packet of cigarettes and life was good again.
A week later i
zigzagged my way north again as the wind settled down to a moderate
12-15knots, making it possible for me to make some miles north to Khor
Abu Asal (Marsa Oseif) before the wind strengthens again. Another
week passed before the hammering north wind settled and the conditions
giving me hope to do the next 257nm to Port Ghalib, the southernmost
port of entry in Egypt. That reads so easy here, only 257 miles, like
a 2 days sail, but finally it took me a 468 nm to reach he
destination, meaning 4 days of wind on the nose and spray in the face
and still trying to have a good time. I did not sail as close to the
wind as technical possible, i let the boat go a good 10 degrees away
from course. This makes sailing so much more comfortable and the best
– it does not slow me down. Instead of making 5 knots going very
hard in the wind i could keep a speed around 6 knots, doing a longer
way but faster and more comfortable. Didier, a french sailor with a
fast RM1200 monohull whom i met first time in Djibouti, sailed during
the same time and always going max wind angle, we left within an hour
and arrived within an hour, met several times somewhere out in the
Red Sea. Once during the night i see his navigation light, think to
myself – ok looks like about 2 miles away – i can still have a
short nap. When i awake i am only about 60 meters behind him, a very
dangerous situation and very stupid from me.
Now i should write about Egypt – i refuse to do so!!!!!!!!!!!
I do not want to use
so many negative words in my blog – my advise to every sailor -
AVOID EGYPT if you have to sail on a small budget.
Finally the end of
the Suez canal is near, the pilot leaves the boat during motoring
through the canal near the city of Port Said. Shortly afterwards
darkness sets in and i am spit out into the Mediterranean. And i
don‘t like what i see – lights, lights, lights, navigation lights
all over the place. What is easy to manage during day is a horror at
night, it seems like 100‘s of red and green lights, and 1000‘s of
white lights. I have to concentrate on what I am doing here, just
following my line, very close to the green lights of the main
shipping lane. Looking over my shoulder and suddenly staring into the
front of a tanker does not help bringing my heartbeat down, 1 minute
ago it were just 2 lights somewhere in the dark behind me. I have
planed to raise the sail immediately after leaving the canal and sail
northwest, but i am too afraid now, so i follow the shipping lane far
out to its end where the orientation comes to a normal level and i
can start sailing towards Greek.
Because of the delay
in the canal caused by a French Navy ship and then again in Ismailiah
by 3 American Navy ships I missed more than a day of good wind
direction and will have to sail again against the wind on the second
day. And on this day the Mediterranean shows me that it is one of the
most dangerous and unpredictable seas on the planet. I change my
course from going to Krete to going to Rhodes and then finally ending
up at Kastelorizo, which is the most eastern end of Greek, 70nm miles
east of Rhodes. I simply had enough of going into the wind, did not
want to damage the boat as the wind sometimes reaches the 40 knot
mark, and it was a good decision to do so.
The clearing process
is fast and easy without any problems – i am in Paradise after 3
months and 5.765 miles (10.490km) sailing from Langkawi to Greek.
And I am proud,
having sailed this enormous leg alone, and actually being more proud
of having literally sailed the whole distance, using my engine only
for going in and out of anchorages and the Suez Canal.
