Onboard Update from Escapade Return Delivery

Middle of Nowhere 3 deg 51'N 150 deg 29'E  2/7/13 at 0916am

OK, we've made it to 4N but there is a noticeable lack of wind (I can see my reflection when I look over the side, not bad following a beard trim) and an alarming dent in our fuel supplies, fuel is now being rationed for charging only and we have been becalmed for 24 hours managing to make about 40miles through a combination of wave action and current. Slept most of the night with the wind alarm set to 7kt to wake me up - not a peep from it all night.
Its a bit hot but I compensated by spending three hours in the water yesterday cleaning and inspecting the hull. improved boat speed by .2kt ... and the hull looked fine alleviating concern over one source of the amount of water accumulating in the bilge despite minimal rain and upright sailing? Also shifted the main bilge pump forward one compartment so at least I can remove most of the aforementioned water using the electric pump while the engine is running. Still becalmed today so my next job is to properly mount the solar panels to reduce the need for charging with the engine. It does a reasonable job of keeping up with demand between about 7am and 5pm so its worth the effort. The job has been made easier by the regulator falling off the back of the solar array. The glue melted in the heat the other day, must read the instructions again, perhaps I'm not supposed to leave the thing in the sun?
Breakfast time now - more bananas - minimum per head banana consumption is 8 per day or you don't get your rum ration.
If there is nay chance of an air drop of supplies, we're running short on diesel, beer and red wine. Banana and coconut supplies will last until August.

News from Escapade at Lamotrek

We had a very easy run across to Elato Atoll. Gentle southerly breeze propelling us at around 4-5 kts which is all we needed for the short run. So easy that we set up the computer on top of the companion way hatch and watched videos for most of the the trip. As usual we arrived in the dark, 11pm off Elato so decided to amble on the extra 8M to Lamotrek instead. arrived off the south entrance to Lamotrek around 2am after observing that, once again, the charts were a little bit out, as I went past the first island of the atoll I noticed the depth gauge start to register as well as noting that I could see the breakers on the shore and count the palm leaves in the trees - 30 degrees to stbd and the depth gauge returns to --- Hove to off the entrance to wait for daylight and a good decision again as the islands prove to be .9 miles WSW of their charted position. The chart itself is correct so with the use of a couple of clearing bearings and a good look out in the bow (she refused to climb the mast despite my insistance that it is the best place) we made our entry around 0630 noting the location of the main reef is right were the chart says the passage should be! About 3 miles from the main island of Lamotrek we are hailed on the VHF "Yacht Boat this is Lamotrek" I was in the bow preparing the anchor albeit with a handheld VHF in my pocket but Felicity beat me to it and responded. During the ensuing conversation I noted that this was the first place since we left Australia to get their mouth around "Escapade" correctly the first time, turns out that Fash aulep had warned them of our presence in the area. The real bonus was advice that there were two moorings close to shore and we were invited to use either. Turns out they were installed only a month or two ago by another yacht touring the area who had come back especially to install them. Interesting and simple arrangement using chain with a large rock as the ground anchor. After organising ourselves we went ashore with the landing fee in hand as well as a couple of basic gifts for the chief. No Polo shirt this time as we already knew from reading other blogs that no-one on this island wears a shirt, no-one at all. Chief seemed happy with his gift of Coffee, a cap and some strawberry tarts. The cap went straight on his head so we figure we scored one point at least. A young lad from village #3 was appointed as our guide and we headed off for and island tour. This island was larger than Fash aulep and has three villages . It was also noticeably cleaner and better kept which helped explain the comment from Thomas (GF3), the Health worker on Fash aulep, who had just returned when we arrived there and remarked to me that they had let the place go while he was in Yap and he was hassling the chief to organise a clean up and get rid of the mosquitos. Gino took us around and showed us a couple of Japanese WWII plane wrecks as well as visiting a few houses were they were making Lavalava. They get more visitors here including the odd cruise ship so it wasn't long before they started bringing out things to trade. Felicity bought two Lavalava and ordered two palm leaf fans which we agreed to pick up the following day. This is the island were we had read that they were building a new sailing canoe, the largest they had ever built and by now it had progressed to a full hull with the prows and gunwales being worked on and trimmed down. The sections are made from a single piece of wood and carved out into the required shape so the two prows were a real work of carving with the hand adze the use. They had also managed to add a few modern tools to their collection and there were a couple of hand planes, an orbital sander and an angle grinder around, the later being powered by a petrol generator. They had recently broken the sanding attachment for the angle grinder and asked if I had one the same but not to be. They did gleeful accept the gift of sikflex 291 and 250ml of epoxy.

Building the canoe	The Prow being carved

I was invited to the after noon QLD starting at 3pm to which I arrived with my own cup. These guys drink "Tuba" which is made from juice extracted from coconut palms by modifying the part which grows the coconut, they then add water and yeast like the guys in Fash aulep but they the reckon the Tuba is much better than the "yeast". My experience could best be described as - "what flavour of fermented loin cloth would you like sir?" However I have learned that they dont think much of the taste either which is why I have now noticed they scull the whole cup full in one hit, a habit I have had to plead with them not to employ when drinking "Yacht Boat Tuba" as I refer to the rum/water/sugar/limejuice combo. On the plus side these guys organise there "Tuba circles" a bit more than the guys on Fash aulep and that night when I returned for the evening session they were sitting around passing on the local navigation practices to the younger chaps.
They next day we took five of the boys sailing, 4 senior high school and one teacher from the elementary school. They Knew their way around so we went out the first channel and around the outside of the lagoon past the Japanese longline fishing boat (high and dry on the reef, so High the chart says it's an island!) nd back in through a 3m channel which got me a little nervous. By the time we were half way around they had things worked out and I left them to it. Despite the number of visitors the get, none of them had been on a "yacht boat" before and they seemed genuinely thrilled with the experience. Felicity filled in the local yacht log while we were sailing noting that Cadibarra 8 had stopped for a day a few weeks earlier.

Out sailing for the day

Felicity came down with a bout of gastro the next day so she was laid up and our departure delayed by at least a day. I continued to muck around fixing power inverters and some things on the boat. When it came time to leave the Chief presented us with a lavalava for Felicity, hand made rope using coconut fibre for me and a carved figure for Escapade called a Monkey man which bears a striking resemblance to ... The final gift was a couple of lobster freshly cooked which unfortunately Felicity did not feel well enough to help me eat and a bunch of bananas and I mean the whole bunch, as well as the obligatory coconuts which are always accepted welcomingly.

Bananas!

Following messages of panic/despair/approaching armageddon from our newly independent offspring, we have altered plans and are now making a beeline/rhumbline/goat track for the solomon islands although with the current rate of fuel consumption and the wind forecast, we will be relying on favourable ocean currents to make it there.

Olimarao- just the two of us...

Latest update from Escapade

At last! we arrive somewhere in daylight. Only because we got sick of beating to windward for a day and a half and as I studied the chart to see how long to stay on Starboard tack trying to get to Elato I realised we were pretty much on course for this other, uninhabited atoll about 20M away and we would get ther before sundown. Pilot book seemed quite optimistic and also the reference from a blog by another couple touring the area made mention of this atoll as a good place to vist. So at 5pm we lined up on the bearings I had worked out for the main passage and tentatively felt our way in only altering course to starboard about 30m as the depth reduced to 3 - 4m, then went back to 15+ as we crossed the reef. No obstructions inside so we motored up to the north end and found a spot in 12 - 15m and put out 50m of chain with the anchor landing in a large patch of sand. Yes, you can see the bottom in 15m. Anchor set first time and has survived up to 30kt gusts including a 180 wind shift this morning. If all goes well we leave for Elato later this afternoon with a gentle southerly blowing at last. 

We have explored the island, been coconut hunting (plenty of gin but running out of coconuts) slept a lot, swam around in some lovely undisturbed coral until a reef shark showed up and then Felicity lost interest. Explored the island but decided to leave it to the rats and mosquitos unless we need more coconuts. Found some some cute shells, mostly occupied by hermit crabs. Seen all varieties and sizes of fish but haven't tried to catch any yet. Observed what we think are turtle egg nests based on their appearance and the tracks around them and annoyed a lot of coconut crabs, which are nowhere near as big as a coconut. Unfortunately no photos as the camera has been missing since we left Fashaulep.

Off to Elato now, bye bye.

Escapade-Our First Pacific Atoll Visit

OK, I seem to have got the fiddly, unreliable software and the shonky, unreliable, satellite phone working again at the same time after being offline and without weather information since June 12 - thanks this time to the Xgate people and their dodgy billing processes and faulty error recovery in their software ... vent, vent, vent etc.
Enough bad news, what a week/10 days!! We have discovered Island life, breadfruit, drinking coconuts and drinking the local hooch (water, sugar, yeast and 3hours of fermentation). I went fishing with the local village - all of them (men/boys, any male old enough to swim). We've eaten - fried fish, steamed fish, smoked fish, fish in coconut milk, smoked fish in coconut milk, ripe bananas, taro cake, more coconuts, breadfruit, breadfruit in coconut milk and the best donuts in the world. I also introduced them to the ship's grog and when I mentioned that I was running low on limes they said no worries, they had plenty and came back with some limes. I looked at them and thought, they look like limes but a bit small? well, small they might be but about 5 times the flavour of anything I've had from Coles. Suffice to say that we procured a bag full before we left and they are going well in the gin and coconut juice at 11.
The last time I wrote it was early evening on june 11 and we had just put the anchor down outside the lagoon of Faraulep which is correct spelt Fash-Aulep meaning big Fash tree and pronounced Fashileep. ... all of which helps explain the lack of response I got on the VHF radio earlier in the day. We had a passably comfortable night; after mounting an anchor watch until around 1130pm I decided that it would be safe to get some sleep so I set the wind and depth alarms and crawled into my bunk with the lee cloth up. All went well and at about 0730am we were hailed from the main island via VHF as " yacht outside the the lagoon" we replied and the chap on the radio asked if we were coming in and if we would like a pilot - a big yes please to both and shortly after we see a small outboard making its way across the lagoon towards us so I shortened up the anchor and waited til they arrived. The chap in charge of the boat turned out to be Sibeeno, one of now three close friends we made on the island. We followed him in at about 3 kts and about 15m between us. It was interesting to watch them navigate by looking through the water and using the submerged features as their marks. Made it through with min depth 5m and missed the main obstruction. They then took us to an anchorage spot in 15m with a sand bottom about 200m from the island. So far so good, no sound of drums beating, no steaming cauldrons in sight and no one licking their lips as the looked at us. We fluffed around getting the dinghy down from its new davits and collecting up a gift for the chief. So much so that a canoe wandered out to greet us with three girls of varying ages in it and only the oldest one wearing a shirt who proceeded to say hello in flawless english with an American accent. Great we though, they all speak english. As it happens Kati was her name and she is the ESL teach who lived in Guam and when to Uni there - soon to be friend number 2. Then we went ashore to be greeted by a welcoming committee in the "Mens" house, which could best be described as a cross between an English pub and and australian garage. ie. used for community projects during the day and hitting the fermented sugar and water from 4 til 530pm when they stagger off home for dinner. So after a welcome and a round of introductions by Thomas (CF number 3) who we initially thought was the chief we presented the real chief with his Escapade team shirt only to discover later from Kati that apparently he has never worn a shirt. No problem, turns out his torch had stopped working and he likes coffee ... almost as much as he likes Rum. We then were invited to the chief's house for "ripe bananas" and some taro cake. After completing pleasantries with Chief Piuss and his wife we had a full tour of the Island by Kati who took us around all the family houses and introduced us to all her cousins, uncles, aunts etc. At one point I needed a toilet stop so we asked Kati and she said "1s or 2s" I replied with "2s" and Kati said, "sorry its the bush or the ocean". Ocean it was and all went well except for the 2kt current heading straight for where the rest of the kids were having a swim. We stopped at a house where a lady was weaving and watched for a while as well as more ripe bananas. Then back to visit Kati's house and say hello to her grandmother. By this time it was nearly 4pm and I had a date back at the mens house and I was on a promise to bring something special. Back to the boat to pick up the rum, sugar, lime juice and a large mixing bowl. Well, lucky I took a full bottle of 150proof rum because these guys do a cup of grog a bit like Aimee and Lucy do shots ... bottoms up and its gone and thats how the chief finished the last dregs in the bottle after the rest of them went through 4.5 liters of grog in about 25 minutes!! Then the Chief, Sibeeno and a few of the lads came back to Escapade for a nightcap, still can't get them to sip a drink! Finally sent them home with two of the young blokes playing designated driver to make sure Sibeeno and Chief Pius made it back to shore. Just as well too as Sibeeno managed to miss his own boat and fall between Escapade and his boat clinging to our gunwhale. Took Elija and I to pull him up far enough to clamber into his boat.
Didn't make that mistake again - told the chief I was having an AFD the next day much to his disappointment. Next time I took "something special" it was whisky and coke and I mixed 2 litres before I went and told them when that's gone that's it. Mind you after tasting the local hooch I can see why they go after the real stuff with such gay abandon - I managed half a cup and that was being polite. On a visit to the other island I was offered "the good stuff"; "tuba" they call it made from coconut juice - tasted just as bad thanks very much.
We also gave the kids some sweets and then set up the computer to play movies on two nights along with bowls of chips. I also got approval to to a little project with the kids and I swapped them two soccer balls for two large bags of plastic rubbish which they collected up from the island and I now have strapped to the duck board to cart back to where it came from. The chief gave approval for us to swim anywhere with the instruction that we were to be accompanied by someone to look after us as there are sharks around and he was concerned for our wellbeing as well as his sharks. I actually saw one reef shark while I was fishing with the men and Sibeeno chased it out of the net telling me later that they don't catch the sharks for a number of reasons - primary one being what to do with an unhappy shark in an open 7m boat! Their method of fishing in a large group consists of motoring around in the boats loaded (overloaded) with men, boys, kids and tossing them into the water at 10m intervals until they form a large circle. then about 15 of them are left to set up the net with floats on the top and rocks to hold it down in 2 - 5m of water. The circle then contracts herding whatever fish are there into the net. On the first run not only was there the previously mentioned reef shark but also an adolescent sea turtle about the size of a basketball. They shooed it out of the net and then played with it for a while for my benefit and a few photos before letting it go. They do have rules about when they can catch and eat turtles as they are aware of the breeding cycle and timeframe. On our last day there they did catch a few turtles and gave us about 3kgs of turtle meat which we turned into steaks and turtle stew. We also got heaps of fish, mainly as a thank you for the things I fixed while I was there including setting a new watch, the Chief's torch, Three solar panels and the mount on Sibeeno's 15hp outboard.
I diagnosed the fault in an inverter and repaired the fan but lacked the 2200 uF capacitor to fix it.
There was a major lack of tools, even their grease gun had given up the fight so their outboards where not getting greased. The only tool that I saw was a rusty spark plug spanner which was good since I didn't have one for the outboard - Joey bring a 13/16 spark plug spanner, there's not one in your socket set.
When we left I gave Sibeeno my spare WD40 and winch grease so at least they had something to keep the salt water at bay.
We were due to leave on Monday around 2pm but Sibeeno did not get back from the other island until late so we invited our three new close friends Kati, Sibeeno and Thomas to Escapade for Dinner along with Thomas' wife Patricia. They had Lamb shanks with peas and mash for the first time - and, as they remarked, quite possibly the last! Along with a bottle of red for the boys it went very well. At 8am on Tuesday Sibeeno turned up in his boat to guide us out again and we waved goodbye with the traditional "Adios" and "Seeyalater" including a full salute from Escapade's crew.

Two days later we dropped anchor again, not in Elato as we planned but in Olimarao, an uninhabited atoll 20M short of Elato. More about our time playing castaways in my next instalment.

Happy Sailing,
Captain Rob and his Girl Friday - Felicity.