Sent: Sunday, March 04, 2007
12:50 AM
Subject: Estrela update from
Dear George, family and
friends,
We’re in a boatyard in
Estrela looks fantastic,
bottom newly painted with bright red antifoul and all
exterior teak stripped and sanded to bare wood and varnished with 8 to 10 coats
of Bristol Finish. The girls, Doug and I had spent about 10 days sanding
and scraping til our fingers bled. We’d left
her with a Janeric, a Swede expat,
and Oh, his Thai employee, who did superb professional work applying varnish
and bottom paint during our land adventure.
We are getting ready to go
to sea again in a week or so. Estrela gets relaunched
tomorrow morning. A few days later we’ll sail 140 miles north to
Love, Kyle and crew
PS -- Here are pix of Eliza
and Abigail at the
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Saturday, March 17,
2007 7:36 PM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
-- Saturday, March 17, 2007 -- Day one of passage from Phuket
to Chagos,
2045 local time Saturday,
March 17, 2007 (1345 GMT); Lat/Lon 07 deg 34.4' N, 97 deg 41.7' E; Location: 45
NM WSW of Phuket, Thailand in the Andaman Sea; Wind:
WNW 15-19 kts; Sea: short steep chop; Sky: Very dark,
mostly clear with lots of stars; Air temp: 84 deg F; Water temp: 86 deg F;
Depth: off soundings; Course/speed: 255 deg T at 5.6 kts;
Sail/Engine: Close reach, starboard tack with single-reefed main, staysail and
1/2 reefed genoa, no engine.
We're off! Today at 11 AM we raised anchor in Ao Chalong harbor,
Other than the Diego Garcia
atoll, where there's an air base for long-range bombers, leased by the
Estrela is in wonderful
shape. She has a new mainsail, just made
for us in Phuket by the Rolly
Tasker sail loft.
In January in Langkawi the four of us, Eliza
and Abigail included, scraped and sanded her exterior trim, all teak, down to
bare wood. It took us more than a week
of full, long days. I also prepared the
bottom; the last major antifouling job had held up well since our haul-out at
Doug's Boatyard in
-- Doug
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Sunday, March 18, 2007
10:27 AM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
-- Sunday, March 18, 2007 -- Day two of passage from Phuket
to Chagos,
2015 local time Sunday,
March 18, 2007 (1315 GMT); Lat/Lon 07 deg 04.5' N, 96 deg 01.2' E; Location:
131 NM ENE of our next waypoint 15 NM south of Great Nicobar Island on the
western edge of the Andaman Sea; Wind: WNW 12-15 kts;
Sea: comfortable wind chop; Sky: clear, dark and starry; Air temp: 89 deg F;
Water temp: 82 deg F; Depth: off soundings; Course/speed: 255 deg True (vs.
Magnetic) at 4.3 kts; Sail/Engine: Close reach,
starboard tack with all sails and no reefs; 24 hr run through 11AM today: 105
NM.
Eliza and Abigail are
standing cockpit watch while Kyle and I work below. What a gorgeous day we've enjoyed. Winds were gentle but enough to keep us
sailing at 3 to 5 knots for most of the day.
We ran the engine for three hours to charge batteries back up and to get
us through the only really windless period.
The normal NE monsoon winds should return soon. We've had two days of NW
winds, probably because of a low sitting over southern
Today we had some
disappointing news. Our friend Kevin,
single-handing his sailboat South Moon, had to abort his passage from Langkawi to the
-- Doug
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Monday, March 19, 2007
1:45 PM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
-- Monday, March 19, 2007 -- Day three of passage from Phuket
to Chagos,
2000 local time Monday,
March 19, 2007 (1300 GMT); Lat/Lon 06 deg 32.3' N, 94 deg 17.2' E; Location:
254 WSW of Phuket,
Thailand and 23 NM ENE of our waypoint just south of Great Nicobar
Island; Wind: W 6-8 kts (right on the nose); Sea:
slight wind chop and gentle ocean swell; Sky: very dark and slightly hazy; Air
temp: 84 deg F; Water temp: 85 deg F; Depth: approx. 4,000 feet; Course/speed:
264 deg True at 5.5 kts; Sail/engine: Engine at 1000
RPM and full mainsail and staysail sheeted flat, starboard tack; 24 hr run through
11AM today: 108 NM.
Today we caught two mahi-mahi. This
is how it happened. Eliza and I were
down below doing school when Dad yelled, "We caught a
mahi-mahi!" Eliza and I woke up
Mom. Then we climbed into the cockpit as
Dad was reeling in the fish. Eliza and I
started to pull in the other fishing line so it wouldn't get tangled. The line started to feel heavy. When we pulled it in a bit closer we saw
another mahi-mahi, a bluish-green fish.
Mom said two fish were too much, so we decided to let one go free. Mom took over the rod from Dad and Dad got
the needle nose pliers so that he could take the hook out of the second fish
without taking the fish out of the water.
Eliza and Dad pulled the fish up to the side of the boat. Then I held onto Dad's foot while he leaned
over the side to get the hook out. It
was snagged on its head. Dad
successfully got it off and the fish swam downwards. Then Dad took the rod back from Mom to reel
in the first fish the rest of the way.
It was jumping like crazy. We
used the gaff (it looks like a gigantic hook on a pole) to get the fish on
board. It was 47 inches long and it
weighed 15 pounds. We squirted alcohol
into its mouth to stun it and to kill it more quickly. Then came the cleaning. We found out it was a female because it had
lots of eggs. There was one fish about
two inches long in her stomach. In the
liver was a living, crawling mass of worms.
Yucch!
The other unusual thing about this fish was its jaw bone. It was exposed where its chin would be if it
were a person, showing a rotting, broken bone.
I think it was hurt in a fight with another fish. I'm glad we kept this one! I would rather have the healthier fish live.
-- Abigail (PS -- I forgot to mention that early this
morning Mom and Dad saw a huge whale jump completely out of the water a few
times, making a gigantic splash. They
think it might have been a humpback whale.)
What with starting school,
catching two fish, and talking with warships, today has been very busy. After a leisurely morning of leftover chili
and listening to books-on-cd, Abby and I got out our
new schoolbooks to inventory them and figure out how much to do a day. Dad's voice broke the monotonous silence,
"Mahi, girls!" We raced up to the cockpit, hurriedly
stuffing various limbs into our lifejackets, to see Dad playing a huge,
furious, leaping mahi-mahi. Since Abby
has already related the rest of the fish story I will tell you about the
warships.
Around the time Dad was
finished cleaning the fish and about to cut up the fillets in different ways
for fish fingers, curry stew, or drying, and the rest of us were below again
trying to have school, an Indonesian warship made an "ALL SHIPS"
announcement on the radio. It said they
were going to conduct a live fire exercise.
They also gave four coordinates that made a square, and we were in the
middle of it! I don't know what they
were for, but it was still nerve wracking.
Dad called back to alert them of our position and the Indonesian warship
said that they were finished with their practice session, or something like
that. It didn't make sense.
Later, I was almost finished
inventorying my books when yet another warship called Estrela over the radio,
identifying us as a sailboat and giving our exact latitude and longitude. This time I think it was Indian. The man who called spoke good English. After some technical questions (like,
"How many people on board?" and "Do you need assistance?")
the man just asked us how we were doing and told us to have a good evening and
to enjoy our fish. Dad had told him
about it. He was very nice.
It is 8:00 now and I could
use the computer for a pillow and not know the difference. The fried fish fingers were delicious,
although I couldn't help thinking about the wormy liver and rotten jaw. But I'm going to be eating this fish for the
next week, so I shouldn't be saying bad things about it. Oh, well.
Life's not perfect (and neither are fish)!
-- Eliza
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007
3:02 PM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
-- Tuesday, March 20, 2007 -- Day four of passage to Chagos,
2100 local time Tuesday,
March 20, 2007 (1400 GMT); Lat/Lon 06 deg 29.2' N, 92 deg 16.8' E; Location:
680 NM E of our next waypoint, which is 25 NM south of Sri Lanka; Wind: NNW 7-9
kts; Sea: slight wind chop and a long, barely
noticeable ocean swell from the south; Sky: clear and dark (first time we've
seen the North Star since our passage almost three years ago from Panama to the
Galapagos); Air temp: 83 deg F; Water temp: 85 deg F; Depth: off soundings;
Course/speed: 268 deg True at 5.8 kts; Sail/engine:
All sails on starboard tack, approx 60 deg off the apparent wind; 24 hr run
through 11AM today: 112 NM.
Before this passage we
bought a new AIS radio receiver and accompanying software for $175, thanks to
Jon Hacking on Ocelot, a fellow cruising boat also en route to Chagos. This safety
system has only recently become available to cruisers at an affordable
price. The radio is about the size of a
Palm Pilot, has no buttons or controls and makes no noise, though it has two
little lights that blink to tell whether it's receiving a radio signal or
sending data to the computer. The
receiver connects to our masthead VHF radio antenna (sharing it through a
splitter with our main VHF radio) to a 12 volt power supply and to a laptop
computer running a compatible charting program.
We just finally got the AIS
system up and running properly this afternoon, after Kyle thought of a clever,
outside-of-the-box solution to the connection problem that had stymied me. The tiny radio receives signals from
transponders now required by law to be operated continuously by all large
vessels. The signal reports the sending
vessel's name and updates every few seconds its position, course and
speed. Our computer plots this
information on the screen, showing a little green boat icon for the
transmitting ship, with its name right next to it, and displaying in a small
table the other vital information. The
computer also uses our own GPS input to plot Estrela as a small red boat
icon. An amazing feature are two boxes
in the table, one showing the closest Estrela and the big ship will get to each
and the other a calculation of how many minutes until that moment. So now it's like having our own crude air
traffic control screen onboard. The
biggest limitation we've discovered so far is simply the lack of range. For whatever reasons, our AIS radio does not
pick up ships' signals until they are four to six miles away. In one case a ship was only a mile away when
its position and details first appeared on the computer screen.
Within an hour of getting
our new AIS radio operational it paid for itself in dramatic fashion. I was on watch, going on deck a minimum of
every ten minutes, every time my watch timer beeped, to scan the horizon for
ships. Visibility was excellent, the sky
nearly cloudless. Judging from all the
traffic we were clearly within the shipping lanes. We were watching carefully to avoid collision
and to discern ship patterns so we could decide whether to head north or south
and how far, to get outside the shipping lanes.
The lanes are not specified on any charts we have.
I had been a little
distracted for a few minutes. The wind
had started to pick up and I'd turned off the engine, trimmed the sails and
tweaked the autopilot to get everything balanced for sailing. I was below making a log entry to note these
changes when I saw one of the lights blink on the AIS radio. Then a green icon
appeared on the computer screen, but it looked like it was sitting right on top
of Estrela, though pointed in nearly the opposite direction. The table said the other ship was traveling
17.9 knots and in 7 and 1/2 minutes there would be zero distance between it and
Estrela. Hmmmmm
. . . None of this made sense. Then things clicked in my head. I dashed up the companionway ladder, a
curious Abigail right behind me. Sure
enough, there it was. A huge, heavily
laden oil tanker, riding very low on its waterline, was emerging into view from
behind our mast, which must have blocked my sight of it when I was last on
deck. Somehow I'd also missed its radar
blip. I started our engine, increased speed
from 3 to 5 knots and altered course 30 degrees to starboard, to head almost
directly into the wind. In seven minutes
it passed abeam of us, 3/10 NM away. We Estrelans are all verrrry happy
to have this spiffy new AIS safety device on board.
-- Doug
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Wednesday, March 21,
2007 10:16 PM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
-- Wednesday, March 21, 2007 -- Day five of passage to Chagos,
2100 local time Wednesday,
March 21, 2007 (1400 GMT); Lat/Lon 06 deg 27.9' N, 90 deg 40.5' E; Location:
584 NM E of our Sri Lanka waypoint and 465 NM W of where we started this
passage in Phuket -- we'll reach the half way point
to Sri Lanka tomorrow morning; Wind: WNW 5-8 kts;
Sea: slight waves; Sky: many stars, new moon and Venus setting; Air temp: 82
deg F; Water temp: 85 deg F; Depth: off soundings; Course/speed: 260 deg True
at 2.6 kts; Sail/engine: All sails close-hauled on
starboard tack, approximately 45 deg off the apparent wind; 24 hr run through
11AM today: 111 NM.
If anyone had told me that I
would become a bird-lover while at sea, I would have said you're crazy. But here I am in the
Just before serving dinner
of left-over Thai fish curry and freshly steamed Thai jasmine rice, I was
looking at the computer with Doug, reading email, when we heard a flutter sound
above our heads. Now living on a boat,
one must have very acute hearing. If the
engine drone changes in pitch, then it might be straining or overheating.
Perhaps the prop snagged a fishing net. The engine must quickly be turned
off. A new creak or thud might mean
something has come loose on deck or down below. We quickly investigate the
sound before something breaks or gets lost or the noise drives us crazy! Flutter?!
I had never heard a flutter on Estrela before. It almost sounded like paper, quickly and yet
softly, flapping in a fresh breeze. Doug
and I looked at each other. "What
was that?" we said simultaneously.
"I don't know, but I felt a rush of wind on my head," Doug
said (being bald does have some advantages).
We looked up. There he was, a
tiny land bird settling himself on his makeshift perch, the fishing pole
butt--a place of rest.
Have you ever had a bird
mistakenly fly into your house? Or
perhaps a bat came down the chimney?
Commotion. Pure stress as the
prisoner desperately tries to escape his entrapment. Not so on Estrela. He was more like a refugee who, after walking
for hundreds of miles, collapses into a clean cot at a Red Cross station.
"Girls, come look at
the bird who just flew in." His
appearance was so peaceful that the girls didn't even realize that we had a
visitor! Should we get him out? Do you think that he'll perch on my
hand? No, wild birds are not
hand-trained and he needs his rest.
He'll leave when he's ready. He
must be thirsty. How do we get water to
him? Should we feed him? What do we feed him? He's right over the computer. Quick put a
towel over the IBM so when our friend does his business, he won't soil the
computer.
We can't find our bird ID
book, but we believe that he must be a swiftlet. He's a kind of small swallow, with a
cream-colored neck and breast which also has brown flecky
stripes. His wings are brown, as are his
long, forked tail feathers. These are the famous birds who live in limestone
caves in
So here we are on Estrela
with another amazing bird story. We've
had sea-bird hitchhikers and Albatrosses circling. Remember the sure-footed boobie who landed at night on Doug's shiny head? Or the tropic bird whom we rescued from our
fishing line? All these beautiful wild
creatures have been a part of our voyage.
But we've never had a bird, a land bird, turn our cabin into a cave,
though. We'll see, maybe tomorrow's menu
will feature Bird's Nest Soup!
---Kyle
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Thursday, March 22,
2007 1:09 PM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
-- Thursday, March 22, 2007 -- Day six of passage to Chagos,
Indian Ocean, with possible refueling stop in
2230 local time Thursday,
March 22, 2007 (1530 GMT); Lat/Lon 06 deg 26.25' N, 88 deg 57.72' E; Location:
482 NM E of our Sri Lanka waypoint -- past the half-way point to Sri Lanka;
Wind: NNW 8-11 kts; Sea: gentle and regular wind
waves and swell; Sky: cloudiest we've seen since Phuket
but some stars still out; Air temp: 82 deg F; Water temp: 84 deg F; Depth: off
soundings; Course/speed: 271 deg True at 6 kts;
Sail/engine: All sails, starboard tack, approximately 60 deg off the apparent
wind; 24 hr run through 11AM today: 86 NM.
Excerpts from our on-board
(paper) log book entries today:
0100 (Doug) -- Wind is now
from West - square on nose; uggh! Little bird (swiftlet?) still with us.
0330 (Kyle) -- Birdy still here.
Did stairmaster exercise -- hope to help my
swollen ankles. All well except no wind.
1100 (Doug) -- Bird flew
away suddenly at 0750. Kevin [South
Moon] getting closer to Langkawi; his ETA Telaga Harbor, midnight.
Spanish Stroll leaving today from Phuket.
1730 (Kyle) -- Fab day. Hardly feel
motion. Very slow start of day but by
lunch wind picked up and we're cruising along fast and gently. Salt H2O showers on foredeck; finally shaved
my legs! Great school; D setting up
Rosetta Stone French program. Talking
about future.
2230 (Doug) -- What a special day this has been. Since wind up around 1630 we've been
flying. Now seem well north of shipping
lanes.
<end>
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Saturday, March 24,
2007 9:03 AM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
-- Saturday, March 24, 2007 -- Day seven of passage to Chagos
0130 local time Saturday,
March 24, 2007 (1830 GMT Friday, March 23); Lat/Lon 06 deg 18.9' N, 87 deg
07.7' E; Location: 371 NM E of our Sri Lanka waypoint; Wind: variable <3 kts; Sea: flat calm; Sky: clear; Air temp: 80 deg F; Water
temp: 84 deg F; Depth: off soundings; Course/speed: 268 deg True at 5.4 kts; Sail/engine: Engine at 1000 RPM with mainsail sheeted
tight in center and slatting; 24 hr run through 11AM
yesterday: 111 NM.
While preparing dinner last
night, I was fighting with a rusty can of
Those are dreaded words in
the middle of the ocean.
Thud went the can on the
counter. I raced up the companionway
ladder in full fight or flight mode.
"Oh . . . thanks
Abby. Good eye." It was far enough away to be ok. "But hey . . . that's not a freighter,
that's a cruise ship (breath). Wow. Wait . . . that's not a cruise ship, that's a
real ocean liner (sigh)." Her sleek
shape was so classic and her hull, that distinctive indigo blue that just says,
ocean liner . . . she looked awfully familiar.
I thought, maybe she's the . . . but naaahh,
it couldn't be.
Eliza and Doug raced up
above to catch a glimpse too. I started
telling the girls about how Grandpop and Gigi, my Dad's parents, would sail back and forth between
So we stood there, gawking,
marveling, shouting, blaring the music, and dancing with joy. (We've been at sea for a week now and really
appreciate any outside stimulation.)
Then bright flashes popped here and there from her decks . . . her passengers must be snapping shots of the
sunset.
I had to call her on the
radio.
After checking the radar to
get her range and bearing from us, I read off our GPS position and then used
our laptop's navigation program to estimate the other ship's latitude and
longitude. For some reason, she never
appeared on our AIS ship id system.
Security reasons? Anyway, I got
out our radio log, cleared my throat, warmed up my voice a little, and picked
up the VHF mike.
"Ocean liner, ocean
liner at approximately 06 deg. 14 minutes N/ 87 deg. 23 minutes E, this is the
sailing vessel Estrela about 5 miles off your starboard beam."
Wait . . . LONG wait.
"Calling sailing
vessel. This is the ocean liner at
approximately 06 deg. 14 minutes N/ 87 deg. 23 minutes E . . . the Queen
Elizabeth 2"
I knew it! The Queen Elizabeth 2!
"QE2, QE2. This is the sailing vessel Estrela. Shall we go to channel 1-2?"
"Roger. Switching to
channel 12."
I wish I could say that I
chatted up and charmed my very British and very official sounding radio
friend. But I would be lying. His young, proper voice was polite but
chilly. But it didn't matter, because I was talking with the QE2!!!! I was
high. Microphone in my hand, I could
almost feel the spotlight on my forehead. After a few pleasantries, I said I
had seen his sister ship, The Queen Mary, in
"Have a good watch,
Estrela. This is the Queen Elizabeth 2
changing to channel 16."
"Thank you. Estrela back to 1-6."
Wow. I felt like I just got off the radio with
DAVID CASSIDAY!!
But then it was back to the
galley and that darned corned beef can . .
but now thinking about the luxurious dinners being served in one of the
FOUR elegant dining rooms just a few miles away . . .
The girls watched from the
cockpit as the QE2's lights faded over the horizon.
-- Kyle
PS -- Here are a few amazing
facts about the QE2 which Eliza read to us from the Usbourne
First Book of Knowledge while we ate our delicious dinner of Indian curried corned
beef and buttered mashed potatoes in the cockpit.
--13 decks (stories) high and 3
football fields long.
--24 passenger elevators.
--nine diesel engines, each the size
of a bus.
--28 1/2 knot average traveling speed.
--67,139 tons, about the weight of
10,100 elephants.
--900 cabins, garage for cars, kennels
for animals, a huge theater, 4 pools, tennis court, and four dining rooms.
<end>
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Sunday, March 25, 2007
8:52 PM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
-- Monday, March 26, 2007 -- Day nine of passage to Chagos
0500 local time Monday,
March 26, 2007 (2200 GMT Sunday, March 25); Lat/Lon 06 deg 04.6' N, 83 deg
47.7' E; Location: 142 NM E of our Sri Lanka waypoint; Wind: WSW 5-10 kts; Sea: flat calm, with small wind ripples; Sky:
clear--very starry; Air temp: 81 deg F; Water temp: 84 deg F; Depth: off
soundings; Course/speed: 268 deg True at 3-4 kts;
Sail/engine: No engine, just mainsail and genoa, port
tack; 24 hr run through 11AM yesterday: 91 NM.
Today is Abigail's
birthday. When she wakes up this
morning, she will be 9 years old. By the
time we get home, more than half her life will have been at sea! We'll give details on tomorrow's log entry
about her big day.
These past two days have
been slow, comfortable and absolutely wonderful. Saturday was a big school day. We motored some; we sailed some; we lolled
around a bit as well.
Sunday is our Sabbath. We take a day off from school. The girls were listening to Harry Potter on
CD and then played ZooTycoon on the computer for most
of the day. Doug was having a "fun
with electronics" day--and night.
He's troubleshooting a problem with the computers (all 3 of them)
interfacing with the AIS ship ID system, the GPS and Maxsea
electronic charts. It's not a serious
problem. I'm not very computer savvy, so
we'll just leave it at that. I kept the
galley going. For breakfast I served left over fried rice for the girls and
muesli, homemade yogurt and dried fruit for Doug and me. Lunch was egg salad on crackers and dinner
was Lao-style veggies with tofu and rice.
I also got to read a bit, a real treat for a homeschool
teacher. Just a relaxing day on Estrela.
---Kyle
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Monday, March 26, 2007
9:14 PM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
-- Tuesday, March 27, 2007 -- Day ten of passage to Chagos
0600 local time Tuesday,
March 27, 2007 (2400 GMT Monday, March 26); Lat/Lon 06 deg 03.0' N, 82 deg
19.0' E; Location: 47 NM E of our Sri Lanka waypoint; Wind: E 5 kts; Sea: slight swell, calm; Sky: partly cloudy, dawn; Air
temp: 83 deg F; Water temp: 84 deg F; Depth: off soundings; Course/speed: 262
deg True at 5 kts; Sail/engine: only engine, all sails
furled--too much slatting with the swell; 24 hr run
through 11AM yesterday: 84 NM.
Yesterday was Abigail's 9th
birthday. She is the first Estrelan to have a birthday at sea. We all had a marvelous day.
Abigail likes organizing and
planning. So for days before her big day
she started making a schedule of birthday events which we successfully executed
yesterday. The itinerary looked
something like this:
1) Wake up with one, just
one, present at the foot of her bed.
Right now, since we are at sea, she sleeps on the floor of the main
cabin. So, after wrapping presents in
newspaper (I couldn't find the bag of used gift wrap!), I placed one pressie on the floor while she was still sleeping.
2) Eat Norwegian pancakes
for breakfast. Since they take such a
long time to make, I started cooking in the dark, during my watch, before
anyone had awoken.
3) Open presents, one at a
time, through-out the day for the whole day.
For instance, the second present she opened was from Doug, a tiny,
electric remote-controlled car. She and
Eliza spent at least 2 hours playing with the car: making ramps, obstacle
courses and jumps from cushions, boogie boards, and whatever they could
find. They did a science experiment on
radio waves from the book, The Technology Book for Girls and Other Advanced
Beings. You get the picture.
4) Bake cake. I baked the cake in the AM.
5) Eat Annie's Mac and
Cheese for lunch. That was a big
treat. Doug's mom had sent a box in the
mail. You can't find Annie's in
6) Watch a DVD. We watched Ella Enchanted. Eliza re-read the book and Abigail and I each
read it in anticipation for this big movie extravaganza. We don't normally watch movies during a
passage because it is too distracting.
Sometimes the girls watch by themselves with headphones, but usually
they are doing school or reading. Or if
it is too rough, they will listen to books-on-CD.
7) Decorate the cake. I stayed clear.
8) Don't forget, we're still opening presents
and playing with them.....
9) Eat cake.
Oh yeah, eat just a smidgen of dinner--cheese omelettes--just
to appease the healthy-eating mother in me.
Then it was time to devoir the chocolate cake with Betty Crocker Vanilla
frosting, colored blue, of course. There
were lots of interesting things sprinkled on the blue cake that Abigail had
picked out in the huge Chinese market in
10) Open last big present. We gave her a special stuffed animal, a
Proboscis monkey. We had seen these
Endangered Species while traveling in
11) Go to bed.
She actually fell asleep on her own, before prayers. Exhausted.
Elated. Nine years old.
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Tuesday, March 27,
2007 8:53 PM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
-- Wednesday, March 28, 2007 -- Day eleven of passage to Chagos
0600 local time Wednesday,
March 28, 2007 (2400 GMT Tuesday, March 27); Lat/Lon 05 deg 16.2' N, 80 deg
44.9' E; Location: 40 NM directly south of the southern tip of Sri Lanka; Wind:
NW 8-15 kts; Sea: slight swell, gentle rock; Sky:
mostly cloudy, dawn; Air temp: 83 deg F; Water temp: 84 deg F; Depth: off
soundings; Course/speed: 262 deg True at 5 kts;
Sail/engine: all sails full, starboard tack @ 90 deg; 24 hr run through 11AM
yesterday: 80 NM.
All is well. We finally made it to our waypoint off the SE
corner of
---Kyle
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Thursday, March 29,
2007 6:12 AM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
-- Thursday, March 29, 2007 -- Day twelve of passage to Chagos
0200 local time Thursday,
March 29, 2007 (2000 GMT Wednesday, March 28); Lat/Lon 04 deg 57.02' N, 79 deg
03.66u' E; Location: 130 NM SW of Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka; Wind: nil;
Sea: glassy with slight swell; Sky: generally clear with a few light cumulus
clouds and a bright waxing moon; Air temp: 84 deg F; Water temp: 84 deg F;
Depth: off soundings; Course/speed: 260 deg True at 5.8 kts;
Sail/engine: motorsailing with engine at 1000 RPM and
mainsail and staysail sheeted tight on starboard tack; 24 hr run through 11AM
yesterday: 124 NM.
When we cranked up the
engine at 7:30 this evening we'd enjoyed exactly 24 hours without it. This had been a welcome spell of consistent
wind -- unusual conditions for this passage.
But the great beam-reaching northerly wind had gradually faded out and then finally died completely. So now we've been running the engine for
nearly seven hours.
It's time for a watch change
and an engine check. I am about to wake
Kyle. On this passage we are running the
watches as follows:
8AM to 8PM -- We make sure
one of the two of us is officially the "on-watch" person and is
responsible for going on deck at least every ten minutes to look around. We switch this "on-watch"
designation back and forth without a firm schedule, trying to make sure that
each of us gets a good one to two hour nap sometime during the day.
8PM to 2AM -- Doug on watch;
Kyle sleeps.
2AM to 8AM -- Kyle on watch;
Doug sleeps.
We're going to try to keep
sailing west for another couple days, getting as much "westing"
as possible before we run into predominantly westerly winds. Then when we are roughly 130 NM East of Male,
the capital of the Maldives, we will turn south and go for another 350 NM to
the southernmost atoll in the Maldives, Addu atoll
and the town of Gan.
We'll refuel there and take on some fruits and vegetables. We shouldn't need more than about three days
in Gan before heading back out to complete the
remaining 300 miles to Chagos -- unless we opt to
stay longer to explore snorkeling and maybe even scuba diving possibilities in Addu atoll.
Time for bed.
-- Doug
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2007
12:41 PM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
-- Friday, March 30, 2007 -- Day fourteen of passage to Chagos
2200 local time Friday,
March 30, 2007 (1600 GMT); Lat/Lon 03 deg 30.61' N, 76 deg 19.44 E; Location:
317 NM NE of the town of Gan in Addu,
the southernmost atoll in the Maldives; Wind: <5 kts
from the west; Sea: still; Sky: clear with moon bright enough for us to see the
horizon distinctly around 360 degrees; Air temp: 85 deg F; Water temp: 86 deg
F; Depth: off soundings; Course/speed: 238 deg True at 5.0 kts;
Sail/engine: motorsailing with engine at 1000 RPM and
mainsail and staysail sheeted tight on starboard tack; Last two 24 hr runs
through 11AM yesterday and the day before: 105 NM and 112 NM.
All is well aboard
Estrela. The rest of the crew are
asleep. We're running the watermaker and charging batteries, and keeping up our 4+ kt average speed.
Though the wind died away during dinner this evening, we can hardly
complain. We've only had to run the
engine for 3 1/2 hours since 5 AM yesterday morning. This is an area notorious for very light wind
this time of year. Yet this has been
some of the loveliest sailing we've had anywhere.
I'm getting ready to sit
down at the computer to work on a photojournal we are
hoping to mail to George from the
-- Doug
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Sunday, April 01, 2007
12:55 AM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
--Sunday, April 1, 2007 -- Day fifteen of passage to Chagos
0200 local time Sunday,
April 1, 2007 (2000 GMT Saturday, March 31, 2007); Lat/Lon 02 deg 04.869 N, 74
deg 44.80 E; Location: 195 NM NE of the town of Gan, Addu, Maldives; Wind: <3 kts
from the north; Sea: calm; Sky: clear and bright with moonlight; Air temp: 85
deg F; Water temp: 86 deg F; Depth: off soundings; Course/speed: 206 deg True
at 5.0 kts; Sail/engine: motorsailing
with engine at 1000 RPM and mainsail flopping; 24 hr run through 11 AM
yesterday: 107 NM.
Refrigeration. That is surely something I thought I could
never do without. But here we are on
Estrela, more than half-way around the world, and we've hardly used it. We do have one. We added a new fridge unit with cooling plate
in the old, open-from-the-top icebox/galley counter. And we didn't scrimp on it either. It is quite energy efficient. Even so, keeping a fridge going in the
tropics is just plain difficult, especially ours whose out-of-date insulation
is too thin. And we are a small boat
without a generator or a huge solar panel array. We do have a wind/hydro
generator (great in tradewind zones and on fast
sailing passages). We also have three
medium to small solar panels (125 Watts total); these are all we could really
fit on Estrela unless we built a massive stainless steel archway. We also don't like to run the engine just to
charge up the batteries. However, when
we get to a marina, we do buy ice, which is a special treat.
Of course there are those
low moments. For instance, a cold mug of
water would be appreciated when, you're on passage and yet again your head and
pillow are drenched in sweat when you wake up.
Or perhaps the thought of eating another awesome three-bean salad made
from canned beans is, well, unappetizing.
But these are only fleeting moments.
Generally, it's freeing to be fridge-free.
So if you've ever considered
telling Con-Ed, CL&P or Seattle Light to take a hike while you go "off
grid", here are a few suggestions to make your transition to fridge-free
freedom a successful one:
1)
Don't refrigerate condiments. I
know that your fridge is over-run by condiments--on the upper shelf, in the
door, tucked and forgotten in the back. But don't believe your mother, mayonnaise
does not have to be refrigerated, even after it's been opened! Nor does butter, ketchup, mustard, relish,
soy sauce, peanut butter, salad dressing, pickles or roasted peppers in a jar. Just keep your decanting knife or spoon
clean. NO DOUBLE DIPPING. The only thing that goes "off"
quickly, that I've noticed, is jam. So I
buy jam in very small jars.
2)
Don't refrigerate eggs. Contrary
to the myth, as long as your eggs haven't previously been refrigerated, then
they will keep up to 3-4 weeks by just turning them periodically and, of
course, opening them one at a time into a separate container in case of the odd
rotten one.
3) Don't refrigerate beer or soda. Husband and kids drinking too much of that
stuff? No worries, they won't want to
touch it if it's hot! Just say,
"sorry darlings, but we're fridge-free now. Have some freshly squeezed carrot
juice!" If they go on strike, at
least you could get a cooler for keeping ice.
4)
Don't refrigerate leftovers. Keep
them on your stove top. If you don't eat
them by the next day, you probably wouldn't eat them anyway. How many little Tupperware containers filled
with tiny morsels are taking precious energy?
So those lentil burgers from dinner can transform into "homefries" for tomorrow's breakfast. Or that big pot of rice? Keep it on the stove and make sushi rolls or
fried rice for lunch.
5)
Don't refrigerate yoghurt. Make
your own anyway; it's way easier than I ever thought (no sterilizing
necessary). And just keep your container
on the counter with a cloth over the top to keep out bugs. You get one day. You have to eat it quickly
but save 2-3 tablespoons to make the next batch.
6)
Use a pressure cooker to store food. Modern pressure cookers don't
explode like your grandmother's used to do!
I learned this food-saving trick from the ultimate keep-it-simple
cruiser out there, Lyn Pardey (she and her husband
Larry have written many books on sailing and living-at-sea. A true inspiration.) After you make and serve
your meal, replace the lid and put the cooker back up to pressure for just a
few minutes. This will sterilize the
food and keep it safe for the next day.
I can usually keep one stew going for 3-4 days. It morphs into something else, but just as
edible. So veggie chili can be stretched
for another meal and then turns into sausage soup which then turns into
spaghetti sauce.
7)
Use long-life milk, or in our storage-cramped quarters, use powdered
milk. Ok, this one is a real sacrifice, but
eventually kids do adapt to luke-warm milk, really,
truly.....honest....Well at least when you go to a restaurant, they'll WANT to
order milk--icy, cold, thirst quenching milk.
8) Wrap veggies in newspaper. Cabbage is the veg
of choice for fridge-free folks. Wrapped
in newspaper, it can last for weeks at a time.
Just trim the rotten, smelly, dry or blackened parts. Remember to breathe through your mouth. It's a little stinky, but it's worth it. You can always salvage something. Carrots keep pretty well. At least if you've learned to rehydrate them in water to make them crispy again. Just cut up the limp, withered, brown sticks
and put them in a bowl of water. You
will be amazed at how well and quickly they come back to life!
9)
Grow your own sprouts. If you
can't have a garden, a jar of freshly grown sprouts will do just the
trick. Mung
beans are especially easy. You don't
have to do anything fancy, like some books say.
Take an old jam jar, put some mung beans in
it, cover the beans with water and the jar with a cloth and let it stand on the
counter for a day. Just keep changing
the water once or twice a day. As soon
as they start to emerge, they are deliciously edible. You don't have to wait for the grassy-part to
appear. And they are so good for you!
10)
Eat canned food. That's the
bottom line. Learn to make recipes with
canned ingredients. Get creative with
SPAM! What we need is a fridge-free cookbook.
Quick call Martha or Julia...
There you have it, 10 easy
steps to freedom....
---Kyle
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Wednesday, April 04,
2007 12:05 PM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
--Tuesday, April 3, 2007 -- Day eighteen of passage to Chagos
2230 local time Tuesday,
April 3, 2007 (1630 GMT); Lat/Lon 00 deg 41.174 S, 73 deg 08.657 E; Location: Gan, Addu, Maldives; Wind: 12 kts from NW; Sea: calm; Sky: clear overhead with many rain
squalls nearby; Air temp: 84 deg F; Water temp: 87 deg F; Depth: 16 feet;
Course/speed: at anchor; Sail/engine: at anchor; Last four 24 hr runs through
10 AM, Sunday: 110 NM, Monday: 70, Today: 82 NM, Tomorrow: 4 NM.
We made it! Arriving is almost never easy and this was no
exception. For the last 24 hours we had
the wind right on the nose, the strongest wind of our whole passage, and many
big windy rain squalls to dodge. We motorsailed most of the time, with sails reefed so we
wouldn't be flattened by the squalls.
Our friends on another
American cruising sailboat named Ocelot, the Hacking family (Sue, Jon and
Amanda [17] ), cheered us in, helped us find the anchorage, and served us a
delicious fish curry made from the big barracuda they had caught three days ago
entering the pass into this atoll. What
a wonderful evening we enjoyed swapping stories of our respective land
adventures in SE Asia and
Now we sleep -- all night!
-- Doug
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Tuesday, April 17,
2007 9:34 PM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
--Tuesday, April 17, 2007 -- Day nineteen of passage to Chagos
(after two-week rest stop in
1730 local time Tuesday,
April 17, 2007 (1230 GMT); Lat/Lon 00 deg 59.53 S, 73 deg 07.78 E; Location: 19
NM S of the SE pass in and out of Addu Atoll,
Maldives and about 280 NM from Chagos; Wind: 12-16 kts from WSW; Sea: confused wind/current chop; Sky: almost
cloudless -- looks very settled; Air temp: 91 deg F; Water temp: 85 deg F;
Depth: off soundings; Course/speed: 201 deg T / 3.2 Kts;
Sail/engine: All sails, no reefs, beating on stbd
tack.
We're off sailing again,
after a two-week rest stop in Addu Atoll where we had
anchored in the inner harbor between Gan and
-- Doug
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Wednesday, April 18,
2007 9:07 PM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
-- Weds, April 18, 2007 -- Day 2 of passage from
2130 local time Wednesday,
April 18, 2007 (1630 GMT); Lat/Lon 02 deg 30.9 S, 72 deg 27.3 E; Location: 167
NM N of the NW pass into Peros Banhos
Atoll, Chagos; Wind: 7-9 kts
kts from NNW; Sea: a gentle wind chop and slight roll
from long swell; Sky: about 1/4 covered by small cumulus clouds but still
looking settled; Air temp: 85 deg F; Water temp: 88 deg F; Humidity: 65%;
Depth: off soundings; Course/speed: 187 deg T / 2.4 Kts;
Sail/engine: All sails, no reefs, broad reach on stbd
tack; about to start engine to charge batteries and boost speed -- the wind has
been gradually dying over the last two hours and is forecast to disappear
altogether tomorrow.
We had no idea that we would
fall in love with the
Mesmerized by the beauty, intrigued
by the cultural differences, excited about the water clarity and abundant fish
life, we decided to slow down, explore and enjoy this new country. Besides, our American friends on Ocelot were
anchored next to us, which meant that potluck dinners, guitar sessions, beach
combing and scuba diving would be on the agenda.
To be continued.....
-- Kyle
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Thursday, April 19,
2007 9:20 PM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
-- Thursday, April 19, 2007 -- Day 3 of passage from
2300 local time Thursday,
April 19, 2007 (1800 GMT); Lat/Lon: 04 deg 15.171' S, 72 deg 00.953' E;
Location: 58 NM N of the NW pass into Peros Banhos Atoll, Chagos; ETA:
approximately noon tomorrow; Wind: nil; Sea: almost calm; Sky: clear; Air temp:
85 deg F; Water temp: 85 deg F; Humidity: 64%; Depth: off soundings;
Course/speed: 196 deg T / 4.0 Kts (still bucking a
strong current of 1-2 kts); Sail/engine: Engine only,
at 1000 RPM; sails all furled; Last two 24 hour runs through about 12:30 PM:
102 NM today and 85 NM yesterday.
As had been forecast
yesterday, the wind shifted steadily from WSW to W, WNW, NNW and finally N
throughout the day today and then began to die away altogether as the sun
sank. For about three hours this
afternoon, though, Estrela enjoyed a wonderful broad reach with the spinnaker
-- magic. We finally dropped all sails
just before supper to stop them from "slatting."
Slatting happens when there is not enough wind to keep the
sails full and instead the boat's rolling motion back and forth in the ocean
swell and waves, in addition to generating queazy
tummies, also generates apparent wind first on one side of the sails and then
the other, causing the sails to snap full on one side and then the other with a
loud report each time the boat rolls. Slatting is bad for sail cloth; it breaks down the fibers.
The wind is forecast to fill
back in during the day tomorrow, first from the NE and then from the E and SE,
though not to gain much strength. It is
possible that this clocking around of the wind direction tomorrow will mark the
expected seasonal shift in the vicinity of Chagos
from prevailing W/NW to prevailing E/SE winds.
The shift is about due. We'll
see. Once this shift occurs the yachts
in Chagos will all have to congregate in Saloman's Atoll, the only atoll where cruising sailboats
can legally anchor with protection from E/SE winds. In the meantime, there's not much of any wind
at all for us; so we're motoring and looking forward to arriving in Chagos tomorrow.
.
. . .
Kyle wrote last night that
we would share stories about Maldivian culture and politics in upcoming log
postings. I wanted to mention briefly
the pro-democracy movement, which we experienced first hand and which we
greatly admire. The President of the
-- Doug
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Saturday, April 21,
2007 12:43 AM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
-- Friday, April 20, 2007 -- Day 4 (last day) of passage from
2100 local time Friday,
April 20, 2007 (1600 GMT); Lat/Lon: 05 deg 14.68' S, 71 deg 49.70' E; Location:
NE corner of Peros Banhos
Atoll, Chagos; Wind: N approx 5 kts;
Sea: calm; Sky: clear; Air temp: 85 deg F; Water temp: 86 deg F; Humidity: 55%;
Depth: 78'; Last 24 hour run (through 12:30 PM today): 96 NM; Course/speed:
Anchored with 275' chain and snubber.
Kyle, Abigail, Eliza and I
are crawling into our bunks, happy and exhausted, full tummies and smiles from
a fish barbecue and kids' birthday party on the beach. A mom on another kidboat
we know and haven't seen since Eliza's December beach birthday in Phi Phi Leh,
This is an amazing place; we
can tell already. The fish seem almost
to jump into sailors' dinghies as they troll inside the lagoon. We hooked a large, hard-fighting fish while
motoring in through the pass. We had to
stop Estrela and motor in reverse to keep from losing it. Once we had the fish along side, though, Kyle
and I needed about 1.5 seconds to decide to release it. We are used to taking free-swimming pelagic
fish, which live all over the ocean, like tunas, mahi
mahi and spanish mackerel,
not big colorful reef fish. The latter
are what we go snorkeling to see! This
one looked too much like one of the large groupers that would be the highlight
sighting of any snorkeling trip. We had
to throw this monster fish back.
Well . . . we learned soon
after arriving on the beach that the one we'd hooked, probably known locally as
a "coronation trout", was a typical catch trolling in the lagoon and
a dinner staple in Peros Banhos. Apparently this lagoon, and Chagos generally, represent what these kinds of mid-ocean
tropical atoll waters might be like anywhere in the world if there were no
local human residents to knock down the fish populations with constant fishing
pressure. These Chagos
atolls get only a few humans mucking around them for just a few months of the
year. So this is about as wild a tropical ocean setting as exists
anywhere. We're itching to get out
snorkeling tomorrow. But now it's time
to sleep. We made it to Chagos!
-- Doug
Peros Banhos Atoll
from Google Earth
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Monday, April 23, 2007
10:27 PM
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
-- Monday, April 23, 2007 -- At anchor in Peros Banhos
Atoll, Chagos.
1600 local time Monday,
April 23, 2007 (1100 GMT); Lat/Lon: 05 deg 14.7' S, 71 deg 49.7' E; Location:
NE corner of Peros Banhos
Atoll, Chagos; Wind: W approx 5 kts;
Sea: calm w/slight roll; Sky: clear; Air temp: 86 deg F; Water temp: 86 deg F;
Humidity: 60%; Depth: 79'; Anchored with 275' chain and snubber.
We're anchored in Peros Banhos atoll, Chagos now. Pretty amazing place, especially if you like snorkeling and fish