Monday, February 28, 2011

Is there safety?

We are having nice steady winds from dead east for almost 24 hours going 4-5kts, wing on wing, and are now about 230 miles to go to Aden. The boats we are with, Chulupa [USA]and Joseba [France/Spain] are good company and we travel at same speeds together. We are followed by Imagine and Lapalapa [both USA boats]about 100 miles behind us.

That is our good news...we know of 2 other "aggressive incidents" but we will look for more info before commenting further. We 3 boats are pretty secure now with helicopter flyovers and NATO warships staying in contact. Last night we learned about s/v Pegasus leaving Aden without checking out due to gunfire and some people were killed by student uprising against the present admin...we think. We heard this AM from Jean Pierre on Sanang getting stocked in Al Mukulla, Yemen, that he saw similar unrest there and was locked in a market for a while. We also hear that our other alternative stop, Djbouti, is also know recently known for robbery attacks and other crime. It is also another 100 miles out of our way. We have also been warned about 3 locations in Eritrea [in the Red Sea], that are usually ok stops in precious years, are now off limits due to holding crew and not allowing consular contact for various time periods. This is making it a tough decision about where we can provision and get fuel before going into the Red Sea. We are still getting info on Aden, but are now thinking that stopping there as a group will probably be ok or worth the risk. We are sure getting TOO used to risk!!! You have to be accompanied by an agent for everything and everyplace you go but the prices are cheap even if the ATM machines themselves take an extra tip out of the each deal!!

As of today, we have come just over 3400 miles since we left Thailand 6 weeks ago on Jan 15th. I have been off the boat for only 5 hours shopping in Andamans and briefly in Maldives. I guess another good thing is that we never know how we are going to cope with such stressful situations until we are put to the test and maybe, just maybe, I am more stable than I used to give myself credit for. Chuck always says he will tell me when it's time to panic but I haven't had a chance to go into panic mode yet!!!

Keep us in mind...this adventure isn't over!!! We are doing pretty well sleeping, sailing, eating and drinking!!! Attitudes are reasonably optimistic but we will celebrate when this whole fiasco is over.

from the most inept "fisherpersons" in the Indian Ocean, Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea...where ever we are...we just can't catch a fish!!! We know they are there...we have had tackle lost and nibbled. Wonder what they sell in Yemeni supermarkets?

Lynn, and Chuck, too on CYAN

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Saturday, February 26, 2011

Article to share

This was written as an article for the Seven Seas Cruising Association Commodore's Bulletin but it will be posted here and can be shared with any publication interested in our experience.

Indian Ocean, February, 2011, Decisions and Emotions
S/V CYAN, Island Packet 380, 4.7' draft

I begin writing these comments at sunset, just as CYAN enters the patrolled corridor, in the Gulf of Aden, February 25, 2011.

In January, while finishing repairs in Phuket. Thailand, the original decision to cross the Indian Ocean and Red Sea wasn't difficult. Over 200 yachts had safely crossed the year before and the pirates weren't attacking yachts anymore, apparently. We felt OK about leaving and planned a cruising stop in the Andamans. That turned out to be a waste of time, money and patience with bureaucracy. They closed the rights to anchor in the most interesting locations and the average anchorages costs $10 a night, $60 a day for the marine park [and you have to be gone by night time] and we had to call and check in twice a day. Forget that. We'd been to much better places in the Pacific from where we have wonderful memories.

Then, in February when we arrived in the Maldives, Uligan or Uligamu, actually, we found 22 cruising boats that were in somewhat of an uproar with differing opinions on future cruising. Apparently, the pirates had become more aggressive in January while we were en route, and there were more events happening in the middle of the Indian Ocean than along the coast. It seems the small pirate boats were working from a mothership that supplied guns and drugs and encouragement to bring in bounty and captives. Some cruisers had changed plans and were returning east, some arranged shipping for their vessels and many in the TTT convoy headed to Pakistan to follow the coast. While we were there, it came down to 4 vessels who wanted to go ahead with the rhumb line, heading straight for the Gulf of Aden. Then 3 more followed a few days later. Just 2 days before we arrived in the Maldives 6 boats had departed the straight route so there were a number of cruising boats out there. We understand that this first group from Uligan stayed in visual contact with each other and we did not hear them on the Flying Fish net in the AM.

There is a story in my family passed down over the years about a great, great...however many times... grandmother who was widowed in the early 1800's and received a land grant in Tennessee. She packed a wagon with her belongings, a mother-in-law and 5 children and traveled from east Georgia through the mountains to settle in her new land. This story and others were the topics Chuck and I shared while making the decision to voyage through the Indian Ocean. We talked of how Chuck felt the first time he landed his A7 jet on an aircraft carrier at night when he flew as a Navy pilot in the 70's. I mentioned the stress, during labor, of being told my first/only child might be severely malformed from the x-rays taken. We talked about the most stressful things we have encountered...and the list wasn't long. In 38 years of marriage we have been blessed and had only routine challenges in life. There runs a strong naval tradition in both of our families that affects us with determination and a love of the sea. Both our dads [USN retired] and 3 uncles fought in the Navy in the Pacific. My dad was at the flag hoisting at Iwo Jima. Other close relatives fought in Korea and Vietnam and, of course, Chuck spent 7 years and 2 cruises flying off an aircraft carrier in the Med. We have always felt at home on the sea and planned and saved for our cruising life for 38 years. We felt a right to be able to travel the seas freely. We prayed about our decision and for God to help us consider, responsibly, all the alternatives. It came down to both of us agreeing to follow our plan right for the Red Sea and hope for the best.

I want to say that there was no right or wrong way to go for those of us making these important decisions. Each crew had to decide within their level of comfort and pocketbook according to their values. Many opinions were shared and it came down to each captaining their own vessel. As of today, we just heard that 14 boats are now being shipped to the Med from several places. I told Chuck that every time I had an anxiety attack on this voyage [as I am prone to do] about the present threat, to just say "$30,000" and it would change my attitude. We all have our own motivations.

The sailing has been much more enjoyable that we anticipated with steady winds 10-15 knots and flat seas. We only motored 40 hours in 14 days so far. We were handling the voyage carefully. The 4 boats that left together are checking in faithfully on the SSB morning and night with a few others calling in their locations, too. We give our location as a range and bearing to a predetermined waypoint. Then there was that dreadful morning net when we heard that our wonderful friends, Scott and Jean Adam and 2 of their friends on board s/v Quest, were taken captive in an area we all thought was relatively safe. Our anxiety level hit new highs but we kept on our route NW. At this time any other decision just didn't make sense to us.

We were in an area about 500 miles off the horn of Africa [about halfway from the Maldives] before we began to see any shipping vessels since we had set out 8 days earlier. On the SSB, we could only get connected to Winlink for email and weather about every other day and hadn't heard anything from the media or even received many emails since folks were writing on Sailmail and we couldn't connect there. Then one midnight we got the CNN report from our son about the tragic outcome on Quest when all four crew were brutally murdered during negotiations. All kinds of feelings and thoughts went through our minds and we held each other a lot and cursed the savages and their criminal organizers with "typical sailors expletives". I never thought I would hear Chuck say,"Now, I'm scared!". Whew, now was the time for praying for strength, guidance and stamina.

Word was out that USA vessels were being targeted in retaliation for one pirate justly convicted in the USA. How irrational is this thinking? Some recommended we remove our flag. For us, there was no question about it. We were not going to remove our flag. It just wasn't in our values. We sailed with no lights or the emitting of an AIS signal, but we could still receive. We kept a US registered EPIRB ready to launch and told our son [our primary contact] that if an alarm was activated, it was due to an attack and send help immediately. We emailed our son, Geoff, that if we were captured we wanted the forces to take all aggressive measures even if it put us at risk. We still have an Australian EPIRB on board. We checked the radar often and also removed our reflector. Today we restored it. We did every reasonable thing we could think of to prepare. Actually, we do not consider ourselves in a safe zone yet. Finally, today, we are in a more patrolled zone with P3 airplanes overhead taking our ID info and hearing them talk to warships on the radio. They asked if we'd seen any suspicious activity and reminded us that channel 16 was being monitored.

On February 26th, as I finish this, we caught up with s/v Joseba of France and Chulupa of the USA and we plan to travel the corridor with them. They are 2 of the 3 other boats in our group. S/V Senang of The Netherlands has taken the coastal route to cruise with German speaking vessels. Eduardo, on Joseba, told us about an encounter they had just a few days ago when a 100 foot boat tried to get him to stop while he was sailing in an area about 100 miles off Suqutra Island and they were waving a USA flag by hand off the bow but did not contact him on radio. [we think they did not speak English.] He motored his boat erratically, winding all around, as well as he could and they finally gave up. We consider any vessel that does not use radio contact for permission, a threat in this situation, and would do the same. If we see guns, we set and pitch the EPIRB!

We are still coping with our grief and anger over the loss of our friends. This will take time. There were tears and cries of anger and frustration. We have only read part of a few relayed articles to know about what is being reported concerning this situation and how it is expressed in the media. We both know that this was one of the most stressful and emotional events we have ever dealt with. At this time, we hope that there are more enlightened minds making decisions that will put a stop to this needless cruelty and acts of crime on the high seas against the rest of the world.

Today, our goal is to refuel in Aden, 400 miles away and continue on as quickly as possible. We understand that the TTT rally has not reached Pakistan yet. We hope the coastal route will be safe for them. We sometimes wish we had weapons on board but they can be even more dangerous when outnumbered by pirates. We do wish we had bought a satellite phone.

We hope with all our hearts, that all the vessels arrive safely, both cruising boats and merchant ships. We hope some of the nice anchorages in the Red Sea allow us to recuperate and enjoy cruising our beloved sea again.

Presently, en route, just north of the safety corridor in Gulf of Aden....

Lynn Evans, Commodore, SSCA
along with Chuck Evans, Commodore, SSCA

Beaufort SC is CYAN's hailing port but our home base is Jacksonville, Florida.

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Friday, February 25, 2011

90%

We feel we are about 90% safe now we are entering the patrolled corridor through the Gulf Aden about sundown tonight. I guess we will consider ourselves pretty safe when we are well into the Red Sea. Last night, we were traveling without lights or AIS and encountered an unlit ship on a moonless night on my watch...it was so weird and too close for me at 3 miles...I could hear his engines. We decided to turn on the AIS since then and we have been keeping very close eyes out. We plan to travel just to the north of the patrolled corridor to avoid the coastal fishing boats and nets off Yemen and to stay close to traffic but out of the way.

Imagine me, Lynn, standing watch in this tension, quietly reading on a dark boat and being suddenly joined by a 8" flying fish flapping on my arm...that was alarming. He flapped around until he finally flapped his way to the water!

This just in...Terrific news...just now as I write...listening to a European P3 aircraft talking to a warship heading to
Aden as we are 500 miles away still...music to our ears. He is telling everyone to report anything suspicious and reminding us that it's being patrolled on radio channel 16. He is now talking to 2 of our little group of 6 boats and we are a few miles behind. We think he is headed towards us next and I told Chuck to get some clothes on!!! God bless all the military and patrol vessels!

Of course all these military and big ships think we are idiots to be here...and we sometimes wonder ourselves. We can laugh and kid a bit more now but not relax....not yet.

When you get a chance look up the Navy story of Stephen Decatur and the battle of the Philadelphia in 1804. It's a most fascinating story and we need some of his techniques for fighting the Barbari Pirates in the War in Tripoli. Similar situation...Should be a movie! Try Wikipedia. We read it aloud from Chuck's copy of Sea Power from his Naval History course in college that we carry to read about historical locations we encounter. We used to live right near Decatur GA named after him!

Write us now only using the Sailmail email now since we can't get Winlink...and I gotta say I have cried a bit with every warm, loving sentiment that has been sent our way with all our recent emails. You have no idea how your warm thoughts and love has helped us. I am trying to write everyone just a small note in addition to these updates. Please understand if it takes a while.

Yea!! Chuck is now checking in with the P3 plane...they know we are here and who we are! For me this is the best news yet! And the Capt Chuck has just upped our safety factor to 95%!!!

More later. Love to all
Lynn on CYAN
and Chuck too!

PS...now they talking to another warship...I love it and thank God!

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Thursday, February 24, 2011

almost safe

We are almost out of the high risk zone...should be another 36 hours when we are in patrolled shipping zone that runs west towards the Red Sea Entrance and we are headed for Aden to refuel.

At 11 pm last night...only time we can only send and get email and weather...We read the news report that Geoff sent us about the vessel QUEST and our dear friends Scott and Jean and their crew being brutally murdered. It was a tough night on us, to say the least. I broke down from grief and tension and Chuck has never longed for a jet and bombs so much since 9/11. Our tax dollars paid for him to respond that way with his old flight training but it's understandable. He is also distraught but his anger came first! We look at these fine fellow cruisers as martyrs to the cause of our right to sail the free oceans in relative safety. They will not be forgotten by any of us cruisers and for those of us who were friends, we really know what a loss their deaths are. Our hearts go out to their friends and family at home.

We loved talking religion and movies with them...what fun we had going out several times in Phuket and planning to see them again in the Med. There aren't too many Christian Cruisers...it's a secular bunch...but they were fine examples and we had similar views. Scott was one of the directors of the movie "Deliverance" and James Dickey, the author, was a client of Chucks, about the asme time years ago. Our hearts are heavy with thoughts of the violence and terror that our friends endured. We hope this initiates the most aggressive retaliation possible. We have to do something, sometime...this just can't keep up.

We were sailing north about 3-400 miles off Somalia as this whole Navy thing was taking place just about 100 miles closer to shore than we were. They were towing QUEST west and kept a close look out for anything strong on the radar. We now sail in the moonless night with our lights off but checking AIS and radar often. Today we don't know if we are safer with the "blessed" USN ships off the coast or if some maniacs will come along and blast us dead out of spite and revenge. These aggressive, drug charged people [loosely called that] are uncivilized, caveman-like, irrational maniacs. We have both prayed a lot and kept going on our route north/northwest to the shipping channel in the Gulf of Aden. And we will not remove our flag!!! So many of our relatives have fought for it and it's a big emotional issue for us. Had we known this before we left the Maldives, we still would have come...we damn well have the right to be here! Perhaps more stupid than brave! If we were deterred by hight risk situations, we wouldn't be here! But this may be adrenalin talking!

The sailing and seas here in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea have been wonderful ...mostly going 5-7 knots in better than expected winds, and this voyage could have been great if it weren't for this burden of sorrow and taste for revenge.

We just had to share our thoughts and conditions with you all. We know that you are wondering about us.

Love...and we hope to write soon from a safer location to say that the worst will be past.
Lynn and Chuck on CYAN

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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Getting closer to a safe zone

We are almost out of the high risk zone...should be another 36 hours when we are in patrolled shipping zone that runs west towards the Red Sea Entrance and we are headed for Aden to refuel.

At 11 pm last night...only time we can only send and get email and weather...We read the news report that Geoff sent us about the vessel QUEST and our dear friends Scott and Jean and their crew being brutally murdered. It was a tough night on us, to say the least. I broke down from grief and tension and Chuck has never longed for a jet and bombs so much since 9/11. Our tax dollars paid for him to respond that way with his old flight training but it's understandable. He is also distraught but his anger came first! We look at these fine fellow cruisers as martyrs to the cause of our right to sail the free oceans in relative safety. They will not be forgotten by any of us cruisers and for those of us who were friends, we really know what a loss their deaths are. Our hearts go out to their friends and family at home.

We loved talking religion and movies with them...what fun we had going out several times in Phuket and planning to see them again in the Med. There aren't too many Christian Cruisers...it's a secular bunch...but they were fine examples and we had similar views. Scott was one of the directors of the movie "Deliverance" and James Dickey, the author, was a client of Chucks, about the asme time years ago. Our hearts are heavy with thoughts of the violence and terror that our friends endured. We hope this initiates the most aggressive retaliation possible. We have to do something, sometime...this just can't keep up.

We were sailing north about 3-400 miles off Somalia as this whole Navy thing was taking place just about 100 miles closer to shore than we were. They were towing QUEST west and kept a close look out for anything strong on the radar. We now sail in the moonless night with our lights off but checking AIS and radar often. Today we don't know if we are safer with the "blessed" USN ships off the coast or if some maniacs will come along and blast us dead out of spite and revenge. These aggressive, drug charged people [loosely called that] are uncivilized, caveman-like, irrational maniacs. We have both prayed a lot and kept going on our route north/northwest to the shipping channel in the Gulf of Aden. And we will not remove our flag!!! So many of our relatives have fought for it and it's a big emotional issue for us. Had we known this before we left the Maldives, we still would have come...we damn well have the right to be here! Perhaps more stupid than brave! If we were deterred by hight risk situations, we wouldn't be here! But this may be adrenalin talking!

The sailing and seas here in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea have been wonderful ...mostly going 5-7 knots in better than expected winds, and this voyage could have been great if it weren't for this burden of sorrow and taste for revenge.

We just had to share our thoughts and conditions with you all. We know that you are wondering about us.

Love...and we hope to write soon from a safer location to say that the worst will be past.
Lynn and Chuck on CYAN

Monday, February 21, 2011

We are still OK!

Yes, I think we might have been nuts to get here in the middle of the active area of the Arabian Sea....but since we are here we are praying for a safe exit for us and all the other vessels who are also nuts!!!

Chuck just talked to one cargo ship passing us this AM that said they outran an "aggressive small boat" and then 1 hour later talked to a Dutch ship that hadn't seen any problems. We are now entering the shipping lanes....but we hope we are west of the most active areas.

We are still checking with our small group of cruisers in the AM and PM and we can only send and receive email and weather about every other day. The weather and sailing has been wonderful...all will be fine when the great USA blows the pirates all away.

We are distressed and most upset about the capture of QUEST. Scott and Jean are friends and really wonderful people and don't deserve this treatment....God be with them...please remember them and all of us in your prayers. Somehow we pray that they will be fine and their captors are blown to hell!!! If we only had Jack Bower from "24" and Jack Reacher from the Lee Child series....if only!!!

Today we have about 5 more days to sail before relative safety about 550 miles. This will be in the main shipping channel "security corridor" which is well patrolled with security vessels. We monitor the radar and have removed our radar reflector to better slip through. We also have our AIS on just receive and not broadcasting our location. We only know of a few other USA boats so maybe that info on targeting US boats was a bluff....or maybe they are deterred by the active Navy response!

WE WILL NOT REMOVE OUR FLAG!!! We have discussed it and we just won't do it. Nights are usually ok...they haven't been known to attack at night and our usual boat speed has been 6 knots which is good for us on the windvane.

Should something happen to us...we take full responsibility for our actions...we just want all our family and friends to know how much they mean to us. Maybe next time we will do something normal like travel in an RV!!! Hah! Us do something normal???

We will try to write again soon. Keep up the prayers and hopes for us all.

Lynn and Chuck on CYAN

Monday, February 14, 2011

Fiasco..workday from hell!

Here it is our last day before leaving to sail NW and the generator quits due to overheating. While Chuck troubleshoots the genset", I discover that a 4 liter box white wine has leaked all over the back room and it smells like a winery!!! That took several wipe downs.

After hours of dissembling the genset...I mean all day...he finds the saltwater intake blockage and fortunately I had bought some acid cleaner just for waterlines. Hopefully it will work fine from now on.

So now we get to shop for food on the small island with a store the size of a walkin closet...but the supply ship comes in today and they promise some fresh stuff. Next we put away the dinghy and put up the pole that holds the jib out in light winds, make up the bed in the main cabin for passages and we are set to depart this afternoon.

keep us in mind

more later

Lynn and Chuck on CYAN

Friday, February 11, 2011

First Leg of Passage

We wish we had delightful news to share but not this time. The voyage from the Andaman Islands south of Sri Lanka was most uncomfortable but not to the point of dangerous. Most of it was spent in a weather low pressure system that moved west with us making for weird choppy seas and westerly winds to beat into. Beating is sailing close into the wind and we got lots of smashes slapping into the bow and we took on more salt water all over the boat than any other trip....makes for a mess to clean up now we have arrived in the Maldives...actually Ulagamu in the north of the chain.

One really nice thing cheered us. A huge ship passed us and sent us a message on our AIS device [this tracks ships for us and sends a signal about us to them]. They said,"Ahoy brave sailors, Bon Voyage!". We didn't even know we could get messages over the AIS screen and our unit isn't fancy enough to send one. We had 2 ships that were happy to change their course and go behind us when we asked them. Amazing to see this 1/5 mile long vessel alter course just for us.

Here in Ulagamu it's quite remarkable...a school of squid have circled the boat all morning and we see manta rays and porpoises every time we go outside. 19 boats here are in somewhat of an uproar changing plans to avoid the expanded pirate areas. Many...maybe half are going back east or going 1000 miles north to Pakistan or paying $30,000 plus to have their boat shipped from here by a contracted ship. There are still those of us who will go ahead with our plans and take the direct route to the Red Sea stopping in Aden if we need fuel which we probably will. This leg that we depart on Monday Feb 14th will take 2 1/2 to 3 weeks.

Now is time we need prayers. This is the biggest risk we have taken but we have a pod of 4-6 boat that will remain in radio contact but we will not be in sight but rather on our own for the most part.

We would love to hear from folks but our sailmail email isn't coming through so if folks write us there we will write when we can get it.

We are very busy fixing small, inconvenient breakdowns around the boat and lots of mildew!!! Please keep us in mind...

Lynn and Chuck on CYAN