Becalmed is not becalming...
08 November 2011 | 10 51.461'S:129 07.877'E, Timor Sea
Andy
Tuesday 08 November, 2011
The sound of Sade wafts up to me at the bow from the cockpit. Skip Tone must be really frustrated, he's been driven to put some music on! Up until now we seem to have preferred the silence of sail or the gentle purr of the diesel. But after several days of frustratingly short bursts of sail followed by an hour or so of flukey winds we are a little tired of the sound and smell of the diesel (always pleased to hear it start when we need it though!)
At stages throughout this trip we have bobbed about for hours going nowhere fast. We have fooled around with various sail plans, headsail in, headsail out, but no wind is no wind. There's a limit, for progress oriented deadline driven westerners, as to how much 'hanging' around you can take. And now that we are a mere 140nm from Darwin, we seem to be doubly keen to keep moving - will we EVER get back to Australia? How did our great great grandparents cope on that long sea journey out from England? No wonder the doldrums also means a period of stagnation or depression, in addition to its specific reference to the calms of the equatorial regions.
The calms are amazing however, and preferable to scarily high winds or storms. This morning with the boat stopped (and actually drifting back to Timor Leste!) we topped up the 'wind' in the iron headsail, had a refreshing swim, and enjoyed a quiet, still, cup of coffee - with toast and marmalade. Swimming in the clear open sea water is a treat, although this time it was was only 96 metres deep. Now that we are back on the Australian continental shelf the steep, deep drop-offs we have got used to in the Indonesian archipelago have disappeared, with miles of shoals and stretches of shallow waters, some patches only as deep at 10m, all the way to Darwin.
Our ETA into Darwin is not till Thursday morning 10 November at this rate. As we don't want to arrive at night there is not much point revving up the motor and arriving at midnight. So, for now, we are happy to bob in the light/next to non-existent winds and catch up on a bit of housekeeping. One of the 'chores' yesterday was to have a shower. On Irish Melody we have a deck shower, and there I was, all in the buff, shower gel and flannel in hand about to take a shower, when Tony muttered "Here's the custom's plane, you better get below". I didn't hear him properly, but also simply didn't have time or wits to grab a towel or sarong, so before I knew it, there I was squatting ignominiously in the cockpit trying to cover me wobbly bits, as the Australian customs plane flew virtually at sea level past the boat. I am not sure if they photograph boats as part of their routine surveillance, but if so, there will be an embarrassingly frank photo of an ageing sailor gracing their collection! Just hope the flyboys are different to the blokes who will come out to the boat when we reach Darwin! (Assuming they will be men, so far the people we have spoken to on radio have all been male.)
We have now had three contacts with Customs since crossing into Australian territorial waters. Twice the plane has flown over and contacted us by VHF, and a patrol vessel came close by late yesterday afternoon and asked us a few more questions over the radio to verify who we were. So they are certainly onto any boats arriving! The reassuring Australian accents wishing us fair winds and following seas for the remainder of our trip to Darwin were much appreciated, especially after more than two months of struggling to communicate in each new port. Darwin will be a new port for us, but at least they will be speaking English!
Photo Note: Becalmed at dawn, Timor Sea. PS The well wishes for fair winds worked, we are loping along with 12kts of wind! Engine OFF!