Sandale: the movie

After much ado we've done it! Sandale the movie is on Youtube.

News from Geoff and Janet

Gnaraloo, now there's a place worth going straight past.

The C-map show no detail inshore of 20m contour and the 'mud map' in
the cruising guide says steer to a red track and then change course
to the white track. Neither are visible at all. Waves seem to lump up
all over the place and some even break exactly on the approach path
which has depths of 9m well offshore and there's no particular
difference in depths from where they break and where they don't. The
dilema is whether to try and be inshore of the breaks or seaward.

Then as if that's not enough you arrive at the anchorage and its 4m,
3.5, 2.9 changing each boat length. Quite nerve wracking. Fortunately
we arrived in daylight. The bottom is all rock and we had 20m out in
3.5m and dragging all over the place. Snubber hook straightened out
again and I spent the night checking, checking, then put out 30m.
Fortunately its a large space so you can drag pretty well all over
the place without much trouble. But not relaxing. And did I mention
the swell? Bloody rolling all over the shop.

After getting in I remembered going in there before on the S9.7 with
Angie and having a similarly anxious time. The 9.7 is deeper so even
harder to find a spot and we bumped most of the night. That was
several years ago and when we later got to Carnarvon we heard that
two blokes had rolled their dinghy there and been drowned. Counting
back the days, it was the day we left and we remembered seeing these
two guys heading out in their dinghy as we were leaving. Poor sods,
but its exactly the place where a surprise wave would spring out and
get you.

I left Janet sleeping and back tracked out at first light - to save
her the drama of it all, and now we are on our way again. Motoring
though. Winds 5knts SSE. Will back to East and fade so it’s a chug chug
to Carnarvon. Smooth seas at least.

I read on the Carnarvon yacht Club website that they do meals Friday
evenings so we will re-provision and maybe have a meal then head off
at night and possibly keep going till Geraldton provided the change
due Monday isn't going to get us.

Yesterday we saw 8 whales. I figure they are couples as one in each
pair was doing acrobatics - breaching and flapping their flippers.
Who ever said they stick to the 20m contour? How can a 15m fish build
up enough speed to lurch itself into the air in only 20m of water -
unless they are actually pushing off the bottom with their tails. We
were weaving between then in depths from 20 - 100m. At least when they
jump out of the water they might notice us so although it feels like
we are swerving to avoid them, they probably have us sussed.

Hate to say it, but its shaping up to be another glorious day here.
yesterday was perfect with an easterly that backed throughout the day
to north then west and we sailed most of the day doing easily 6knts
average poled out. Today will be motor sailing but still very
pleasant at $4.80 per hr for diesel.

Maff has caught dinner again

Local kayakers are smaller than Geoff!

Komodo Dragons

Just Cruisin'

Sandale has now left Flores and nears Adoenaca and the Savu Sea. It's all about watches, lunches, watches, sleeps, watches .. and more. On Friday Sandale will reach Kupang where Andrew will exchange his sea legs for his flying arms - returning to Perth. Janet, Marty and Geoff remain on board for the big crossing to Australia - any enthusiastic crew for the crossing should arrange their flights to Kupang now!

Awards night

 Some photos from Awards Night on Sanur Beach. Above the CEO Garuda Indonesia welcomes home to Bali his 2 stowaways. Below Mr Navigator Extroidinaire Marty with the Cups.

Island life - Medang

One island after another - Lombok, Gilli Air and Medang. And now just leaving Komodo. Beautiful bays, the best coral reefs ever, friendly locals - and even Komodo Dragons chasing deer. No photos of that yet; these all of Medang's bay, gorgeous locals and our sing-a-long barbeque.

Sandale's Olympic Crew

Best navigators! - now time to relax

Friday 13th May

well we are sitting in a beach side cafe on a tiny island on the north west corner of Lombok called Gilli Air. Beach side is stretching the truth as I can almost extend my foot out and touch the water. There's free internet so it really is heaven on earth. If we didn't have to get the 'extras' back to Sambawa (~200M) by Tuesday we'd stay here for a while. Yesterday Andrew rode a turtle while we were snorkeling. Its amazing - like swimming in a posh fish tank at Cicerellos. 

We are two days out of Bali now after an amazing presentation night. The Indo's put an a huge 'do' right on the beach in front of the hotel with linen and crystal, vast buffet and a surprisingly good local band. Most of the Indo pop bands sound like Ikea meets Abba to do 'greatest elevator hits' but this band really was good. 

The highlight was Marty won the Navigator's Trophy as the best navigator for both the rally and race fleets which is a huge accomplishment. Although he came last in the speech-making stakes saying only he was as lost making speeches as he felt when navigating. Sandale was awarded 3rd for the Rally fleet result but i can't make sense of the scoring system and suspect it to be highly arbitrary and that no one was to win twice. But the navigators trophy was the best.

They didn't show the movies unfortunately as Sandy's was brilliant. (keep and eye out for this - will be uploaded as soon as possible!)

There was a contest for the best boat song and I wrote a song which I thought was pretty good but the band didn't know the tune to "Drinking Rum and Coca Cola - working for the Yankee dollar" by the Andrew's sisters and after the first two boats did their renditions with full band support to Hotel California and then Hallelujah, our boat decided that me singing lead to a song none of them knew might scar Aus Indo relations permanently, so we didn't do it.

So now the plan is to take a more leisurely trip back through East Indo rather than rush and try to squeeze Kimberley on as well. Everyone well and enjoying themselves.

Bali

After a thorough clean and having refuelled and rewatered, and the same to the boat, we have headed to Ubud for some relaxation. You might think we would be sick of the sight of each other, indeed, Geoff and Janet did head in the other direction on a motorbike. But who should we meet at a cafe overlooking Kintimani.
We also decided we needed some exercise after two weeks on the boat. Today we rode bikes 40 km. It was warm hot and sweaty, and would have been even harder if it hadn't been entirely downhill. The only exercise we got was in our fingers as we use the brakes. Dogs and chickens and children and motorbikes and cars and trucks and narrow lanes and all downhill meant we used a lot of brakes. I highly reccommend it. (Check the bike has good brakes, though).
Tommorrow it is back to the marina to resupply for our voyage East. We depart on Wednesday, Gilli, Lombok, Komodo, Flores, Timor, day sailing and visiting remote beaches and villiages, snorkelling, fishing and whatever takes our fancy.
We are not sure how much access we will have for updates to the blog, but you can follow our onward voyage via the spot (just to the right there). I will leave the sailing club link up but the tracker we all carried for the race has been taken off the boat (yes, they want them back).
Here are some pictures. Keep an eye out for the video that is too big to upload untilwe can get better bandwidth.

on the surreal sea

As we sail from the continent out into the vastness of ocean and we move to the second week our little cocoon shrinks around us. Be careful of the mind, they say, in such open-skied confinement. We jump overboard. There is something surreal about swimming two hundred kilometres from land and five kilometres above the sea bed, being towed by a rope behind a yacht that is the only boat in the entire world. We have not seen anyone since leaving Northwest Cape. We are doing this to gain rally points, we stop the boat to swim, to take underwater photographs.

But even more surreal is later on a moonless dark night with the phosphorescent stars above and below and the boat is not a boat but a spaceship flying far from home. A hundred dolphins herd flying fish against the hull and pick them off in a frenzy, fish and dolphins weaving and leaping in the light breeze, as we sail at timeless speed towards a distant galaxy. The fish are so panicked that they leap in desperation into the cockpit, hit the dreaming helmsman in the face, or through the open galley porthole to land dangerously close to the frypan.

And then we are running time-on-distance to some imaginary line, 10degrees south, bear away, come up, slow the boat, counting down, five, four, three, two, one, crossing now, exactly eleven am on the fourth, a line on the ocean fed to us and race control by a little yellow electronic brick and a few satellites. Are we sane?

Slow Down Some - sailors' scheme when nearly there!

Less than 100nm to go!
Although land is not yet in sight, we have seen plenty of evidence it is close, with a constant stream of plastic bottles and bags, bits of pvc foam, logs, reeds and other assorted rubbish floating past us over that last 12 hours.
Yesterday we also saw a group of 3 Indonesian fishing boats plying their trade, nearly 200nm offshore, and all of them with a lot less freeboard than Sandale. Lucky the sea conditions are quite benign up here....most of the time!
But still no other yachts have come in sight...where are they all?!! We expect that at least 3 race yachts have passed us in the last 24 hours, but none of them have dared come within sight of us. Do they know something we don't, and are making their approach to Bali in a different direction?!
Now, apparently we aren't really in a 'race'...that's why we are entered in the 'Rally' category of this event, so it doesn't actually matter that these other faster yachts (who gave us a 3 day start anyway) are going past us. Fortunately this doesn't mean we can't win, which we have been working hard at since well before we left Fremantle 11 days ago!!
To win the Rally category of the event we had to submit before the event started predicted times for when we would pass 6 specified lines of latitude on our way to Bali. We lose points for each minute early or late that we cross these latitudes.
There are also points deducted for use of engine and bonus points for novelty items such as a use of sextant, biggest fish caught, strongest wind experienced and best voyage video produced etc - watch out for Sandale's mini feature film 'The Stowaways', sure to be a hit and available soon at a blogsite near you!
Due to Marty's amazing navigational and weather forecasting skills, and impressive all round boat handling by the crew, we have crossed the selected lines of latitude within minutes of our nominated times whilst keeping engine hours below our free allocation.
That's why you may have seen our boat speed drop off over the past day (for those of you following us on the race tracker!), since we were actually ahead of schedule coming up to 10 degrees latitude, and have slowed down to ensure we pass on time. We have also given ourselves much more time than necessary to cross the finish line, which we now expect to reach tomorrow (Thursday) morning sometime - our 'official' finish time projection is actually 7.00am Friday.
As part of our clever 'Rally' winning strategy we plan to enter Bali and complete immigration etc tomorrow without crossing the finish line, and then motor out of the marina on Friday morning to cross the finish line exactly at our specified time!! Ahaaaa!!

So thank you to all those followers of Sandale who have been cheering us along, and celebrating that our little boat has stayed near the front of the fleet for most of the event, and please don't worry when you see us let a few boats get past us as we race past the finish line, and back again!!

So long Cliffs and Capes and Land masses

Who needs Wasabi when we have Service like this?

Passing Exmouth now and preparing to leave Australian waters. Sailing at 6 knots with fantastic following 20 knot winds from the SE, perhaps not quite fast enough to met our elected time at the next rally latitude 20 degrees. It is a rally though, not a race - but see, look at us, we are 3rd (for the moment)!
All well and slipping into the lovely routine of life at sea on a perfect ocean with fresh fish, classy service and fine company.

On the rhumb line to Bali

We are offshore 30miles west of Gnarloo, beautiful day sailing. Alone now - the last yacht in the fleet we saw was Tradewinds V that took off in the following winds this morning. It is 15 feet longer than us.

Caught tuna and mackeral yesterday. Ate sashimi but the caterer hadn't bought wasabi. The two stowaways are fitting in nicely and they don't eat much.

We missed our second target latitude by 2hrs 44mins, so now have to average 6.6 knots to make the next. We are now 50 kilometers offshore, on the rhumb line to bali with less than 1000nm to go.

video lunch

Geoff has just discovered that the tin opener does not work. It will have to be fresh vegetable curry for dinner.

Underway

Seranading Sandy

How quickly we slip into a routine!  Now that all the sickies have got their sea legs, we have quickly settled into a routine of reading, cooking, eating, music, sleeping and trying to guess which yachts belong to the sails visible on the horizon.

And we even do a little bit of sailing now and then, although luckily Sandale is quite good at looking after herself most of the time!

After a spectacular sunrise we enjoyed a nice Easterly for most of the morning, which kept us moving at >6 knots, before dying out to leave us wallowing in the growing swell.  We are now hoping to turn the engine off quite soon, when the sea breeze arrives to do its thing....Marty says the statistics show Geraldton never has calm days at this time of year, so it shouldn’t be problem!!

As we approached Geraldton we were passed by Marco Polo and Farrucca, and then heralded by our first pod of dolphins who came close by to see how we are doing.  We were also heralded by a huge bulk carrier ship as we past Geraldton, reminding us why we should always keep watch!

All very routine really!

Passing traffic

Janet cooking up a storm

Lunch on the run

Morning of Day 3

Winds are no longer beating Sandale on the nose. Travelling at 5-6 knots with nearby companion boats Marco Polo, Farruca and Scaramouche hugging the shore with us as we approach Geraldton. The Cat Ice-cube pulled in to Jurien yesterday with radio trouble and our friendly rival Farr-lap has headed further out to sea.

Yesterday was full of sea sickness for most. 

'....all well, well a little sick, except of course the relentless Maff who bounds about as if this is an adventure. So much food, didn't eat last night or this morning'  reports Navigator Marty.

Sandale's Crew Before They Became Sea-sick

Day 2 status reports that 3 of the 5 crew are very sea-sick - which ones?!

At the Start Line

The start gun fired at 12 noon. Windswept farewell crowd at North Mole were all grateful they weren't on board!

Farewells and Stowaways

Indonesian girls couldn't resist the urge to share crewing on Sandale as she departed on her way to Bali. Gamalan orchestra, gongs and hip horrays waved Sandale off as she left Fremantle Sail Club - 11am Saturday 23rd April.

off we go!

At last! Thelast fewweeks, then the last few days, then the sleeplass last night. What have we forgotten?
Great sendoff, thanks to everyone at Fremantle Sailing club. Wind could be a bit more comfortable, currently NW at 15 knots, so a perfect headwind and waves to bounce off. We are currently passing Rotto, and our first mutiny, fancy missing the chance of a fresh coffee.

Dancing Girls Arrive To See Us Off

The crew and private dancers

We are now truly ready to depart, having danced with the Indonesian beauties at the F2B Gala Farewell Dinner, and have made arrangements to meet up with them again in 2 weeks when we get to Bali. 

Geoff also got the business card of his 'friend' the Director General of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, in case we need any assistance at any point of our journey!  All good!!

Fan dance

Last supper

Maff and Jen

June and Geoff

Strategic Planning

Final planning in action

Since all successful missions start with effective planning, and all effective planning takes place in an environment conducive to clear thinking, we have had to find a nice quiet place to plan our trip to Bali and beyond.

After significant research we have determiend that Gino's on the Fremantle cuppucino strip is the ideal place for strategic planning.  We would therefor like to thank our sponsors at Gino's, and remind them that if our plan unravels we will be coming after them!

Nearly Ready

One last screw should do it!

Final preparations are in hand...not only is Sandale looking a little lower in the water than usual, weighed down with essential provisions, she has also been modified and equipped with the all the go fast gear!

It started with solar panels and mobile phone aerials, moved onto new cupboards, shelves and crockery, and now we even have satellite connectivity!!  Long gone are the days when you went to sea saying goodbye to your loved ones, wondering when (and if!) you would even speak with them again! 

With our new sat phone you can contact us by phone, text or email anytime of the day or night...you can track us by satellite on Google Maps...and you will know where we are even before we know where we are.  But then again, we've also got GPS chartplotters, EPIRB's, Mobilarms and even paper charts...so there's no excuse for us not knowing where we are either.

And you thought we were going to have a peaceful relaxing time out there on the wide blue oceans?!!

It seems our last and final barrier to heading for the horizon will be completing customs clearance and immigration, and then we will really be allowed to go.  I'm still wondering though why the beauracracy wants to process us at 6.00am on Saturday morning?!!

Anyway, the Rally starts at 12.00 noon Saturday, and if you want to share in the fun come and see us off at the Fremantle Sailing Club, or wave to us from North Mole as cross the start line.

Sat phone and email now connected

heavy around the waterline?

Like me at Xmas time, Sandale is beginning to feel a little heavy around the water line. Over a tonne of water and fuel and then food with still the fresh fruit to buy. We have been hiding it in places easy to forget. The boat is a giant treasure hunt. What fun we'll have!

Come to Fremantle Sailing Club on Saturday to see us off. At 9am they will have an indonesian fiesta, dancing girls, food. All the boats will be alongside so there is a reasonably good chance for you to stow away.

Geoff took some friends to Fish Hook Bay last weekend, the last hurrah of summer.

Maff (who is good) finally got the Sat phone email working.

bring on the dancing girls

Today we put the race stickers on.

What a busy week. As well as getting our own boat ready for our adventure we farewelled our friend Roz Savage- http://www.rozsavage.com/ - who is rowing to a top secret location on the other side of the Indian Ocean. Yes, rowing! Top secret because she is worried about  pirates. We carried the channel ten and seven film crews and a few others as Roz rowed, well, it would be nice to say off into the sunset but it was early morning and we wanted to get back for coffee.
Lucky she left, really, because she is a campaigner for cleaner oceans and less rubbish and she hates plastic shopping bags. Our boat is now basically full of plastic shopping bags full of plastic wrapped containers of manufactured food. Not a fresh vegi in sight. Scurvy? What's that?
Next week we are looking forward to the official departure dinner complete with Indonesian Dancing girls, hence the title. Departure Sat 23rd at noon.
 
  

navigation

Sorry to all of you who spend relentless sleepless times waiting for the next Sandale update, but we have been busy, well, twilight sailing. Now, we are aware that these are laid back affairs and that trying too hard is frowned upon by true yachties, but we have been winning! It was a bit of a mystery as to how, as we were never first over the line, but we now know why.
After the race there is a BBQ in the clubhouse. The president of the race committee walks around the gathered throng with a bottle of wine to present to the winning skipper. Trouble is, mid week, getting dark early, bit cooler, whatever, most now go straight home. So we, being the die hard BBQers that we are, happily recieve the winner's bottle as the committee member sprints past on their way to the exit. Ahh winning- it is just as simple as turning up!
Just turning up at Bali (and, hopefully, winning) will be the end result of successful navigation and in that regard we resemble the old joke. Each day at mid-day a train arrives in some small wild west town, and exactly at noon blows the whistle. One day the train driver and the Mayor are chatting, and the Mayor tells the driver that he is always amazed at how accurate the trains clock is, so much so that he uses the noontime whistle blow to set the town hall clock.
'Well,' says the train driver, 'I set the train by that clock because it is the only one to be accurate along the entire line.'
We now have the SPOT that tracks the boat and uploads positions to google maps every ten minutes. So if we get lost, we can look ourselves up on google and update our position that will then be refreshed via SPOT to google and we can look ourselves up and know where we are and then.....
It's all a bit circular.
But seriously, navigation requires not only to know where you are, but where you are going. And is not that just like life?
Note that knowing where you have been is of historical interest only. It is like photographs. Pointless. No photographs today.

FAD

position 115 13.100E 39 59.952 looking for fad
ah! there it is.

maff had a dive and saw fish, I drove the recue dinghy and Geoff circled in the yacht. Saw Tuna and Dolphin fish.
Tonight for dinner we are having fish substitute.

heading to rotto now, check out our track by clicking on the find me spot, just to the left there.

Perigee-syzygy

Of course viewing the lunar perigee-syzygy was going to be better away from the ambient light of the city.  So why not skip over to Rotto to take in this phenomenom known as a Supermoon?

On Saturday at dusk the full moon climbed over Perth and the Darling Ranges, hanging like a 70's rock stars gold medallion, moving towards its big moment.

As the full moon coincided with it's closest approach of the month to Earth on this night, it looked unusually large (apparently 2% bigger!) and bright, giving us a lunar perigee syzygy.  The last time this occured was in March 1993, so we were surely in the right place and the right time to view this special effect!

A beautiful night was followed by a cloudy morning, perfect for a colourful sunrise, with the usual hot afternoon blue skies and strong sea breeze for our saill back to Freo.

A perfect sailing weekend!!

Lunar Perigee-syzygy

Sunrise

Thompson Bay

Yacht Race

Sandale

Look Mum .... no hands!