Vega - The Doldrums

The Doldrums

Vega

Hugh and Annie

Mon 11 Nov 2019 11:24

When we crossed the Equator going south, near the Galápagos Islands, the only clue to our position was the latitude coordinate showing on the chart plotter. The Galápagos Islands are on the equator and I thought would be prone to unsettled weather between the north and south latitudes. The reality was steady wind and no thunderstorms (that I can recall). Here in Indonesia and Malaysia it is completely different. It is hot, humid and for the most part windless until the thunderstorms come through and then it can blow 35kts. What prevailing wind there is can be from the north east or the north west but backs to the south west as the storms approach. We were caught out by this recently when choosing an anchorage to shelter us from the NW wind. As we were arriving the wind rose and backed to the SW, leaving us to anchor in 35kts of wind, waves of 1.5m height and only 4.5m depth of water! The anchor held but the depth was too shallow and we were too close to the shore for comfort, having gone in close to try and gain some shelter. We decided to re-anchor, fortunately by this time in only 20kts of wind, but with blinding lightning including one vertical fork that hit the sea only half a mile in front of us. Annie was handling the anchor whilst trying not to hold onto the metal pulpit!
We think we are in the transition period between the SE/SW and NE/NW monsoon seasons but like everywhere we go the weather patterns are becoming less predictable. The SE/SW Monsoon occurs June - September and in which the wind blows from the SE south of the Equator and from the SW to the north. These were the SE trade winds that were with us for most of the way across Indonesia. The NE/NW Monsoon occurs December - February and in which the wind blows from the NW south of the Equator and from the NE to the north. During the transition periods between the Monsoons the wind is light or non existent except when the short duration squalls pass through.......
Without wind we are motoring a lot but fortunately the Indonesian diesel hasn’t been a problem. Recently we were in Port Dickson, Malaysia, where the fuel is from Shell and looks the same as we are used to in the UK. Before we headed off from there I changed the two fuel filters again and also the alternator belt. Without the engine we would not make it up the west coast of Malaysia on our planned itinerary and we will have put a couple of hundred hours on the clock getting from Indonesia to Langkawi. We obtained the new seawater pump in Singapore which was easy to fit and it is good not to have that to worry about.
Although Singapore is immaculately clean the same same cannot be said for the waters coming up through Indonesia, past Singapore and up the Malaysian coast. Not to put too fine a point on it we are motoring through a cesspool of plastic, timber and other floating waste. We weave around the bigger patches of waste to try and avoid picking up a line around the prop or hitting something that could damage the hull. We stay close to the Malacca Straight shipping lane to avoid the fishing nets but between the lanes and the shore it is impossible to tell the difference between the fishing floats and the discarded plastic containers until you are right on top of them or the fishing float has a flag or light on it. The fact that there are fishing boats must mean there are still some fish left but, even by the standards of the oceans we have sailed through, these waters look absolutely lifeless. Very few seabirds - maybe the odd gull standing on a lump of waste - and certainly no dolphins. The yachtie community has hardly caught a fish since leaving Australian waters - most boats having caught nothing despite days of trying.
The one big thing that we have discovered on this trip is how badly polluted and overfished the seas are, how much we are destroying wildlife habitat and how climate change is now affecting the planet. Compared with our sailing predecessors of the past we see hardly any life in the sea. When we do go under the water the only fish we see, for the most part, are the tiny reef fish too small to be caught and eaten. In waters protected from fishing it is a much better picture but everywhere we see the dead coral. We have experienced part of the hottest and longest Australian summer on record. We have seen the grass-less, parched and drought ridden prairie ranches of eastern Australia. We have seen the rapidly disappearing glaciers in New Zealand. We have experienced the changing weather patterns and “unusual” seasonal conditions. We have been shown the consequences of rising sea levels in the Pacific region and noted the now annual summer storms and year round flooding in the UK. We note the increasing ferocity of hurricanes and typhoons year on year. We read day in and day out the evidence that this is happening and the fact that it is going to get much worse. And yet, if the responses to my posts on Facebook are anything to go by, I get far more feedback when writing about frivolous things or the wonderful things we also see than ever I do when I try and draw attention to things like habitat loss and climate change. We have an election coming up in which the climate and how to tackle change should be the number one issue and yet whenever I write about the politics likely to cause most damage to the environment and foster greater social inequality I am accused of “ranting” and get negative feedback. I genuinely wish to know what it will take for people to open their eyes, take an interest and be prepared to fight for a better (even a sustainable) future because at this rate there really isn’t going to be one!