18:46:461S 66:30:311E
Shaya Moya
Don & Susan Smyth
Thu 9 Oct 2014 11:04
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Well here we are in the middle of the third largest
ocean in the world, the Indian Ocean, going along quite well. After some
good winds for the start of this leg I am pleased to say we have only had to
motor twice for a short time. We have had consistant E-SE trade winds for the
last week pushing us along on a broad reach towards Mauritius at speeds of
9-10kts with a high surf of 14,4kts, exhilarating. Ted made us a wonderful dish
of couscous stuffed chicken with vegetables. Delicious.
  The weather has not been as good with mostly
overcast days with a constant barrage of rainy squalls. This has not detered us
in any way and we go about life at sea with our usual vigour. Fishing has taken
a back seat to getting the best out of Shaya Moya. The conditions of strong
winds in the 20-30kts(40-60km/hr) and a following sea are just what she wants in
order to pick up her skirts and fly. We have been doing 200nm +-days since the
3rd which has allowed us to reel in the front runners. Got a call from
Alpharatz, a Swan design who is right in front of us now, asking us to slow down
as he is getting nervous we are going to overtake in the night. In the previous
blog we described what a gull winged sail configuration is. We have added one
extra sail to this with the staysail out on the same side as the main. This not
only gives us some extra stability in very lumpy seas but more importantly an
extra 1kt of boat speed.
  This cameraderie is one of the powerful
aspects of being part of a rally such as the ARC World Rally. There is a spirit
of joviality, mild competiveness and above all a willingness to help each other.
Sadly, one of the fleet, American Spirit, a Beneteau broke their forestay a few
days ago. This is the wire that not only allows them to fly a foresail but also
helps hold up the mast. Scary stuff in these conditions. The closer boats came
to the rescue. Merlyn of Pool, an Oyster 45 were able to come alongside and toss
them a line to haul spare rigging and tools across. They were able to rig
a staysail that allows them to sail albeit at a much reduced speed towards
Mauritius. Folie a Deux a catamaran who have a fuel bladder in the cockpit with
extra fuel have kindly slowed down and are waiting for them.
  Cooking meals in these conditions is challenging
having to contend with the boat being at an acute angle but also to allow for
the rogue wave hitting us from the side causing everything to take a tumble.
Thank goodness we have had great volunteer cooks on board who have produced some
amazing meals. Yesterday was my birthday and in one of the more confused sea
stages that was throwing the boat arround like a cork, Tom presented me with a
roast lamb, mixed veg, wedges and even corn on the cob. This was followed by
dessert of Cadburys dairy milk bubbly, the closest we got to toasting my day.
Never mind we should be in Port Louis Mauritius by Sunday or Monday at the
latest where we will be able to partake in a glass of real bubbly.
 
The days go by with each of us doing their chores,
reading or sleeping. Some like Ted reflect on life at the back of the boat
watching awesome sunrises and sunsets, stormy skies and moonlit nights. Rog
reflects on the folly of having a pee standing up in the toilet while the boat
is being tossed around. All we need is a compass to steer us by.
  I was reflecting on this section of my boyhood
dream of circumnavigating in my own boat. The history of seafaring, voyages of
discovery, and the change to the age of colonialism all happened here in
the 16/17th century. We have been following in the wake of the
Portuguese and Dutch who traversed this sea in search of the new gold, spices.
Spices such as Cinnamon, vaunted for its medicinal properties, cloves as an
aphrodisiac, nutmeg and mace as preserving agents. These spices sprinkled
on a plate of food enhanced the plate of the day into a meal fit for a king.
Pepper was so valuable that it was referred to as black gold. A small barrel of
nutmeg bought for a penny sold for 600 times its original price in London. Heady
stuff, fortunes could be made if one could only find a better way to journey
from Europe down around the Southern tip of Africa across the Indian Ocean to
the spice islands and back.
The Portuguese were the first to truly discover and
settle on the Spice Islands or Moluccas, now part of Indonesia, in the
early 1500's.The Dutch kicked the Portuguese out of the Spice islands towards
the end of the 1500's, naming them their own. For a period of some 6 years eight
different Dutch companies dispatched a total of 65 ships to the Spice islands to
bring back the spices. This of course resulted in the cost prices of
the spices go up and depressed the sale price on the European markets. The
Dutch got inventive and formed a company, the Dutch East India Company VOC to
monopolise not only the procurement of spices but the retail market back home as
well. Shares in this company could be bought and traded and one could say
this was the precursor to the modern day stock exchange.
The problem was time to market, wasted time was
wasted money, and as a secondary consideration wasted lives. Many
men could be expected to die in a gruelling year long journey to the
East Indies, the majority typically in the last few months. If a quicker way
could be found to complete this voyage it would not only save lives but would
promise increased profit.
.
 
The traditional route to the East Indies was to
pass south of the tip of South Africa heading east and then tightly adhering to
sailing in sight of land up the East coast of Africa before heading off to Java
via India and Ceylon. In 1611 a Dutch captain Hendrick Broewer, decided to sail
due east. His plan was to estimate the distance travelled each day to work out
when he was south of the East Indies on a longitude 4000nm east of the Cape at
which point he turned north towards Java and the Sundra straight.
Heady stuff that boys can only dream of.
 What a privilege to be able to live out that dream
in your own boat with your brother Ted and best friend Roger, with young
Tom looking after the three geriatrics, here on the Spice Island trade
route.
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