Fai Tira blog Sunday 9th Jan 2011  

Still in the Bay of Bengal 06:04.74N 082:00.00E

What an horrendous hundred and twenty miles out of the last two hundred it’s been.

I’d said in the previous blog how this was a proper sea with all the characteristics that go with it. How ironic, then, that the same bit of water that I was praising for great sailing has now revealed the unpredictable side of its character, with the 10-15 knots of headwind we’d been experiencing, turning into 20-25 knots and hitting us right on the nose. It made the previously placid Bay of Bengal produce a very passable impression of the hostile Bay of Biscay, provoking memories of that miserable earlier crossing at the start of our journey eighteen months ago!

We now found ourselves cursing as we forced the boat forward into the engulfing blackness with just bare poles exposed, at maximum power with the engine screaming, headlong into walls of water that exploded into masses of spray and sound from which there was no escape, almost bringing the boat to a complete standstill with each shuddering impact.  Movement around became a bit of a lottery, as for even small distances it was aim, lunge, and hope that you locate your destination before being thrown sideways into some unwelcome protruding and unforgiving part of the superstructure. Any attempt to leave the cockpit - if it were really necessary - and venture forward, could only take place after careful consideration, as most of the time the bow was well and truly buried under many many gallons of frothing ferocious sea. Straightaway, our ETA in Sri Lanka was revised and extended by at least another day, and it sounded as though the existing conditions would prevail. So more of this to look forward to then......Oh joy!

Another unwelcome by-product of all this, although I’m not sure if it can all be put down to the conditions, is the accumulating and extensive list of repairs that’s building up:  our electric bilge pump has decided to call it a day. We’re now relying on the original manual device that I repaired and re-installed In Phuket, and is just about hanging on by the skin of its teeth!

After the hoisting of the Yankee, the roller reefing has refused to function, obliging us to operate without the use of a foresail.

Our navigation lights have decided to develop an intermittent fault.

Our VHF sometimes loses the will to transmit, something I can sympathise with!!

And, most importantly, I’ve identified a problem with a wayward wench and I’m looking forward to making land so that I can do a bit of stripping down and start to manipulate and ease those sensitive and delicate parts back into action.........Sorry, just looked back. That should have read winch...........Freudian slip!?

To add insult to injury, running the engine at high revs for such long periods, has had the effect of inducing high levels of fuel consumption.  At about 6am, just before dawn, the engine died as we ran out of the capacity in our standard tanks, then had to scramble around in the half light on a rolly deck and decant the stuff from jerricans.

So now, not only have we sacrificed the money saved through sailing on an unwelcome and unexpected sail repair, we’re now also faced with a whacking fuel bill!

As Peter said. “I thought this was supposed to be fun...”

Think I might have said this before.

Roll on Sri-Lanka.