Komodo National Park to Moyo Island Sumbawa
Gaviota
Sun 28 Aug 2016 04:32
008:16.50S 117:30.32E
We left
Gilli Banta 10am on 22nd August and there was (for a change) some
wind. Mainsail went up and Genoas were
poled out ‘a la Syd’s downwind sailing style’.
The Turin Shroud now has a very large rip in it (see photo!) but is
stoically hanging in there. We were
doing a very respectable 7 knots then hit the first tide rip between Gilli
Banta and the smouldering volcano on the nearby island. These tide rips between the Islands can be
fierce - sometimes running up to 12 knots and manifest themselves with short
steep waves in every direction and even whirlpools. With local knowledge they offer some exciting
drift dives but in a yacht minus local knowledge they are pretty uncomfortable
and provide a huge challenge to George (auto-helm). We bumped along at a good speed but with 2
knots of current against us it felt like we were going nowhere. Eventually we got out of the tide rips and
started to go at a decent speed with the current. We gybed and headed out to sea to get away
from the menace of ‘fish traps’ and carried on into the night – still sailing! Night brought everything from ‘no wind’ and
motor on to ‘lots of wind’ and reefs in.
Also, it was a busy shipping channel with boats showing ‘high percentage
of collision’ appearing on the AIS regularly along with a lot of boats not
showing and boats with no lights so when a nearly full moon appeared it was an
enormous help. Aside from 3 hours of
motor the whole journey was completed under sail and we headed into the deep
bay at Moyo Island to have a rest.
