Its been some time since I last updated this blog. Things have been going more or less OK except for the refit activities that have been pretty sluggish so far, due to a hefty delay in issuing work order to the boatbuilder. Anyway, work has finally started with the engine repair guy coming in for routine overhauling of the engine. He changed the prefilter and main filter and filled in fresh engine oil and gearbox oil in the sumps. He also checked the Oil Pressure and Temperature gauges that might require a change and Volvo Penta guys have promised to come again to fix those two.
Today after almost twelve hours of working on the LED garland for IFR, we finally managed to put it up and set it on the fore and backstay and light the lamps. Mhadei looked beautiful after illuminating.
Dec 8. Mhadei saw the first independent sortie by all women crew between two ports. Our mentor was generous enough to give her to us to take the boat from Goa to Karwar and back. we had sailed off from Goa in the afternoon of Dec 8. we made a very very slow headway towards our destination and even after 7 hours of sailing out we had yet not crossed Grandie. It looked like Mr Grandie wanted to take some revenge on us. After a long wait we finally managed to throw a Mathri in the water to mark the 'Crossing the line' ceremony:D. winds soon picked up after that and we found ourselves doing a decent course and speed. Our estimate of reaching Karwar late was proved wrong hen the winds started picking up to 25 knots around midnight Mhadei was happily doing almost 8 knots after taking down to reefs and coming down to stay sail. we reached Karwar at 0930 hrs next morning and after getting her alongside a Yokohoma four of us headed to Cdr Chikara's place for a quick shower followed by meeting with the FOKNA, got lunch packed from nearby ship and off were back for Goa by 1430 hrs on the 9th of Dec. The faster our voyage was from Goa to Ka, equally slow as it on the way back. winds were constantly dropping and we had to put off the sails couple of times to avoid damage to the riggings. After almost 20 hours of trying to stick to our intended course for Goa, we made it back at 1100 hrs on Dec 10. Our mentor seemed happy and proud to receive us back which was very satisfying. He also took us for a celebratory lunch after that.
I now leave you with some pictures we took during the voyage. It was certainly an exciting journey.
