24 Aug 2016

So here is the weather in Goa as on today. Winds almost WSW 18-20 kn.

Considering distance between Goa to Fremantle: approx 4700 nm, Avg speed: 5.5 kn, total time: about 40 days.Lets get started!

17 Aug 16

http://worldsailing.guru/articles/ChoosingYourRoute.aspx

31 May 16

Six days of steady sailing towards South, we have entered the 1 deg parallel last night. On the menu for dinner was Paratha with Egg Bhurji and Tea. A cool monsoon breeze greets us and a hot meal tastes tastier than ever. A massive armada of dolphins came to exchange pleasantries with us in the evening. They have been our old friends at sea and they make sure they visit us often!

The weather we have been experiencing so far is pretty much in compliance with that expected. With the setting in of monsoon winds, the rain Gods are becoming quite regular in showering their blessings upon us. Colossal clouds leading to squally winds are quite common in this region. They have a habit of approaching at nasty speeds and can do major damages within a jiffy if not attended to well in time. They have been keeping us in ‘action stations’ most of the times and demanding an active lookout from us with a quick action of reducing the sails before they arrive. Once the right action has been taken well in time, all we have to do is to wait and watch and I would often whisper a ‘Bring it on dude’ to these cute looking monstrous clouds as they shower all they have to offerJ.  

As I write this I note that we are now eleven miles from the equator. This is going to be the Mhadei’s eleventh equator crossing, our crew Swathi’s third and the first for the rest of us! And I would continue the rest later. Signing off!

30 May 16

Its been some time since I last updated this blog. To avoid losing track of what we have been upto, let me jot down some happenings of the past. Post completion of the International Fleet Review in Feb 16, we sailed back the Mhadei with a crew of five from Vizag and arrived in Goa  on the eve of 7^th Mar 16. We were received by our Mentor Cdr Dilip Donde at the Mandovi Boat Pool who had been anxiously waiting for our safe return. People tell us we got his heart in his mouth as he let us go on our own on his beloved boat.  But finding him happy and proud as we came back home safely was indeed satisfying. We were then given a nice official welcome by the Navy the very next day as it also happened to be the International Women’s Day!

The next pit stop was going to be Mauritius and we knew what to expect after we returned from Vizag. Its said that good things do not come easy, next two months were not going to be easy either. The boat needed our attention and there was plenty of planning and work to be brought to completion before we set sail for a destination 2500 nautical miles from homeland. Why Mauritius you ask? Coz its my favourite destination!? Well well I am yet to figure it outJ The destination was chosen mainly for two reasons; It would train us to sail back the boat by the SW monsoons and experience some big seas and stronger winds. Second, it would serve to train the newer hands in the boat to sail on longer ocean passages.

With two months and a half of preparation and planning and working and getting works done to ready the boat, the mind was so longing to head out. On the 24^th of May, with the ACPS, seniors and friends present at the Mandovi boat pool to cast us off, the Mhadei set sail with her full working strength of six women officers for Mauritius.

Some tit bits about the next pitstop

Mauritius island

Mauritius is some 2,000 km (1,242 miles) off the southeast coast of the African continent, between latitudes 19°58.8' and 20°31.7' south and longitudes 57°18.0' and 57°46.5' east. It is 65 km long and 45 km wide. Its land area is 1,864.8 km².^[53][54] The island is surrounded by more than 150 km (93 miles) of white sandy beaches and the lagoons are protected from the open sea by the world's third largest coral reef, which surrounds the island.^[55] Just off the Mauritian coast lie some 49 uninhabited islands and islets, some of them are used as natural reserves for the protection of endangered species.

The island of Mauritius is relatively young geologically, having been created by volcanic activity some 8 million years ago. Together with Saint Brandon, Réunion, and Rodrigues, the island is part of the Mascarene Islands. These islands have emerged from the abysses as a result of gigantic underwater volcanic eruptions that happened thousands of kilometres to the east of the continental block made up of Africa and Madagascar.^[49] They are no longer volcanically active and the hotspot now rests under Réunion Island. Mauritius is encircled by a broken ring of mountain ranges, varying in height from 300–800 m above sea level. The land rises from coastal plains to a central plateau where it reaches a height of 670 m; the highest peak is in the southwest, Piton de la Petite Rivière Noire at 828 metres (2,717 ft). Streams and rivers speckle the island, a lot of them are formed in the cracks created by lava flows.

Environment and climate

Tropical beach, Trou-aux-Biches.

The environment in Mauritius is typically tropical in the coastal regions with forests in the mountainous areas. Seasonal cyclones are destructive to its flora and fauna, although they recover quickly. Mauritius ranked second in an air quality index released by the World Health Organization in 2011.^[64]

Situated near the Tropic of Capricorn, Mauritius has a tropical climate. There are 2 seasons: a warm humid summer from November to April, with a mean temperature of 24.7 °C and a relatively cool dry winter from June to September with a mean temperature of 20.4 °C. The temperature difference between the seasons is only 4.3 °C. The warmest months are January and February with average day maximum temperature reaching 29.2 °C and the coolest months are July and August when average night minimum temperatures drops down to 16.4 °C. Annual rainfall ranges from 900 mm on the coast to 1,500 mm on the central plateau. Although there is no marked rainy season, most of the rainfall occurs in summer months. Sea temperature in the lagoon varies from 22–27 °C. The central plateau is much cooler than the surrounding coastal areas and can experience as much as double the rainfall. The prevailing trade winds keep the east side of the island cooler and also tend to bring more rain there. There can also be a marked difference in temperature and rainfall from one side of the island to the other. Occasional tropical cyclones generally occurs between January to March and tend to disrupt the weather for only about three days, bringing a lot of rain.^[65]

For currently prevailing wind/weather data, click https://www.windyty.com/?975h,2016-04-23-06,-5.709,70.165,4

Keel laying of the steed

Here are some pictures from 27 Mar 2016.. The keel laying ceremony of our steed.

The new born got a bit of an attention from the Chief and the Raksha Mantri  who addressed the occasion. Now she rests cozily away from a crowded world and is letting her mother groom her.

Some General Knowledge

Lets have some QNA

Also a remembrance to the words of Bernard Mottesier:-

A sailor's geography is not always that of the cartographer, for whom a cape is a cape, with a latitude and longitude. For the sailor, a great cape is both a very simple and an extremely complicated whole of rocks, currents, breaking seas and huge waves, fair winds and gales, joys and fears, fatigue, dreams, painful hands, empty stomachs, wonderful moments, and suffering at times.