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February 10, 2007

Resupply!

LOCATION: Arabian Sea Crossing
Day: 11
SEE WHERE WE ARE!
Longitude: N:17°86229
Latitude: E: 066°81580
Heading: 240°M
Wind: west, force 2
Miles from Mumbai: 360
Miles to Djibouti: 1,440

Our water woes have been solved in the shape of container ship MSC Eliana rendezvousing with us around 10.30 pm last night and supplying us with 175 litres of fresh drinking water.

Jason's father had taken the initiative to contact Falmouth Coastguard in the UK, asking them to inform any ships in our vicinity that might be in a position to do the needful. Falmouth CC in turn contacted MRCC (Mumbai Regional Coast Guard) with the request and our latest position. They then relayed the message to ships in this section of the Arabian Sea.

Around the same time Mr Rajan, sailing coordinator for the Royal Bombay Yacht Club, read the previous blog entry to this one and made a call to the MRCC also.

While this procedure was unfolding, completely unknown to us, we had patched up our manual watermaker by cutting additional strips from our cooking pot lid and reinforced the plastic section holding the handle that had cracked. We then tied the watermaker to the side of the boat and were able to pump a gallon of drinking water without any further cracks appearing in the unit. We were understandably quite excited with this development and with the thought that this patched up watermaker might be serviceable for the remainder of the voyage.

After our cup of tea in the evening Jason picked up a message from his father on the Iridium phone indicating that he had notified Falmouth CC of our water problems. He then switched the VHF radio on and almost immediately heard a message from motor tanker Emerald Sky that was attempting to make contact with us. We were taken unawares but gathered our wits and duly made return contact - around 7pm yesterday evening. The tanker indicated that it was 48 miles from our position and traveling towards our position at a speed of 12 knots.

In the meantime the MRCC had also made contact with another commercial vessel, the MSC Eliana, who turned out to be only 20 miles from our position traveling between Dubai and Colombo in Sri Lanka. At this point both ships were heading our way. We then indicated to the Captain of the Emerald Sky that since we had an alternative solution nearer to hand that we could cut him loose to resume his original heading.

We spoke with the Captain of MSC Eliana through the VHF radio and it was mutually agreed upon that the logistics of the rendezvous would happen once we could both make visual contact with each other. We then had dinner and waited for the ship to appear on our Southwest horizon. Around 9pm we could make out the floodlit deck and running lights.

On instructions from the ship's Captain we were instructed to approach and tie up to their leeward side (sheltered from the wind and waves). At around 9.30 we pedaling alongside and threw up our bow line to the crew waiting on deck. After securing Moksha we then began the process of transferring the water on board. They had set aside 180 litres of water in 8 x cylindrical containers each with the capacity of 22.7 litres. Each container was then lowered and stashed temporarily in the cockpit. Looking at the size of one of these things it became obvious that storing them in an otherwise already over-laden boat was going to be difficult. We secured four of them on the roof of the hatch.

We had earlier asked the Captain how we might reciprocate his kind gesture and he had indicated that if we had any novels that we had finished reading that we could send these aloft. Jason decided that he would insert a $50 inside one of the books as a token of our appreciation - to be shared amongst the crew. There was an immediate response however that this was 'unacceptable'. "God has already given us enough!" was the cry that came down to us.

We then disengaged the lines, thanked the crew and Captain and pedaled away into the darkness, secure in the knowledge that our water woes were a thing of the past. Two of the containers on the roof of the hatch suddenly managed to roll off and into the ocean. But we still had a boat loaded to the gills with fresh water so we weren't too concerned about trying to salvage them. We would have a hard time finding space on board for the remaining six as it was.

The next task was infinitely more difficult than anything up to this point - finding space on board to store all these containers. This would involve a major reconfiguration of the stern compartment - a space that either of us enter reluctantly at the best of times. Jason performed some yoga manoeuvres to squeeze inside the compartment and make space for the containers. An hour later the job was complete.

It was past midnight when we were finally done and able to sit down and celebrate with a couple of cold beers that the crew had kindly sent down as a gift. Unlike the $50 we found this offering to be thoroughly acceptable.

This whole operation felt like the entire cavalry was called out on our behalf - a little embarrassing but I think we have had a run of bad luck that couldn't have been foreseen. Huge thanks goes out to Jason's father, Mr Rajan of the RYBC in Mumbai, Falmouth and Mumbai Coast Guard Stations, the Emerald Sky motor-tanker and the Captain and crew of the MSC Eliana.

Sher

Posted on February 10, 2007 3:07 PM

Comments

Posted by: gl. at February 10, 2007 10:47 PM