INTO THE INDIAN OCEAN

Christopher Robinson, Roving Rear Commodore

(Christopher wrote from Port Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles in mid September, having just arrived aboard his Valiant 40 Rising Star.)

We arrived here a week ago, somewhat later than planned. Ever since we left Fremantle we have had problems with the engine -- it took twelve days to solve them all so we did not leave Canarvon for Cocos until mid July. On the way to Cocos the compass developed a leak and the fluid drained out. In the middle of the night (of course!) the main halyard chafed through and the sail came down. Then the bolt holding the alternator to the engine broke off in the engine block (we managed to make a temporary repair which held it in place with a large hose clamp). While we were in Cocos solving these problems the shaft on the outboard broke. We managed to repair everything in Cocos except for the alternator bolt.

Cocos is an atoll comprising about thirty islands. Direction Island, which is uninhabited, is close to the pass through the reef and is the official yacht anchorage. A couple of miles south is Home Island, where the small native population live. There is some food shopping and a machine shop on Home Island, but everything including fuel and water has to be ferried in the dinghy from Home Island back to the boat. The outbound journey in the dinghy is a hard wet bash to windward, especially with four people in a small inflatable. After the outboard shaft broke I rented a 1Ohp motor from a local and that helped a lot! Although food and supplies are expensive in Cocos, liquor is duty free and very cheap.

West Island a half-hour ferry ride across the lagoon and is where the Australian residents live. It has the airport (which can land a B52!), a few shops and a motel. Cocos is owned and run by Australia, whose taxpayers keep the native population employed at not much and living very comfortably. Although the facilities for yachts are limited we had a good time there and made friends with local Australians (the natives keep very much to themselves). Direction Island is the prettiest island and is the day trip spot for the Australians who cross the lagoon in their boats and keep moorings there. It has long-drop toilets which are good, and some rainwater tanks which were in disrepair. We helped other yachties fix the tanks, the local government supplying the materials, though we did not benefit from them as it did not rain enough before we left. The only sign of life on Direction Island is an Australian PhoneCard pay phone standing in tropical isolation, lit up at night, and powered by solar. It is just off the beach and we used it to make phone calls to all over the world!

After a couple of weeks we sailed for the uninhabited Salomon Island in the Chagos Archipelago. During the passage the jib sheet parted at the spinnaker pole (again at night, of course!). While we were in Chagos I was woken in the middle of the night by the automatic bilge pump -- the bronze retaining bolt holding the cap on the strainer of the engine cooling water intake had suddenly broken due to stress or corrosion, and water was pouring into the bilge like the Niagara Falls. I closed the sea cock and pumped out the bilge, but if it had happened while we were on shore the boat could have sunk. While we were there we sewed chafing gear onto the jib sheets and the owner of First Light, a Gulfstar 44 from California, made us a plastic chafeguard disk to protect them from the spinnaker pole.

The Salomon atoll is similar in shape and entrance to Cocos. We visited the south island where a couple have been rebuilding their boat Desperado for six months after it went on a reef during a storm. They have used abandoned facilities from days when there was a settlement to make a bakery and a workshop. There is a well and a tank with drinking water, and a shower. The anchorage was not good so we filled water tanks and left. The couple were in perfect health and good spirits. Every so often a patrol of British Royal Marines comes in from Diego Garcia (a base leased by the Americans from the British about 200 miles south) to check up on them and bring them mail, parts and some provisions.

We moved across the lagoon (which is full of reefs and coral heads) to a more protected anchorage, and within a week were joined by some of the yachts we had met in Cocos and some from elsewhere. We had a party on the beach to celebrate my birthday, and each evening built a barbecue fuelled with driftwood. We all fished from our dinghies and every night we had enough fish for everyone, although we also brought other food.

One afternoon a Dutch sailor dislocated his shoulder. He had previously had it operated on and wires put in place to hold it, but now this happened. We had no doctors amongst us and I was hoping not to have to use my offshore medical course material because I could not remember a thing about it. While we were trying to help a 70ft German yacht, Darius, arrived and anchored and I was sent out to see if they had any medical personnel. It turned out there was a fourth year medical student from New Zealand on board and we brought him to the beach, but the Dutchman was not cooperative and the medic was besieged with unwanted advice. I suggested to the British skipper of Darius that we use his powerful radio to call the British Forces in Diego Garcia. We managed to contact them and it was agreed that they would bring doctors to their radio and we would bring the Dutchman to the boat. It was quite a scene but we managed. The doctors (American) were very competent at giving instructions, and with the patient on the cockpit table and the medical student following the doctors' orders relayed from below, the shoulder was relocated into place and we had one happy Dutchman!

By the time we left for the Seychelles the winds had shifted from east to south and briefly into the south-west, which was not part of the plan. Nevertheless we made good progress. The Seychelles group is on a bank which extends hundreds of miles around the islands. In order to cross onto the Seychelles Bank at a favourable spot we held to 5S until we had crossed, and then sailed north-west to Port Victoria. As usual we arrived at night. The southern entrance passage (Cerf Passage) was tricky with reefs on all sides but with radar and GPS it was no problem.

Here in Seychelles my crew and I have taken the head off the engine to have the alternator bolt drilled out. (Volvo in Fremantle had air- freighted a new gasket kit to Cocos.) We had tried to extract the bolt with an Easy Out but it broke off in the bolt. We found a great local mechanic, Charly Marzocchi, who drilled out the bolt with a carbon tungsten bit without damaging the threads in the engine, and also cleaned the valves. He owns his own business and has a good reputation locally for solving engineering problems. We reinstalled the head successfully but the whole process took us two exhausting days.

We have had excellent passages so far with strong but mostly favourable winds, and have averaged l50 miles per day. The Indian Ocean has some beautiful islands, but no more so than the Pacific. It also has a cross-current which makes it very rolly -- the Pacific is much more comfortable.

We have met some interesting boats and people. Here in Port Victoria there is the 124ft yacht Cyrano with a full complement of paid crew. I visited them yesterday for the grand tour and some advice from their engineer about diesels. There are also two Jongert 70s and another 70 footer (all professionally crewed), First Light whom we already knew from Salomon Island, a 40ft ketch with some great South African guys on board who are delivering her from Turkey to Cape Town, a Lafitte 44 with an American couple who have spent months here and know how to get things done locally, and an Australian 35 footer with a retired army officer and wife. We are all on friendly terms. The South African delivery skipper, Anthony Steward, is notable for having sailed a 19ft open boat alone around the world (via Panama), and holds the record for the smallest open boat to circumnavigate. He is a fund of useful tips and safe anchorages, and has given me good advice on how best to cross the Mozambique Channel and approach South Africa.

So far I have not seen much of the Seychelles, being that I have much to do on the boat. The natives are friendly, but the economy is in a shambles with an over-valued rupee so the place is very expensive. The bureaucracy is painful but I have known worse -- they charge US $25 to clear in and US $15 a day just to be here, for which no services are offered. There is no marina or other facilities for yachts, and water and fuel have to be brought out in the dinghy. The small boat harbour has been dredged, but with all the silt gone the holding is poor and yachts often drag. Before pulling the engine apart I negotiated a space with the fishing boats to tie up because of the risk of dragging and not having an engine to manoeuver. After leaving the fishing dock it took four tries with 200ft of chain to get the anchor to hold. The next morning we were told to move because we were over a pipeline!

Victoria is a small town but has some of the facilities of a tourist town. Telephone calls are US $5 a minute to the USA and Europe (oddly they are double that to Africa!) and have to be made from the Cable and Wireless office in town. They will also send and receive faxes for a service fee. The islands are granite which is unusual, and are very beautiful with a variety of trees and shrubs. The yacht club is small but is a haven for us, and has a secure dinghy dock, good cheap meals and hot showers, but a small beer is US $2.25.

From here we will go on to Madagascar. We were able to get visas here from the Seychelles government, and apparently the US $40 fee is a third of the cost of getting them in Madagascar. Most of the best anchorages in neighbouring islands are forbidden for environmental protection but we plan to visit an outer island, Farquhar, which is en route to Madagascar. We will then sail down most of the west coast of Madagascar. We have been recommended to stop at the French Isle Europe in the Mozambique Channel which is occupied by the French Foreign Legion. Then we will wait for the weather and cross to anchor outside (but not enter) Maputo in Mozambique, before continuing to Richards Bay in South Africa, close to Durban. I hope to arrive in South Africa by mid November in time to fly home for Thanksgiving in Connecticut.