2008-Mar-12 Noon Position

Arabian Sea
13'50.3N/60'03.9E

• 127 nm last 24 hrs
• 396 nm to Salalah, Oman
• 858 nm from Uligamu, Maldives
• Winds N 10-15 knots
• Seas N 1-2 feet

You all must have given us some wind prayers as we have had good winds for almost the last 24 hours. Sandpiper has been blazing away all night averaging over 6 knots with a nice steady 15 knot breeze forward off the starboard beam. At sunrise this morning the winds dropped down to 10 knots, and this has slowed us down to 4 knots. We were hoping to break our 24hr record if the winds held up. But we are very happy with 127 nautical miles.

Sailmail, as predicted, is giving us connection issues since we are so far from the transmitting stations. So for now we have to send all the entries at once whenever we can get a connection.

No contacts in the last 24 hours. S/V Shiraz 157 nm ahead of us as of last night at 1800h. They figured out what their SSB's transmitting problem was and now sounds like they are right next to us when we chat. They are doing really great, sailing much faster than us, and feasting on several fresh fish that they have caught.

Today was part 2 on the BBC about piracy. It was a 30 minute program regarding present day piracy off the Somalia Coast. Hey! We are off the Somalia coast! But really the problems Somalia is having with piracy occurs within 200 miles of their coast line. Ships are boarded, taken in, and held for ransom. We are 500nm east of the Somali coast line.

The really messed up part is that some of these ships that are getting pirated are coming to Somalia to bring food aid to their people. They are then held by Somalia militias until the ship's owners can pay millions of dollars in ransom. Not sure we want to hang a left here! And it is very fitting to hear this story since we will trying to avoid getting close to Somalia until we get into the Red Sea.

Just looked today and we are officially in the Arabian Sea. We were not sure what the ocean borders for the Arabian Sea is, nor where the Indian Ocean officially ends. But right next to our position on C-Map it says "Arabian Sea". So it is official.

More in 24 if there is a Sailmail connection.

Tom and Amy