2008-Mar-23 Noon Position

Gulf of Aden
Indian Ocean
Offshore Yemen Coast
14'28.5N/50'19.0E

• 98 nm last 24 hrs
• 328 nm to Aden
• 170 nm from Oman
• Winds 0 knots
• Seas F.A.C, 0 feet

No drama last 24 hours... or wind. Was able to sail for one hour late yesterday afternoon in the wrong direction. Then it was back to motoring through the night with calm winds and a glassy sea under a very bright moon.

No small boat traffic overnight and many ships hugging the Yemen Coast along with us and SV Shiraz, who stayed within a mile of us all night. After sunrise there were many Yemen fishermen in fiberglass boats 25 miles offshore. But none came along side today.

The winds, or lack thereof, will determine where our next stop is. If we have no wind in the next 24 hours then Sandpiper and Shiraz will stop at Al Mulkalla (66 miles away) for Shiraz to top off with Diesel in case we have to motor all the way to Aden.

More in 24
Tom and Amy

2008-Mar-22 Noon Update

Gulf of Aden
Indian Ocean
Offshore Yemen Coast
15'03.8N/51'53.1E

• 88 nm last 24 hrs
• 425 nm to Aden
• 170 nm from Oman
• Winds SE 10 knots
• Seas 0-1 feet

Another 24 hours of sail/motoring. We were able to sail late yesterday afternoon till evening. But were not able to sail our track line and were heading straight for land on Yemen. We have motored through the night and all day today as winds are right off the bow. As usual, this should have been a route that could sail.

Lots of shipping traffic around. S/V Shiraz and Sandpiper have been within 2 miles of each other for the last 24 hrs. We have been staying well offshore of Yemen, the closest being 12 miles, for safety as there are some undesirables in this area.

This morning, before sunrise, I saw a set of mast head lights. From my time in the Guard I knew immediately was a warship lurking around. Right after the sun came up they called us on VHF saying they were a 'coalition' warship and wanted to advise us (us and Shiraz) of piracy issues between Somalia and Yemen. I chatted them up for a bit asking what flag warship they were. But we were told that they were not authorized to tell us. But from the size of the ship , and the accent of the guy on the radio, it was obvious that it was an US Navy ship. I told him we were two U.S. flagged boats and to pass our greetings from a retired 'Chief' to his command, and their chiefs mess. We also thanked them for being out here so far from home watching out for us. They were very professional. They then turned and vanished over the horizon.

Later in the afternoon we started to come across Yemen fisherman. They were 20 miles off shore in open fiberglass boats with outboards on the back. We are a bit paranoid about any small boats in this area.

One boat came alongside Shiraz looking for handouts. After getting nothing, we were next. The boat came right up on us with 4 guys on board with a bunch of sharks that they had caught. They motioned with their hands that they wanted some smokes. We tried to wave them off, but they were so excited that they came right alongside us while we were going 5 knots. I kept trying to wave them off and they kept talking loudly in Arabic pointing at their sharks. Trying to wave them off did not work. They were pounding against Piper's hull. So Amy grabbed the helm and turned away from them until we could clear them.

The fisherman out here are very friendly... too friendly. We cannot take any chances along this coast, so we will not be giving anybody anything. Sorry Yemen Fishermen.

More in 24,
Tom and Amy

2008-Mar-21 Noon Position

15'53.8N/53'07.5E
Gulf of Aden
Indian Ocean
Offshore Yemen Coast

• 82 nm last 24 hrs
• 510 nm to Port of Aden, Yemen
• 82 nm from Salalah, Oman
• Winds SE 10 knots
• Seas 0-1 feet

Back at sea and in route to the Port of Aden, Yemen. We left Oman yesterday after checking out with customs and immigration, clearing the Port of Salalah by noon.

Our whole time in Salalah was pretty much spent in our small rental car driving around with Steve and Rene (from SV Shiraz) exploring Oman. Steve and I spent one morning filling up the car's trunk with 8 diesel jugs and running back and forth from the gas station to the harbor in order to top off our boats' fuel tanks.

One cool thing about Oman is that they drive on the right side of the road which we have not seen for a long time. Even I was able to drive after 2 years. No problem!

We did find the gun market in town by accident as we were walking by. It was really cool as there where a bunch of Muslim men all on one street selling rifles. Some were really old Russian models, and a lot of 22's. One of the Muslim men had Amy trying out her Muslim woman cry of "Lalalalalalalal" which had all the old Muslim men chuckling.

Our last night in town we stopped at a Oman traditional restaurant recommended by Mohammed. We were shown to our own private room that was full of pillows we sat on. Then the waiter shut the door. Minutes later we were eating all kind of delicious food. Most of the restaurants seem to keep you separated if you show up with woman. There signs that say 'family area'. I thought this was for families with kids. But instead it is where you are segregated if you are eating with a women.

We were surprised to see a cruise ship in the morning we left. It disgorged bus loads of tourists going into town.

Upon clearing Salalah Harbor we were hoping to have NE winds that were forecasted to sail on. But as usual, we had winds from the SE, right in the direction we need to go. For now until we get up the Red Sea SV Shiraz and Sandpiper are now close 'buddy' boats and will be right next to each other until we clear the Yemen coast.

We tried sailing for 5 hours yesterday in the wrong direction. We even tacked, hoping we could make some distance by sail. All to no avail, we ended up motoring into the wind all night. This is the first time we can ever remember tacking since leaving San Francisco 2 years ago.... Crazy.

We are hoping for winds to sail. If not, then we will try to stop along the Yemen coast at Al Mukalla to get fuel because we are not sure if SV Shiraz can motor for 600 miles.

No traffic last 24 hours.

We did not have time in Oman to post any pictures of our stop there. But if you are interested , then go to Shiraz's site that is linked on this page to the right under 'Friends of Sandpiper'. They have updated their site and have lots of new pics of our stop.

Also, if you have not gotten an email from us. It is because we need to get closer up the Red Sea Sailmail antenna for a better connection.

More in 24
Tom and Amy

BBC Documentary - 'Pirates'

As promised, here are the remaining episodes for the BBC special 'Pirates' that Tom and Amy mentioned a while back.

• Part 1 - Swashbucklers of the past
• Part 2 - Modern day sea pirates
• Part 3 - Mind-thieves

Ron

2008-Mar-15 Noon Position

Arabian Sea
Indian Ocean
16'25.2N/55'05.1E

• 99 nm last 24 hrs
• 68 nm to Salalah, Oman
• 1358 nm from Uligamu, Maldives
• Winds N 0 knots
• Seas F.A.C 0 feet

Greetings from the Big Pond. Not a breath of wind in the last 24 hours, except for this morning when we were able to sail at 2 knots for 15 minutes thanks to a brief breath of wind. Another 24 hours of motoring on a flat glassy ocean.

Still no fish on our lure! As we had hoped, we stayed clear of the drift netters from the previous 24 hours, and have had several ships passing on the starboard horizon this morning.

We talked with Steve and Rene on S/V Shiraz last night on the SSB radio. They had arrived at the anchorage in Oman harbor yesterday morning. We thought that we would be the only boats in the harbor being that it is so late in the season. But just our luck, there are 30 other boats all crammed in the tiny anchorage that are part of a rally coming down the Red Sea from the Med on their way to India. They said that customs had not come out to clear them in yet, and they were not sure how long it was going to take since there are so many boats getting their paperwork in order.

They were also anchored 10 feet from another boat and they have had to re-anchor 6 times already since the holding is so bad. This is not too encouraging for us. We are really done with crowded anchorages after the Darwin to Kupang rally and the poor attitudes of the other boaters that have 'issues' being anchored so close together. The proper anchoring etiquette in a crowded anchorage is to shorten up your anchor scope so your swing circle is smaller. This keeps your boat from smacking into your neighbors when the winds/currents change. Some boaters feel that it is completely appropriate to throw out 300+ feet of chain in a crowded anchorage that is only 20 feet deep. Then they leave to going into town while their boat is causing all kinds of drama swinging around and smacking into everybody else's boats.

Even worse is when they yell at YOU for anchoring too close to them because they have 300 feet of chain out in only 20 feet of water.... morons.

We were going to pull in tonight since the harbor is well marked and it is a major shipping port. But hearing how many boats are already in the tiny anchorage, we have decided to slow down and maybe drift around for awhile tonight so that we arrive at the anchorage after sunrise tomorrow morning. We shut the engine off last night for a short while. It was calmer floating out here in the Big Pond then most anchorages we have been in.

We have still been connecting with Sailmail and getting out our position reports. We access email using our laptop that is connected to our SSB radio via a Pactor Modem. Sailmail is a 'not for profit' company that has radio towers around the world that we can connect to for sending and receiving emails. Its just a chore of finding the perfect times during the day to make a connection. We had expected to lose our Sailmail connection by now as we are so far from the Sailmail transmitting stations. Our connection to Borneo is still working even though our propagation chart that shows the best times and frequencies to make a connection show Borneo with a 25% chance of connecting being that the station is 3491 miles away. There are several other stations, one in the Red Sea, and the other in Africa, that are closer. But they still will not connect. Even when we do get a connection it can take up to 10 minutes just to send one email, depending on the signal strength. What does all this mean?? Nothing. Just my ramblings on Sailmail and how you get this text you are reading.

More after clearing into Oman,
Tom and Amy

2008-Mar-14 Noon Position

Arabian Sea
15'38.2N/56'36.1E

• 117 nm last 24 hrs
• 167 nm to Salalah, Oman
• 1259 nm from Uligamu, Maldives
• Winds N 0 knots
• Seas F.A.C 0 feet

Dead Calm...0 knots of wind and flat glassy seas. Not what we were hoping for. Today the seas are the calmest we have ever seen. Not even a ripple on the surface. It is so calm we can look straight down into the ocean and see all kinds of sea life as we putt along. Millions of jelly fish of all different sizes. The only thing we caught on our fishing line was 2 jellies.

At night the phosphorescence in the water is super bright. The porpoises like to swim along Sandpiper at night, and with the phosphorescence being so bright, it makes them one large glowing ball. When I was on watch the other night each porpoise had a 20 foot glowing circle of water around them. It is was quite weird as I could see them zooming around a 1/2 mile away in their circles of light.

We were supposed to have NE winds this whole route. Instead, we have done a lot more motoring than anticipated. One great design on Sandpiper is her large fuel and water tanks. This is the only 35 foot boat that I have seen that has 180 gallon fuel tanks. While other boats cruising out here have fuel jugs tied all over their decks, we have plenty of stowage below for our liquid load. We topped off in Sri Lanka and we are now at half full on both tanks. We will probably have to motor the rest of the way to Oman.

It seems that we never see anybody during the day. I am not sure where everyone goes in day light, or where they hide their nets. But at night we always seem to be surrounded by them. At midnight last night we saw several lights off on the horizon and heard a ship on VHF CH16 talking to a fishing boat trying to get around his nets. I called the ship because we could not hear the fisherman's side of the conversation. He gave me his position as I did not want to tangle up with a net. It turns out that there are drift net fisherman out here and the ship I was talking to was trying to get around a net that 6 miles long!

This is the first time we have run into drift net fisherman. I am pretty sure it had been banned years ago as it is such a destructive fishing method. But who is going to enforce this ban out in these waters? Drift nets sit on the surface and go below the surface for about 20 feet. They are very long, some 20 miles long, and catch everything in sight... birds, turtles, sharks, and fish. Everything is killed. What the fishing boat is not targeting is thrown back into the water dead.

I thought we were passed these fisherman and cleared one boat less then a mile away. Amy took the watch, and just as I got below she yells out "There's a net out here!". We ran parallel along a net, and then it went off in the other direction with no boats in sight. I am not sure how we missed this one, or where the ends were. But I did hear the last time the ship talking to the fishing boat that the fishing boat told him to use a spotlight to follow his net as the ship was getting quite frustrated trying to get around the net an hour later. He told the fisherman next time to put out a smaller net. We are hoping to be clear of these guys tonight as we are now within 200 miles of Oman and now in Oman's fisheries waters.

Each night it seems to be getting a bit chillier. After months on the equator we are now wearing cloths we have not worn in some time. Amy and I were both in sweat shirts hooded up while I was sipping a hot chocolate trying to figure how cold it was. I was thinking it was freezing outside. I went below and looked at the thermometer. It read 75 degrees. We must be spoiled. Not sure how we are going to make it through a winter anywhere away from the equator.

S/V Shiraz pulled into Oman today and we are hoping to be in by Sunday morning.

More in 24,
Tom and Amy

2008-Mar-13 Noon Position

Arabian Sea
14'43.4N/58'23.1E

• 111 nm last 24 hrs
• 284 nm to Salalah, Oman
• 1142 nm from Uligamu, Maldives
• Winds N 3-5 knots
• Seas N 1 foot

No Wind. Not even a light breath of wind is how today has gone.

We did well overnight. But then at sunrise all the wind just vanished. So we have been motoring since 8am. Our new friend Bill, from Colorado, wanted to know why we are so quick to motor on this trip? Our answer: Our rule on 'Piper' is if we are making under 2.5 knots, then we motor. We just aren't making any progress at less than that, and it gives us a chance to charge batteries and make some water.

We are on a bit of a schedule this trip as well. The middle of March is coming up and that is usually when the swells change direction. Also, we want to start making our trek up the Red Sea in April since that is the best time because of less northerly winds. We are also hoping to make it to Turkey early May, find a marina, and plan a quick trip to Italy to see Tom's Mom and Aunts'.

The fringe is getting empty. No luck fishing. Hope we make it soon.

One Love
Amy and Tom

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

2008-Mar-11 Noon Position

Indian Ocean
12'50.6N/61'59.5E

• 99 nm last 24 hrs
• 523 nm to Salalah, Oman
• 731 nm from Uligamu, Maldives
• Winds N 5-10 knots
• Seas N 1-2 feet

Guess What? Light winds. That's what.

The ride is nice as Sandpiper is barely rolling about. But its making this trip longer than we had planned. We are hoping to get to Oman by Sunday if all goes well. The only drama in the last 24 hours was disc 4 of Prison Break will not work, and we do not know what Michel Scofield is up to.

No traffic, and no contact with S/V Shiraz because of poor propagation. It is getting a bit chilly at night the farther north we get after sweating it out near the equator. Thanks for the great blanket Shannon!!

We are expecting to loose Sailmail soon since we are very far from the transmitting stations. So if there are no Team Sandpiper updates for a few days, then we will update after our arrival in Oman after the weekend.

Still trying to catch a fish, but no luck today.

More in 24 (hopefully),
Tom and Amy

2008-Mar-10 Noon Position

Indian Ocean

106 nm last 24 hrs
622 nm to Salalah, Oman
632 nm from Uligamu, Maldives
Winds N 5-10 knots
Seas N 1-2 feet

Half Way!! We are over the hump and are half way from the Maldives to Oman. The wind has been really light the last 24 hours. Yesterday at 3pm it died out altogether. We tried everything to sail, but no luck. We were drifting around in circles at 1 knot. So we lit off 38 hp of Volvo motoring through the night and started sailing again at 6am when the winds came back up from the north.

The nights are very calm out here. The stars reflecting right off the water making it hard to see where the horizon is. Sometimes the stars reflecting off the ocean look like boats coming over the horizon. The only traffic in the last 24 hours was a large fishing vessel that crossed our bow 2 miles off at 1am.

We are trying to catch a tuna. But since we are sailing sooooo slow the only fish that might bite our lure would have to be pretty lazy. Yesterday we were going so slow I was afraid the lure was going to get caught in the prop.

S/V Shiraz is doing much better than us. They are 120 nm ahead of us as of 1800h last night.

Pray to the wind gods for us so we do not have to buy massive amounts of diesel in Oman.

More in 24,
Tom and Amy

2008-Mar-09 Noon Position

Indian Ocean
11'14.0N/65'03.8E

• 99 nm last 24 hrs
• 720 nm to Salalah, Oman
• 526 nm from Uligamu, Maldives
• Winds N 5-10 knots
• Seas N 1-2 feet

Extremely uneventful here on the Sandpiper. So much so that I've had us each write down a few moral boosting ideas on pieces of paper. Each day we pick one. Today' idea is 'Laundry'. Needless to say, no more excitement was added to the day.

The last 24 hours we did 99 miles, all under sail, the first since starting this leg. After talking about how far ahead the other two boats are of us (Shiraz 60 nm, Friendship 120 nm), we decided to bust out the spinnaker. All the line maneuvering and then nothing... no joy. The wind just vanished. We are currently motoring.

So what's going on back home?

One love
Amy and Tom

2008-Mar-08 Noon Postion

Indian Ocean
10'26.6N/66'32.7E

• 111 nm last 24 hrs
• 827 nm to Salalah, Oman
• 427 nm from Uligamu, Maldives
• Winds N 10-15 knots
• Seas N 2-3 feet

Getting better every day! We have had good winds for the last 24 hours, except at 2am we had to motor for 2 hours when the winds died out for a while.

Still many ships around. Right at sunset last night we had a ship coming over the horizon heading right for us. We called him on the radio and he was quick to come back to us saying he had us on radar and would alter course to avoid us. We gave him a big thanks since we were not able to alter course without starting the engine. We found out he was an ore carrier coming from Egypt on his way to India to off load his cargo. He asked us if sailing was our hobby, and we answered that we had been out for 2.5 years.

Right after that another boat came over the horizon heading right for us. This guy was smaller and only had one mast head light. He kept getting closer to Sandpiper's stern. By this time is was dark out. When he got less then a mile away we spotlighted him, then shined the light on Sandpiper's sails. We started the engine and turned 40 degrees to port to get out of his way. We called him on the radio. He came back asking us why we had signaled him with our spotlight and I replied that he was less then a mile from our stern and closing quickly. He said, with a French accent, not to worry as he had been plotting us and was about to overtake us. Then he signed out, not wanting to talk to us anymore.

We are not so sure he was really plotting our position as we had to keep motoring to get out of his way. He ended up passed only a half mile off Sandpiper's starboard side. We are not sure what kind of boat it was. But I am assuming it must have been some sort of French power yacht due to its high speed and small size. And who says the French are not rude?

More in 24,
Tom and Amy

2008-Mar-07 Noon Position

Indian Ocean
9'35.2N/68'12.5E

• 101 nm last 24 hrs
• 938 nm to Salalah, Oman
• 316 nm from Uligamu, Maldives
• Winds N 15 knots
• Seas N 2-3 feet

Sandpiper is presently blazing away at 6 knots. Since sunrise the winds have been a steady 15 knots from the north, making for a nice beam reach with the wind right off the starboard side and the main sail, stay sail, and jib out. The winds died down again last night after sunset. But the lull only lasted for a few hours, and then we have been sailing ever since.

There are lots of ships around and we have been quite pleased with the performance of Sandpiper's C.A.R.D. (Collision Avoidance Radar Detector). It has a small antenna mounted on the stern that listens for radar transmissions from ships. It has a small display screen that is mounted at the navigation station. When a ship comes over the horizon, the C.A.R.D. detects their radar signal and sounds an audible alarm while showing the bearing of the signal.

S/V Shiraz has just installed an A.I.S. that is really cool. It shows all ships that are surrounding them. It displays them on their electronic charts showing the ship's name, course, speed, and closest point of approach. We are a bit jealous.

In Thailand we had our Volvo's engine sea/fresh water pump rebuilt because it was leaking sea water quite badly. After that repair it started leaking again after 5 hours of running time. We took back to the Volvo guy who replaced the seals again. He thought that there might have been a small scratch on the pump shaft that he smoothed out with an emery cloth. This pump has been a problem ever since then.

While anchored in the Maldives I took it out and replaced all the seals. I even mounted the pump upside down thinking that the shaft was wearing on one side. This has not lasted as well . Since leaving the Maldives, when running the engine we have to add fresh water every hour to prevent the engine from over heating.

I now think that the problem is with the pump's bronze housing. I think that is worn, making the shaft vibrate, which causes the seals to leak. That's my latest theory anyway.

Last night I crawled around in the engine room for 2 hours and swapped all the cooling hoses around so now the water that is leaking out is salt water. After running for an hour, it seems to be holding fresh water. This project should have only taken 15 minutes instead of 2 hours. But I got some of the hoses mixed up, then could not get suction on the freshwater side. The joys of boating.

While I was doing this repair, the wind had died completely, leaving us drifting around in circles. As soon as I got the engine running and had the Piper back on course, we had a fishing boat coming straight at us. We had to make a 50 degree turn to port to avoid running into him. Not sure where he was going, or even if he saw us. He never changed course. Of course he did not have proper navigation lights, so I had to track him on radar to see where he was going. It always surprises me that its possible to collide with someone else this far out in the middle of the ocean.

We could not get S/V Shiraz's position last night. Sometimes we can hear them keying their radio mic, but then receive no voice transmission. They have had radio mic problems in the past. We did get an email from them where they told us they were behind us. But they should now be passing us with all this wind.

More in 24,
Tom and Amy

2008-Mar-06 Noon Position

Indian Ocean
8'48.6N/69'43.5E

• 102 nm last 24 hrs
• 1040 nm to Salalah, Oman
• 215 nm from Uligamu, Maldives
• Winds N 10 knots
• Seas N 1-2 feet

We got wind! Sandpiper has been sailing since sunrise making an average of 5 knots since the winds piped up from the north. Last night was just like the previous 24 hours. Right at sunset all wind died away and we had to motor through the night on a glassy sea so smooth we could see the stars reflecting on the ocean.

We have had a few visits from porpoises since leaving the Maldives. They seem quite happy to see the Piper as they jump clear out of the water to check us out. At night you can see them swimming alongside. They look like torpedoes flying through the water, glowing with all the phosphorescence. If we are not paying attention, suddenly we will hear a loud breath right over our shoulder as they surface only a feet away.

We are getting back into the shipping lanes, passing ships bound for and coming from the Red Sea. We passed one small fishing boat. From where? I have no idea. Their boat was less then 30 feet long and far, far from home.

So far Sailmail has been working if we transmit right at sunset. The station we are transmitting to is in Borneo, 2693 miles away from us. The next station in the Red Sea, 2306 miles away. If you do not hear from us for a few days, this is why.

More in 24hrs,
Tom and Amy

2008-Mar-05 Noon Position

Indian Ocean
7'58.6N/71'14.4E

• 93 nm last 24 hrs
• 1142 nm to Salalah, Oman
• 113 nm from Uligamu, Maldives
• Winds N 10kt (sometimes)
• Seas 0-1 feet N

You're in a small boat in the Indian Ocean... and suddenly pirates!

We have been listening to the BBC daily on our SSB radio while bobbing around out here. Today they had a 3 part special on pirates and that phrase is how they started the show. Today's (part 1) part was about the history of piracy. Next week will be about modern day pirates and will talk about piracy in the Somalia area. What timing.

Not many miles made last 24 hours as the wind has really been messing with the Piper. Around sunset last night the wind died, forcing us to motor through the night until sunrise when a light breeze piped up from the north. It gave us an average of 3 knots all afternoon.

The ocean last night was flat and glassy. One of those rare nights where all the stars were out an you could see right down into the ocean. When it is that calm out, we have movie night in the cockpit. We put our portable DVD player in the cockpit and plug it into Sandpiper's stereo speakers for booming audio.

We looked off Sandpipers starboard side during movie time and noticed large green glowing objects under the Piper as she motored along. We shut off the running lights so we could get a better look, but could not see anything. We turned the running lights back on and there they were again... large glowing blobs all over the place. I figured they were sea monsters. But Amy decided that they must be squid that were reflecting in Sandpipers starboard running light. Very weird.

Yesterday at 1800h S/V Shiraz was over the horizon off our starboard side. Off our bow was another boat named 'Friendship' (from New Zealand). We had left the Maldives with them, and they are also going to Oman.

More in 24 hours,
Tom and Amy

---

Note From Ron: You can listen to part 1 of the BBC pirate documentary over the web with streaming audio and Windows Media Player. (No download option) Click here. I'll put up links to parts 2 and 3 when the BBC puts them up.

2008-Mar-04 Noon Position

Indian Ocean
7'14.9N/72'37.6E

• 20 nm since 8am
• 1235 nm to Oman
• 20 nm from Maldives
• Winds SE 10 knots
• Seas 1 foot S

Oman Or Bust! We left Uligamu Island this morning at 8am in a downpour. Steve and I checked out with customs and immigration yesterday afternoon after going ashore and walking around until we found their offices. The ladies stayed aboard getting meals ready for this next leg to Oman. Checking out was a breeze, only 4 dollars. Its a bit strange, but the Maldive's use the U.S. dollar along with their own currency.

Along with the many papers that are involved with clearing out of a country, countries out here all want the signature of the captain and a stamp from an "official" boat stamp. We had heard about this in Malaysia and had one made for 3 bucks. It just has Sandpiper's name along with our USCG document number on it. I think that the officials out here must think that our home countries issue these stamps. To them, it is very important to have one since there are many papers to stamp. I asked what would happen if we did not have a stamp and was told that we would have to leave thumb prints next to our signature.

After getting all our paperwork squared away we found a very small store that we were able to get eggs and oranges. That's all they really had. Uligamu Island is quite small, barely above sea level, and surrounded by a white sand beach. There is no runway, so the only way to get there is by boat.

There are 562 people that live there and most have houses are built out of coral and cement. They get all their water by catching rain water off their roofs. The United Nations several years ago funded the installation of the first hybrid electrical power system in the Maldives on Uligamu. The U.N. contracted an American company that installed 20 large wind generators that provide power to the island when it is windy. When there is no wind, a large array of solar panels make power during daylight hours. When the wind generators and solar panels are not making enough juice, the island's diesel power generator kicks in.

We have a long ways to go and we are hoping for steady winds to get us to Oman. But today the winds are light. SV Shiraz is off our stern at 2 miles.

More in 24 hours,
Tom and Amy

---

Note From Ron: Uligamu Island is also known as Uligan. Here are some photos.

2008-Feb-29 Noon Position

Indian Ocean
6'51'5N/74'23.8E

• 102 nm last 24hrs
• 88 nm to Maldive Islands
• 351 nm from Sri Lanka
• Winds E 10 knots
• Seas 1 foot E

The weather has moderated nicely the last 24 hours and we are now plugging along at 4 knots with just the main up and the wind right behind us. We sailed all night with the main double reefed and the stay sail out in light winds to slow down our approach to Uligamu Island. We are anticipating arrival at first light and will keep adjusting speed to make this happen. As of now we need an average of 4 knots or less. Anything faster and we will arrive while its still dark. It is always a little tricky to estimate landfall for a following morning when we are more than a hundred miles offshore. We do not know what the winds are going to do overnight. If they increase, then we have to start dropping all the sails.

One causality of all the rolling around the other night was that we heeled over so far to port when a wave hit us it pushed seawater right up the exhaust and into the gensets engine. When I checked the genset yesterday to run it I noticed sea water dripping out the dip stick tube. Uh Oh! I spent this morning draining out all the water/oil mixture and then flushing in new oil. I did this 3 times and ran it on the 3rd oil fill for an hour. I think one more oil change when we are at anchor tomorrow and she will be back to normal. Good thing we bought 2 jugs of oil before we left Thailand! I have worried about this happening before and think I will install a valve on the exhaust hose so I can close it when the weather gets rough. Same for the main engine.

We had this happen once before on the main engine on our 10 day sail from Bora Bora to Nuie when seawater filled up the exhaust. Thankfully it never entered the engine. It just made it a bit hard to start with an exhaust full of seawater. Now we run the genset and engine every 24 hours so this will not happen, and this hopefully will keep any seawater from accumulating in the exhaust. Even running these every day the genset took on a lot of water. I have to believe that is was because of the large waves smacking Sandpiper's starboard side (where the exhaust is located) at the same time we took a hard roll to port, causing sea water to flow in. Just my 20 cents worth from the middle of the Indian Ocean.

We should be at the pass into Ihavandiffulu Atoll, Maldive Islands Northern Group at sunrise, then anchor off Uligamu Island along with SV Shiraz where we will check in with customs and immigration. As of 1800h last night SV Shiraz had flown ahead of us with all the wind we have been having and are now 40 miles north of us.

More after we get anchored,
Tom and Amy

---

Note From Ron: Genset = their stand alone electrical generator. It allows them to charge the batteries without having to run the main motor.

2008-Feb-28 Noon Position

Indian Ocean
6'37.0N/76'05.2E

• 135 nm last 24hrs
• 190 nm to Maldive Islands
• 249 from Sri Lanka
• Winds N 25-30
• Seas 6-8ft N

Rock and Roll! That's what were doing.

After noon yesterday storm clouds moved in and wind increased to 25+ knots off the starboard beam. At first we thought that the wind increase was due to squalls in the area. But the wind continued to increase late in the evening and the seas built up to 8 feet, sometimes breaking right against the hull insuring a wet night with lots of rain.

We have spent the last 24 hours with a double reefed main and a stay sail forward. Still making 6.5 knots at times. As Amy says "Not Fun". This is the strongest winds we have had since being off the east coast of Australia, and they make for a very uncomfortable ride. In the middle of the night when Amy had the watch and I was trying to get some sleep, Sandpiper jumped off a wave so hard I woke up in mid air as I flew across the cabin and landed straddling the cabin table. Now I have a few nice bruises.

One positive note, the amount of shipping that we have been sailing thru has dropped considerably. Just a few ships passing by the last 24 hours.

At 1800h last night S/V Shiraz was 15 nm ahead of us making good progress. At noon today the winds have started decreasing, and the size of the waves dropping as well. We are hoping that this trend continues as this weather did not show up on our weather GRIB files and really is not a lot of fun.

More in 24,
Tom and Amy

2008-Feb-27 Noon Position

Indian Ocean
6'17.1N/78'19.9E

• 110 nm last 24hrs
• 325 nm to Maldive Islands
• 114 nm from Sri Lanka
• Winds calm
• Seas W 2ft

As we took our noon position the winds have picked up to N 20+ knots with 4-5 foot seas. So the piper is rocking all over the place and taking spray over the starboard side. So this entry will be short.

We are getting closer to the Sailmail black hole out here in the Indian Ocean. It will not improve until we get closer to the Red Sea. So if we do not respond you your emails please understand.

Many ships the last 24 hours, some as close as 1/2 mile away during the night. Also dodged a few fishing boats that were drifting pass 1/4 mile away in the middle of the night. We saw S/V Shiraz this morning off on the horizon. They should be blazing ahead of us with all this wind. We are in radio contact with them every evening on the SSB radio.

More in 24,
Tom and Amy

2008-Feb-26 Noon Position

Indian Ocean
6'01'1N/80'09.2E

• 4 nm since 1030 am
• 435 nm to Maldive Islands
• Winds W 5 knots
• Seas W 0-1 feet

Sandpiper is back at sea again after clearing out of Sri Lanka this morning. I walked up to the immigration office on the navy base at 8:30am with Steve from S/V Shiraz. We got our port clearances, and had them ask us "Gift for me?" Then all we had to do was wait until 10am for the navy came on board to search the 'Piper to make sure that we were not carrying any large bombs through the harbor. We were cleared to go. Three navy personnel came aboard for the inspection. One was a chief. I told him I was a retired chief, and I think he got a kick out of seeing my old chief's ball cap with my anchor on the front.

Our agent did stop by to say goodbye and to ask us "Gift for me?".

We got sandpiper cleared of the concrete dock with no drama. Then we cleared the security booms, one last wave to the guys stationed at the machine gun at the end of the jetty, and we are now steaming westward.

I am proud to say that the new external regulator that we installed on Sandpiper's alternator is working like a champ. What a difference after 1-1/2 years of giving me issues! More on that in 24.

As for now we have west winds at 5 knots. Since we are going west, this means we are motoring until we can get in the NE Monsoon winds. They should kick in as soon as we clear these westerly's that I believe are land influenced.

The piper is also dodging plenty of large ships as they round Sri Lanka. Ships are scattered all around us, heading in all different directions.

More in 24,
Tom and Amy