365 Days, 7,988 Miles, 2 Oceans, 1 Boat

What a year! We knew 2015 was going to be big, and eagerly anticipated the change after a year of maintenance in Southeast Asia. In hindsight, it was truly epic: I still can’t believe we’ve crossed the Indian Ocean! This past year brought richness in culture and landscapes and beauty that overwhelmed us in their scale and diversity. I struggled a little with how to share how this year felt to us; Jamie, who is a database guy from way back, pulled some statistics out of the data he tracks on our everyday life, and that got it flowing.

Summary log

Distance traveled: 7,988 nautical miles (9,192 miles; 14,794 km)
Days at anchor: 249; days docked: 59, moored: 20, nights on passage: 37
Countries: 10 – Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Chagos, Seychelles, Comoros, Madagascar, South Africa, and Lesotho
Places (harbors, anchorages, etc.): 70, and 52 different islands

tied to the police jetty for clearance: Trincomalee, Sri Lanka

Anchorages

Deepest: 130’ (39.6m) – Gaadhoo Island at Hadhdhunmathee Atoll in Maldives…in fading light and as squall hit, per Murphy’s law.
Shallowest: 12’ (3.7m) – Mutsamudu, on Anjouan Island in Comoros
Floated anchor chain (to protect coral): 3
Most beautiful: tough call, but Anse Lazio at the north end of Praslin Island in Seychelles is stunning
Most like walking naked down Main Street: outside of Cosmoledo Atoll, Seychelles – yeah, it was that exposed!

this actually wasn’t the shallowest, it’s just shockingly clear…approx 18′.

Cultural

Startling ethnic/religious hatred: Malaysia
Least ethnic/religious strife: the proudly diverse Seychelles
Countries most marred by trash pollution: five way tie between Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Comoros
Languages: 20+? Most fun: the clicks in Zulu, Xhosa, and other languages we hear in Africa
Best foreign language “thank you”: in Afrikaans, “buy a donkey.” Surely spelled differently, but easy to remember!
Scratches to Totem from canoes tied alongside: countless

Sailing

Best 24 hour run: 239 miles, between Durban and Simon’s Town (with much Agulhas Current assist!)
Best sailing: the west coast of Madagascar. Unparalleled.
Worst Sailing: everywhere between Malaysia and Maldives (equatorial calms, and the season of no wind)
Dumbest: when Jamie forgot to fold mast step into place before passage. While reefing, main got hooked on step and Jamie had to climb the mast to first spreader, at night, in 25 knots of wind and rolly seas, 300 miles from South Africa.
Great Capes rounded: 1 (Cape Aghulas). Wahooo, we rounded 1 of 3 great capes!
Best macramé: the genoa sheet and barbour hauler became incredibly fouled on the passage between Madagascar and South Africa. Murphy was once again on board: it was a dark night, with 30+ knots of wind and whitewater seas.

glassy seas between Sri Lanka and Maldives

Consumables

Gas: 104 gallons (395 l) – outboard and generator
Propane (LPG): 92 pounds (42 kg)
Diesel: 489 gallons (1,853 l) – mostly between Malaysia and Maldives with too little wind
Cheese: 84 pounds (38.1 kg)

Gear Fails

Most annoying: Caframo fans, for motors that consistently burn out in less than a year.
Most disappointing: Spectra watermaker, for the new membrane that failed just months after installation (and full service) by a certified dealer; no support from the manufacturer.
Most repeated: Totem’s vang: the tang on the boom failed, making it our 4^th vang failure (Jamie = racer = 16:1 vang = high load)
Cheapo manufacturing: Highfield 2.9m dinghy, for Hypalon failing less than 2 years after purchase

Praslin island’s beautiful Anse Lazio anchorage

Critters

Whales: humpback (Madagascar), sperm (North of Sumatra), pilot (South Africa)
Coolest animal sighting: 97-way tie, seriously, South Africa, Madagascar, and Sri Lanka have wicked cool beasties!
Greatest heart rate accelerator: getting mock charged by African elephant, who herded us half a km down the road in reverse at dusk.
Funniest animal moment: when a vervet monkey swung through the door into game park cottage, grabbed bananas from kitchen counter, and dashed away. Cheeky, cheeky monkey!

For Fun

Coolest boat visited: the 56m (174′) yacht Fidelis
Smallest boat visited: at Anjouan Island –the dugout outrigger canoe that brought Jamie on board in a slo-mo paddling chase after teens had boarded a nearby cruising boat
Most shoes collected on a remote beach in 45 minute: 250 – wait, that’s not fun at all!
Most talked about, unmentionable saga: Pipistrelle on the Reef in Chagos – the story of drama, rescue, repair, camaraderie, lousy seamanship, another rescue, delusion, lies, and unfathomably bad behavior. What a story! Wait for the book…
Quote of the year: “We’re fluffed.” Okay, we’re not doing the quote justice in order to keep it family friendly. The comment was made by a Belgian climate scientist we met in Lesotho, when talking about likely environmental and human catastrophes due to climate change.
Smallest fish caught: in Chagos, a fish that began as the biggest grouper Jamie has caught and ended as just a grouper head (with stunned expression) after black tip reef sharks ate the rest before landing in our dinghy.
Number of pub crawls attended (sans kids of course): 1 in Lesotho
Safest means of pub crawl transportation: by donkey!