Be The Jam

Position: Indian Ocean

S 11°08.00'

E 077°38.79'

So the decision has been made. We are going for long haul, serious, no stopping, and manic, exhausting crossing. We are now heading for the Seychelles . We have still not got an engine and we had a very heavy night of storms and squalls. So the general feeling is not to go to Chegos Archipelago, for one the Navy Base (British) won't really help us and two the prospect of approaching a set of islands surrounded by coral heads and reefs that aren't properly charted without an engine; well let’s just leave it at that. So as I was explaining earlier we were all set for a couple of days rest on Solomon Island (Nice lagoon with white beach, and coconut trees, lots of fish, excellent snorkelling, and no people, completely uninhabited, really pissed off), but no we have opted for an extra 10 days to two weeks at sea to reach the safety of a good port in the Seychelles. We are all gutted to say the least. This is a one chance in a life time opportunity passing up here. Chegos or Diego Garcia is smack bang in the middle of the Indian Ocean , miles from man and our polluting ways (OK there is a fuck off base there, but..), as far a pollution is concerned and fishing there is very little that has affected this area at all since the beginning of time. It would have been an awe inspiring feeling diving in these waters, waters that have no fear of MAN; natural. I don’t want to think about it anymore, I’m not sure my brain will cope with the fact that we will be stuck on this boat for another 2 weeks!!

I have to think positive; carrying on will mean we will catch up on a couple of days on our schedule, meaning plenty of time for repairs in the Seychelles .

I'm still knackered from last night, the storms had the boat at one point completely on its side, we had to get the Genoa down ASAP, it was raining, it was dark, and there were monster waves crashing down on us. We then spent the rest of the night with just the main sail up, which equals a very uncomfortable ride indeed, since we have no other Genoa's that are serviceable at the moment. Just feels shit. I feel shit, and we are in for another night of shit!! In fact at this rate we are in for 2 weeks of shit!