 Karte gross |
The Red Sea – Cruising at its' best.
from Ross Biddle ,18. June 2003
|
|
Introduction Each year it seems customary to prepare a set of cruising notes for those who follow in subsequent years. These notes are invaluable sources of information and supplement the excellent Red Sea Pilot to make the trip safer and more pleasurable. Rather than attempting to refine and update these notes I have attempted to prepare a primer for developing a mindset for planning the trip. Let me say first that we really enjoyed the trip and with patience and preparation we experienced few hardships or risky situations on the trip. The Red Sea is a superb cruising ground in its' own right and not just a transit to the Med. The experience (s) of true wilderness, fantastic diving, excellent fishing, diverse and interesting cultures will leave you with memories to last a life time. For me the journey was reminiscent of what the Hiscocks and other earlier travelers must have experienced before the onset of globalization and the culturalhomogenization of the last half of this century. Most of the population along the western side of the Red Sea don't have television, print media ( or universal literacy), mobile phones or the internet. Nor do they have reliable water, sewerage or power supplies. They are often raw, undeveloped societies with strong Islamic and tribal influences. Weather will tend to dominate your life for the duration of the trip it is probably enough to say it is unpleasant to get it wrong; but not life threatening and with patience or enough humility to turn around and go back it is possible to do the trip comfortably. We generally sailed the trip in company (Affinity, Rozinante, Tin Fish, The Way) who provided great companionship for which we are very grateful. Along the Way We really enjoyed the trip from Thailand across the Indian Ocean to Oman .... this was some of the best and most gentle sailing we have ever done.... very special. Sri Lanka has some great history and stunning scenery. Much of the colonial legacy such as hill stations and tea plantations are still in place although somewhat rundown. The Buddhist archeological sites were phenomenal. The Maldives with an average height of about 1 metre above sea level is about water, reefs and island life. Oman was great and a very gentle introduction to the Arab culture. It is also your last opportunity to access modern facilities, spares and provisioning. Yemen featured the colonial elegance of Aden which had been ravaged by civil war, poverty and neglect. Interesting and my first 'real' exposure to the Arab world. Eritrea was a must not miss. I will never forget the wide southern Italian styled streets and architecture combined with stylishly dressed but clearly poor Africans enjoying their cappuccinos in side walk cafes. All this with a bitter war going on only a few 100 miles away. Most of us left with a strong sense of admiration for the people and their struggle. Sudan was about the stunning old slave town of Suakin and the spectacular marsa's. A marsa is a small channel lined with magnificent virgin coral reef which lead to large well protected bays and are surrounded by desert and with views to spectacular mountains. Don't expect to see many signs of human habitation along the coast or in the marsas. Egypt was great for the history but the corruption and simple dishonesty of the people was tiring and disappointing. Luxor, the Nile, pyramids and the diving were highlights. Get the Lonely Planet guides and you will have the best information on what to see and how to see it all. Get the guides before you go as they are difficult to obtain or very expensive along the way. Considerations From previous years comments and all the bravado you could think it was tough sailing.... this is very misleading..... The weather…. if you wait long enough you will get good weather... Patience, patience and more patience .... we sailed the whole of the Red Sea with out getting much more than 15 - 20 knots on the nose. ... in the Red Sea the short chop is hard on the boat but except for about 12 hours in total we managed to miss most of it..... breaks do come but we on two occasions waited 10+ days to get them. Impatience means a battering. You must also study the weather and learn to identify the windows. Don't expect to sail all the way in the Red Sea ... if you do ,you will be out there for much too long , tacking back and forward for little progress and will waste valuable weather windows.... when it is calm you must motorsail like hell!!! We took 8 weeks to transit the Red Sea , but of that about 6 days were 24 hour runs and 12 days were morning hops before the wind came up ..... so we sailed / motorsailed about 18 days out of 60..... clearly a lot of waiting but a lot to see!! Even boats as small as 26 feet made the trip this year with out too many problems albeit a little slower. If you want to be purists and only sail either plan a much longer trip or expect some rough conditions. In hindsight we went too fast and should have used more of the weather windows for staying still and going diving on the outer reef. If your boat has a poor engine / gear box / propeller system or does not motor to windward very well either fix it before you leave Thailand or plan a longer trip. Buy a real copy of the Red Sea Pilot (Davies & Morgan published by Imray) .... you will use it every day .... it is excellent but not perfect and the authors are going to update it next year and need to be supported! Owners of a real copy are also entitled to a free update which is released in December of each year and available from the publisher or your agent in Sri Lanka. Also the various updates and cruising notes from other yachts were great. Provisions .... you can buy great veggies and you will catch more fish than you would believe. Bring lots of lures... cheap squid work fine. But when you are sitting it out in the isolated marsas on the Sudanese coast you can't get the veggies or troll a line. Sprouts and tins will dominate the menu's in the marsa's. Except if you have a spear gun or don't mind trolling from your dinghy. Booze and tinned food are in very short supply. Sri Lanka was expensive and goods were generally of suspect quality: Salalah in Oman had excellent well priced provisions.... but no booze. Diesel was cheap and easily obtained in Sri Lanka, Oman, Yemen, Eritrea and Egypt but some boats were unhappy with the quality in the Maldives and Sudan. We were pleased to have a good set of jerry cans .... you won't find many fuel docks and will do a lot of portering in taxis. Also don't forget a good filter, the drums were often rusty and often had a little too much water. Few spare parts were available after Salalah .... so bring your own because you won't get them or someone to fit them. Engines and particularly head gaskets, water pumps and fuel filters seemed to cause problems. Alternators, regulators and batteries were also problematic. Most boats used their engines a lot more than they expected. Work shop manuals for the engine saved more than one boats' bacon. The well known international courier companies generally performed very badly and were expensive and ineffective. If you do need to get spares in or items out many of us were delighted by the EMS service at the Post Offices. However your better off being self reliant and relying on the EMS service in an emergency as you may still spend some weeks waiting in less pleasant commercial ports. Communications.... assume no Internet for Eritrea and Sudan ..... telephones are nonexistent or dodgy ... and in the isolated marsa's there is just no way except via the radio.... get your ham email fired up ... those with it raved about it. Guns and people in authority .... with the exception of Egypt (who were corrupt and a pain in the arse but manageable) you will see lots of guns .... often no uniform but we found the officials polite and generally not out to cause a hassle. We paid no bribes, gave no cigarettes and only gave a `present` to our Suez pilots who were real arseholes but benign. Listen to the BBC and stay away from hot spots such as southern Eritrea or the Sudan/ Egypt border, actually any border, and you should avoid the heavier problems. However this is not foolproof as the port of Mittsawa where we spent 2 great weeks was subject to a heavy air raid a month after we left. Health .... many people seemed to get tummy problems so bring lots of flagyl. I have not heard of anyone getting malaria ( the other big bogey) but Iwould strongly recommend bringing treatment. Minor dehydration was a frequent problem and often undiagnosed and untreated. Medical services appear to be scarce and often unsophisticated. Bring a big medical chest with everything and some good books. Antibiotics and medical supplies were inexpensive and available without prescription in Sri Lanka. Water .... this was a problem for many boats without a watermaker . You need big tanks or a watermaker. We still have not seen rain since Sri Lanka... 4 months ago. Water was only available in major ports with the exception of Sudan where it was only intermittently available at Suakin. Quality of water was generally suspect although treatment with a suitable biocide seemed to prevent problems. We have a PUR watermaker which worked fine although output declined sharply in the cooler and more saline waters in the north. Clothes ..... dress for the Arab culture (both men and women) and you will not be hassled and will generally have an easier time. Sun is also an issue with the clear sky. Mob Psychology ..... a certain hysteria seemed to grab most of us from time to time about having to get through Babel Mandeb before a certain date or to make progress ... it is hard to ignore it . Some people will go out in marginal conditions, get beaten up and make some progress .... but at what cost ? The morning radio scheds. were great but they also fueled the panic about being left behind. If you thought of the Red Sea as an obstacle course rather than an enjoyable cruising ground it seemed to adversely affect decision making. A lot of people seemed to focus on how tough it was rather than the great cruising ground it is ..... sensational scenery, fascinating cultures, wilderness...... Once you get into the Red Sea there are few reasons to get to the med. before June as it is still a little cool.... the water in Egypt was bloody cold in late May and a good wet suit was handy. Besides you are in a great cruising ground and why rush to get out. The flip side of the mob psychology was the wonderful sense of camaraderie and mutual support offered by other yachties. Everyone always seemed so willing to help each other materially or emotionally. Weather reporting ... a professional forecaster (Ken Yacht Atol) based in Cyprus gave the fleet a great forecast about 3 times a week via the SSB which was simply the only reliable external information. Forget about Navtex, weather fax ,Sat C or shipping forecasts they either don't exist or were the same every day. The next best source of weather information was what the boats 50 or 100 miles North were getting.... however this is subject to the following proviso. Truth in weather reporting- ..... some boats did stick their heads out and got a pasting once or twice but rarely thrice ( there were exceptions) .... some always seemed to report 15 - 20 knots more than we recorded even though they were in close proximity .... some reported apparent rather than true .... many reported the peak gust they happened to see over the previous half hour ..... many without wind instruments were misled by the sea state which is generally worse than the windspeed would indicate ..... some seemed to relish the bravado of being out there and telling everybody that they are getting pasted …..the moral of the story is to pick a few boats who seem reliable and follow their reports closely ..... if they are spaced out north of you this will be great information. Our weather planning methodology was to take the Atol forecast as a pattern on which we overlaid local conditions and modified the timing with information from our barometer and data from other boats. Headlands , proximity to the coast, diurnal land effects, water depth all had a big impact on what you actually got ! Also the timing of the weather windows provided in Ken's forecast was only indicative and by watching your own barometer and the reports from boats to the north it was possible to fine tune the reports. Don't forget to watch the clouds, look for dew on the deck and look for local patterns. Most of your weather will come from the North. Navigation ..... no great hassles if you augment the GPS and charts with the mark 1 eyeball and some commonsense. Charts of the Sudanese and Eritrean coast were certainly GPS unfriendly but this was easily remedied by giving hazards a wide berth and using the mark 1. Get copies of all the charts you can including both the BA and DMA and focus on the detailed charts e.g. Shubruk channel. Radar and a hand bearing compass were also of great benefit in being able to take bearings and confirm where you really are. But don't skimp on charts .... you will need the detail. Don't expect to 'drive' the boat with GPS waypoints. The GPS is great for navigation in open waters but pilotage in coastal waters in my opinion is about being in the cockpit and enjoying finding the channel or spotting the reef. Shipping ...... didn't see very much big stuff and probably about 5 local fishing boats the whole way. The Suez Canal only has about 20 transits a day and there is little intra Red Sea traffic. The oil rigs in the north are well marked and generally stationary. Camels and donkeys .... you will see a lot and they are still the main method of local transport in much of the western side of the Red Sea. Single handed sailors who see few women other than the well camouflaged ones in the head to toe shapeless blimp clothes often report that they ( the camels ) have nice lips and pretty faces !! The experience ..... this felt like true exploration and often wilderness. The countries were often very primitive and only just starting to get sullied by the well worn paths of other travelers. I have the horrible feeling that while the wilderness experience is unlikely to change much over the next generation the nature of the people contacts will change very fast and for the worse. These experiences are the sort of stuff I will still be telling people about in decades to come long after the comforts of Asia's marina's are forgotten. It is easy to dwell on the bravado aspects. But taken patiently and with preparation the Red Sea represents some fantastic cruising and a rare opportunity to feel like a real explorer. Fantastic !!! I hope these comments help your planning and but a different perspective on the Red Sea. Ross Biddle SY Gemini * rbiddle@ibm.net * Telephone idd 61 418730354 GSM * Sat C mobile 873 450301210 |
