Thailand to Sri Lanka, a slow voyage

After leaving Satun boatyard, we noticed a pull to starboard when motoring or sailing. I suspect something got bent on trim tab. We anchored for the night at North end of  Kao Tautoro island for a last night near land and I jumped in water and removed trim tab to check it out but could see nothing wrong. It is not real serious so will leave it for now.


Early next morning, Feb 13, we started our 1100 mile passage to Sri Lanka. Talking to the old timers in the boatyard, they said we should be gone by end of January to get the best winds. So hope we are not going to have a windless passage.
We started off great sailing along at 5 knots but by noon the wind died and we were motoring. We wanted to keep going fast to get as far from land as possible before it got dark to get past all the fish boats and the fish traps that can foul propeller. By dark most off the fish traps had been left behind but there were still a few fish boats around during night.
Day four finds us drifting along very slowly and having done only 240 miles. I am sitting in cockpit thinking of the poem "The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner" by Coleridge. "Water water everywhere and not a drop to drink." Are we going to run out of supplies and fuel and water before we get there.
The last four days we have averaged 70 to 80 miles a day. Sometimes drifting and other times sailing along at 2 to 3  knots in about 8 knots of wind for hours and then occasionally we pick up to 4.5 knots, then motor a few hours. We cant motor all the way as do not have enough fuel, so are trying to conserve fuel in case it gets worse later. Often the wind is from the WNW and we can not quite make our coarse as is close to a head wind.

Day 7 and finally, the wind kicks in, blowing from the North. We are about 100 miles past Sombrerro Channel in the Nicobar islands. We saw no fish boats in this channel and only one ship. We are now sailing along at 5 and 6 knots and soon have 2 reefs in the main. The winds stay with us for the rest of the way to Sri Lanka, sometimes dropping a bit where we slow to 4 knots other times wind picks up to 25 knots from NE. We are now doing our 125 mile days which is normal for us.  Fantastic sailing, enjoyed the last 6 days of sailing, and night watches were pleasant with the lack of squalls and ships.

We see no boats for the whole crossing after leaving Nicobars. The second last night before we arrive we see a few fish boat, lite by a single white light, but they are not enough to be a problem. But it makes us think of the aggressive encounters some people have had in this area with fish boats during day.

Sure enough just after sunrise a 50ft fish boat spots us and comes charging over. The men on board are shouting and waving, I have my weapons ready (no firearms). The fish boat turns and comes along side us about 10 meters off our port side. The men are all smiling and holding up a fish and shouting something that I assume is wanting to trade things. All very friendly. I wave no thanks and they sheer off and leave.

A half hour later another boat comes charging up everybody smiling and waving. They hold up some apples, so I throw them a couple of packs of cigarettes and they fire over a couple apples and oranges. A great trade as we are out of fresh fruit.
We now start to see a few ships and we stay above the shipping lane closer to the coast of Sri Lanka. The wind is still good, though it came around on the nose for a few hours and then light as we approached the island and had motor for a few hours before we could sail again. Our last night was busy with lots of fish boats around but they did not seem to have long nets out so it was easy to avoid them. We had to slow boat down in the 20 knot tail wind that last night as not want to arrive too early.  It has taken us 12 days to get to Galle.

Do to the slow passage we arrived on a Saturday and we did not want to pay overtime charges to customs. So we anchored of Watering point at East side of outer harbor. ( see info section below) We decided we better call our agent, which you must have to enter Sri Lanka. We called up the Windsors on channel 69 and they immediately answered. We told them we would check in Monday and they said negative to that. We have to come in now and there would be no overtime charges, great.

We called up Galle port control and they sent out a navy boat to check us for explosives and then they left one guy on board as we motored into the inner harbor. They told us to med-moor which is dropping the anchor in front of where you want to go and then backing up to a dock and tying a stern line, so you can get many boats in a row along a dock. We have never done this before but knew the theory of it.
Only problem is our boat does not back up easily. So after dropping anchor we launched dinghy and rowed a stern line in and pulled ourselves in straight.

The Windsor Reef agents soon came by and we filled in a bunch of forms. They then suggested we hide any liquor on board. Then two customs and immigration guys came on board and filled a bunch more of the same forms. but they were polite and no problem and did not even go down below. I guess we got the good guys, or we did not look very rich. The Windsor agents then took us to the customs office on shore for another couple of forms and then we went to the Windsors office nearby and we paid them there $225 dollars. This included there fee and $100 one month port fee.

We were done and free to explore Galle.


INFO
-Anchorage at Kao Tautoro Island NW corner is in 28ft at 06 41.974N 99 38.363E Our last anchorage before leaving Thailand.
-Timing of sail to Sri Lanka. We used Jimmey Cornells World cruising routes which says Jan to March. But many people have said that Late Feb and March you may have no wind.  A boat that left about beginning of March this year, motored out 250 miles and then with no wind still forecast, they turned around and returned to Thailand.  But later in march several boats came in and they did ok but had generally slow passages, around 11 days, and had some head winds.

-We chose to go through Sombrero Channel as I thought the winds looked more steady a bit further North, after watching them on internet for a few weeks. Also had no shipping or fish boats to contend with. Inexperienced personal opinion only.

-Only saw ships and fish boats on last two days before Galle. We anchored behind Watering point South side of outer harbor in 31ft at 06 01.910N 80 13.660E. Looks like you could easily come in here at night as we saw no fish traps or other obstacles. The inner harbor of course cannot be entered at night as a net is dragged across it leaving a small opening at one end open and you can't use it.

-When in outer harbor call an agent, ours is Windsor reef on VHF 69  then Call Port Control on 16 and they sent out boat to check you out and then leave someone one your boat to escort you into inner harbour. Most yachts seem to use Windsor Reef, they are the cheapest I beleive and did a reasonable job.
-The med-mooring against the wall by the outer breakwater at 06 01.910N  80 13.660E  can get unpleasant when the swell picks up, which it did for a few days. Most boats dragged anchor slowly in the poor holding and some boats were almost hitting each other  and stern lines were chaffing and very unpleasnt motion on boat with big jerks. So us and 3 other boats were allowed to move to other side of bay at 06 01.984N   80 13.914 in 15ft.  The navy also put another dock there for us to tie to. Room for maybe 6 boats at most.   The other spot had room for maybe 12 boats. Note: see picture section after this that shows a picture of both mooring locations.
-There is a showers and washroom building we can use.  There is a watertap in showers can use to fill jugs for laundry, they say ok to drink but I think it needs to be treated a bit first for us to drink.  I buy drinking water just outside main gate where they sell the 20 litre bottles for 240Rupee, a bit expensive. Also a tap outside guard house half way up road from first mooring place.  Can take a tuk tuk to a local gas station for gasoline and diesel with jerry cans. Had no problems bringing them through security gate.
-A grocery store called Food City is about 10 minute walk away and is about as good as any grocery store you will find in Galle, head to right at main road.
- Machinery is a problem to bring through secutity gate. One yacht tried to take a sewing machine out to get fixed and an outboard motor.  They would not let him take it out until he got a letter from his agent and it had to be stamped be about 5 different departments which agent took care of, crazy.
- Over the month we were here we had no winds stronger than 20 knots and that was rare. Often 10 to 17 knot wind blew from a number of different directions. Had rain off and on and a couple of small T storms.
-Eka and Batu were two Tuk Tuk drivers we used who we trusted and were great to help us find things.  They will also arrange tours and do Laundry for you at 40rp a piece.  We did our own laundry with the available water and gave them the big things like sheets and towels to do.
-A good fruit and veggie market is a half hour walk away, though we did not buy much there as they tend to over charge us tourists.  Prices in stores are all fixed so better to buy there.