1O:00 PM local time, Wednesday, February 13 (1800 Feb 13 UTC) 16 56 N 054 00
E. Temp. 79, Humidity 61%, Cloud Cover 20%. Rafted up to Stitches Explorer,
at a dock in Raysut, the port of Salalah, Oman.
Greetings from the crew of Maverick.
We arrived in Oman yesterday. After the rough stuff on the way things
mellowed out and the last two days we had a beam reach in comfortable seas
and sunshine. On the way, we passed the 58th meridian, meaning we have sailed
one half of the way around the world, in longitude, from San Francisco and
now are on our way home, although we've been saying that since the first day.
To get here we have sailed 16326 nautical miles or 5442 nautical leagues.
(There are statute leagues, just as there are statute miles.) Of the 335 days
since we left, we've spent 135 underway, at sea, about four out of ten days.
Some short day sails can be added to this total.
The harbor here is crowded with about twenty-five yachts, which is causing
some stress for the local harbor master. It's a commercial and military port
and the cruisers are really just in the way. The Omanis, nevertheless, have
been friendly. We have to check in and out of a security gate and guardhouse,
and get day passes to go to the nearby city of Salalah. Some Americans were
told by the officers that issue the passes to "tell your American friends we
are not a bunch of crazy Arabs and we wish them no harm. Muslims are peaceful
people." Our driver, Saheed, explained that Islam teaches one to help, not to
kill. And it just occurred to me yesterday that in all our travels, the only
people who have not been the least bit shy about expressing hostile criticism
of the US are Europeans. Muslims have been very sweet.
Yesterday there was a model boat regatta in the harbor. The rules were that
the hulls were to be constructed out of no more than six beer cans. I
questioned the organizers about other technical design rules, not wishing to
risk disqualification, but that was it. We immediately repaired to a
semi-distant bar that, in this Muslim country, is one of the few places that
serves alcohol, and consumed the necessary quantity of beer to meet our
construction requirements, making sure to order the larger cans of Foster's
to maximize our waterline. Ship's Naval Architect Terry Shrode and the
Captain produced a trimaran with four beer cans for a hull and one beer can
each side for amas attached to with tongue depressors. We understood that,
since the race was to be downwind, the main design issues for a successful
campaign were sail area, initial stability, and directional stability. We
used tongue depressors from the epoxy kit, taped together with duct tape, for
a two-masted rig, each mast mounted with duct tape on the outboard side of
the amas, and spinnaker cloth from the sail repair kit for a sail which flew
between the two masts. On the aft end of the hull we taped two fin keels cut
from a plastic paper plate and attached with duct tape. Standing rigging
consisted of marline backstays and a marline forestay attached to a bowsprit
made of yet another tongue depressor. We partially filled the aft beer can
with a clever water ballast system, as we found in sea trials that our
prodigious sail area tended to make the vessel pitch-pole. This problem
solved, we dominated the first two races, and were ahead in the third when a
very angry port captain demanded we quit, as we were creating a hazard to
navigation in his harbor. We claimed our prize, Mr. Shrode exalting. The
Captain was a little more reserved than his companion, given the realization
that none of our competitors had passed their tenth birthday. But hey, we won
fair and square. If their parents didn't like it, they should get a life.
Some organizing is going on of convoys to run the Yemeni and Somali coast
where cruisers have been attacked by pirates. The threat here is a bit more
serious than in the South China Sea and Strait of Malacca. People who have
given it the most thought feel the best idea is for perhaps five boats of
similar speed to stay quite close together and if one is approached, the
others will converge, but probably not do anything confrontational, and stand
by to help after the fact. The fact that these people have given it a lot
of thought means nothing, I'm afraid. There's really not much you can do, and
by approaching you may increase your chances of being the next victim. As you
may imagine, there are lots of thoughts and opinions on the subject, as
everyone's dream is at stake. Ship's Chief of Intelligence Terry Shrode and
the Captain are weighing their defensive options, but there is some prudence
in the convoy and it is likely we will participate, if we can get our engine
fixed in time to match up with a group.
This brings up a subject about which many have asked the Captain, which is
whether we carry guns. I will give you the general thinking on this about
which the vast majority of world cruisers, who are in general not sissies,
agree, and this is based on a survey of the events that have occurred and not
someone's fantasy. Very few acts of piracy against yachts have involved loss
of life, or even injury. Boats have been shot up, people have been
frightened, a debilitating amount of gear has been stolen. The perpetrators,
at least the ones who attack yachts, are armed, but they are opportunistic,
and mainly fishermen. (The real pros go after bigger targets.) They have no
reason to kill you; they just want your stuff. It is quite unlikely that, in
the event you don't bring out a gun, you will be seriously physically harmed;
at the same time, it is quite unlikely that, if you do bring out a gun, you
won't. They will almost certainly have deadlier arms aboard than you, and
more of them. In the recent well-publicized piracy killing of Sir Peter
Blake, my understanding is that there were 13 crew aboard the boat, and Peter
Blake, the only one to attempt to defend himself with a gun, was the only
casualty.
There is another problem, which is the consequences of being involved as an
American in an act of violence against a citizen of Yemen or Somalia, and
having the burden of proving in court in one of those countries that you were
acting in self defense. Even in the case where you may successfully defend
yourself in a gun battle, the court battle may land you in a very unpleasant
prison.
So leaving out any moral issues, the calculation is, are all the Captain's
future movie dates with Theresa and chats with his friends and hikes on Mount
Tam worth less to him than some money, his binoculars, GPS, VHF radio, SSB,
and computer? So we don't carry a gun.
Next report from this location: Intense Preparations
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