If you don't see it, does a passing ship exist?
It was Alex who started it. When asked by the Skipper whether
this voyage was "as you expected to be", Alex looked thoughtful for a
moment and then replied: "There aren't nearly as many ships around as I thought
there would be". Which is a pretty fair point. Huge tankers and
Gas Carriers bring oil and LPG from the Far East, around the Cape of Good Hope
to Europe and the USA.
Vast bulk carriers (and I mean vast - some of these
ships bulk out at 500,000 tonnes) carry minerals and cereals all around the
world, and giant container ships carry all kinds of foods everywhere
and bring manufactured goods from Japan, China, Korea and elsewhere to feed
Europe and America's hungry markets. Even if there is nothing to carry the
other way (financial, digital and other such services don't need
ships), these ships must retrace their steps in order to refill with other stuff
to replace that which is stolen, thrown away, worn out or has simply become
unfashionable. We are crossing the Indian Ocean, where all these ships
must be at some point, but where on earth are they?
The Panama Canal works at maximum capacity throughout the year, spitting
out about nine or ten thousand ships a year in either
direction. Approaching and leaving, through the Caribbean Sea or down the
coast you need to be wary and keep a sharp look out both by day and
night. The English Channel (apparently the busiest sea lane in the world)
is like a motorway. Two staggered lines of ships pass each other in each
direction in a constant stream, travelling at about 18 knots and only a couple
of miles apart. The yachtsman has to dodge between them as he weaves his
way across them, aiming to cross close to the stern of one ship in order to
avoid the leviathan travelling behind it - there is no question of steam giving
way to sail here. It takes one of these beasts two miles going full astern
before they can bring themselves to a halt.
The Australians think the
passage through the Great Barrier Reef is busy. It is not; we saw less
than four ships a day when we made our wonderful passage through this
magnificent and beautifully charted area. And of course we've seen plenty
of ships in the various harbours we've been to, and in the approaches. But
apart from these places, we have seen almost none whilst at sea. Where on
earth (or rather, at sea) are they?
There are maybe two answers to this conundrum. The first is
that ships pretty much follow designated sea lanes, and unless you are in
or near these (and they are good places to avoid if you are in a small yacht),
you wont find other than the odd survey vessel or, if close to land, small
coasters (but these are just as much as a hazard to yachtsmen as bigger, often
better crewed ships). And the second answer is that the oceans of the
world are quite simply vast. At sea level, in a flat sea, the horizon is
about 4 miles, which means we can survey about fifty square miles of sea.
This sounds quite a lot, but it is tiny when you think of the number
of square miles there are in an ocean. In good weather, can
see the lights of big ships at about 8 miles distance, and our AIS is
normally set to alert us to any big ship within that distance, though
it will pick up their signals a bit further away than that. But if a ship
is beyond visual range, why bother - in our little world, it may as well not
exist at all.
That thought apart, we have continued to enjoy fine, down-wind
sailing. It has been a bit bumpy, but we are by and large used to that now
and can generally get around the boat without bumping into things, and some of
us can even cook without losing the whole lot onto the cabin sole (a sole = a
floor in Nautispeak, for some reason - Ed) more than once. There was a
Norfy Special (signature dish - Carmelised Onions) last night, and the Skipper
is baking bread for lunch today. It normally works, but he's also on
supper duty, which is a different matter. Alex, like his Anderson namesake
(curious; Armitage is George Alexander whilst Anderson is Alexander
George. And they are both tall), has mastered the art of Maggotting (also
known as Zedding), and easily rivals Norfy for the amount of time spent
horizontal with eyes closed and breathing regularly. Only the skipper
is occasionally seen walking about the boat and conscious during his off-watch
hours.
Now as to fishing boats, they are a different matter, which I will
bore you with at some stage!
It's been classic trade-wind sailing (again) and we are another 167 miles
to the good.
All well with us, and best wishes to
everyone,
James, Norfy (Chris) and Alex
Yacht Cleone