Jocara Newsletter #3
on behalf of Caroline & John

Greetings from the Southern Hemisphere!  That's the good news...  
Yesterday was not a great day.  We motored out of our pretty little
anchorage, thinking that we had got off lightly on Friday 13th, and
started putting up some sails.  Time to try out our new Genoa (the largest
sail we have) for the big overnight trip south...  The rope that controls
the angle of the sail (called a sheet) needed adjusting.  I went to make
the change and the rope whipped around the back of my head and neatly
flicked my favourite, very expensive, sunglasses into the sea about 15 m
away from the side of the boat.  They floated, supported by a special foam
tube attached for that purpose, and we did get Jocara round to within 3 m
of them on one pass, but could not reach them.  Then we lost sight of them
in the waves. We gave up looking after an hour and having broken so much
gear on board in the process that it will take us a week to fix
everything!  Now we have some trouble with our engine, it keeps losing oil
at an alarming rate and we only have 14 litres left to put in it, and the
wind is still on our nose so getting south is proving difficult.  Right
now we are out of sight of land, slowly moving SSW (220 deg. magnetic) at
0 deg. 20.95'S 105 deg. 15.98'E, having just sailed through the night.  
Caroline woke me up for my 0600-0900 watch this morning with a wonderful
cup of coffee, courtesy of Spinelli in Singapore (who sponsored us with 15
kg of freshly-roasted coffee beans) in our Beatty School 50th-anniversary
mug.  A perfect mug for sailing.  Squat (so it doesn't fall over when the
boat heels over), non-slip on the bottom, stainless steel (so it doesn't
rust in a salty environment) vacuum walled (to keep drinks hot) and with a
lid that closes to stop things spilling.  Thanks, Beatty!  A real sailing
mug!  Both Casper, and more so Alex, are feeling pretty seasick.  Partly
from tiredness.  We'll have to see if they can recover enough to enjoy the
sail a little, or if we have to get to the nearest anchorage for shelter
to have them feel better again.  Maybe if we succeeded in catching a
fish... not so much as a bite so far on either of our fishing lines.  
Perhaps if we used one of the squid we bought from the Kampong locals as a
lure... John.