Stage 2 – Thursday Island to Cocos-Keeling Atoll
Posted by Graham Cox
Stage 2 of Leg 3 is now officially over. With the safe arrival of SKOOKUM and Josh Kali on the evening of 14 September, the entire fleet of Class Globe 580s are gathered in the beautiful lagoon of Cocos (Keeling) Atoll, which, when it isn’t blowing dogs off chains or raining, has lived up to its alluring reputation.
Adam arrived at Cocos shortly after 0130, Cocos time, on 11 September, to secure 5th place for this stage. The wind and seas picked up in his last 48 hours, averaging 25 knots, and the day before his arrival he logged 80 miles in 12 hours. Wind and swell were almost dead astern by this time and LITTLE WREN handled the conditions reasonably comfortably. Adam set his twin jibs, in true Guzzwell tradition, rolling down the trades in fine style. As usual, his South Atlantic windvane handled the boat without difficulty.
Jakub was next in, late that same afternoon, roaring up to the atoll across a lumpy sea. He had earlier reported that seas were up to 3-4 metres, and when one smacked into BIBI, said, “It gets rocky.” Occasionally, waves broke into the cockpit.
That was a far cry from the early days of this passage, when he and Adam, his closest rival aboard LITTLE WREN, spent days tacking back and forth fruitlessly. If it was not for the current steadily setting them westward, they might still be there.
One consequence of going north, which is why Jakub initially resisted the temptation, was dealing with boat traffic off the Indonesian islands. He said, “The sea was very busy, a lot of fishermen. And funny thing is, during the day, you are not able to see them at all, because the boats are quite small, with a very low freeboard – and they obviously don’t use AIS. But in the night they use lots of bright lights, so it’s much easier to see them. Sometimes I was passing them quite close.”
The wind eventually picked up, the waves began to build, and BIBI started covering over 130 miles a day. BIBI, however, has a penchant for mischief. This time it was a tree that entangled itself around the keel. Jakub was sitting in the cockpit when he heard a bang, and the boat stopped, despite the sails being full of wind. The waves were around 3m.
Looking over the side, Jakub saw branches sticking out of the water, some of which were choked with plastic debris. He tried to dislodge the tree with his boathook, but only succeeded in breaking off some of the branches, keeping those entangled with plastic for disposal ashore.
He was unable, however, to dislodge the tree from his keel. He eventually hove-to, using a bucket as a drogue over the bow. Once BIBI came up into the wind, he was able to clear the debris from the keel, but still jumped in to check for damage afterwards. He was relieved to find all well, and resumed sailing, having lost about 2-3 hours in the process.
“But an hour later, I saw a little tear in my jib, near the top. I was hoping would this survive until we reached Cocos, but 15 minutes later, the tear was obviously getting bigger, so I dropped the jib, put up the storm jib, and started stitching. I only did a quick job but the repair didn’t work. The self-adhesive patches might have been too old, as they came off.”
He was so exhausted that he dropped the jib and rehoisted the storm jib for the night, had a nice dinner, followed by a good sleep. In the morning, he was up before dawn, tidied the boat, and then started doing a proper repair at first light, using red patches intended for the spinnaker. He washed the sail in fresh water first, glued patches on both sides, including cross patches, then sewed it all together. It took 5-6 hours.
He did a thorough job that would get BIBI all the way to Africa if needed, though Renaud has now given him some better repair material, and he plans to further reinforce the sail before departing for Mauritius. His other sails are still in good condition, partially because he always protects them from UV damage when not in use.
He has ordered a spare A7, which he will collect in Durban, as he finds he uses that sail a great deal. He said that BIBI handles better, when sailing wing and wing, if both sails are the same size. In fresh winds, he reefs the A7 to roughly match the size of the jib, but wants to use twin A7s when the winds are lighter.
It was still blowing hard when BIBI made landfall on Cocos, gusting from 16 to 30 knots, which made selecting the sail plan for beating into the lagoon challenging. He chose two reefs in the mainsail and jib. The swell was still around 3m, with much bigger sets coming through, but they were not aggressive and the boat handled them well. He started looking for the atoll when 20 miles out, but was only 6-7 miles off when the coconut palms peeked up over the horizon.
The sea smoothed out once BIBI was in the lee of Direction Island, and Jakub tacked up close to the island, where he dropped all sail, drifted back, and set his anchor in the spot Renaud – who was on deck to welcome him – indicated. He did not start his motor, which was satisfying.
He secures a split-plastic hose over the babystay, held in place with tape, which acts as a roller to facilitate the jib passing over it to the leeward side. He lets the jib backwind and blow BIBI’s bows through the eye of the wind, then whips in the leeward sheet, which already has as much slack taken out of it as possible, and a turn on the winch. Jakub enjoys tacking.
He is also enjoying his stay on Direction Island, and may be the only MGR skipper who wishes that he could extend his stay. “This is such an amazing island. Finally, this is the place of my dreams – like pictures materialized from my childhood fantasies of remote tropical islands, white, sandy beaches, palm trees, and only visiting yachts for company. I spent last Friday on the beach, swimming around, snorkeling, watching the black-tipped sharks, drinking coconuts, spending time with the sailing fellas. On Saturday, the ferry came, so we all went to Home Island.”
On Home Island they shared a feast with locals, Jakub and Christian rescued a giant turtle that had become trapped in debris, they visited the museum and walked around the island. Jakub also took the chance to fill up with water there, as the water tanks on Direction Island may not be safe for consumption without purification. He bought a few fresh supplies while ashore, and hopes to top up when he returns next Thursday, but has enough long-life food to get him to Mauritius.
When he reluctantly leaves his slice of paradise next Monday, 10 days after arriving, he plans to work a bit south of the rhumbline when possible, to allow BIBI to run off if needed should the weather demand. BIBI loves a beam reach, however, provided the seas are not too heavy, and Jakub is hoping for a fast passage. He says that he learns something new on every passage, and on the stage from Thursday Island, he learned how important it can be to pay attention to sail trim. An inch or two of sheet adjustment is often all it needs to balance out BIBI and go faster.
Christian came in that night without incident, holding onto 7th place, and was delighted to wake up next morning aboard ARGO in paradise. The wind, which had been howling for days, making the anchorage a bit lively, had eased, and the shallow waters of the lagoon glowed with aquamarine luminosity. To add to the spectacle, a rainbow arched over the fleet of 580s nestled in the lee of Direction Island. The joy on Christian’s face that morning was as luminous as the water surrounding ARGO. The rain and wind have since picked up again.
He was followed into the lagoon next day by Eric on SUNBEAR, and then Jasmine on NUMBATOU came in that night. Jasmine’s Mum reported, “Jasmine has arrived in Cocos Keeling Island after a fairly brutal few days of high winds, rough seas, lots of getting drenched, with waves coming over the cockpit or by squalls, and little sleep. Tiredness has been showing, with little accidents such as minor cuts and bumps.
“Despite sailing fast recently, conditions in the final 24 hours saw her speed drop, which meant that she had to approach Cocos in the dark, in the early hours of the morning, and at low tide. Cocos is an atoll, with lots of shallow reefs, so it can be a very challenging approach. With cloud cover, she didn’t even have moonlight to help.”
Reflecting on this stage after arrival at Cocos, Jasmine reported that conditions were perfect for a number of days after the wind returned near Timor. “I was able to sail with the A5 plus A7, and just go. And then it came in really strong, and I ended up sailing just under jib, sometimes the reefed jib, plus sometimes a bit of main – it was constantly changing. Then I got hit with massive squalls. I was meant to make landfall during the day, but the wind just completely dropped between the squalls.
“Sometimes, when the wind came back it was from the other direction, and made it complicated to get the right angle – I was moving at like half a knot for the past 12 hours. But it was okay, apart from the fact that I was drenched, and everything below got soaked. My bedding is still soaking now, because the rain hasn’t stopped.”
She ended up motoring during her final approaches, but an adverse tide reduced NUMBATOU’s speed to 0.3 knots. After days of overcast and rain, she had almost no power, and after navigating into the lagoon safely in the dark, was not able to record her arrival and send images to race management, as required under race rules.
“The red and green channel markers to get into the anchorage are unmarked, and I nearly hit them on the way in. Once I got in, I rafted up to Jakub because I don’t like dropping anchor in the dark. and it was really nice because we then had some pancakes and had a chat for a while, even though it was like 3am. After a short sleep, I had an amazing Saturday because I got on the ferry, went over to Home Island, and chilled out with everybody and it was just really, really nice. This place is insane.”
She later added, “As I was tacking in under my A7, the halyard snapped at the top, so that was really annoying. I ended up having to use the A3 halyard, and this morning the plan is to go up the mast and try and reeve a new halyard. I think Adam’s coming over to help, and I’m still tied to Jakub. Christian might come also.”
Because it has been raining since NUMBATOU arrived, Jasmine is still sleeping in a wet bed. She managed to wash some clothes in her dinghy, which filled up with rainwater, but has not been able to dry them. And her battery power is only at 10%, meaning her communications are still limited. “The main thing is just my bed, and so I’m hoping the sun comes out today.” Even if she could get off the boat, and stay ashore on Home Island, she prefers to be around the other sailors, so will stick it out and hope for better weather.
“I’ve not done much swimming yet,” she said, “just because it’s not being particularly nice. I’ve just been exploring the island and walking on the beach. We had a big barbecue ashore on Direction Island yesterday, with some chicken wings that Pilar bought at Home Island, and then everybody made something.”
Asked about wildlife, she said, “There’s been lots of sharks, lots of fish, chickens (running around wild on Direction Island), birds, but I’ve not seen a turtle yet.” According to legend, the sharks are scared of people, so swimming is OK!
Renaud, who continues to lead the fleet, having arrived first on the morning of 06 September, 50 miles ahead of Dan, will be the first to depart Cocos early on the morning of 18 September. Speaking of his arrival, he said, “Was rough, waves from about everywhere, and windy, 30 knots, maybe more sometimes. CAPUCINETTE was sailing just under 2/3 jib, no main as we approached land.
Coming in, the wind was down a bit, but no waves one we were in the lagoon. We got in during daytime. Nice colours. I had half the jib and double-reefed main when tacking in, and used to motor to assist tacking when necessary. It was not so hard in the end.”
Asked what preparations he had made for the next stage, he said, “The usual checks and control of the boat and sails. Got water from the tap on Home Island, and bought a few provisions, though there is little choice and it is expensive.”
Dan arrived at Cocos in 2nd place, late afternoon on 06 September, several hours after Renaud, and was grateful that Renaud was there, as the latter helped him untangle his anchor line from around his keel. On 11 September, Dan wrote, ‘The local ferry broke down today but Renaud, Pilar and I managed to wave down a local to take us over to Home Island to do some shopping for the next leg of the race. Got to catch up with Adam from LITTLE WREN as well, to hear about his race, which was great!
‘It’s been a year since my last health checks, so I also went to the local medical centre to get some tests done and make sure I’m fighting fit for the remainder of the race. Now back on the boat again to continue with maintenance, and drying the boat out after a wet leg to Cocos!
He mentioned that the wind had picked up from the SE again after the rain eased, and the anchorage was a bit lively, with the squalls blowing across the reef between Direction and Main Island. “But Direction Island is very lovely. When I first came in, it was really choppy. It was blowing 30, 35 knots, and the waves were a bit of a challenge.” He and Renaud had also completed a snorkel drift through The Rip, the gap in the reef between Direction and Main Islands.
He said he was looking forward to leaving on Thursday, 18 September, and heading for Rodriguez Island. For all of Direction Island’s charms, it was tedious to be stuck on board these tiny boats for days on end when the weather was too windy to take the dinghy ashore. Also, on the two days a week when you could get over to Home Island on the ferry, weather permitting, it was an expensive place to buy fresh provisions or a couple of beers!
He just needed to do some final provisioning, and was hoping the sun would come out and allow him to dry out IMMORTAL GAME’s cabin before departure. Also, a few of the seals around the hatches are starting to leak, so he was going to try and fix them before departure. But, apart from one of the rudder bolts showing signs of wear, there was nothing major to fix. He hoped to slip the boat and antifoul it in Mauritius, and possibly renew the rigging there.
Nicky’s going to meet Dan in Mauritius, another reason he is keen to get there. The leading boats will also have to stop for 6 days in Rodrigues. The favourable ocean currents won’t be quite as strong on the next stage, although there are unlikely to be the extended calms that plagued the last leg, so it will be interesting to see how fast the fleet is. There may also be heavy cross swells at times, coming up from Spring gales in the Southern Ocean.
Talking about strategy for the next stage, Dan said, “I’ll just keep an eye on whatever’s coming out of the south. At the start, I’ll head along the rhumbline, but if it looks like bad weather is going to come up from the south, I’ll start swinging down there quickly, and try to position myself for the last, you know, 300 miles, so that I’m not beating upwind.”
If the wind reaches gale-force and IMMORTAL GAME becomes uncontrollable, he may deploy his drogue, but it will be a last resort. He will try to keep the boat moving fast, and try to sail as quickly as possible through everything. He agrees with Renaud that sailing fast is the safest way to control these boats.
Ertan was hoping to arrange a taxi to take him to Home Island on the morning of 15 September. He had not left the boat since TREKKA made landfall on Cocos two days earlier, and was eager to get some laundry done, do some shopping and stretch his legs.
Unfortunately, he did not know how to call the water taxi, and there was no cellular service at Direction Island. He’d sent WhatsApp messages to other MGR skippers but had not yet received a reply. If they didn’t have Starlink or their VHF radios switched on, there was no way to contact them, and they were probably conserving power due to the overcast conditions. It was also too windy to row around in little inflatable boats.
Ertan couldn’t leave his Starlink or radio switched on all the time either, as for the first time ever, his batteries were seriously depleted, because of the prolonged overcast weather. He was hoping the forecast was correct and that the sun would come out later that day.
At least the water around TREKKA was fabulous. “There are lots of little sharks here swimming around. I jump in the water, I don’t know, so many times a day. It’s just absolutely beautiful. I cannot remember swimming in such beautiful water for a long time. As soon as I finish talking to you, I’ll jump into the water again for a quick swim. It really is lovely, and the wildlife is absolutely out of this world. A really pretty place. The water temperature is around about 26° C, and the air must be about 26-27°, so it’s warm. You don’t need to cover yourself at night when you’re sleeping.”
Speaking of his passage across to Cocos from the Timor Sea, he said, “I had wind pretty much all the time, except the last 24 hours, when I had constant rain and no wind for hours at a time, where my progress was slow. I was hoping to arrive at daytime, but missed getting in before sunset by half an hour, or an hour, and arrived in darkness and pouring rain.
“But the passage was good, no problem. Every time I did have a lot of wind, I just reduced sail and went to sleep. There was nothing special about it. It was just normal trade wind sailing. When I had no wind, or little wind, I used the A5 and A7, but I had my mainsail up pretty much all the time, and put my A5 on the other side, or A7. If the wind picked up, I just put my jib on. Most of the time I sailed with the jib and mainsail, which is my main propulsion system.”
He had 25-30 knot winds at times, and reduced sail to a triple-reefed mainsail and a scrap of roller-furled jib. He can’t imagine sailing with hanked-on sails, and loves the ease with which he can reduce or increase sail area at will, to keep the boat moving fast but comfortably. “You could still do 3.5-4 knots under bare poles downwind when the wind is strong, but you want to do 4.5-5 knots if possible. You don’t want to go slower, even though slowing down might be more comfortable. The furlers make this easy.”
“We haven’t really had gale force winds with on-the-nose waves so far. All the conditions we’ve had, even when the waves come from different directions, just push the boats forward. I just slow the boat down to a more comfortable motion. I have no complaints with the boat – I wish we had showers on board, and toilets, and more extensive kitchen facilities, and I guess more electricity, but joking aside, all is well, really.
“I have just spent two nights here, so I’ve got eight more, and I think they will go quickly because I’ve got to go to Home Island to get some food and charge my batteries. I’ll walk around the island and hopefully meet some of the Malay people who live there.”
He might also take the ferry across to West Island, though it only runs on Thursdays and Saturdays. There are only two cruising yachts in the anchorage at the moment, American Robert, who has befriended Keri, and a Spanish sailor, Carlos, anchored just around the corner. English sailor, Mike Peckham, who is following the MGR fleet on his Ruster 36, WHITE MALKIN, is due to arrive soon, plus another American yacht. Ertan says there is a sense of isolation in Cocos. It is well off the beaten track, and the fleet of 580s is the most boat traffic this place is likely to see all season.
At least the Cocos stopover gives him a chance to enjoy some decent meals. “Every time I got becalmed, I made myself chips and pasta, but 90% of the time it was freeze-dried food once a day, just to give my body enough energy really, because it’s not a pleasant thing to eat those damn things. Mostly, I guess, you live on coffee, tea and biscuits. That’s sort of the staple diet for most of us, I think. And Nutella of course, which is extra special for me because I have a high blood-sugar level – I have to take pills for diabetes – and so for me eating sweets is twice as pleasurable as for you!”
Josh says that he really enjoyed his passage across the Indian Ocean once the wind finally returned. “The wind was consistent every day and the swell was not big. For the first week or so, especially, the waves were pretty small, even though the wind was good. I didn’t have any squalls or rain.
“However, when I was coming around the south end of Timor, I broke my spreader again, when SKOOKUM gybed, then gybed back, and the mainsail hit the spreader. It is the same one that I had reinforced on Thursday Island, and it broke in the same spot, so I had to take it easy on the rig for the rest of the passage.
“I just used the double-reefed main and jib for a while, although the wind was strong enough that I could still do 130, 135 miles a day. But then it got a little bit lighter, and for the second week I used the A-sails. The wind was around 18 to 20 knots, nothing too extreme, but the seas were pretty rough, probably 3-4m, although it was nothing the little boat couldn’t handle.
“Getting into the anchorage last night was pretty difficult. I didn’t think it was going to be that hard. I came around the marker light at the entrance to the lagoon and thought I would be able to motor into the anchorage. It’s not far, only around three-quarters of a mile, but I could not make progress with the motor. I think I probably have the best motor in the fleet, but SKOOKUM was just sitting next to that light and not going anywhere.
“I had to rehoist the sails and beat up into the anchorage, about 5 tacks in all. I used the motor to assist the boat through stays. I don’t think I would have been able to tack had it not been for that, because the wind was so strong, around 20 knots. I didn’t have enough boat-speed to turn through the eye. When I was close to the furthest-out boat, I took the sails down again, motored in and set the hook. Ertan welcomed me in, using a spotlight to show me where the other boats were, which was nice of him. It was about 8.30 at night, it wasn’t terribly late.”
He was very tired on arrival. He ate a packet of top ramen, being too tired to cook a proper meal, and then fell asleep while trying to unwind watching a movie, leaving the sails lying in untidy piles on the deck.
“This passage was definitely the most exhausting. You know, Panama to Marquesas is obviously further, but this one felt more difficult, with everything from no wind to strong wind, and then there were all those fishing boats. It’s like 800 miles of fishing boats every night. You don’t know which way they’re going. You don’t know if they’re stationary or if they’re moving, and you’re trying to get around them. There was one night when I sailed through about 20 boats, weaving in between them.
“There’s also a busy shipping lane that runs north and south, west of Timor, and one day I had to avoid six different ships. One of them passed about a mile away.”
His only real problem came when a seabird knocked SKOOKUM’s masthead wind indicator off, so Josh doesn’t have a wind arrow on the masthead anymore, and has to sense wind direction instead.
Although he got very tired towards the end of the passage, he still enjoyed himself immensely. “Everything I’ve done previously has required a lot of stamina, so even though I am exhausted I still always have a reserve of strength to carry on and do what needs to be done. And the Indian Ocean was awesome. There were the most beautiful cloud formations and the most stunning sunsets. There were many nights when there was not a cloud in the sky, and you could watch the sun go all the way below the horizon. I watched for the green flash, but never did see it.”
Out of all the oceans, the Indian Ocean fascinates Josh the most, not just because of its natural beauty, but because it poses the greatest challenges, culminating in rounding Cape Agulhas. As a mountaineer, it is the calculated risks associated with this traverse that appeal to him.
He used various combinations of sails on this passage, from full main and jib all the way down to triple-reefed main and double-reefed jib. “I used the A3 a lot when it was light, and the A5. For the the last couple of days, I had the A5 on one side and the A7 on the other, trying to make a few extra miles. I was trying to get in here during the day, but it didn’t work out that way. On Saturday, the wind died and I lost about eight hours.
Asked about hand-steering during the passage, he said. “The wind vane did all the driving. I probably hand-steered for maybe five hours altogether.”
At this point, the water police arrived to clear SKOOKUM into Cocos. Next time Josh makes contact, he will once again be on the high seas, bound for Mauritius. The game is about to get very interesting.
Image show BIBI and Jakub Ziemkiewicz making landfall on Direction Island, Cocos (Keeling) Atoll, 23 days after leaving Thursday Island.
