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March 22, 2005--POST-TSUNAMI CHANGE OF PLANS
by Al & Beth Liggett

The months of December, January, and February are considered to be the "best" months for heading west from the Malaysia/Thailand area. You can usually count on a strong NE wind flow as the Mongolian High builds pressure over Siberia. This year the Mongolian High went as strong as 1052mb! That is the engine that feeds the NE monsoon season.

The disruption caused by the earthquake and tsunami waves in Southeast Asia on December 26th also affected those cruising boats who were making plans to head west. The usual routes go to Andamans, Galle, Maldives, Oman, Aden and then the Red Sea. Alternately, Andamans, Maldives, Chagos, then to Madagascar and South Africa, or from Chagos returning to SE Asia.

BANDA ACEH. Doesn't really figure into any equation for cruising yachts, as that part of Indonesia has been off limits for years due to the fighting between separatist rebels and the government forces. A friend of ours once stopped at a small bay to do a fuel transfer and to get some rest; he was arrested and held for 3 days--nicely, but confined nevertheless.

THE ANDAMANS. Suffered a great deal of loss of life and shoreside destruction. A few yachts were already there. On arrival in Port Blair they were given a 72-hour permission to fuel, water and whatever, then asked to depart. Other friends have gone just recently, but we have not heard any report from them as to present conditions or their reception.

GALLE, SRI LANKA. The harbor was badly damaged by the tsunamis. The few yachts that were there at the time also sustained damages. Most of these boats were jury rigged so they could sail elsewhere to make permanent repairs. The local radio nets were advising yachts not to call in at Galle.

MALDIVES. These low-lying atolls could have disappeared completely! As it was, the northern part of the country lost about 20 tourist resorts. There were 86 deaths and 29 missing persons. Many yachts stop at Ulligan Atoll, the very farthest north of the Maldive chain, as they make passage toward the Red Sea. Apparently, Ulligan was OK after the tsunamis, and yachts still break their trip with a stop there. It seemed there were some shenanigans going on with local charges, but once that got out on the radio, contacts were made, and that was all cleared up. Yachts were still calling in at Male, the capital, and in Addu Atoll at the far south end of the string of islands. At Addu, there was no "wave" as such; the water just rose and fell three times about 2 meters, which wasn't enough to wipe anything out.

I'm not sure that anybody just flatly said, "OK, we're not going West this year," and opted to remain in the Malaysia/Thailand area. Certainly quite a few yachts changed itineraries because of the above. For instance, several yachts who already had Indian visas for the Andaman Islands decided to bypass them and make a stop in Cochin, on the west coast of India, instead. We only know of one yacht that stopped in Galle--for medical assistance, as there was an ill crew member on board. The rest bypassed Sri Lanka altogether.

DEBRIS. Debris is another factor in the scheme of Post-Tsunami Cruising Plans. I know what the beaches in the Andamans looked like before the inundation of the tsunamis. Even if the waters just took all the logs and bulk off the beaches, didn't fell any more trees or destroy buildings and boats, there would have been serious debris in the water. The currents in the northern Indian Ocean, along the paths the yachts use, tend to flow to the west during the Northeast Monsoon. All the destruction from Thailand, Banda Aceh, Andamans, Sri Lanka, India that didn't stay ashore, or wasn't heavy enough to sink, was going to be floating that direction, right in the way of westward sailing. A nightmare for small boats--especially at night.

One of our friends sails a catamaran that has vulnerable rudders and sail drives. They had already had problems hitting things "out there" in just ordinary years. They decided it just wasn't worth it to make another trip to Chagos. However, as time marched on and cruisers marched west, they reconsidered and decided to go, even if it meant heaving-to during the night. They are on passage as I write this, without problem.

Other sailing buddies of ours have had 2 years of really bad luck just as they were about to depart for Chagos, and couldn't go. Needless to say, they were paranoid that something would happen to them THIS year as well! The tsunamis could have been the last straw, as they were in Phuket when it happened. Fortunately, they were anchored in deep water there and had no problem. Their plan was to sail to the northern end of the Maldives, to Ullugan Atoll, and cruise south before jumping off to Chagos. Near Sri Lanka they began to see floating logs. Then whole trees. Then forests of logs and trees, some of which were longer than their boat! They altered course, turned south, and made their land fall in Male instead. They e-mailed us (we were still in Malaysia) with the position of that swath of debris, as all they could think about was SUNFLOWER's bright and shiny, newly painted topsides!

Our plans were to sail to Chagos. Ideally, we would leave about the middle of January. But with the problem of all the debris along the passage route, we were in no hurry to leave. As it turned out, circumstances other than tsunami debris delayed us until the middle of February. Reports of debris were still coming in on the radio nets, but most were farther to the west and north of where our planned route would take us. We did not see significant debris on this passage, in fact, other than the usual pieces of Styrofoam. (I could cheerfully strangle the inventor of that stuff!) We saw less junk in the ocean than there is in the waters around Malaysia/Thailand.