Crtd 06-02-11 Lastedit 20-12-13

The sail should be completely traditional. Its dimensions are determined by a proportional upsize on my computer of the average of traditional dhow sails of different of the biggest dhows in the harbour (25% smaller than mine on average). I choose for a relatively large sail, since cutting is easier than adding, especially when it comes to adding to mast and gaff. Sail maker Philemon finds my computer results close to his own intuitive estimates. He is used to calculate like "mast half of keel", "folmali double of keel", then has a hard time deciding how much cotton purchases that implies, usually buys a bit less than his estimate to return to the shop later once the sail is sewn and the lacking seams are measured on the ground.

To town for purchases.

Photos: The shop. We go for the best quality. 160 m2 for TSh 180 000 (euro 120). What you need for a 142 m2 sail (and 18 m2 spare cloth)

On my authority, waiving all responsibility of the sail maker, we buy the 142.53 m2 (numeric format 2 digits behind dot) at once. Guess what! 2 m2 to much (but this was inside the tolerance of our last piece of cotton, you can buy whole pieces only, so we bought 160 m2.

Friday The Continuing Story Of Mr. Fat's Privately Privatized Harbour Shop, Part 5: To the Kenya border (Sirari) for renewal of clearings. Total 600 km. Sirari officers tell me this could have been done in Mwanza. They disagree among each other about the necessity of a motorcycle clearing paper, but improvise one after I explain that was my order by Tanzanai Revenue Mwanza. I ask for a 3 months clearing. I have to pay three times the month price of $25 (absolutely no Tanzania Shillings). Nobody gets the idea of charging me for the six months my clearing renewal was overdue. On the last 40 km before returning in Mwanza dark sets in and I get a two head armed police escort. But this is problably the latest trick of police officers to move from one road bloc to another with private cars.
Mr. Fat has misbehaved as a member of Mwanza Yacht Club, and as an officer, since my case is not his responsibility. He clearly did not so to serve his country and had no reason to fear being accused of neglect of duty. So it was a combination of greed and possibly a revenge for our first encounter. But he got no money out of it and, though I did not push it, problems in the club. He told me he was prepared to forget it. I leave him, with some regret that the price for hitting him harder is not clear.

Result: except Kamkala, all mzungu milkers are now dealt with, quiet life about to return.

Saturday Standoff with African Inland Church

Unfortunately, now the African Inland Church, after charging fortunes for container storage and two 4WD trip to remove my boxes from Isamilo, now ,by mouth of Feleshi "on behalf of the director", wanted to charge us for making our sail on their vast premises. I told Feleshi that I had given him 40 000 of airtime and 80 000 money without any result from his side in making Daniel stick to his contract, I was the most important client of his saw mill, I was helping the saw mill many times with free transport to town for repairs and other needs. That his African Inland Church director was not a Christian but a pagan African mzungu milker, that we would finish the sail on another site and that we would stop using his saw mill if his director would make more trouble. My boys agreed, but advised me not anymore to store my motorcycle in the saw mill workshop and to put additional locks at the container of my boxes. I wasted no time to do it.

Christians!

Photo: The sewing site, for the use of which the Christians of African Inland Church, by mouth of Feleshi, wanted to charge us. We packed while I loudly called the director of the African Inland Church a pagan African Mzungu milker. Told Feleshi I would stop using his Christian saw mill if they would make more trouble. On advise of my boys, I added two padlocks to the Christian container with my boxes on the saw mill premises, motorcycle, stored at the Christian saw mill is now parked at building site.

Photo: Purely Hand Made..., and the leftovers make a nice turban

Photo: foot of sail, about as African as stitching can be. Rope serves to bloc cotton tears to cross panels. I do not interfere, first want to see trouble arising before I take any measures, according the African law of minimum investment.

Photo: clew

Sunday I now sleep near my dhow with the unfinished sail in my pickup and the motorcycle chained to a tree in sight from my cushion as well as from the dhow, by my watchmen. This is Africa. Begging, stealing, blackmailing and robbing. Among themselves it is no different. Any time someone tries to achieve something, the others start the sabotage. If sabotage fails, you can always simply destroy the result out of pure jealousy. According to Benedict, in the past years in Mwanza, two dhows under construction got burnt.

Monday

Photo: Bad lakeside wind in the morning, one windward anchor crabbed. After author had been in water keeping boat from rock right side, there was relief and time for this picture. Mistakes: 1) author cut anchor lines too short, 2) anchor line was put in loop through anchor hooks. Daniel turned out incompetent on anchoring.

Photo: Daniel seasick after the first wave hazard

Tuesday Valentines Day, I played in Hotel Tilapia. Wave hazard 2. Work on deck
The next day we had the same weather conditions. After the retreat of the waves the day before the carpenters had decided that the windward position put the dhow uncomfortably far from the shore and had pulled it back. Now my trust in Gabriel's anchoring competence turned out to be unfounded also: he tried to resolve the situation by pulling two opposite anchor lines at the same time. An interesting rope pulling competition followed, thus a second narrow escape followed , mainly because I did not succeed in having people trust my orders. A formal meeting followed in which I forced myself in charge of anchoring and forbade anyone to touch the lines without my presence.

Wednesday Worms. Move down in bay. Work on deck. Plan for mat roof.
Finally, after eight African years of taking many worm pills without seriously believing I had worms, this time I got dizzy, stomach pain and sickness, at least the symptoms. The pills (six in a one time swallow) do not make you happy either, but after a day the symptoms had gone.
I move down in the bay to a place were we can anchor windward (in case of lake wind) on long lines.

Photo: new site where we anchor bow facing lake on long anchor lines. We pulled the mast (left) and the two parts that are to be joined to make the 25 m latin gaff ("folmali") to the new site through the water. The mast, not dry, sank., but of course is under water still lighter to carry than above.  The trees at the right extreme third portion of the horizon form the park of the the African Inland Church. When my men put the sailing cloth there for sewing, the director wanted to charge us (details).

Gabriel and another yard worker turn out to share a very old aunt known for her ability in weaving good quality palm leave mats. We plan to buy palm leaves and charge her with making an almost five by seven palm leave mat sunshield covering steering deck and rear deck.. We can roll it and fix it on the front deck in bad weather, but in good weather we can leave it while we are sailing.