To Banda
 

070824 19:00 Heading for Banda Island. Profiting from some West wind we try to reach Eastward Nasu point where our route turns SouthWest. We anchor just before Nasu, after wind turned East.. Ship needs more order (ropes, captain's desk, safe stowing, computer files). Captain hurts foot by venturing in canoe for towing preps barefoot. Good bleeding. Good moon, good night sailing, Partagas, despite three weeks ahead depleting Havana ration. Anchor 23:00.

Photo: for those who did not follow us leaving Kingfisher mooring at sunset Aug 24. You look North and see the Jinja golf course and Nile setting for Egypt. The tiny little dhow sailing off left below is not a handsome Google Earth still of our moment of departure but of course a cheap Adobe Photoshop concoction

070825 07:00 (one o'clock Swahili time: Saa moja [Sa-a Modzja], the name of the dhow, referring to sunrise and sunset in the tropics). After depressing pre-dawn East wind, a regular thermal morning North (lakeward wind) sets in. Announcing ourselves to Dominic (Banda Island): "If we do not get the sudden climate change predicted by BBC we will be at your bloody island between 2 and 10 days". Captain rest of day under deck downloading Google Earth and Navigation plug in to be able to plot position in Google Earth satellite photo imagery using the latest update of Fugawi navigation software and GPS,  an utterly useless hence indispensable software gadget recently introduced experimentally. Meanwhile facelift and upload of mindphiles.com greetings section. Everybody on board amazed by latest version of Google Earth (and the new Google Sky)
Reach end of Buvuma before regular thermal South East headwind starts 15:00. Anchor for afternoon and night. Captain's intestines in distress due to overexposure to superb Indian food past days.

070826 07:00 Regular thermal North 3. Off (captain had experienced North 3 while out for a piss at 23:30 last night but kept this a secret)..

Photo: Off at sunrise. The anchor often is stuck in the mud. You have to haul short, tie line to bow, and let the waves jerk it loose

Stories: fresh crew Kos tells "and then I decided to tie myself to the sunken dhow so they would not have to search for my body". Another one: disagreement between two of 7-crew on steering ends with agreement to put down sail, anchor and fight. It remains undecided. Rest of crew keeps asking when we can continue. Request finally granted.
Captain can only keep up with second hand stories from Homer and Bontekoe. But they are well received. The keel rake punishment is well willingly considered for improving Lake Victoria ship crew discipline.
Philemon adds to his police stories: thief lynched by mob still breathes on arrival of police, called by one of mob. Police angry: "This man is still breathing! Next time call us only after it stopped!" (Mob killings as a rule go unpunished in Africa).
Mobile phones keep ringing on board. Domestic African Consumption not yet 30% guns 30% booze 30% mobile communication 10% miscellaneous, but this clearly is the tendency.
Rotten UTL flat rate wireless internet expires just before reaching limit of coverage, the island Wema. There is Celtel coverage, but GPRS mobile internet does not work. Bastards. But unlike UTL, now I pay only when they work.
12:00 Regular thermal wind change to South. We anchor at Wema Island (a dhow sails slightly over beam reach highest).

070827 03:00 At night wind turns ESE Bf 4. Exit from between islands along some rocks just sailable, but we will reach rocks at 5, between moonset and sunrise. We decide to trust our GPS tracks of our previous trips and hoist. We do not keep the height of the GPS tracks but there is a margin. Half an hour later wind "backs" a bit (if this term is allowed south of the tropic of cancer) and we luff back to course. Out on the Big Lake. No more worries. After sunrise a short lull causes an explosion of lake fly clouds. One of them passes over us. Captain, bearer of spectacles, is the only one whose sight reaches at least GPS. Then, surprise wind SSE Bf 5, reaching 6-7 at 12:00.

Photo SSE Bf 6-7, roughish water at Kome, sail torn at clew, bolt ropes tied together

Our canoe is in danger of sinking, our sail gets some ruptures, and we look anxiously at our folmali (lateen gaff, 25 m). After passing Kome, expecting thermal reinforcement of the wind in the afternoon, we decide to hide behind Ngamba Island. We anchor there at 12:00 for repair and my morning coffee, postponed to avoid a vomit party. While I drink, wind freshens up further, though observed from the lull of the island it is difficult to estimate how much.

Photo: our sail masters in repair operation

Bloody Celtel internet keeps blocking incoming data. SMS works, so we hear that Dominic has a couple of hippos in love on his East Beach at night and respectfully retires at their approach.

Photo:  A 1.5 m monitor lizard checking us at Ngamba Island

070828 04:00 Northeast Bf 4-5 full moon, good sight. Wind towards channel between islands (position 04:00 in picture below) through which we want to leave. While we are preparing wind turns Northward, anchor seems to drift, we approach the rocks of Ngamba. Set out new anchor Westward, but at same time wind turns even West of North, new anchor also drifts we are now 20 m from Ngamba rock (position 05:00 in picture), Bf 5, drop rudder, put a third anchor on 200 m line and pull. Safe (position 06:00 in picture). Gaff is down over starboard, lateen gaffs can only gybe, hence we need hoist over starboard and turn to island for a quick gibe. Intricate procedure with two dangers: rocks and chimps (for what may happen to you if you land on the chimp side of Ngamba click here).

We just make it, off 2.5 hours after start of leave operation with 8 knots at sunrise. Reach Banda at  12:00.