S/V Rutea Sails Around the World: Sri Lanka

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Sri Lanka

Town Bay in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka

My cabin smells like smoke. That's because my clothes smell like smoke. That's because I took them to the laundry......well- let me back up.

Polonnaruwa

We are in the beautiful island nation of Sri Lanka! A true gem in the middle of the Indian Ocean, just between the Andaman Sea and the Lakshadweep Sea. There was a terrible tsunami here in 2004 (which is never far from anyone's mind) because the island is quite low except for the middle, interior highlands, with the rim of the island being lined with exquisite, white, soft sand beaches. It's a year round paradise- east coast in the south west monsoon season and west coast in the northeast monsoon season. Ayurvedic Spas, Tea Plantations, Buddhist retreats, world class surfing, Blue Whales, Ancient Ruins and Big Game Reserves draw tourists from all over the world. Well actually mostly Europeans, Chinese and Russians but they all have expendable income. English is the common denominator through which most communication takes place, but it amazes me to hear these Sinhalese native speakers talking in Russian, French and Chinese!

Mark at a Mosque in Colombo

We arrived here (Trincomalee) three weeks ago after an awesome seven day passage from Thailand. Mark (Mash, Masho, Marco), Neal's bro was with us for the passage and took the 3:00 am to 6:00 am (the squall) watch. Upon arrival we were greeted by the Sri Lankan Navy, then a Pilot boat and directed to tie up to a barge where our agent, Ravi, escorted a whole host of officials to check us in and check us out! Turns out the barge was in a Navy base where we had to pass through several layers of security every time we exited or entered. Being that we are in Northeast Sri Lanka and the war with the Tamil Tigers was only ended (HERE) six years ago, security is still quite tight and there is a high military presence. We cope. Just don't try to go anywhere without your passport.....

After settling in, cleaning the layer of salt off of the boat, finding the central market, locating a fast food take out restaurant and organizing security, we three hopped an overnight, air-con, express bus to Colombo in anticipation of Sri Lanka Independence Day with the NEW President (you knew that, right?). Turns out that the new Pres is all about cutting frivolous spending and funding the poor people so not much of an Independence Day festivity BUT there was an awesome Poya (full moon) holiday parade- full of monks, initiates, shrines, Buddhas, dancers, musicians and elephants! Every full moon is a holiday in Sri Lanka! Awesome! Except that there are NO alcohol sales that day.... From Colombo Mark went to a Buddhist retreat and Neal and I went south to Galle where we stayed inside the walled city and toured the surrounding countryside. From Galle we took a second class train....no reservations accepted...where we stood for the first three hours, sat facing backwards for the second three hours and I didn't pee for the entire SIX hours to Kandy! Buddhist Temples, Relics, Botanical Gardens, Ancient Sites and a Safari, where we saw over fifty elephants from the back of our jeep monopolized the next four days tempered by small guest houses run by families trying to make a living off of the new wave of tourism and attempting to please. Funny how most of these places think nothing of having to step in gecko poop in the middle of the night on the way to the bathroom- or for that matter stepping in gecko poop at any time of the day!

Poya (Full Moon) Day Parade

Sri Lanka is a country where the railroad crossing gates are still operated manually by a family that lives in a small hut RIGHT by the tracks at the crossing bars. They know exactly when the trains are coming and lower the gate arms so that no tuk- tuk, scooter, truck or most usually a pedestrian, will be smashed by the train. Unless, of course, you are walking along the track instead of the road as many folks here do. The median monthly income is $500.00 which translates to $2.00 per hour if you work full time. There is a beautiful mix of Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims all living together and from our mooring ( next to the barge) we could hear the Muslim Call To Prayer (5:00 am), the Buddhist Meta or morning chant, Hindustani music ( for your enjoyment) all played over the village loud speakers followed by an electronic version of It's A Small World After All played by the bread truck. Wow, eh? Just wow. Life is simple. Low key. The people are happy, proud, friendly and very, very helpful.

Indian Cobra Naja Naja About to Get Angry

So after the road trip we had a ton of laundry that needed to be done. The industry around the bay we are in makes us hesitant to make water here so we sent out our laundry to be washed. Lo and behold, it came back not only washed, but ironed! When was the last time you wore ironed underwear??? Interesting part about it all is that the laundry is ironed with an iron (no pun intended) iron. With a wood fire built inside of it to make it hot.......

Leaving for the Maldives in four days. More then!

R of Rutea

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About Rutea

Rutea was built in 1984 by Conyplex in Mendemblik, Holland. A small brass plaque says that she's hull Number 9 but on the Conyplex website www.contestyachts.com there's no mention of them building that many. She's designed by Dick Zaal, who designed most of Conyplex's earlier boats. The brochure says that she's 48' overall with a 14'6" beam and she draws 6'. Her cast iron bolted-on fin keel weighs 12,000 pounds and she is supposed to displace slightly over 37,000 pounds but she's never been one to watch her weight and, ahem, she's gained more than a few pounds since we bought her in 1996. Her ketch rig sports Profurl furlers for the jib/genoa and the staysail. The main has a very tall aspect as does the mizzen. All of her winches are made by Enkes although I did add a Harken self-tailing for the main halyard. She uses an unusual reel winch that's equipped with Spectra rope for furling the genoa. There's a running backstay on the mizzen mast and there are no forward lowers on the main mast. The head stay is Dyform.

I replaced the original Volvo MD40A six-cylinder diesel with a Beta Marine 90 and I've been very happy with it although it puts out nowhere near 90 HP - probably 70 is more like it. Regardless, it's adequate and very economical on fuel. I also replaced the original Westerbeke 6kw genset with a single-cylinder Kubota diesel that drives a 150-amp alternator. Since we switched over to 12-volt refrigeration, we no longer have any 110-volt appliances on board, other than the water heater. Since the new Beta Marine engine has two big alternators (one is 100 amps and the other 175), we have our Victron inverter/charger power the water heater when we're under power (we don't have engine coolant circulate through the water heater).

Rutea's layout down below is different from many boats of her size. Aft of her water-tight forward bulkhead is a 'wet' head, complete with two sinks. Aft of that are two cabins, both with bunk beds on either side of the boat and each has a door to the forward head. This was perfect when we cruised with our family as our 3 children had their own quarters. The main saloon occupies the area aft of the forward cabins and her dinette and settees are large enough to seat 10 people (we've had many a memorable meal here!). Under the cabin sole are two 90-gallon stainless steel fuel tanks. Under the settee seats on either side is a 120-gallon water tank, also made of stainless steel. On the starboard side, aft of the dinette is the foward-facing nav station and on the port side is the galley where we have a 7 cubic foot refrigerator and a 5 cubic foot freezer. Aft of the nav station, on the starboard side is my work shop. This was originally designed to be another stateroom but the original owner had Conyplex convert it into a work shop, complete with a heavy-duty work bench and a massive 6" vise. I sometimes spend days at a time in there. Many a visiting cruiser has eyed with envy, drooled with desire and blatantly coveted my work shop! I have access to the engines from there. On the port side, aft of the galley, is another 'wet' head. Aft of that is the aft cabin, which has a settee as well as a full double-size berth. Aft of the aft cabin or 'owner's stateroom' as it's called on many boats, is her spacious lazarette, which is where the water heater and diesel-fired boiler are located. Bolted to the back of the aft deck and overhanging the transom are her Simpson davits (I sometimes tell people that the boat was built around those davits - they're very substantial with a capacity of 250 Kgs). Resting on top of the davits are Ruthie's roto-molded kayak and above that are two 215-watt solar panels. Hanging off the davits is our Aqua Pro dinghy and it's 15-horsepower Honda outboard.

On deck, starting at the bow, is Rutea's primary anchor, a Bruce 30 kilogram that's connected to the 350' of 3/8" Hi-Test chain with a Wasi Powerball. The anchor and chain are deployed and retrieved by a Lofrans Progress II windlass. In the anchor locker lives another Bruce 20kg anchor that's connected to 50' of 3/8" Hi-Test chain and 150' of 1" MegaBraid rope. Also in the anchor locker, amongst many other things, is the 18' Para-Tech sea anchor with it's dedicated 100' of 1" single-braid rope. Moving aft is Rutea's main mast, which has double spreaders, four Enkes winches and one Harken self-tailing winch. The mast is made by Selden as are the two heavy spinnaker poles. The tracks for the staysail and the genoa are stainless steel. In the cockpit are five more Enke winches and a Harken mechanical backstay adjuster. The mizzen mast is also quite substantial and has three Enkes winches on it. The turning blocks are stainless steel. The steering system on Rutea is the Whitlock Mamba system using a torque tube and a push-pull rod. The compass in the binnacle is made by Sestrel.

Even though we try to keep up on Rutea's appearance, she's still starting to show her age. I replaced her portlights (all twelve of them) and Ruthie has taken over the job of varnishing her brightwork. In 2000 we removed her teak decks and replaced it with painted fiberglass. Much less maintenance! She's what I call a 200-foot boat: She looks great from 200 feet!

Regardless, the best part of Rutea is the way she handles. While she's not the fastest filly in the fleet, she can cover a respectable amount of distance in a day. Her sail plan allows her to be easily balanced to the point where the autopilot has very little correcting to do. Her sails are all made by North except her spinnakers are Dutch-made.

Rutea’s electronics package includes radar, chartplotter, AIS, sounder and sailing instruments - all made by Garmin. Her radios are all old but they work well. Her Icom M802 SSB has been modified to use ham frequencies.