First passage !

In the bar of Crater bay marina on Nosy be Madagascar I meet world-sailor Stephan. He tells me: your boat cannot not stay here. Every year from December to May cyclones develop below the equator and often hit Madagascar. Some pass west of Madagascar through the Mozambique channel and may hit Nosy Be. So do not leave your boat there.

Tanga in Tanzania is a safe place to leave your boat and it is out of the cyclone belt. Tanga is a week away, an easy downwind passage this time of year, the South monsoon season.

OK, thank you Stephan for the good advice. Thats clear so my answer is clear as well: Lets go ;-). The next day a quick goodbye to everyone at Crater bay and my first 760 nautical miles solo passage on my first boat had started before I knew it…

First step, to clear out of Madagacar the ship must go to Hell Ville port. Pulled up the anchor, set the sail, here we go… Mmmm…very shallow, nearly ran aground. But my correction was in time, disaster avoided. This happens a few times before I arrive in Hell Ville port. Stop the ship, ready to drop anchor. But the anchor winch seizes after dropping 5m of chain into the water. It is stuck somewhere in the anchor locker. I rush inside, open the watertight door in the front cabin to get access to the anchor locker and manage to untangle the anchor chain.

At anchor in the port now, dinghy in the water, some young guys on shore look after my dinghy and help me through the procedures: customs office both in the port and in town, immigration, port autority and police. A lady police officer stamps my clearance papers and says: I want to marry you, can I come with you? I blush, shy, don’t not know what to say. Finally I smile and thank her. Bye Nosy Be, hope to see you again, Indian Ocean here I come!

Dinghy on board, anchor up, thsi time no issues, I pass Crater Bay marina one more time the go North through the Mozambique channel, beam reach on a steady seabreeze. The land slowly disappears: Now its just me, the wind and the blue ocean. The sun disappears slowly into the sea and the moon and stars come. This is the first night on the ocean on my own ship!

Being on passage is a wonderfull feeling, it is a mix of feeling free, leaving everything behind, with a strong connection to the nature all around: the wind, the water, the sky, the animals. Life seems so simple now. It is hard to describe, one must experience it to grasp that feeling.

The night passes and the next day and evening. Near the French island Grandes Glorieuses now. I put the sails down and go to sleep. The South east monsoon wind blows the ship away from the island so there is no risk of running aground. At dawn I see the island: a small deserted piece of land overgrown by palm trees and bushes somewhere in the Indian Ocean.

I set the sails again, broad reach, 20 to 25 knots of wind and no swell. Time to send the homefront an E-mail where I am and check the weather. This will be my new routine for the next 5-6 days, depending on wind and current wonderfull! I appoach the African cost, suddenly exitement, a ship on the AIS, first one since leaving Madagascar!

A few hours later Pemba becomes visible. Sailing through the channel between Zanzibar and Pemba Island then North to Tanga Tanzania. Wind still good but it is already afternoon so I decide to put the sails down and spent the night at sea, better not go into an unknown place in the dark. At sunset the entrance to Tanga bay appears.

Then the Tanga Yachtclub, my destination. I know already I will stay here for some time! And it is very true what Stephan said: you can leave your boat at Tanga Yacht Club. It is safe there. Just talk to the guys working in the maintenance shed beside the Tanga Yacht Club. They will be happy to maintain and watch your boat while you are away.