The following was received from a friend now sailing up the Red Sea.

The following contains some profanity as well as some politically
incorrect comments. I was going to edit them out but decided not to.
The old boy that wrote this has been working in the oil fields for
about the last forty years and this is the way he talks.

Please feel free to delete it if you don't like it :-)

Hello Bruce,
Hope all is well with you and yours. Are you singing that song now -
"Hand me down that walking cane"? You must be happy to get mobile
again.
Well, this north half of the Red Sea is worse than I thought. This
wind just won't let up. I've been having 20-25 knots constant from the
north (and I want to go north) so not easy. It is too strong and the
seas too rough for a small boat like this to just use the engine and
go straight into it. I've buried the bows many times and had that
forward deck knee deep in water. So I am tacking. This boat tacks
closer to the wind then my previous boat but not as good as some of
the more racing type boats. I can say that for every 50 miles NE and
50 miles NW, I may be getting 40 to 50 miles north. I was over very
close to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia a couple of nights ago. Now back near
the west coast again. Sometimes I use the engine in conjunction with
sails depending on sea &/or wind state. And I have to "reef" to keep
the speed down as since the sea is very lumpy with very large valleys
to cross and due to the acute angle that I am crossing them, I want to
reduce the chance of capsize whenever slam dunked sideways.
Not much else.
Present location at 0400 hrs UTC 31Mar12 22 deg 10.749 N 37 deg 40.291
E tacking NNW
Best regards .... Wayne

Below I copy a blog that I sent to a couple of yachtie friends that
you may find interesting.

Hello Guys,
I am still on the way to Egypt. I stopped in Massawa, Eritrea for a
few days and then went to Port Sudan for awhile. I left Port Sudan a
few days ago. The top half of this Red Sea is hell to go up. I have
been having 20-25 knots north wind 24 hours a day. Been tacking and
tacking. Cannot punch through with engine as the seas are built up
high enough that I keep burrowing the bow(s). Have had water clean up
on the coach roof to the mast step at times. On one good port tack, I
was almost over to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Back over towards the west
side again today. Be nice if the wind would just slow down to say 15
knots for a couple of days and then the sea would be smoother. BTW, I
have quit wasting good satellite talk time money downloading Grib
weather files as they predict weather like the guys of the cloth do
when they say things like "it's the end of the world" or "JC is coming
back".
Massawa, Eritrea is a **** hole. Formalities a mess. The place looks
like a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western as all buildings are of the
Italian colonial era. Very poor people and definitely the "gimme"
type. The port has just been rebuilt by some foreign aid outfit, most
likely headed up by Italians as all the new equipment is made in
Italy. They have just been attacked by Ethiopia and the leader of
Eritrea said he won't retaliate and wants the UN to come help right
away. Maybe it was a deal struck with Ethiopia so both could get
something free. The people are small (probably due to extreme
malnutrition when at niglet stage), brown, pink gums, sloping
foreheads with long fingers on their hands, can really spit far and
can squat for hours. Not many of the blue gum type with stepped rear
ends. The security gate had a throb of ugly looking prostitutes
hanging out nearby. They would scare maggots off a gut wagon. The port
is full of security people with small burp guns supposedly to keep
pirates from boarding ships in port before they leave, etc. Ship
owners hire these assholes and pay good money. And I thought selling
the hamburger was the best one but I see security is getting to be a
pretty good business too. There are no international banks in town
because of sanctions and thus no ATMs. I was low on USD so I tried to
pass Euros, or SGD or SFR but they wouldn't have any. When I told them
that I wanted to leave and they promised to clear me out the next
morning but when morning came they asked me to stay another day with a
lot of excuses why. I told them that I would go anyway as I didn't
need port clearance from them. They had a guy come and say "you no go"
and posted an armed guard to squat near my boat. After calling the
Port Control several times and getting nothing but more promises, I
pretended to go. I loaded my dinghy and fiddled with dock lines. That
guard fired one shot in the air. That one shot really helped. The
security at the gate came running, jabbered with that guard, ran back
and returned with a machete (I guess intended for me). That shot was
apparently heard all over the port and soon the head honcho of the
port arrived, took the burp gun away from the guard, removed the clip
and told me not to worry. They cleared me out right away. Him and I
had a long talk afterwards and he kept trying to reinforce the fact
that there was "no shot fired". I asked him about the yachts that were
robbed in the inner bay two years ago and he admitted that it happened
and was done by Egyptians fishermen! I also learned that up until this
year, up to the middle of March every year, there were usually 50 to
60 yachts arriving in Massawa. This year, I am no.2 so no wonder their
concerns of my short stay (and low port fee income).
Port Sudan is another **** hole. People are about the same as Eritrea.
Not many blue gummers here either. But I kind of enjoyed being with
them. They were very friendly and helpful (expecting something in
reward of course). Sanctions against them too so no foreign banks or
ATMs there either. But they are a bit better off as they have oil
(thanks to Petronas) or used to have until the south broke away last
year and became South Sudan. Now Sudan in the north has the refineries
and no oil and South Sudan has oil and no refineries and no pipe line
to the sea to sell it at. Really smart operators. Backed by the UN
too. Some real smart decisions were made. Anyway, the other day, Sudan
started bombing South Sudan's oilfields near their disputed border so
perhaps they want it like nobody has oil?
I am heading for Egypt and hope to do CIQ somewhere convenient to the
situation, rest up and then head for Port Suez. I won't do Cairo. Been
there, done that, seen that long ago in the seventies when I lived in
Cairo and worked on a rig in the Gulf of Suez. I just want to get into
the Med.
--
Cheers,

Bruce

On Sat, 31 Mar 2012 18:38:46 +0700, Bruce
wrote:


The following was received from a friend now sailing up the Red Sea.

The following contains some profanity as well as some politically
incorrect comments. I was going to edit them out but decided not to.
The old boy that wrote this has been working in the oil fields for
about the last forty years and this is the way he talks.

Please feel free to delete it if you don't like it :-)

Hello Bruce,
Hope all is well with you and yours. Are you singing that song now -
"Hand me down that walking cane"? You must be happy to get mobile
again.
Well, this north half of the Red Sea is worse than I thought. This
wind just won't let up. I've been having 20-25 knots constant from the
north (and I want to go north) so not easy. It is too strong and the
seas too rough for a small boat like this to just use the engine and
go straight into it. I've buried the bows many times and had that
forward deck knee deep in water. So I am tacking. This boat tacks
closer to the wind then my previous boat but not as good as some of
the more racing type boats. I can say that for every 50 miles NE and
50 miles NW, I may be getting 40 to 50 miles north. I was over very
close to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia a couple of nights ago. Now back near
the west coast again. Sometimes I use the engine in conjunction with
sails depending on sea &/or wind state. And I have to "reef" to keep
the speed down as since the sea is very lumpy with very large valleys
to cross and due to the acute angle that I am crossing them, I want to
reduce the chance of capsize whenever slam dunked sideways.
Not much else.
Present location at 0400 hrs UTC 31Mar12 22 deg 10.749 N 37 deg 40.291
E tacking NNW
Best regards .... Wayne

Below I copy a blog that I sent to a couple of yachtie friends that
you may find interesting.

Hello Guys,
I am still on the way to Egypt. I stopped in Massawa, Eritrea for a
few days and then went to Port Sudan for awhile. I left Port Sudan a
few days ago. The top half of this Red Sea is hell to go up. I have
been having 20-25 knots north wind 24 hours a day. Been tacking and
tacking. Cannot punch through with engine as the seas are built up
high enough that I keep burrowing the bow(s). Have had water clean up
on the coach roof to the mast step at times. On one good port tack, I
was almost over to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Back over towards the west
side again today. Be nice if the wind would just slow down to say 15
knots for a couple of days and then the sea would be smoother. BTW, I
have quit wasting good satellite talk time money downloading Grib
weather files as they predict weather like the guys of the cloth do
when they say things like "it's the end of the world" or "JC is coming
back".
Massawa, Eritrea is a **** hole. Formalities a mess. The place looks
like a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western as all buildings are of the
Italian colonial era. Very poor people and definitely the "gimme"
type. The port has just been rebuilt by some foreign aid outfit, most
likely headed up by Italians as all the new equipment is made in
Italy. They have just been attacked by Ethiopia and the leader of
Eritrea said he won't retaliate and wants the UN to come help right
away. Maybe it was a deal struck with Ethiopia so both could get
something free. The people are small (probably due to extreme
malnutrition when at niglet stage), brown, pink gums, sloping
foreheads with long fingers on their hands, can really spit far and
can squat for hours. Not many of the blue gum type with stepped rear
ends. The security gate had a throb of ugly looking prostitutes
hanging out nearby. They would scare maggots off a gut wagon. The port
is full of security people with small burp guns supposedly to keep
pirates from boarding ships in port before they leave, etc. Ship
owners hire these assholes and pay good money. And I thought selling
the hamburger was the best one but I see security is getting to be a
pretty good business too. There are no international banks in town
because of sanctions and thus no ATMs. I was low on USD so I tried to
pass Euros, or SGD or SFR but they wouldn't have any. When I told them
that I wanted to leave and they promised to clear me out the next
morning but when morning came they asked me to stay another day with a
lot of excuses why. I told them that I would go anyway as I didn't
need port clearance from them. They had a guy come and say "you no go"
and posted an armed guard to squat near my boat. After calling the
Port Control several times and getting nothing but more promises, I
pretended to go. I loaded my dinghy and fiddled with dock lines. That
guard fired one shot in the air. That one shot really helped. The
security at the gate came running, jabbered with that guard, ran back
and returned with a machete (I guess intended for me). That shot was
apparently heard all over the port and soon the head honcho of the
port arrived, took the burp gun away from the guard, removed the clip
and told me not to worry. They cleared me out right away. Him and I
had a long talk afterwards and he kept trying to reinforce the fact
that there was "no shot fired". I asked him about the yachts that were
robbed in the inner bay two years ago and he admitted that it happened
and was done by Egyptians fishermen! I also learned that up until this
year, up to the middle of March every year, there were usually 50 to
60 yachts arriving in Massawa. This year, I am no.2 so no wonder their
concerns of my short stay (and low port fee income).
Port Sudan is another **** hole. People are about the same as Eritrea.
Not many blue gummers here either. But I kind of enjoyed being with
them. They were very friendly and helpful (expecting something in
reward of course). Sanctions against them too so no foreign banks or
ATMs there either. But they are a bit better off as they have oil
(thanks to Petronas) or used to have until the south broke away last
year and became South Sudan. Now Sudan in the north has the refineries
and no oil and South Sudan has oil and no refineries and no pipe line
to the sea to sell it at. Really smart operators. Backed by the UN
too. Some real smart decisions were made. Anyway, the other day, Sudan
started bombing South Sudan's oilfields near their disputed border so
perhaps they want it like nobody has oil?
I am heading for Egypt and hope to do CIQ somewhere convenient to the
situation, rest up and then head for Port Suez. I won't do Cairo. Been
there, done that, seen that long ago in the seventies when I lived in
Cairo and worked on a rig in the Gulf of Suez. I just want to get into
the Med.

===

Sounds like a real *adventure* cruise. :-)

Thanks for sharing.

On Sat, 31 Mar 2012 10:45:49 -0400, Wayne B
wrote:

On Sat, 31 Mar 2012 18:38:46 +0700, Bruce
wrote:

I am heading for Egypt and hope to do CIQ somewhere convenient to the
situation, rest up and then head for Port Suez. I won't do Cairo. Been
there, done that, seen that long ago in the seventies when I lived in
Cairo and worked on a rig in the Gulf of Suez. I just want to get into
the Med.

===

Sounds like a real *adventure* cruise. :-)

Thanks for sharing.

Funny, I don't think he looks at it as an adventure. He decided he was
sick of Asia and decided to go and see the Med.... so he up and went
:-)
--
Cheers,

Bruce

Thx for posting. Reinforces that I never want to get close to there.

On 2012-03-31, Bruce wrote:

The following was received from a friend now sailing up the Red Sea.

Interesting reading, Bruce. Out of interest, what is the
guy sailing?

Justin.

On Sat, 31 Mar 2012 16:47:22 +0100, Justin C
wrote:

On 2012-03-31, Bruce wrote:

The following was received from a friend now sailing up the Red Sea.

Interesting reading, Bruce. Out of interest, what is the
guy sailing?

Justin.

He has a 36ft Prout Cat, solar panels, a wind generator, and a
watermaker. He has, I believe, a Honda portable 3 KW generator set and
he cans most of his meat himself. The boat has a 4 cyl. Yanmar and
that outboard looking single leg drive to the prop.

--
Cheers,

Bruce

On 2012-04-01, Bruce wrote:
On Sat, 31 Mar 2012 16:47:22 +0100, Justin C
wrote:

On 2012-03-31, Bruce wrote:

The following was received from a friend now sailing up the Red Sea.

Interesting reading, Bruce. Out of interest, what is the
guy sailing?

Justin.

He has a 36ft Prout Cat, solar panels, a wind generator, and a
watermaker. He has, I believe, a Honda portable 3 KW generator set and
he cans most of his meat himself. The boat has a 4 cyl. Yanmar and
that outboard looking single leg drive to the prop.

A cat?! I hear that cruising cats don't point, that would explain the
difficult forward progress... but burying the bow as far as the mast
- that probably doesn't help either?! I'd have run for cover *long*
ago.

Good luck to him, I hope he gets there soon, spring is upon us and
summer in the med could be quite nice... though maybe expensive.

I'd be interested to find out how Egypt has changed following it's
revolution. Is travelling Suez any easier? Are they still trying to
rip you off at every turn? (not that I'm going that way any time
soon).

Justin.

On Sun, 1 Apr 2012 10:12:56 +0100, Justin C
wrote:

On 2012-04-01, Bruce wrote:
On Sat, 31 Mar 2012 16:47:22 +0100, Justin C
wrote:

On 2012-03-31, Bruce wrote:

The following was received from a friend now sailing up the Red Sea.

Interesting reading, Bruce. Out of interest, what is the
guy sailing?

Justin.

He has a 36ft Prout Cat, solar panels, a wind generator, and a
watermaker. He has, I believe, a Honda portable 3 KW generator set and
he cans most of his meat himself. The boat has a 4 cyl. Yanmar and
that outboard looking single leg drive to the prop.

A cat?! I hear that cruising cats don't point, that would explain the
difficult forward progress... but burying the bow as far as the mast
- that probably doesn't help either?! I'd have run for cover *long*
ago.

I wouldn't know. All I can say that he had the boat for about 5 years
now and seem perfectly happy with it.

As for running for cover there isn't much of anywhere to run. Neither
coat is what one would refer to as welcoming.

Good luck to him, I hope he gets there soon, spring is upon us and
summer in the med could be quite nice... though maybe expensive.

He doesn't stay in marinas much.

I'd be interested to find out how Egypt has changed following it's
revolution. Is travelling Suez any easier? Are they still trying to
rip you off at every turn? (not that I'm going that way any time
soon).

Justin.

Being ripped off is all in the eye of the beholder. On one side it is
"Jeasus, do you know how much that is in American money". On the other
side, it more like, "Ah, here is one of those guys that just blew hell
out of my brother in law."

--
Cheers,

Bruce