Year 2 20 July 2025 – Arafura Sea – Indonesia -Avoiding More Fishing Vessels/Nets

We continued to sail North relatively slowly but we had plenty of time. We were managing between 6-7 kts and our progress was a little off course due to the angle which varied depending on the angle of the wind,  which was changing from Southeast to East Southeast. It was a lovely night with the moon paying a visit for a while and the stars decorating the sky.

There was the odd ship and fishing vessel but nothing to trouble us initially. We went through the watch changes and stayed on our course during the night. At about 8.25am we gybed and headed down towards our waypoint line. The morning wore on with Nicola making the banana pancakes for a change and William baking a banana, chocolate and hazelnut cake to celebrate Adam’s forthcoming birthday. The wind gradually reduced over the morning and at times we were only making 5-6 kts but at least we were moving and did not have to motor. Our 24 hour run to midday was 149 nm which bearing in mind the lack of strong wind was ok.  We had lunch and it was warm with quite a bit of cloud cover. We decided to change the ship’s clocks to Indonesian time which meant going back an hour so William & Nicola did an extra 30 minutes and Adam & I the other.

We continued with resting and doing jobs. I handed over to William and Nicola at 4.00pm and went for a shower and I hoped for a bit of a rest. However, after 10 minutes I was called up and there were a fleet of fishing boats and nets ahead of us. The question was which way to go. I went South and we had to motor sail some out 10-15 nm to get round them and we got past one lot and another appeared ahead. It took us from about from 4.30pm to 9.00pm to get round these fleets which was annoying. Whilst we were having to make these diversions we had super of pasta pesto and pees.

Once round the fishing fleets we went back on to our course toward the waypoint. They use two types of nets here – those with lights to catch scrimp and squid for example and other large nets which catch large amounts of fish including juvenile fish and have been banned here but there is no enforcement.

We plan to continue on our course until 2.00am and then assess the situation. The picture of the day is another plotter picture showing us the number of ships and nets we had to ger round and avoid. The grey line coming from left to right is the course we wanted to sail.

Need/Opportunity Year Three

In year three I will be going from Thailand to Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and then on to Chagos, Mauritius, Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK.  I am looking for crew from Mauritius/ Reunion Island to Cape Town and from Cape Town to the UK. If of any interest do email me.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com