MAFIA

After the a good nights sleep in our "glamp tents" the following morning Mark and I could be found sitting on the beach watching the drowning duo and shark bait along with Eben and Ryan sailing off into the distance. Our deck hands had not arrived and sunlight was burning. While I am keen to have an adventure the idea of crossing open ocean without crew unnerved me. I did not want to set sail without some experienced on board, so we discussed with the rescue boat our needs. A well respected sailor was watching the boats leave and after some negotiation he and his friend agreed to come with us to Mafia.

It was a pleasant day’s sail the new skipper, an older gentleman, who we had nothing but praise for his seamanship abilities. His navigation skills were beyond belief, with no compass no charts and no land marks he set the perfect course for Mafia. To begin with I checked his course on our GPS on a half hour basis, but soon realised he knew where he was going so Mark dug out the fishing lines, unfortunately nothing was biting. The wind did pick up in the early afternoon and our skipper reefed the sails which led to Eben and Ryan catching us and shooting past at a good rate of knots. They ran into trouble later and never reached Mafia that day, but spent the night on a small deserted island to fix their boat once again.

As we reached Mafia, the drowning duo and shark bait had sailed round a reef marked on the charts while our skipper sailed right over the top allowing us to pull up on the beach a few minutes in front of them, bragging rights to the Salty Seamen.

Mafia

Mafia was a compulsory check in, and as we arrived we were told the fleet had become too spread out and a race hold was put in place for the next 24 hours. We also had out first casualties of the race. Marcus who had tried to sail solo and then hired a skipper had finally thrown in the towel and was waiting for the Scottish pair Colin and Fraser to join there crew. The young American team also decided enough was enough with a parting comment of; "we're too young to die.” and were gone.

The Scottish Lads - Having a spot of trouble

I believe the Aussies also had troubles on this leg and were towed for a few hours arriving on the beach in the middle of the night, while the Scott’s lads had returned to Songa Songa after hitting more trouble.

On Sunday we were met by our new crew members, who after some discussion had agreed to come with us to the finish of the race on Pemba Island, on the condition they could repair, renew and upgrade our boat. Thanks to Dylan a new boom was found and installed, holes were filled and ropes were renewed. Then it was off to the local town to find entertainment and a bed for the night which was sorely needed after the mattress on the floor of the bar we had the previous night.

Due to Marks fantastic sense of direction we found a wonderful guest house with on suite facilities and air-conditioning and a bar for lunch. Luxury! It wasn't long before other teams found the bar and were told of the guest house. The Vikings, the Aussies and Ryan and Eben who arrived that morning, all joined us in the guest house. The dinner menu consisted of “food” and after a three hour wait while the hosts disappeared to purchase the food, and cook the food, and finally we were served with fish and chips. By which time of course the party was in full swing, all things considered it was quite a night.