Galle harbour has a large military presence a hangover from the Tamil Tiger war days. Someone just forget to tell the military that the war's over. Then again what does a government do with all the military personnel after active service. I picked up a pass for the gate from Customs and paid harbour and agency fees with Windsor Reef Navigation. I met Marlin from Marlin Yacht Services who pretty much supplies everything to the yachties, a very affable fellow.
On returning the yacht I was alarmed by the surge and movement of the plastic jetty. Several of the other yachties were moving their boats to another more sheltered part of the harbour. I should have followed! The big rusting hulk of a boat next to me moved and re-anchored closer to Sadiqi as their anchor had dragged. Little Sadiqi was med moored between a rushing hulk from Israel and large Ferro cement boat registered in Vanuatu.
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| Between a brick and a hard place on the Yacht Pontoon at Galle |
In the evening I head a loud thump and crack as Sadiqi's stern hit the plastic pontoons. The rudder had hit the pontoon and had shattered the tiller. This is a fairly substantial bit of teak 50mm x 50mm. My sense of humour absconded followed by a stream of profanities! This was serious. Sadiqi was now disabled and not going anywhere. I was hoping that the rudder itself had not been damaged. In my addled, sleep deprived state I tried to think of solutions for the problem. I managed to rig a short length of wood on the tiller to stop the rudder from flogging itself to bits in the serge. I then set about gluing the tiller together to make a template and also, hopefully, to be able to use it to get to a more protected place in the morning.
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| Make shift Tiller and glued Tiller |
Fortunately the swell causing the surge in the harbour had abated by morning, somewhat. I had used B-Anchor (CQR) to hold Sadiqi off the makeshift jetty. B-Anchor had been just that and not performed. I shall be looking to get a replacement and it won't be a CQR type anchor. I swam under the boat to see what damage had been done to the rudder. I was relieved that the only damage appeared to be chips of fibreglass and bottom paint off the upper trailing edge. I was very relieved as had there been any damage I would have had to have the boat hauled out of the water. Galle harbour was not the best place to do that.
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| Galle Harbour |
Late morning I was roused from a deep nap by a loud thump. "Oh no not again!" and rushed out to see if the plastic jetty had hit Sadiqi or Sadiqi had hit the jetty. No, it was the Navy doing some exercises with explosives on the other side of the breakwater. Talk about ground shaking when the explosive thump comes through the hull of the boat a bit disconcerting. I can only hope that it upsets the barnacles on the bottom of the boat. It did upset a few fish as quite a few where floating around later in the day to add to the rest of the rubbish floating in the harbour.
On a lighter note Australia was playing Sri Lanka cricket at the Melbourne Cricket Ground MCG. The Sri Lankan's are very passionate about their cricket. Fortunately for me and not the aussies, Sri Lanka won the first match – best of three. This lead to some big smiles from the Sri Lankans who knew I was Australian. By the way, what I know about cricket can be considered dangerous. The Australians won the second match and apparently it was a very good game. So the bets went down as to who will win the final game and by how many runs. Well wouldn't you know the bloody Aussies Won! I have to be very circumspect greeting the security guards at the gate.
I would not say that Galle Harbour was busy. The only shipping trade was several medium sized ships that loaded or offloaded aggregate for the near by cement plant. The other activity was taking security personnel to and from the ships that where heading to and from the Red Sea. A whole new industry has emerged as a result of the pirate activity around the Somalia coast.
1 Australian Dollare (AUD) = around 130 Sri Lankan Rupee (LKR)
I met John, originally from France, another solo sailor at 72 years old and he has been pretty much been sailing on his own in his 29 foot boat "Anatoli" for the last 11 years. I was able to help him with some mechanical problems on his engine as he is not the most practical person having been a school philosophy teacher in his working life. I do get to meet some very interesting characters.
Other yachties who I have mixed with in Galle Harbour:
Gerry "Liberty" Switzerland
Stephen and Karen - "White Wizard" - Newport, Belgium
Brian and Dorothy - "Tagish" – Vancouver, Canada
Gary, Vicki, Zeke and Nina – "Mojombo" – Tasmania, Australia
John- "Anatoli" – La Rochel, France
John, from Anatoli, and I walked into Galle for lunch. The general atmosphere of the place is that I have slipped back into the twentieth Century. There are hundreds of little three wheel tuk tuks about. The cacophony of traffic, horns, shouting and the pace of the place is chaotic and loud.
I tried to arrange to get the anchor and chain regalvanised in Colombo. This was done through Marlin Yacht services, emails have been sent several times, phone calls made and alas time moves on with no advice or information. Sadiqi's foredeck is going a rusty orange colour from the rust bleeding from the anchor chain. This is a job I should have done in Thailand before I left. I didn't thinking the job would not be done before I had to leave Thailand.
Generally, Galle harbour is a very unimpressive place. The toilets and showers are just over a kilometre walk. The surge in the harbour is horrendous. I really feel for Sadiqi. My sense of humour is still lurking elsewhere. I get thrown around the cabin as Sadiqi dances about in the surges and fights the restraints of forward anchor and stern lines to the pontoons. I can think of a lot of places I'd rather be. It makes me appreciate the better places I have had the opportunity to visit.
One week after arriving in Galle I picked up my new Tiller. I had given a carpenter the old glued tiller as a template. They did a pretty impressive job making the new tiller out of teak – total coast around AU$50.00. I shall keep it as a spare if the old tiller breaks.
With the old tiller attached to the rudder I moved yet again to hopefully a better place in the harbour. I tied up along side "Mojombo" a 42 foot Wauquiez with Gary, Vicki, Zeke (12) and Nina (9) onboard. I have to take the dingy ashore, which means that my rudder will not be smashed to pieces by the plastic pontoons. It was such a relief to move away from the break water – now I can sleep again.
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| The Karma side of the harbour |
