Welcome to Hannah’s Blog

Hannah has lived the past 5 1/2 yrs almost entirely on board a tallship and at sea somewhere on this planet. First, the Picton Castle, then The Eye Of the Wind and Mist Of Avalon. and though she may look like just one individual — she carries along with her on her travels her family, mentors, community and many, many friends scattered around the globe.

Hannah is dedicated to sailing, furthering her skills and all things sailor-ish and cannot imagine living any other way. We think she has a weakness for critters… don€™t be surprised to find a named walrus, dolphin or finned €œsomething -€™r -other€ following the ship, or perhaps an recovering albatross sporting a cast.

Location: 13° 24.4 S, 48° 17.1 E
Tuesday 12:00, 11.14.2006

The Schooner Maggie B got underway from Nosy Be, Madagascar about noon on Monday, and by noon Tuesday, November 14, was at 11° 21.2 S, 48° 52.6 E. We are about 45 miles north of the very northernmost tip of Madagascar, and about 564 NM from Mahe, Seychelles. The SE’erlies have filled in and we are making 6.3 knots close hauled, heading about for Mahe.

We are in the grips of the South Equatorial Current, which is pushing us West of course, but it should trouble us for only a hundred miles or so.

This morning about 1000, we got jumped by a very black rain squall. We quickly took in the fore, partially furled the jib and put one reef in the main before it hit, but in the end it only produced about 30 knots of wind, so we soon had the jib shaken out and the fore back up with one reef. The squall did provide torrential rain, though, and as we had not had time to tightly furl the reef in the main, a big swimming pool formed in the bunt of the sail, and we got about 20 buckets of perfectly fresh rain water transferred into our tanks. Showers tonight!

The bigger news is that the main shaft bearing for the engine, where it goes through the hull from the engine to the prop, seems to be failing. Last night, while motor sailing under only 2000 revolutions it started to make a horrible metal-on-metal noise. We shut down and troubleshot as best we could, but now are waiting on advice from Covey Island, the builders. So again, like in Natal, Brazil, we have a great engine, but can’t really put it to use….

Our suspicion as to what has happened is that we have had some lines around the prop from time to time, and I suspect one has fused in and somehow restricted cooling of the shaft bearing. We shall see.

The joke (or punishment?) is that we had been considering going by Aldabra Island, which is highly restricted for yachts, and saying that we had a failure and needed to stay a day or so for repairs. Now we actually have a serious failure, but the only responsible thing to do is to head for Mahe and the serious technical support there. We will be passing the Farquhar Islands on the way to Mahe, and I briefly imagined trouble shooting our problem while anchored in a lovely lagoon. But then I read the Cruising Guide, which talks of the only way in through the marvelously-named 25 Franc Passage as having tidal bores of up to eight knots with coral heads all around. No thanks!

All is (pretty) well.