#6 A Photo A Day For Seven Days
For most of the time since I started this series we, or at least one of us, has had to have been on the boat. The gusts that have come with the squalls have been intense. We are OK but the potential for something onboard Sage to go wrong or for something to happen on another anchored boat to impact Sage is high. Hence one of us is here to watch and act if necessary.
The other issue is rain. We thought potable water would be in ample supply here. Either the water we could buy or collect. In terms of buying there are only two 5 litre containers left in any of the stores. We found the wholesaler who supplies the store but he has none left as it stands today. That comes as a real surprise. Our agent has asked why we don’t collect the rainwater. A really good question.
To collect rainwater one has a variety of choices. Collect it off the deck which we can’t do as there are no scuppers to collect the rainwater and hold it on the deck for collection. Another method is to collect it off other flat surfaces. We do that with the solar panels but the surface area is small so collection in rain like we have is minimal.The most effective method is to have a tarp with a dip in it to collect the water and direct the water through an attached hose to a container or directly to the tanks. This is what we have.
Our dilemna is that we are about to embark on a one month trip to Chagos followed by a 10 day ocean passage. There is no water on Chagos. There is no water here in Gan to buy. There is copious amounts of water falling from the sky. So what’s the problem?
Yes, the tarp collects water but when the rain is accompanied by 40+ knots of wind the water the tarp collects is immediately thrown skyward to be lost. We can’t keep the tarp steady enough and the rain doesn’t come when the wind abates. So todays picture is dedicated to the tarp in the hopes we can fill our two 200 litre tanks to get us through the next 6 weeks. So your job, as readers of this blog, is to send positive thoughts our way for winds of under 10 knots and plenty of rain. Thanks
Sage on sail 
We have our fingers crossed for you, wishing you lots of rain falling straight down from the sky. Safe journey!!!
WHAT NEXT??
AB
Flakey good thoughts coming your way from Vancouver Island. Plenty of fresh water to ya, mates. Thank you again for the posts!
OOommmhh – sending wet and not wild thoughts your way 🙂
Send some rain to dought stricken Western Queensland. No real rain for over three years now.
Wishing you fair winds and plenty of rain.
Tarp speed Scotty, Tarp speed!
Fred
Ps
Don ‘t they have any beer?
No beer here. Muslim country
Tony Gibb/Connie McCann Onboard SY Sage http://www.sageonsail.com +9609165820Sage
I’m sending positive thoughts and visualizing the perfect amount of rain falls in just the right area, and a happy next leg of the journey.