Captain Appointed
Captain’s Log
15th March 2010
Saleh Al Jabri
It is quite magic now to arrive here in Cochin with the crew all safe and well
You can see from the smiles that everybody is fine – these are real smiles not plastic. After 28 days at sea they are from the heart. We’re a bit dirty and a bit smelly and we are all very tired, but everybody put in such an effort to get us here to our first port of call. We are all so happy and so proud to be in Cochin, India and receive such a wonderful welcome.
We made an excellent passage, every single day we tried to break our own records for speed 5 knots, 5,5 even 6 knots. It was a fantastic passage then just at the end the wind died away and it was shifting around and sometimes there was a strong current against us. But finally we made it and we are so pleased to be here in Cochin. We haven’t really slept for 2 to 3 days – it was so hot on board people were sleeping on deck but that’s hard when you’re tacking and people are moving about. But now we have made it to Cochin and we can rest.
The crew were fantastic and very professional. I know for some of them of them it was the first time at sea, but they learned very quickly – I was very impressed. We have a long way to go to Singapore but with this crew I am very confident – I’m very lucky.
The ship handled very well. We had a bit of a problem with one of the masts and the median rudder but hopefully we can get all that put right here before we set out on the next leg.
We can’t wait to get the ship ready for the next stage. We are really looking forward to going on to the next destination in Sri Lanka. But first I think everyone is looking forward to a nice long hot shower and a long, long sleep. And we need to stretch our legs a bit – it’s pretty cramped on board and you can’t really walk around!