Dame East China Sea

Beating has changed to fine reaching on East China Sea. Conditions are flat and sunny on deck, and drier below deck now that we have been able to ventilate again.

Chinese fishing fleets are massive. Last night we sailed through a fleet of hundreds and hundreds of fishing boats, whilst dodging fishing pots marked with flags and buoys. Chinese military boat came around to check us out, however they did not contact us in any way – just disappeared after deciding we were not causing any trouble.

There is lots of cargo traffic as well, resembling very much Solent when you’ll look behind and see a giant cargo ship resembling a small city charging straight towards us, ploughing at 22 knots of speed. Yikes! Not a sight one relishes on a yacht trying to make best course to windward. It’s also tricky to identify vessels on AIS as there is so many of them that we’ll have to first take a bearing on a hand bearing compass, then match the bearing and approximate distance on AIS to make an educated guess which cargo ship or tanker we should call on VHF radio.

When we contact other vessels on colliding courses, first we ask whether they can see us on their radar and see the same CPA (Closest Point of Approach) as we do. Then we’ll politely enquire whether it would be possible for them to adjust their course to give us a little bit more clearance. Usually this is not a problem, we’ve had to alter our course to pass astern of a cargo ship.

Yes, Ma’am. No, Ma’am

Me (engaging friendly telephone voice, not too chirpy to be annoying at the midnight): Good evening Sir, this is CV11, we are a sailing boat at your port bow. It looks like our closest point of approach is 0.9 miles. Would you be able to confirm that we appear on your radar, please? Over.
The watch at cargo ship: Good evening, yes Ma’am, I can see you on our radar. The CPA is 1.0 miles, may I ask you to give us more clearance, please? Over.
Me: Sir, we are a sailing vessel making our best course to windward at the moment. I was hoping that you would be able to alter your course if possible. Are you perhaps constrained by draft? Over.
The watch: Negative, Ma’am. Ok, Let me alter our course to starboard. This will give you clearance of 2 miles. We will pass port to port. Over.
Me: Wonderful, thank you very much Sir. Let me confirm this again: We will hold our course, you will alter your course to starboard. We will pass port to port, red to red. Over.
The watch: Correct. We will pass port to port, red to red. Over.
Me:Thank you again for your assistance Sir, have a good night watch. CV11 out.
The watch: [Insert ships name here] out and standby on channel 06 and 16.

After this conversation I feel content and satisfied for successfully accomplished mission, then 5 minutes later horror creeps in as the ship does not alter its course after all. Then we’ll wake up the skipper and let him have the same conversation again with the same ship and watch.

Dame, Lady or Ma’am

Guys on Visit Finland call each other Sirs, half jokingly in style of The Master and Commander. This gives them a feeling of camaradery and friendship. I have been wondering what is the feminine version of this, as we women feel left out from the friendly banter. ‘Dame’ does not sound good for the purpose, even though it is an earned title. ‘Lady’ works even less so, being a title given to wives of Sir’s. ‘Ma’am’ makes me feel like a 75-year old sock knitting pensioner, hardly dynamic enough for a racing yacht. “Here’s your tea, Sir.” “Here’s your tea, Lady/Dame/Ma’am/Pet/Love/Sugar.” All just bad or even worse: patronising.

Any suggestions from the folks at home?

Dames & Sirs of the East China Sea at 29 38′.047N 123 15′.080E

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