Returning to this diary today with a heavy heart, for I must now face the possibility of being delayed for three more months until the south-west monsoon abates and north winds set in. This is not a sudden decision. Ever since watching the boat sail to windward in only moderately heavy weather in the opening between Negros and Mindanao, I have become convinced of the impossibility of making appreciable progress if I should have to tack for longer distances, especially with the present sails which have deteriorated beyond hope of effective repair during the two hundred and fifty mile trip so far.
This morning, sailors from the Tawi-Tawi islands, reputedly the most competent mariners amongst the sea-minded Moros, passed here and gave the first expert advice I have had, gathered from their experience of long trips as far S.E. as New Guinea and S. to Timor. They say winds will be around S. all the way down and stronger in S. latitudes, that I will not reach my destination in five months, that I need two suits of sails. Exaggerated, but I can draw my own conclusions approximately the same.
From October onwards, they think, it would be easy, with a fair wind blowing all the way. Their story tallies approximately with the scanty information in the Philippine Pilot on the same topic.
Determination and will power can accomplish much but can hardly change the s.W. monsoon or mend a rotted sail.
Problems connected with delay are many, mainly concerned with hideout, supply and finance. Thinking several schemes over.