Friday, 6 August 2004
Leaving Nongsa Marina - South China Sea
GPS: 1° 12.5' N 104° 06.0' E
[Stefan>>]
We leave Nongsa at noon. While we motor
out of the marina, we can also see the last of Singapore's high-rises. Goodbye
for now, hope to see you again one day.
The wind is pretty strong and creates a choppy sea. Natascha
was very ambitious in making an apple pie. Too bad the sea was so rough she never
had a taste of it. The pasta salad with tuna was also out of the question. She
was actually feeding the fish rather than eating them!
[<<< Stefan]
Saturday, 7 August 2004
South China Sea
GPS: 1° 19.0'
N 105° 43.0' E
[Natascha >>>]
I just feel like shit. The waves are coming from all directions
giving the boat a rather unpleasant motion. Keep on eating a drinking is the common
advise, but can somebody please tell me how to keep it all in? Well they also
say you will get over it eventually, so let’s hope eventually comes soon enough.
[<<Natascha]
[Stefan >>]
The pasta salad was very nice, also
the second day, but since we didn't keep it in the fridge it wasn't as good anymore.
In fact it was so bad that my stomach also got a bit upset with me. That's two
on a diet.
Sunday, 8 August 2004
South China Sea
GPS: 0° 11.1' N 106° 02.0' E
 We
passed the equator at 9:33am. We had the rituals already the first time during
the Equator Cruise in October so we didn't bother jumping in the ocean, drinking
lots of beer or do other funny stuff this time.
All our work should have resulted in a dry boat, free
of any water coming into places that are intended to stay dry. Well, that's the
should have. Reality is that we are looking at soaked t-shirts again. Neptune
didn't catch us totally off-guard as we applied some good risk management practices
in spreading the gear over more than one locker.
The germs are taking control over the HF-radio this time,
which has problems transmitting. For some reason, the voltage at the instruments
is about 1.5 volts below what the batteries are actually producing. The radio
draws considerable power when transmitting, which it doesn't have. So quite rightly,
it transmits very weakly, too weak to get through. Another job for the next stop.
Next failure is the engine. Fair is fair, this time no
germs, just bad luck. We just started the generator to run the fridge when we
needed to tack to avoid two fishermen ships. These guys are by right totally unpredictable
and tow fishing nets up to a mile long, in which you donut want to get caught.
After we trimmed the sails on our new course, I remarked
a strange noise from the engine compartment. Could be the casing, could be something
else, but it was alarming enough to kill it. Switched it off but it didn't seem
to stop! Some electrical problem that kept it running although power was off?
Very strange. We yanked all gear out of the aft cabin to open the hatch and surprise,
surprise: the main engine was running. Who the hell started that one?
Rushing out to the motor panel to kill it, I saw what
happened. When tacking the line controlling the main sheet traveler hooked itself
under the ignition key and started the engine when tension came on. The rattling
was no more than the starter motor that kept un running. As if you are driving
a car while keeping the starter on. Not a nice sound and certainly not very healthy
for the starter motor. It smelled like hell and when I tried to start again, it
failed. Can’t blame it after such abuse. Ignorant enough, tried again after 15
minutes and it worked. Probably only a bit upset and overheated but otherwise
fine. What a relief.
Monday, 9 August 2004
South China Sea
GPS: 0° 38.9' S 106° 50.9' E
Good news and bad news. To start with the good news: the
HF radio is back into action. Don't know why, but it decided to work smoothly
today. Let's see what the germs are up to tomorrow…
The bad news: yesterday’s revival of the starter motor
was a very temporary one. So now, we are out of an engine. I know Espiritu is
a sailing boat with sails, and numerous people sailed the world with just that,
but I do like the idea of an engine in an emergency or simply in calms. There
is no way to fix the starter motor myself, so all we can do is hope for fair winds.
 Midday
brought us an interesting piece of navigation. As you can have it, we managed
to hit the minuscule pieces of shallow water in the vast South China Sea. C-map
and the charts mentioned 3 meter shallows which should be doable with our 2.7
meter draft but you never know. With Natascha scanning at the forward looking
sonar an myself staring at C-map, we managed to navigate safely through the hazards.
In fact, we haven't seen any indications of shallow waters at all - normally breaking
waves or at least a bit of a confused sea.
This first week is not exactly very fast, thanks to the
head current, waves crashing into the bow and the need for continuous tacking
since our destination is exactly into the wind. The logged 120 miles per 24 hours
translate to only 70 to 80 miles in the right direction. Let’s hope we can bear
away a bit further down where the pilot charts predict a more easterly wind rather
than the south-south-east we are currently facing.
[<< Stefan]
[Natascha >>]
 Four
days was all it took to get to ‘eventually’. I managed to find my sea-legs and
sit happily in the cockpit reading a book while Espiritu keeps on fighting the
waves for us.
 We
also found our rhythm in the night watches. Stefan takes the first 20:00 to 23:00
shift (in fact 19:00-23:00 as I mostly wave of earlier), after which I take over
till 2:00. Stefan's second shift runs till 4:30 followed by me till 7:00. This
gives me the joy of the beautiful sunrise each morning.
[<<Natascha]
Tuesday 10 August 2004
Java Sea
GPS: 1° 59.6' S 107° 08.1' E
[Stefan >>]
We arrived a bit later then expected at the narrow channel from
the South China Sea to the Java Sea. The pilot speaks of ‘a challenging route
for the experienced sailor who does not mind a few uncharted shallows’. The alternative,
easier passage would be around the island Billiton which would incur another 150
miles extra we donut fancy. The charts also show the channel as a major shipping
lane for tankers who are considerably larger than our tiny Espiritu. Well, let’s
hope the wind and current are in our favor so that we can keep the ideal course,
without needing the engine we don't have. Better make it there through daylight.
Once we entered the first section of the channel the
wind started doing what I feared for – shifting to the south so that we have it
exactly head-on and increasing sharply. Boat speed reduced to 4 knots – 2.5 knots
in the right direction and tons of water coming over the bow. Say bye bye to that
day-light passage.
Fortunately the wind backed to East a bit by the end
of the afternoon so that at least we would not have to tack through the very narrow,
supposedly most dangerous section that is only 1.5 mile wide. Armed with electronic
goodies like C-map linked to GPS, forward looking sonar and radar we navigated
our way through. Good he, if you can actually defend all your goodies to the misses
this way-:).
The wind stayed in the easterly corner which enabled
us a nice beam reach doing over 7 knots. The pilot charts already predicted this
and if they are indeed correct, we will arrive in Merak in 2.5 days time.
[<< Stefan]
[Natascha >>]
Indonesia has quite a bad reputation
with regards to piracy. Statistically, your changes of getting hit are far less
than getting robbed in any big city (except Singapore of course), but still, we
rather keep our distance. We had one incident where we were followed by an unlighted
fishermen ship when coming from Kota Kinabalu last year, which was proof enough
the stuff could happen. Anyway, so far so good - nothing seen yet.
Wednesday, 11 August 2004
Java Sea
GPS: 3° 55.4' S 106° 42.4' E
 Bugger!
We lost our 20 kg Bruce anchor - which was sitting on the bow roller - because
the shackle turned itself loose. Forgot to secure it again when put back after
the paint work for which we pay the price now. Quite stupid. These things are
not cheap and moreover, we probably can’t get one until Mauritius and the Bruce
happens to be the anchor which sets most easily. We do have two alternative anchors,
a 20 kg CQR (plough shape) and a 20 kg Danforth so not much else to do than mount,
and secure, the CQR.
Other than that, this is our best day so far. Promise
to donut rub it into your bleach office noses daily, but this one is worth describing.
At 11 am, I'm sitting in the cockpit in a nice 28 degrees with the wind blowing
through my face. The cabin spreads the scent of freshly baked bread with a bottle
of Chardonnay chilling in the freezer. The cockpit speakers play the Dire Straits
to keep us in a good mood. This is what cruising is all about!
[<<Natascha]
[Stefan >>>]
 We
also resolved the HF radio mystery. It was quite strange that the voltage was
just nice on the Tioman trip and now, we only got 11 instead of the usual 12.5
volts. Something must have happened between then and now, and excluding the germs,
it must be my own clumsiness. Well, what have I all done in terms of electricity
the past few weeks.
Firstly, replaced the batteries itself. So opened the
hatch, measure voltage on the plugs and that was all nice. The connections to
the cables also looked good so no worries there.
Secondly, unplugged the switchboard rack to mount a new
circuit breaker for the electrical toilet. So tested the fitting of that one and
that was all fine. Strangely enough the voltage on the rack already dropped to
the troublesome 11 volts.
So tried the voltage at the cable attached to the rack
and there we had the full 12.5. And now that I think of it, I did fry one wire
when it touched the ground plate. At the time I only replaced the wire itself,
but it must also have damaged the main connection. As expected, it was my own
clumsiness. Stripped the wires a bit shorter and replaced the connectors and my
radio was happily blasting its full 100 watts again.
Natascha immediately jumped on the full power and started
playing with the bread-maker, the CD-player and charged the electronic toothbrush.
That's our role play these days – I fix and she uses.
[<< Stefan]
Thursday, 12 August
2004
Java Sea, arrival Merak Harbour
GPS: 5° 31.2' S 106° 13.0' E
The
last day is quite boring. No wind at all, and without an engine that means floating
around with the sails slamming each time the swell rocks the boat. Not good for
the sails and even worse for my temper. Finally there is a bit of a breach that
pushes us with 3 knots towards Merak.
When the wind dies completely we have to find a way to
float into the harbour without the current sweeping us on the rocks. I read somewhere
that you can quite effectively use the dinghy to push your boat into an anchorage
if needed. A 13 ton boat pushed by a little dinghy with a 8 hp outboard? And it
works! We are actually doing 3 knots being able to maneuver quite effectively
avoiding the huge ferries that depart to Sumatra from here.
We are immediately surrounded by locals who want to earn
a few bucks from us, and one of them knows a mechanic who can come and take a
look at our engine tomorrow morning. That sounds good.
Friday, 13 August 2004
Merak Harbour, Indonesia
GPS: 5° 56.7'
S 106° 00.0' E
The mechanic actually shows up at 10 am. Guess these guys
really want to make some money. They'll probably pull us a leg, but we donut really
care as long as we can leave shortly.
He returns later in the afternoon with the solenoid replaced
and the starter motor itself re-winded. When fitting, our dear friend came alive
right away. Good boy. The US$ 150 was indeed a rip-off to local standards, but
hey, we are helped and fixing this kind of stuff in a western country will probably
cost you more.
[<<< Stefan]
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