Where am I ? > Journals >March 2004 >
(NEDERLANDSTALIGE VERSIE BESCHIKBAAR)

March 2004

Friday 5th March
Only 10 minutes after we went to bed the trap door slammed: GOTCHA!!

Over the last few days we noticed nibbled on bread, plastic bags and even bananas so we wondered who this uninvited guest would be. A bird, bat or maybe a mouse? The mystery got solved pretty quick when I saw something slip away late at night, which resembled a BIG mouse. HELP!! I don't want a rat on my boat! Immediate action was needed! The dock master offered us a rat trap, that turned out to be a very effective one.

There he was, our little intruder, watching us with fear. The remaining of the cheese dangling on its hook. As soon as our friend started nibbling the cheese, the door slammed. Now we’ve got a problem: What to do with a living rat?

Believe it or not but the following day, Stefan borrowed the bike of 11 year old Casper and took the animal to Clementi Park to give it back its freedom. Stefan, I’m proud of you!

Saturday 6th / Sunday 7th & Saturday 13th / Sunday 14th March
We felt that Stefan’s “Optimist Course” at the age of 6, might not be adequate to sail half of the world. Wouldn’t it be useful to sign up for a Day Skipper Course? Since Stefan is to stubborn to take any regular classroom instructions it was quickly decided to spend the money on Natascha.

And the money was well spent indeed! I learnt lots about navigation, knots, man-over-board procedure, leaving and entering Marina’s and many more things a skipper should know. Our group consisted of two Swiss, one German, one Brit and yes….one Singaporean too. Luckily they were all very nice, since one overnighter at the boat was included.

Joerg, our German instructor, knows a lot about diesel engines too. In a few weeks time he will shine a bit more light on the secret world of diesel engines. This is exactly what we need! Stefan already knows quite some diesel engine stuff, but there’s still a lot to learn. And sure, we have a sailing boat so why needing an engine? But believe me, there are moments when you really don’t want miss this “iron sail”.

Thursday 18th March
Stefan called me in my office. “Bad news” he said. I was prepared for the worst, since Stefan normally is the most positive thinking one. “Winston doesn’t want to lift our boat from the water since our mast is too tall. After he spoiled the wind meter of another yacht recently, he’s not that keen to lift yachts our size”.

Winston was supposed to do all the necessary boat jobs like painting the deck, antifouling, woodwork, replacing the head, placing new windows and hatches. We agreed to start on 2nd April and have the work done in his wharf at Keppel Marina. Shit!! What to do?

One of his friends in Pongol Marina might be willing to take over the job, but we’re not that fond of this idea. Pongol Marina is located in the Far East of Singapore. Pretty inconvenient if you are dependent on taxis. We are persistent and propose to take off the wind meter and bare the full risk in case anything goes wrong. Eventually Winston agrees. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!

After going through all the pros and cons we considered it a wise investment to spend another small fortune on a forward looking sonar. While it’s interesting to see how many meters you have under the boot, it’s even better to know what’s ahead of you. It’s reassuring to know that from now we no longer need to guess where the reef is but that we can actually see it appearing ahead of us.

Wednesday 24th March
Wednesday is my weekly day off which is a nice opportunity to do all the necessary jobs you don’t want to do during the week ends. Since we moved on to the boat it’s no more shopping, sunbathing and going for facials. Now it’s entertaining fridge repair guys, engine mechanics and receiving all kinds of supplies that get delivered to the boat. I’m not complaining too much about the shopping and the sunbathing bit because I’m barred from spending money anyway and I’m sure there will be no shortage of sun on our trip.

I'm practising with my yoghurt maker and bread machine and trying tasty and easy recipes from my cooking books: “Feast Afloat” en “The Cruising Cuisine”. A considerable amount of time goes into maintaining this website, which I really enjoy though.

Saturday 27th March

We received two golden awards for our website and we're pretty pleased with that. Not bad huh, for a bunch of amateurs?

[Natascha]