This should be the last night on the trip to Sarawak
28 June 2009 | Indonesian Islands on the way to Sarawak
Chris White
It has been easy travelling if not exciting sailing. Last night the sea turned to an oily mirror that was as flat as it gets, of course, your right that means there was NO wind and of course we motored through the night and indeed that carried on today and as we go into the evening 1800 our time we are still motoring even though we had the Genoa out to try to seek a little breeze now from a very favourable direction but oh so week that the motor is pushing us faster than the wind.
With one motor we are cruising at 6 knots and earlier at 7 with a knot of tidal current boosting our passage. This is easy though as the motor is not working hard and we don't want to arrive until tomorrow morning to enter the river entrance in full delight, currently at this speed we should be at that waypoint at 0930 in the morning, but we still have to face tides and currents that could help or hinder!
Today? Dolphins, waterspouts, passing close by Indonesian Islands, and HOT very hot, so we sit on the scoop steps at the back and lean back holding onto a rope as the saltwater rushing past splashes all over and freshens us up a little. It is also good to have plenty of water for fresh showers and rinsing off............yesterday we made a stack of water. One of the by products of motoring is full batteries and watermaking ability! Plenty of this on this trip.
The Islands are typical Indonesian Islands although they sit between two area of Malaysia and we had fishing boats close by and they actually caught fish, but our trolling lines, two out now in desperation, one with a flying fish we found on deck as "extra bait" but as the miles continue to rack up the fish elude that temptation and the only satisfaction we have is losing a couple of lures, one of a brand new commercial trailing line which I can only guess was not well put together.
Have a brief phone service today as we passed the Indonesian Islands but lost quickly as we picked up a good little tidal run that pushed us through and back onto our passage east to Sarawak and Kuchin.
At Sarawak we should be able to get back onto broadband.
As we have all said in the group we are in "not great sailing, but still pleasant and sure beats getting flogged by strong winds" so all in all so far a good passage and we should arrive tomorrow.