The previous three days had been kind to us.
Huge swells up to 4m high at intervals of 40/50 metres had lulled us into a state of stupor that had been helped by the engines drone since leaving Kenting in Taiwan.
Oily seas, clear skies and a blistering sun slowly gave way to square waves, gloomy, then ominous, skies and strong contrary winds as we approached the northern coast of Luzon, Philippines.
By late afternoon of the third day we were making no headway at all on our passage South so we veered off on a tack into the Lingayen Gulf with a view of then tacking back into the South China sea. Not so.
Lingayen has its own micro climate that seems to go against all the forecasts, so we got into it, but the winds were too strong for us to sail or motor sail out of it. Caution insisted that we simply motor into the contrary conditions until the expected evening's abating winds would allow us to eventually tack out as originally planned.
Five hours later, at about midnight, we were deep into the gulf, the winds had not appreciably weakened when the hand steering (wheel) system broke down. The emergency tiller was brought into play and that with our autopilot would suffice until we could make repairs in our next port. Then the radar broke down. This was not a tragic loss as we rely on permanent watch keeping and though it is of assistance when near to land, it is not mandatory.
Shortly after these delightful events the motor started to vary its pitch, screamed then growled until finally it stopped - and refused to start up again.
So .... getting out of the gulf was not an option anymore and coming up next would be the winds of the early morning, expected to be contrary and strong by dawn or shortly thereafter.
The only solution was to try to make for the port of San Fernando, a place that we had vowed never to go into due to negative publicity since the early 90's when theft from both the natives and the bureaucrats was prevalent.
Apprehensive though we were, we started to tack our way into port. Unfortunately, again, the winds were totally against us and we couldn't make any southing towards the entrance for several hours. By 6am we'd had enough and given that we didn't have any other option but to go into that port and make repairs, we called Port Control.
Someone identifying themselves as the port pilot replied and advised that they would come out with a 135hp power boat to tow us in. Relief.
About an hour later, a 10' wooden dinghy with a 40 hp outboard and three bedraggled looking guys arrived and announced that they were the "rescue party". MMMMMhhh...........
The least bedraggled came on board and immediately requested that we settle on the terms of the "rescue mission". "One thousand US dollars", the guy said quite nonchalantly.

CHE!!? I said. "You're a pirate!!!" Pauline screamed out. Unmoved he repeated his price.
After having been out there for almost 18 hours tacking back and forth, having had that many items fail, I felt that "maybe" it'd be worth it just to get into safe harbour, but ....... This guy was really a hyena, a vulture, someone who'd descend on the helpless and hold them to ransom, pure and simple. We tried to negotiate but he said no, we could try to get a tug - price US$1500 an hour.
In my mind I was trying to formulate alternatives but there were few other than sailing out into the South China Sea and eventually getting enough of an angle on the wind to sail back into Subic Bay, 150 miles further South.
"What about the Coast Guard?" I asked. "Ha!" he replied, "they'll never answer". So I called the Coast Guard whilst he was still on board and ...... we received an immediate reply. We described our situation, the breakdowns in equipment, our inability to go into port and they asked us to standby.
At this stage I'd already started planning to bring a couple of my Sicilian uncles into the Philippines to give lessons in kneecapping using the vulture as the "dummy" - over and over. We kicked him off our boat (unfortunately we didn't manage to do it literally) and waited.
About thirty minutes later, the Coast Guard replied advising that Philippines Navy vessel 394 would be at our position to offer assistance in about 45 minutes. AND IT ARRIVED!!
Not a big ship the "Antonio Navarre", but it does have powerful twin engines enabling it to battle the, by now, steep seas and strong winds that were directly on our nose. Despite its power, it took 2 hours to travel the 6 miles to port despite their capacity to generate many hundreds of horse power. Our little boat was absolutely drenched, we as well, but finally we arrived at Pier 1 of Poro Point Harbour in San Fernando lashed alongside the navy vessel.
As we approached there seemed to be a large crowd gathered on the wharf.
At least 50 officials of various ranks, many with lots of brass, embroidered uniforms , insignia and, probably .... 40 media representatives from TV, radio, newspapers, stringers, news service organizations, satellite uplink units.............. Jeeeeez! We only had a bit of a breakdown!
Anyhow, after about 2 hours of formalities and photo opportunities, being introduced to the higher up for the navy for the region, the chief of the Coast Guard, Police, Customs big wigs, Immigration, quarantine, port authority manager, night cleaner, the lady who takes out the rubbish at dawn blah, blah, and having "graciously" provided multiple sound bites and video snippets thanking our saviours for their heroic and valiant efforts, we secured the lines to our rescue ship, were connected to their on board generating system, filled up with water, showered in the captain's quarters, fed in the officers' mess and left to collapse in our beds under the watchful eyes of an armed guard on the deck of our Navy "dock."
At 8am the following morning, mechanics of all sorts arrived. Eventually we asked that the circus be reduced to one team who set about to repair the problem with the engine and then proceed to the steering. The aide to the area Coast Guard chief said, " Compliments of Captain Lim".
This morning we had a bright young energetic guy from the navy climb up the mast to fix a halyard ("They need the experience" the captain said), they've driven us back and forth into town so what (?) me complain? We'll soon be ready to move off again.
So much for the apprehension, but hey! Yes there are vultures in San Fernando.