Oh Sh-T!!!
19 September 2013 | Derawan!
Bill
Well, we are both glad last night is over with and the wind that came with it. We came within 5 inches of kissing another boat!! About 0245, Tracy looked out the stern port lights and saw a catamaran about 50 feet away. We both got out of bed and headed up on deck. The wind was in the mid 20 knot range which isn't really that bad but there is a BIG current that comes through the anchorage as the tide shifts. I'd estimate it at well over 5 knots. We were facing one way and the cat was facing the other. They are much lighter than we are so they flow in the wind more than in the current. We flow in the current as heavy as we are and typically face the opposite way of other boats in the anchorage. I went below to get one of our flash lights and suddenly heard Tracy call out to start the engine. By the tone of her voice--it was NOW!!!! With the engine started, I rushed up the stairs to the cockpit and saw the cat now right at our starboard side just aft of the cockpit with the stern of his boat about to hit our side. He'd started his engine and put it in gear just as I did the same and we slowly slid apart. OH SH-T!!! We sat in the cockpit and watched and if we got to close, I put the engine in reverse to keep us apart. The tide didn't reverse for about another 90 minutes and when it did, it finally agreed with the wind. All this time, the stern had been facing into the wind which put the bow downwind--weird feeling to be reversed to the normal flow of the bow going into the wind. We sat in the cockpit through the rest of the night watching to see what would happen. Luckily, nothing did. After breakfast, we dropped out mooring lines and moved to a mooring much closer to shore. Should have less current rushing past us. Only problem is that we are close to another catamaran and he, like all the rest of the catamarans, swing differently than a mono hull. We sit and we watch. Many of the other boats in the anchorage have either move to different buoys or have just up and left for other islands. Derawan is a nice place, but the mooring field just doesn't measure up to what cruisers need and expect.
Earlier in the night, we saw two boats moving around in the anchorage trying to find mooring buoys. I thought that they were boats that had just come back into the anchorage. Oh no, they were two boats that had chafed through the line that held them to the mooring buoy. They had attached their lines to the "tag line" on the buoy. This is a thinner line that use use to grab a hold of the buoy, not to tie your boat up to. Amazingly, both came loose at about the same time. It was a restless night in the anchorage for all of us. As the Sun came up, several boats took off out of the anchorage, including the one we came so close to. With our mooring being in the middle of the main tidal current flow, we decided to move to a different buoy a bit closer to shore farther from the tidal current. It didn't take long to find a mooring and we dropped the lines and headed over. Once we got there, we couldn't pull the buoy up high enough to get a line through the "eye" bolt under it, so I stripped off my clothes and jumped in. Since we still had current in the anchorage, Tracy grabbed a line and I held on to it as she pulled me along the side of the boat. I got to the buoy and threaded the line through the "eye" and handed the end up to Tracy all the while getting pushed around by the current and the swell it generated. Tracy cleated the line on deck and I slowly floated back to the ladder on the stern. Once on deck, we put Zephyr in reverse and backed down on the mooring to make sure it was held fast. No more dragging for us.
Yesterday was "free fuel day". All the participants of the rally(at last count 26 in the anchorage)were entitled to 200 liters of diesel. The fuel barge was to be in and ready to give out the fuel in the morning. Well, morning came and went. No fuel yet. We headed to the island to have lunch and stimulate the economy. As we headed back to Zephyr, about 1345, there was a line of 10 boats at the barge. We hustled back to Zephyr and I grabbed our two cans(one 20 liters and one 10 liters) and headed back to the barge. The line stretched off the starboard side of the barge with each tied to the stern of the dinghy in front of us. We slowly moved forward as each got their jugs filled. They were hand pumping it into each of the cans. The gas powered pump didn't seem to be working. About an hour later, they finally got it up and running and the line moved faster. Then it died and it slowed down again. When I finally got near the barge, I was told that they would only be here the one day and we needed to get all our fuel that afternoon as he was leaving late that night. Say what!!! With 26 boats at 15 minutes each, that's 6 hours to get everyone done and that was only if you got each done in 15 minutes. Not going to happen. I was going to have to go back at least 6 more times to get our fuel and a storm was coming our way. Don't know who set this up but they didn't think it through well enough. Now here is where it got even more interesting. Once you had waited in line, when you came back, you could pull up to the port side of the barge and jump all the other boats that had been waiting in line!!! Oh, were some people pissed!! On my second trip, I did as others had and took a verbal lashing from other cruisers. WIth the limited amount that I could take, the folks on the barge loaned me enough extra tanks that I would need to only make one more run. That was great as the Sun was going down and the wind was getting stronger. I made the third and final trip and the barge folks wanted me to come back that night and return the empty jugs. The Sun was down and the wind was up and it wasn't going to happen. I advised them of this and said I would return them to the rally organizer on shore in the morning. They were happy with that.(I already return them this morning). We did get some bad fuel that clogged our "Baja Filter" that all our fuel goes through before it comes on board. It takes water and lots of sediment out of the fuel and makes it much cleaner by the time it hits the tanks. We emptied the last 4 twenty gallon tanks into the boat this AM. We did put it through a nylon footy stocking before it even hit the "Baja Filter" so it is extra clean.
Tonight is a banquet for the fleet held over on the mainland. We will be picked up about 1530 and returned about 1800 in time for the nightly blow.
Two days ago, I was checking the Yamaha generator we bought in Pohnpei. The choke cable had been loose since we had it serviced in Palau, plus it was running a bit rough. I took off the side panel to get at the choke cable and found that the nut that held it in place had come off. I screwed it back on and all seemed well. When we purchased(brand new) it back in Pohnpei, I'd taken off all the sides to learn about how it was made. I took off the air filter cover and found that the foam filter had somehow hardened and didn't really have the softness of normal foam. It seemed a bit brittle to the touch. As a precaution, I had one shipped to my sister in law and she forwarded it to us while we were in Palau. When I took the cover off this time, there was no filter in the housing, just a bunch of small oil soaked bits in the filter housing. Now I could see why it had been running so rough. I'm sure parts of the filter had gotten into the carburetor and were probably messing with it's settings. It still ran and made plenty of power but it tends to surge as it runs. I cleaned out all the residue and wiped up the oil and put in the new filter. Started up just fine when I was done but now we will have to see how she is in the long run. When I bought the generator, I tried to find out how old it actually was and the nearest I could find using the serial number was it was about 5 years old but still "new". It had been just sitting around in a warehouse somewhere and now it was getting used for the first time. At least I had the forethought to bring in another one.