Our first foray into the seas with Emerald Sea was our 9 day trip from Singapore to Tioman. We'd been up this way in previous years with our motorboat and its an enjoyable location. We cruised up with other boaters organised by Simpson Marine. Its was approx 1.5 days to sail up stopping in Punghali Malaysia for clearance and then to Pulau Sibu before the final run to Pulau Tioman.

The key purpose of the trip was to trial our newly installed systems and experience the boat. We encountered some good weather from 40-45kts and other days of steady 30's so put the sails/rigging to good use.

We had 3 squalls hit us at various times with one consequence anchor drag at 2am onto a leeshore. Other adventures were a stuck anchor around old fishing ropes and my first working dive for more than 25yrs!

The solar system worked majic and kept our batteries to 100% SOC during daylight hours - even overcast days. I did have a reconfiguration issue with the Mastervolt BMS but that was resolved later. Our Dessalator watermaker worked well, Bauer dive system performed and we got in a few dives including a nice swim with Mr Turtle.

We tested the drogue (GaleRider) in fair winds/conditions with the bridle, rode, etc at various speeds. It deployed well and slowed the boat down as expected. We adjusted for chafing. And recovered easily enough with our stern winch. We then wrote up a procedure for any future deployments. A future trial will be to set it up to allow for turning the boat or keeping it at the desired wind angle.

The storm jib was also put up. Its a ATN type that hanks on over the furled genoa. While relatively easy to install it wont be a nice event in demanding conditions.

Other tasks were running out jacklines, testing the PIBs (R-10s) and EPRIB, etc.

And Rose's breadmaking was superb!