Hi all,
really sorry, we've been slack updating.

It's been nearly 3 months in Malaysia and we are heading to Thailand next week as our visa is running out.

Since Malacca we stopped in Pangkor where we spent over 2 weeks. Part of this was due to us looking for a rigger to exchange the wires. There is nothing wrong with our rig, insurances take the requirement of an annual rig inspection away if it's renewed every 10 years. So we thought we might just do it now.

This was quite a funny experience. Despite good references the rigger was after two weeks and three visits on the boat still not capable of providing a BOM ( list of material for the job) and giving a clear answer on whether he had the required stuff. Best was when he took a caliper and declared an 11.2mm wire to be 10mm (quite some strength less). We finally told him to call off the crane and leave the mast standing. I do trust our rig, I don't trust any rig done by some clueless person.
Then we had the foresail fixed there (luff rope), same drama but after second round at least nothing left I couldn't stich up myself (eg the rope wasn't secured in place at all). I'll get sailcloth in South Africa and do it myself there again (fingers crossed it'll last till then).
So to summarize don't plan any work there :-).

Next we stopped in Penang just for some sleep and sailed to Langkawi.

Langkawi is stunning the water is in some areas a bit better than in Malacca straight but you need to hunt for places to swim. It's a bit of a sailors hub, lots of people you know from previous anchorages, everything is tax free ( a tiger a dollar!). Choices for food shopping within walking distance from any of the anchorages are a limited, chicken and rice and rice and chicken, fish (more expensive) veggies hmm not really fresh nor affordable in most cases.

Anyhow time here was great and we're just getting our ducks in the row for going to Thailand next week (fuel up, stock up,..)

And we start looking forward to the next part of the trip.

greetings Mike and Ellen