sorayacat

Well back in the water, after all the work Soraya looks like a million dollars.
The paint is all shiny like new & the teak is glowing it lovely orange brown
I do believe she has never looked so good.

All set for the next 2 years or hopefully a bit more.

On wed 22-8-18 it was merdeka day the Malaysian independence day so a holiday for all.

We too out 2 young men we became friendly with from a restaurant in Setiawan on the boat for half day cruise.
One from Indonesia & the other from India.
They both work 7 days a week so it was a once in a life time opportunity for them to experience a life on a cruising catamaran.
Both were really exited & had a drive of the boat.
We went out to Pankor island, where we anchored & the had a swim. Both were going to swim in long pants & sleeves out of modesty & respect for Soraya; until we both told them to strip off to swimmers.
They we both still reluctant until I explained the on the boat it was Australia not Malaysia & ozzy rules apply on board, then it was no problem.
A storm could be seen moving in so we headed back as the wind came up, so up went the head sail for a short sail.
We put the sail away & turned in to the marina channel about a mile away.

A dinghy could be seen going crazy like some one on a JetSki about half a mile away.
As we got closer there appeared to be no one on board, I asked Soraya to get the binoculars & sure enough there was no one on board.
I immediately realise there must be some one in the water & looked for them.
Found them approx 200meters in front of us waving frantically to attract our attention.
Then briefed the larger of our two guests to help get him out of the water.
I approached slowly with about a meter & a half clearance from the side of the boat,then hit reverse on both engines fairly hard as we came along side.
With 15-20kts of wind up our bum I was unable to stop in time, however our guest was on the ball & grabbed him as we went past.
A few seconds later he was onboard & rescued.
It turned out it was Abe (abey) the sealift driver from the marina.
He was absolutely 100% exhausted another 10-15 min in the water & he would have drowned.
Safely on board he was unable to move off the rear steps for about 10 min.
The storm was moving in & the wind rising.
So we proceeded to anchor.
It proceeded to rain for the next 60-90min.

A very lucky day for Abe who has a young family.

As they say here it was the will of Allah that we were in the right place & right time to save him.

A boat came out from the marina with Shah driving & took Abe off, the went to get the dinghy but were unable to catch for about an hour until it ran out of fuel.

The picture is of Soraya, Putra & the other unfortunately I do not know his name.
He was the one who pulled Abe out. The red baseball cap
If you read this abe I think you should visit restaurant Sri Rose & thank him without his prompt action we would have had to go round for a second attempt

So enough with the drama.

We took them back to the restaurant & said our goodbyes, both of them had tears in their eyes & did not want us to go.
I know the both had a wonderful time & experience they will remember for the rest of their lives.
It give both Soraya & I a warm & fuzzy feeling that we could do this for them, not to mention saving Abe life.

So a great day had by all

Brian & Soraya

We finally made it back to Lumut & Pankor Marina Island.
Lift out was booked for Thursday .
Sealift broke down rescheduled for Saturday.
Sat morning had a big thunder storm that went on till mid afternoon, so lift now Sunday.
Lifted on Sunday with no problems.
What a luxury they parked us on the ashfelt roadway not the dirt.

Monday got rental car & moved into apartment in Lumut, RM 900 a month = AUD $300 +rm100 for pay tv + electricity.
Photo is view from apartment balcony.

Will not go into all the detail of work
1/ rebuild both gearboxes
2/ rebuild anchor windlass & sandblast & repaint
3/ remove nyalic clear coat from hull & cockpit paint 25 man days &
100 ltr of thinner
4/ remove old anti foul 9 man days
5/ remove & repair 1 exhaust through hull
6/ remove & replace 3 stainless (316) through hulls (DO NOT USE
316 BELOW WATER LINE)
7/ repair several minor deck leaks
8/ teak deck sand & repaint
9/ repair & repaint damage to hull from JetSki hitting boat
10/ repair & repaint Impact damage to hull from hitting rubbish in
Water
11/ repair & repaint 30 odd small chips to paint work
12/ replace old windlass solenoid that stopped working after
was reinstalled
13/ polish all paintwork
14/ polish all stainless steel
15/ remove all anchor chain from boat & put back after work
Complete
16/ source shade cloth & put extra layer on window covers
17/ get cover made for dinghy to stop sun eating flotation
18/ repaint with new anti foul

Some of the above took days or weeks to complete so many jobs going at same time.
Plus many small jobs not listed
Anticipated 1 month but as is the norm for boats on the hard it was double the estimate & I consider myself lucky that it was completed in 2 months.
The relaunch was delayed by 1 week when I discovered 3 days before launch the windlass solenoid was dead & had to order a new one from Australia, had pleasant surprise that it was significantly cheaper than expected.

The labour alone would have cost in excess of AUD $40,000 in Australia which for us would not be affordable.
The whole Job including handstand, rental car, flat & materials cost less than AUD $15,000
So I guesstimate that we did it for about 25% of the cost in Australia
If you have a boat & are in the Malaysia area I highly recamend Marina Isand in Lumut.

Soraya was relaunched on 16-8-18
Spent 4 days in Marina sorting out minor issues like leaks a final clean.
Fill up with fuel & water , last minute provisioning.

The last week was an exception in that the delay allowed it to be rather leasurely.
Far from the usual imitation of a blue arsed fly

We really enjoyed our time in the area made many friends with the locals, & were welcomed back with smiles & warm friendly greetings.

Malaysia is an excellent country to visit the people are wonderful

I have to say that it is the most friendly, honest, respectful & safe country I have had the pleasure of visiting.

Is it perfect NO the driving has much room for improvement & the the food does not have the variety of Thailand.

That's it for now best to all Brian & Soraya

Thailand just celebrated their new year part of which is the water festival & bike week
In Patong Utes or 4wd vehicles loaded with fully armed people, the streets are teaming with armed people, & all can't wait to open fire on anyone they choose.running street battles almost no one is safe.

I promise this is not an exaggeration
All are soaked with equal enthusiasm
Soraya Gypsy & I had a bucket of water thrown over us as we rode by stuck in traffic.i
This lasts for about 24hrs
Google YouTube Thai water festival

Their are even children in prams armed

A great time had by all
Locals - tourists & especially kids.

Soraya went for a walk to Bangla rd the main nite club street
Said it was like a war zone but everyone was happy.

Unlike Australia no drunken fights & brawls.

On the main nite of the water fights the place was absolutely packed, without doubt the busiest day of the year

24hrs later you wouldn't know it had happened.
The week after is really quiet ; so a good time to visit .

Action & peace !!!!!!!

Still in patong, anchored in the same spot without moving for 4 weeks.
Last night a thunder storm came through, the wind changed direction 180* instantly.
We were blown straight over the top of our anchor, the boat accelerating in the 35-40kts of wind.
When the chain snatched tight it ripped the anchor straight out
Because it was set 180* to the new forces.
We were unaware that this was happening till 10min later when I noticed the anchor alarm on my iPad was flashing. On checking the boat had formed a rough circle with the 5 days of tracks recorded, then one track straight across the circle & out the other side & almost off the screen.
Looking around confirmed it.
This wind hit us with no warning just instant 35-40 kts
Time to pull up the anchor & move, right in the middle of the storm.
I have to drive the boat forwards to put slack in the chain, while Soraya is on the foredeck operating the winch & directing me.
Anyway the anchor came up without problems.
Piloted Soraya to a new location with more room & started to put the anchor down again. But this time the chain counter has stopped working so I don't know how much I have out ???

End up to close to another boat so now we start all over again.

Second time around all is ok, by now the worst of the storm is over.
This took the best part of an hour to accomplish.

It's now the next day

Time to investigate why the chain counter isn't working.
This is an important piece of equipment.
The amount of chain out is according to the depth & described by a ratio of depth to chain out typically 3-10 x the depth in this case about 8 to 1 .
The higher the ratio the more holding power. Eg 8 or 10 to 1
Is generally used for storm conditions.

The drum that the chain runs over (called a gypsy) has a magnet in one side & every time round it is counted.

This had completely rusted away , hence no counting.

The mission now to find a replacement of a particular size ????
2 hrs of shopping around turned up one slightly bigger.

Now it's time to machine a new hole because there is not room to make the old one larger.

This is already to long so.

The magnet is epoxied in place on the gypsy
Winch reassembled & ready for the final test when the epoxy has cured.
I'm 99.9% sure the repairs are complete.

Life goes on all of us are good
Having a few storms the last week
Thunder storms are fairly mild wind typically 25-30kts

Sorry for the lack of posts .

To us Thailand is now home, after obtaining a 12 month retirement visa.
So what is exciting & exotic to many is now every day, just like it is for all of you living at home. ie. Not particularly exciting.

Having been in Asia for 2 years & catching only 4 fish worth having, we decided to have an serious attempt at catching some more.
The trip was 2 days Nth of Patong about 40nm (80km) each day.
Water quality up the west coast is very good with good visibility.

The winds were with us for the trip up which means we got to sail about 60 out of the 80 nm .
Beautiful conditions for sailing with 8-15 kts & smooth seas.

Back to the fishing managed to catch 7 fish,6 makerel & 1 good sized salmon, (estuary salmon white flesh) the first fish was the
smallest & if it was Australia I would have thrown it back.
How ever after more than a year without catching anything we were desperate for a feed of fresh fish so kept it ( enough for 3 people )
not being sure if we would get any more helped the decision.

Tried fishing early ie 6.30-11 am & had no luck, tried again in the evening still no luck ( so much for my lucky spot.)
So with no catching happening, decided to camp for a couple of days to to enjoy our lovely private beach & clean clear water.
Gypsy had a great time on the beach & so did we.

So after 3 nites we headed back south on the first day we past 3 river - estuary entrances & caught good sized a Spanish off each one.
YAHOOO !!! A freezer full of fresh fish for the first time since leaving OZ.
The biggest one had about a dozen meals.

THANK YOU mr fishes for feeding us.

The second day back to patong caught nothing.

So here we are back in Patong, back to the routine of walks on the beach , coffees & people watching , cleaning the hulls & props plus
Will have do oil & filter changes on both engines & gearboxes.

The hull cleaning is starting to become too regular. I have discovered a good way to stop the weed growth on the waterline,.
scrubbing it leaves minute traces of weed behind which encourage the regrowth.
So the solution is to get a spray bottle with about 25-30% bleach & fresh water, then swim around the water line spraying it needs to be calm; it also helps if the water tanks are nearly empty to help raise the water line. The weed turns white & over the next few days washes off.
Scrubbing results in immediate re growth to the point of needing scrubbing again in 2-4 weeks (looks pretty ugly with a ring of green slime around the water line.
With the bleach it has now been 3 weeks & the water line is still spotless.
Also a good way to control growth on your dingy.(turn it upside down on the beach or jetty)

That's it for now we are both in good health & gypsy who patrols & guards the boat every night.

We started the new year by picking up our long time friend Julius from Patong.

We then sailed to Charlong to stock up on water, food and beer for Julius.

The next morning we set off to Ko Phi Phi, winds were not favorable so we motored most of the way. A few days were spent here anchored where we visited Monkey beach and also the main port for a very hot duck curry.

We set sail for Ko Rok Noi a few days later were the waters were chtystal clear.
Relaxing in the calm water of the channel was the best part of the trip.

The trip home to Charlong was some of the best sailing we have had in Asia. Favorable winds got us through the 46 kt journey in only 8 hours.

We are looking forward to our next adventure.