Yacht Delivery Blog

Yesterday was actually a pretty decent day. We had enough wind to keep the mainsail up for a good part of it and, although we were sailing a little off course, the VMG was good enough that it made sense to leave it up. It's nice when the engine gets a bit of a rest for a change. Plus there was less than 10 fishing boats over the whole 24 hrs! As usual though, the wind started giving up just before sunset. We dropped the main, furled the headsail, and pointed the bow where we actually wanted to go and carried on under engine. The plan was to get into Nongsa on Friday so we can start the checkout process before heading up the Malcca Strait to Phuket. I've been emailing the marina over the last day or so, and they sent me the list of documents they needed. It was one of those moments where you wonder if they're checking a yacht in or applying for a mortgage. By the time I'd replied there were fifteen attachments on the email. Hopefully someone enjoys reading PDFs. Just as ...

Last night was very quiet by Java Sea standards. We saw fewer than ten ships throughout the entire night, which counts as a remarkably peaceful watch in this part of the world. There was still the usual need to keep an eye out, but for once it wasn't a continuous obstacle course of fishing boats, tugs and commercial traffic. Yesterday we gave sailing another attempt and hoisted the mainsail for a few hours. Once again, reality quickly caught up. The wind remained well aft, and to keep any pressure in the sail we had to head 20–30 degrees off our desired course. Unfortunately, that pushed us towards shoals and islands. Gybing wasn't much of an improvement either, as that side of the course was populated by ships and tug-and-barge combinations. The only way to avoid them was to head even further upwind, which defeated the entire exercise. Eventually common sense prevailed, the mainsail came down, and the engine took over. We also transferred fuel today using a pump and filter set...

 Another day crossing the Java Sea. We've got a full moon at the moment, which definitely makes me feel a little more comfortable, although I'm fairly sure it doesn't actually make much practical difference when it comes to spotting FADs. If they're difficult to see during the day, they're not exactly going to stand out at night just because there's a full moon. One thing that has improved is the amount of traffic. Last night was noticeably quieter and instead of a constant stream of fishing boats, they seemed to appear in "clumps". I'm not sure what the collective noun for fishing boats is, but clumps seems about right. When they get close we get flies on the boat Stocking up in Indo was a struggle as I had to stay on the boat as we were anchored in the middle of a channel. Between the crew and I we have zero words of Indonesian so purchases were approved by photos sent over whatsapp. This is, admittedly, coming from the same person who once bough...

The weather remained committed to doing absolutely nothing useful. We carried on with around 10 knots of apparent wind directly behind us, which isn't enough to get this boat moving with any real enthusiasm. So we continued towards Singapore, burning diesel and watching the miles disappear at a rate best described as "eventually." I saw a bunch of dolphins which i was a little surprised about although they looked like they'd been surviving on an intermittent fasting diet they hadn't signed up for. Can dolphins get ricketts? Later in the morning I spotted a couple of pilot whales, and they looked equally undernourished. Perhaps that's just what marine mammals in the Java Sea are supposed to look like, but they certainly weren't the glossy brochure versions. Then - absolutely nothing. Now, you'd think nothing happening would be a good thing. Experience in the Java Sea suggests otherwise. After enough time out here, a long period of peace starts to feel l...

The Java Sea continues to keep us on our toes. Yesterday we passed dozens of FADs, but unlike the small house-style structures we'd seen earlier, these were little more than floating platforms sitting awash. Most had nothing protruding above the surface at all. A handful carried tiny flags, but they were so small they were not visible until you could already see the platform itself, making them useless as a warning. There is a raft under here! With so many of them scattered across the water, I spent most of the night on edge. There's zero margin for error when you're trying to spot an object in the dark thats awash, so I backed the engine RPM off slightly to reduce our speed. We managed to get the mainsail up yesterday for a few hours of sailing, which made a change after so much motoring. Unfortunately the wind gradually shifted. As we followed it around, our VMG steadily dropped and our course started taking us towards a field of oil and gas platforms. Gybing would have p...

May my enemies be cursed to sail the Java Sea for a thousand lifetimes! Yesterday the wind finally picked up enough for us to get the mainsail up, and we spent most of the day sailing. We had to sail a few degrees off our course because of the wind angle, but it was worth it to make some good miles without relying on the engines. As usual, the day involved weaving our way through the seemingly endless collection of enormous FADs, tug boats towing barges and commercial shipping that fills these waters. Interestingly, despite the number of fishing boats, the only wildlife I've seen in the last couple of days is a single bird, so I'm not sure what everyone is catching. This morning we've stopped to make water and are hoping a bit more breeze arrives when the tanks are full so we can get the mainsail back up. Sitting stationary out here feels a little uncomfortable. There's a tug and barge in the distance, and part of me is convinced they're thinking, "Let's go...