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Nearly There

We're definitely on the homeward leg now with less than 200 miles to go. If you've been looking at our track over the last 24 hours, you might be wondering what on earth we were doing. I was thinking yesterday after we left the TSS it might be worth heading back and sticking close to the unofficial shipping lanes would probably offer a bit of protection from fishing boats and the more creative navigation styles you encounter out here. It didn't. So we made a course change direct to Phuket. We ended up making several further course changes to avoid large concentrations of fishing boats and then, just as things were settling down, a cable-laying ship called us on the VHF and asked if we'd alter 20 degrees to port and give them a wide berth. Fair enough—it's easier for us to move than them—but it added another little kink to the track. The biggest surprise of the day, though, was seeing some of the worst FADs I've ever come across. Most of the Indonesian ones at le...
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Recent posts

Borderlands

 At about 3 am last night we officially exited the structured anarchy of the Malacca Strait Traffic Separation Scheme and entered the marine equivalent of the Wild West, where might is right and the law of tonnage is king. The TSS at least had rules. Sure, not everyone followed them, and there were plenty of times I found myself shaking my head wondering what the heck they were thinking. One ship of about 600 feet decided he'd drive the wrong way between the streams of traffic, managing to be port-to-port with one ship while simultaneously starboard-to-starboard with another. Surely it would have been easier to cross over to the correct side and drive the right way, but apparently that was asking too much. Now we've left all that behind. Out here there are no nice orderly lanes. Ships are going in every conceivable direction and the rules don't so much get ignored as simply not turn up. We've got about another 300 miles of this before we reach the relative safety of Phu...
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Singapore & Malacca Strait

Ships, rain, fishing boats and ships. It's a bit busy to try and write in the rain. So pics - starting from the most recent. 
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Paperwork and Timing

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 ...
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Progress & Paperwork

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...
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Oh Porang!

 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...
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