Friday 20 August 2010

Pulau Sipika

Having arrived at Pulau Sipika I keep thinking it can’t get much better than this and somehow it does. The water is crystal clear. I met up with yachts “Glayva” and “Basilea” at Sipika. This is a favourite spot for Mark and Rachael onboard “Glayva”. The locals are friendly – Renus’s family. Rachael and I even ventured to Church on Sunday – protestant all in Indonesian. It was pleasant to sit quietly and observe as I did not understand the language. The women and young girls, in their Sunday best, sat benches with a back rest on one side of the isle on, while the few men and boys sat on the other side on simple benches.

A 50’ catamaran called “Sharky” belonging to ex South African Craig turned up one evening with three teenagers onboard Sunchar and twins Sealand and Starron – all keen surfers. They were on there way to Padang to pick up their mother. They had bought the Catamaran in Cape Town a year before and were sailing it back to Australia. Apparently, they had had no previous sailing experience and were as sick as dogs when they set off from Cape Town other than Craig, the Farther, who had been in the Navy. What a learning experience for the kids.
Telos is the larger town in the Batu group of islands. I needed diesel, supplies and fresh vegetables. I was very grateful for Rachael and Mark who speak Indonesian very well. I was a little dubious of the diesel as it is measured by litre jugs from an open drum – it also did not smell particularly good. I did not have a great deal of choice. Since leaving Cocos (Keeling) Islands I had used approximately 90 litres of fuel in 95.7 engine hours, giving just over a litre an hour. With the fresh vegetables I was able to cook Nasi Goering – fried rice and other stir fry dishes.

On Sunday August 15 “Glayva” and “Sadiqi”, sadly, departed Sipika and crossed the equator into the northern hemisphere, on our way to Sibolga. A mementos occasion. I was busy setting sails as we had some wind for a change. Rachael advised me on the VHF. I saved the celebration for the evening by cracking a can of Bintang beer. The crossing was pretty uneventful varying between sailing and motor sailing as the wind permitted. I did see a very large log behind Sadiqi at one point! The log would have been as long as Sadiqi – 9 metres and half the beam width – 1.5 metres. With the motor running so much as so much rubbish in the water it is amazing the boat had not picked up any. A heavy plastic bag had been picked up by the prop earlier in the day – fortunately this had disentangled itself. The trip to Sibolga, 110 miles away, took 26 hours.

Bojo Island and surrounds.

From the other boats I met: Ray and Jenny from “Basilea”, Mark, Rachael with children Nomara (12) and Aaron (10) from “Glayva” and Costa, the mad Russian, from “Sheidegg”. What great people and through them I have been able to get the information on how things work in Indonesia and as a consequence will stay and tour the coast of Sumatra. While in Fremantle I had applied for a Clearance Approval for Indonesian Territories (CAIT) via email – thanks to Toby. The CAIT costs around US$200.00 and had been emailed me while I was in Cocos.

The village of Duru on the bay I had anchored near is very picturesque; there are no cars, no roads, no running water or drainage. The children cross the bay in dugout canoes to go to school. The people were generally happy. Watching the kids happily paddle their way to school across the bay, I could not help but ponder kids back in Perth being driven to school in large fat 4 wheel drives – progress I guess. The village is powered by an ancient generator that is started at sunset and turned off at around 2100. The wiring in the village would be an electrician’s worst nightmare – there are no standards etc. The anachronism is mobile phones and the satellite dishes near some of the houses. These people still live the simple life – some go fishing, some farm coconuts (copra), some build boats and some run small shops. The story of the American Tourist in the Mexican fishing village came to mind – Google “Mexican fishing village story”.

I was befriended by one of the locals Rifan, who was a university student learning English. He was keen to work on his English and help me learn Indonesian. The “Surf Village” near by, run by Mario and Paulo, offers unique accommodation for keen surfers and also employs local villagers.

I spent a fair bit of time with the people from the other boats, after listening to the surfing stories I must have said, more than enough times, that I wished I had learned to surf. Mark from Glayva gave me an old surfboard and a few tips.

The day after Glayva, Sadiqi and Sheidegg motored a few miles north of the bay to visit a river and a safe surfing wave. The ride up the river in our dingys was spectacular. The surfing after that on the learner wave not so great. I wonder if an old dog can learn a new trick. The Mentawais and Telos group of islands, apparently, offer some of the best surfing in the world. This usually means surfing huge waves over shallow reefs. I was none too keen on getting shredded on a coral reef, I’d have to find shallow sand breaks for awhile. This was something I think I shared with ten year old Aaron from “Glayva”. After three days of padding around and getting pummelled in the surf the old dog was stiff, sore and absolutely rooted! Hopefully persistence pays off.

With the days passing quickly and I was running out of supplies and needed fuel. It was time to head north to Telo. I chose the passage between Pulau Tanahmas and Pulau Tanahbala. There is very little wind this close to the Equator so it meant motoring again. The passage was largely uneventful until I hit a coral reef and made some unfortunate modifications to the front of Sadiqi’s keel. This was my fault – getting complacent. The C-Map electronic charts that I use did not help much as for this area the charts are out about 700 metres to the West. When I anchored near the village of Duru it actually showed as anchoring on land. Fortunately the damage to Sadiqi’s bottom appears to be superficial and she was not taking in water. Another lesson learned.

Cocos (Keeling) Islands to Sumatra Indonesia

Tuesday July 20, 8.30 - Departed Direction Islands – winds around 6 knots from the north, where I was headed. It was going to be a slow few days with light and variable winds. At 15.00 motored past North Keeling Island – an uninhabited bird sanctuary and smelt like it too. Boobies, Gannets, Wedge tail Shearwaters etc.

An aside: I am writing these notes from the ships log while at anchor in a beautiful palm fringed bay on an island off Sumatra Indonesia with a cold Bintang and Jimmy Buffet playing. Surely it does not get much better than this. Back to the ships log.

On Wednesday I was able to turn off the motor and do some sailing. Sadiqi carries around 100 litres of fuel, giving a range of 400 miles, working on one litre/hour travelling at 4 knots. We had nearly 700 miles to travel to the island of Bojo off Sumatra. The wind came and went during the day, if the wind falls below 8 knots the boat just wallows, sails slat and it is time to start the motor. We were headed for the “Horse latitudes” or Doldrums where there is not much wind.

I noticed the engine was running hotter than normal so checked the water pump impeller. The impeller was cracked in places but still ok. I replaced it anyway. The water temperature where I was sailing was around 28 degrees Celsius more than 10 degrees hotter than the waters off Fremantle. The fridge was also having a tough time with the warmer conditions.

Thursday and the sails were slatting again! Slatting is where there is not enough wind to fill the sails and hold the boat in the swell The sails just bang from one side to the other – causing more damage to the sails and frustration to me than anything else. By morning the wind had increased to 10 – 12 knots from the east and we were sailing again at 4 knots - very pleasant sailing. In two days we had travelled 133 miles. As there was wind it was an opportunity to change the engine oil. No, I did not throw the old engine oil over the side.

Friday the winds were up to 20 knots again from the east– fantastic. I dislike sailing in light airs – it’s bloody hard work! Boat speed was up to 5.5 knots and we were sailing along very nicely.

Saturday, five days out of Cocos, with the good winds we managed to sail 117 miles for the day. The best distance covered between Cocos and Indonesia. I discovered an unwanted passenger onboard. A Boobie, I think, seabird had somehow managed to land on the solar panels on the Binini during the night. The evidence was the white crap all over the place. I nicked named it “Crap-a-Lot” as this bird was a serial shitter!

I pushed the bird off and it somehow it landed on the boat twice more before landing on the pulpit railing at the front of the boat. I was happy with this arrangement as it was not shitting on my solar panels. We were probably sailing in 4 to 5 metre seas and swell how this bird managed to land on the boat beats me. The whole landing approach into wind and big flare on landing was amazing. By Midday Crap-a-Lot had flown off and with the wind in the east I was able to raise the asymmetrical spinnaker – the big coloured sail. This was fantastic sailing.

Sunday – alas all good things come to and end and so to did the wind. I made up and Indonesia courtesy flag for when I arrived in Indonesia. Then the winds, pretty much, died altogether I furled all the sails and tied off the tiller and went to sleep. I must have been tired as when I woke up two hours later the noise for the boat rolling around the waves was incredible. Mind you I did for the first time in days have more than an hours sleep in one stretch. “Crap-a-LotII” turned up and after three attempts landed on the foredeck and stayed there.

Monday was one of those days that I would rather not have had. It was a day that tested my metal. What wind there was rotated from all points of the compass and not with any conviction. I was woken at 6 am from a very deep sleep with winds up to 30 knots and all the sails backed, 20 minutes later the wind was 5 knots from the north! Being conscious of the quantity of fuel I had already used since Cocos I was wary of using the motor with 170 miles to go to Bojo Island. I stood on the deck and shouted at the top of my voice at the injustice and lack of wind. There was a lot of cursing as well. I was quite hoarse the next day. I wonder if it should be called the “Hoarse Latitudes”. I eventually rationalised the situation thinking would I rather be parked in rush hour traffic on the Freeway. I shut up after that and all was good with my world – a little irrational rationalisation. Somehow “Crap-a-LotII” endured all this human emotional outpouring or just ignored it.

Tuesday – a week after leaving Cocos I saw the lights of a fishing boat. This was the first sighting of human activity since leaving Cocos. As the winds permitted I was either motoring or motor sailing. There is a fair amount of debris in the ocean, in fact a lot. I notice one pile of the stuff tha

t seemed to have some life so I motored over and saw a large turtle entangled in pieced of fishing nets. I rescued the turtle by cutting the ropes and putting it back in the water. I could only hope that it would survive. I could see mountains in the distance, come evening, the island of Siberut. Being closer to land I had to be more observant about fishing boats and possibly nets in the water. This meant sleeping for half an hour at time and checking for boats. The AIS would alert me to any ships (greater than 300 tonnes) if there was a risk of collision.

At first light on Wednesday I could just make out Bojo Island my destination. Just after midday I dropped anchor in a sheltered, palm fringed bay near the village of TG DuruTanahbala Island of the Batu group. Latitude: 00.33’20”S Longitude: 098.29’18”E. We had travelled 693 nautical miles from Cocos (Keeling) Island and used the motor for 76 hours in just over eight days. It was also with great relief that I saw several other yachts in the bay. Why I chose Bojo Island as a destination in Indonesia, I’m not sure. I had acquired some charts of the islands off Sumatra from Toby. Being on my own I had planned to skip Indonesia other than to have a rest for a few days. The Southeast Asia Cruising Guide that I use did not really rate the West Coast of Sumatra other than to say “unless you are a keen surfer or something eccentric would you go to Padang…. Annual rainfall of 4,500mm. I’m guessing there are probably not enough cappuccino stops on the West Coast of Sumatra, which there probably aren’t. I had chosen Bojo as on the chart there was a sheltered anchorage pencilled in near by. I am so glad I stopped here.

Shortly after dropping anchor a dugout canoe motored slowly toward the boat. I though this was some sort of officialdom. I was presented with a form in Indonesian, which I could not understand by two people who could not speak any English and was led to believe that I should pay some money. I had no Indonesian Rupee with me. Being tired and wanting a rest I gave them US$50.00! They eventually left. It was only after the guys on the other yachts came over to me and told me what the deal was. I had probably given them an equivalent of a years donations – I had been effectively fleeced 50 bucks! Some of the Indonesians have got wise to surfing tourists and charter boat operators coming to the area. They go out to the boats and ask for donations for their village, this can be used for sports equipment or fuel for generators etc. An individual donation of around AU$5.00 is perfectly adequate. We live and learn.