There was not a great deal of space available in the frog pond when I arrived. The Darwin Ambon and Malaysia Rally boats had arrived. It poured down with rain all day Saturday which thoroughly tested the deck for leaks - here are only 2 minor leaks - the fore cabin is dry. Must be the first time since leaving Carnavon :o) I’d had to undo most of the aluminium toe rail and epoxy the bolt holes. It was too bloody wet to do anything else other than put the boat back together on the inside and have a few beers.The outboard motor had become increasingly difficult to start and eventually on the way to the marina cut out all together. While rowing back to Sadiqi past yacht “Chandrika” out of Maine USA, I met Grahame and Sue. Sue’s comment was “you are showing us what we will have to get used to” as they were just in the process of buying a second hand outboard. Subsequently, some wine was drank and stories shared. Sue and Graham are keen Rock Climbers. I hope to meet them again in Thailand.
I stripped down the carburettor on the outboard – a few profanities at Rex – before finding the problem. Somehow water had leaked into the small 5 litre filler tank, I had been pouring water into the outboards internal tank. The outboard is now working very well after having dismantled the carburettor three times. The engine still sounds like an angry little cement mixer.
Monday December 21 – Telaga frog pond – it’s still raining and I thought this was the dry season. Many of the boats have headed off to Thailand. I had been spending a fair bit of time provisioning the boat for the trip to Ko Lipe Thailand for Christmas, then Phuket in the new year. I had also been trying to find and plug the elusive deck leaks - still! Water was still streaming into the forecabin when it rained. I keep thinking that I may have found the source only to find that water is still feeding the swamp monster that has taken up residence there.
The wind picked up a fair bit yesterday and caused some havoc in the frog pond. One large catamaran was seen dragging anchor toward on of the small sheltering islands. Fortunately the owners arrived to rescue it in time. I learned, well thought I did, from previous experience not to get involved. During the night, reading a book “Prey” by Michael Critchon, The wind was gusting up to 25 knots. I heard a slightly different noise outside. On getting up to investigate I saw the hull of a yacht less than a meter from Sadiqi’s starboard side. A few profanities muttered! A yacht was dragging anchor and fortunately had not hit Sadiqi. I proceeded to shout and shine a torch on the yacht to wake the occupants if they were onboard, which they did not appear to be. I then grabbed the fog horn and blew into to it several times to attract attention.
The yacht by this time was heading to the rocks of on of the sheltering islands. Hmm, dilemma. I decided to try and rescue the boat, against my better judgement. I rowed over to the yacht in the dingy. I usually remove the outboard motor from the dingy at night if there is a chance of rough weather. One of the things I learned from “No Rules Ron” a few years ago. Dingys and outboard motors, being perversely human, are apt to conspire to some sort of truancy.
I tied the dingy to one of the side stays on the runaway yacht and climbed on board, moved forward to the foredeck to assess how I was going to let out more rode/chain. There was no snubber line. Probably, why the anchor had broken free. A snubber is a short length of nylon rope, that has some stretch, connected to the anchor chain and the boat, to reduce the snatch on the anchor from the boat rising in waves. I manually pulled the anchor chain off the gypsy and let out about 20 meters of chain. The yacht fortunately stabilised and stopped dragging toward the rocks. I had a look around to see what else I could do and saw a dingy heading toward the yacht. The owners arrived, I helped them raise the anchor and move the boat back into the frog pond. This meant the boat was upwind of Sadiqi again. I made sure they let out more chain when the anchor was dropped. The yacht was from Scotland and the skipper’s wife kept muttering; there is always a first time. I left them, then rowed downwind to Sadiqi, as rowing an inflatable into the wind can be hard work. Oh the joys of being a “Boat bum”. Driving on the Freeway in rush hour traffic is still very much less appealing than the cruising adventures so far.
Rescuing boats is also one way of meeting people. Peter and Jean from Scotland on board “Mister Percival” were grateful and we had several beers on board the next day. “Mister Percival” is built of steel and is not much longer than Sadiqi.
Some really good news was the arrival of the replacement Tacktick wind transmitter unit. This is a wireless anemometer and wind direction instrument, which sits at the top of the mast. A good bit of kit when it works. As mentioned previously it spat the dummy and was not talking to the rest of the system. I discovered that it was still under warranty and was advised by Tacktick UK to contact Coursemaster in Australia, the Tacktick agents. It was with great relief after picking up the replacement unit that it worked. It was such a relief to receive good service for a change as opposed to the usual indifference and run around. Thanks Tacktick and Coursemaster.
Wednesday December 22 I cleared Malaysian Customs, Immigration and Harbourmaster in preparation to head to Ko Lipe, Thailand. I only get a three month visa in Malaysia having arrived in Langkawi October 22. I only get a month visa for Thailand, unless I travel to a Thai embassy where I would be able to get a 2 month visa with a 1 month extension. I’ll stick to the 1 month visa and keep moving.
