THINGS GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT

22 May 2024

Time to move on from Bawean and I had a few options.  At the forefront of my mind was to reduce the amount of night sailing.  Its potentially risky and can be stressful, so the less sailing in darkness the better.  This tactic was sound but unfortunately didn’t save Truce and I from a nasty early morning encounter – more later.

We departed from Bawean at two in the morning, the plan being to clear the island by dawn and sail down to the Java coast during daylight and arrive before sunset.  Then we could day sail hop along the coast to the west.  The plan failed, once clear of the anchorage the expected wind didn’t arrive and we ran amongst fishermen.  We ended up further north than I wanted and the possibility of making Java by sunset disappeared.  I decided on plan C which was a day and night sail to the Island of Karimunjawa where we could arrive in daylight. 

The sail towards Karimumjawa was a slow affair but we had just enough wind to keep us going through the night.  The sun went down and the fishermen came out as usual but this night was not too bad, they were well behaved and the dreaded squid boats were to the south,  just below the horizon.  As we approached Karimunjawa ugly dark storm clouds built up bringing squally rain and breeding waterspouts.  I was juggling the need to sail away from the waterspouts while also being able to reduce sail quickly in case we were unfortunate to get tangled up with one of them.

The wind blew all night at the Karimunjawa anchorage only dying out in the early morning.  As the weather seemed unsettled I decided to stay at anchor for the day.  It was still breezy during the day and there was a little chop at the anchorage, this deterred me from going ashore.  Getting the dinghy in the water and retrieving it later just seemed too much trouble.

From Karimunjawa to our next stop on the island of Belitung was about three hundred miles, this would mean two nights at sea.  Not what I really wanted but there is no choice if you want to make progress.   Fortunately, the wind had sorted itself out and we had wonderful sailing all the way.  The wind held steady at between twelve and twenty knots and Truce ate up the miles, averaging over six knots for the first twenty four hours.

On the second day out just after midnight I had reduced sail, we were going too fast, the breeze had picked up and we were doing over seven knots.  With Truce doing a more reasonable six knots I was dozing in the cockpit when I was awoken by a clattering and banging on the hull.  My fears were realised, we had run over some floating bamboo contraption all lashed together with bits of rope.   Part of whatever it was became wrapped around the skeg ahead of the rudder.

Well, it took awhile but after some effort the whole mess was released from around the skeg in front of the rudder.  I had checked the hull external as best I could and the bilges were dry and the shaft was still in place.  It looked like we had escaped without damage.  A closer inspection at anchor is needed when all is calm again.  Why does everything happen at two in the morning?

I decided to approach the anchorage at Belitung from the west side of the island.  There are numerous islands and reefs on the east side and navigation would be easier on the west side.  For the last ten miles of the trip the wind swung around to the north with rain and we had to beat into it, an uncomfortable couple of hours.  We were rewarded with a nice calm anchorage, interesting rock formations, sandy beaches and the promise of cold beer and tasty food ashore.

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