The Adventures of Captain Ray Penson
Sailing Yacht Truce
At this stage the experienced SITS sufferer will walk away from the problem and put the kettle on for a cup of tea, take a walk or any other activity that will distract from the problem. Only then can you return to the search, usually to find the tool or vital part sitting in full view on the work bench where you left it.
The overnight sail to the Hermits was beautiful, clear skies, millions of stars and a steady light breeze pushing us along nicely over calm seas. The next morning we entered the lagoon surrounding the Hermits and lost the wind in the lee of the islands. On went the motor and soon we were safely anchored. Then the weather turned nasty again with rain squalls and a nasty chop bouncing us around. The entry in the log book reads “A shitty windy and wet day”. That was it, no canoes came to visit, no fresh fruit to trade and no shore leave for the Truce crew.
The sail from Biak to the Ninigo Islands looked, on paper, to be a perfect sail. The seasonal winds were predicted to be favourable with a current behind us of 0.6 knots. I was really looking forward to an easy trip of about six or seven days. The distance was just less than 500 miles. The reality turned out to be much different, an exhausting mammoth effort to reach the Ninigo Islands after sixteen days and over a thousand miles of sailing.
Once again, I have maintenance jobs mounting up. This light weather sailing with frequent squalls is taking its toll on the gear, sails and running rigging. Biak is a good place to do this, the anchorage for the most part is fairly calm and only transient squalls upset the equilibrium.
The plan now is to sail via the Basilan Strait, past Zamboanga and into the Celebes sea and then down to Biak in Indonesia where I can do a final reprovision before heading to Papua New Guinea. This route will give us a far better wind angle and cut the corner saving us a hard slog and many miles. When I informed my cruising friends of my intentions they all threw up their hands in horror and reeled off numerous stories of piracy and kidnapping around southern Mindanao.
Six hundred miles and across the Sulu Sea twice to end up where I started. An unusual trip. I departed from Puerto Princesa headed towards Bonbonon on Negros Island, a trip of about 270 miles. This was to be my stepping stone for sailing east through the Philippines and then down the East coast of Mindanao to Davao where I intended to check out of the country.
I have made the horrific discovery of some wet wood in the rudder. The rudder construction is a sandwich with red cedar on the outside and laminated ply in the centre. Water has got into the central ply section from the tiller pocket and travelled, as it does, down through the ply. Luckily, I have discovered it early and after extensive prodding and digging around I can see the end of it.
Arriving in Puerto Princesa was easy, just motor up to the anchorage off the yacht club, drop anchor, launch the dinghy and go ashore to a warm welcome and a cold beer at the yacht club.
Over the last few months I have been noticing a slight trace of diesel around the top of the injector pump where the fuel lines come out and up to the injectors. I had that nagging feeling that something was not right. Engine problems don’t heal themselves, they only get worse.
The next step of the journey is sailing from Kudat in Malaysia to Puerto Princesa on the island of Palawan in the Philippines. This will be my first visit to the Philippines and I am very much looking forward to it. The departure from Kudat was promising, for a while we had a tail wind until it disappeared mid morning and the sea went glassy, leaving us bobbing around going backwards slowly. The engine had to go on, otherwise we wouldn’t make any progress and the tide would take us back to Kudat.
The Adventures of Captain Ray Penson 