The Adventures of Captain Ray Penson
Sailing Yacht Truce
The waiting at Labuan has been so stressful, If the anchorage had been safe and secure I would be in a completely different state of mind. Anyway, eager to remove myself from this place I bought a few last-minute fresh food items and without regret sailed out from Labuan. Both Truce and I happy to be back in clean waters and heading northwards up the coast.
The Marina at Miri was good despite poor facilities, management obviously don’t care about customers. Toilets shitty (literally) and showers rudimentary and dirty. On the positive side there were no busybodies patrolling the docks and trying to enforce nonsensical rules. The tranquility and lack of bureaucracy was welcome. To be secure alongside a dock was good with easy access to the shore and the town.
The sky to the south was becoming darker and at ten in the evening we were hit with a violent squall, it was ferocious. Even as I watched it coming there was no real indication that it would be super strong. Unfortunately, I was unable to furl in the yankee fully before the wind hit, the sail clew flogged like a demented demon
checked the chart carefully for any off lying danger off the cape and thought I could safely round it half a mile off in safety. As I approached the cape a favorable current was carrying us along nicely. I noticed what I though was a tide rip ahead, but it looked out of place with the surrounding water. Through the binoculars I saw a low brown object in the water. For a moment I thought it was a whale, but there was no movement, the water was rushing past and over it. A rock awash!
Social life on Belitung has been good with a few hardy cruisers passing through to have drinks, food and conversations with. The local village has an excellent coffee shop and café serving delicious Indonesian food. The girls serving were surprised when I ordered ‘local hot’ as they are used to serving bland mild food to non-Indonesians. The staff were very kind, helpful and interested in what I was doing. They sort of adopted this old man, on one visit they made me a special soup, it was delicious. I even left a tip which is usually against my religion.
There it is, the last Extra Strong Breakfast Tea Bag. Before leaving New Zealand I took a good stock on board and then managed to top up my stock in Australia. The last couple of months I have been on rations and today, early morning, I enjoyed the last Bag. Some people drink coffee to get going in the morning, but for me it’s a strong tea with milk and honey that does the trick.
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.
Only a few fishermen more and the sun rose as we closed the coast of Bawean. By nine in the morning we were anchored in Teluk Promahan, a bay sheltered from the SE trade winds on the north of the Island. It had been a long, busy night and no rest. I was happy and relieved to be safely anchored and cracked a breakfast beer. Well, it was five o clock somewhere.
We departed at a reasonable time in the morning after a proper breakfast. Once we passed through the entrance channel and were clear of the reefs a welcome breeze greeted us. The breeze became fresh from the SE, we romped along with just the yankee working well, no need to break out the mainsail.
I have had a great stay at Medana Bay, so good to have an air-conditioned room for a few nights. The treat is over, I am on my way again, departing in the morning after breakfast and heading out through the outlaying reef into clear deep water, Bali visible ahead.
The Adventures of Captain Ray Penson 