The Adventures of Captain Ray Penson
Sailing Yacht Truce
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.
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.
It was hard to see anything through the driving rain, I was concerned about the boats around me dragging in the heavy winds. I had everything ready should we break loose from our mooring as I tried to monitor the boats around us. I saw forty-five knots on the anemometer and suspect we had a couple of fifty knot gusts at the height, but I wasn’t watching. The village ashore took a pounding, I could see lots of flashlights through the rain as the locals tended their houses and boats.
For a brief few days we managed to get a Christmas family get together - at the same place and time.
The overnight anchorage at Kananga was OK. I slept most of the night in the cockpit and moved inside when the dew began to settle. After my morning cup of tea I decided to head direct to Lombok. Worst case scenario we run out of fuel and end up sailing the remaining miles. It might take a bit more time, but we will get there.
Late afternoon, we anchored in 20m just off the beach at Kilo. The children watched from the beach and by the time we had settled at anchor they had found a leaky canoe as transport to Truce. They had mango and coconut to trade for pencils and biscuits.
By mid afternoon I had had enough motoring and went to anchor in a bay on the south side of a small island called Gilibodo. It took a couple of attempts to find a good spot to anchor, eventually finding a spot in 25m of water just off the fringing reef.
Whoa! Something wrong, immediately I put the engine in neutral and looked over the side. Amazingly, I could see the coral bottom, very close on the starboard side. The port side seemed clear. I put the helm hard to port and immediately got back into deep water.
A lovely anchorage and a calm, peaceful night at anchor at Teluk Sagu. I weighed anchor before six in the morning and motored out of the bay, careful to backtrack my Navionics trail of the previous day, avoiding the reefs scattered about.
I am still not too comfortable with this reef navigation stuff. People tell me you need the sun at your back and someone up the mast or on the bow. Well, I can’t arrange where the sun goes and being on the bow or up the mast when single handing is impracticable.
The Adventures of Captain Ray Penson 