The Adventures of Captain Ray Penson
Sailing Yacht Truce
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.
As we progressed south the wind played fickle tricks and the tide and currents toyed around with us. With no firm destination planned in the South Gili islands I just went with the best wind angle, as we got closer to our destination the wind selected Gili Sudak as our destination. I decided to tuck in around Gili Sudak, through a reef fringed channel. There we would be protected from the north westerly winds and in calm water.
The trip from Gove to Saumlaki was a slow affair, taking a full day longer than I expected. However, once I overcame the sheer frustration of being becalmed at one point, the voyage progressed at a constant slow speed with favourable winds and a calm sea. Sailing wing on wing it turned out to be a very pleasant trip .
I am still anchored in Portage Bay off Frederick Sound. The weather last night was horrid with wind gusts and driving rain. The same has continued all day today. Another yacht came in after me yesterday, he is going south as well and can’t make progress either. No one in a small low powered boat... Continue Reading →
Last night we anchored in Fingers Cove, a spot recommended by a friend we had met along the way who had been to Glacier Bay seven times previously. When we entered Fingers Cove it was high water, we made a few attempts to find a suitable anchor spot and couldn’t. There were shoals and deep... Continue Reading →
Today has been full on action all day. This morning I started some maintenance, replaced the toilet inlet hose, put a new non return valve in the bilge pump discharge, made a new gasket for the engine raw water strainer and did a thousand and one other little jobs outstanding.
I woke up this morning not feeling too chipper. A blinding headache and lethargy. I had a cup of tea and lay down on the salon settee and slept for another two hours. Last night I cooked up a concoction of pasta, pizza topping and salami (sounds awful but tastes quite good). The salami was... Continue Reading →
Today was my first day on the boat alone. I kept busy stowing all my gear and finding all sorts of new discoveries in every nook and cranny. At first the contents of my three large bags appeared to voluminous to fit the available space. However, everything go stowed neatly away with space to spare.... Continue Reading →
The Adventures of Captain Ray Penson 