Hi all,
Go here to see website updates.
http://www.sbastro.com/SunShine/Journey2013New.html
More to come,
Fred
Continuation of thread..Start of November cruise to Thailand
Moderator: bobdugan
-
fenixrises
- Posts: 450
- Joined: Feb 13th, '05, 08:01
- Location: SunShine S2 11c
- Contact:
Continuation of thread..Start of November cruise to Thailand
You should always have an odd number of holes in your boat!
-
fenixrises
- Posts: 450
- Joined: Feb 13th, '05, 08:01
- Location: SunShine S2 11c
- Contact:
Re: Continuation of thread..Start of November cruise to Thai
Hi all,
Have reached Singapore...finally!!
On the way to Phuket on Monday.
More later.
Take care,
Fred
Have reached Singapore...finally!!
On the way to Phuket on Monday.
More later.
Take care,
Fred
You should always have an odd number of holes in your boat!
-
fenixrises
- Posts: 450
- Joined: Feb 13th, '05, 08:01
- Location: SunShine S2 11c
- Contact:
Re: Continuation of thread..Start of November cruise to Thai
Hi all,
After a somewhat long and arduous trip we arrived in Phuket, Sunday at about 11AM.
All's well with us but had few boat problems that must be resolved b4 we head south again.
It is now XMas eve and we will soon go to one of the local retaurants for a buffet supper and celebrations.
We are anchored in Naiharn Bay. It is a beautiful spot where I stayed before in 2007~8. Phuket has been invaded by Russians. Lots of fat, fishbelly skin showing around here.
Plan to be in Phuket for about 3 weeks.
Ho HO HO
Will update website as time allows
Take care,
Fred
After a somewhat long and arduous trip we arrived in Phuket, Sunday at about 11AM.
All's well with us but had few boat problems that must be resolved b4 we head south again.
It is now XMas eve and we will soon go to one of the local retaurants for a buffet supper and celebrations.
We are anchored in Naiharn Bay. It is a beautiful spot where I stayed before in 2007~8. Phuket has been invaded by Russians. Lots of fat, fishbelly skin showing around here.
Plan to be in Phuket for about 3 weeks.
Ho HO HO
Will update website as time allows
Take care,
Fred
You should always have an odd number of holes in your boat!
-
fenixrises
- Posts: 450
- Joined: Feb 13th, '05, 08:01
- Location: SunShine S2 11c
- Contact:
Re: Continuation of thread..Start of November cruise to Thai
Hi all,
Here it is the New Year!
After much work on Sunshine and much work on updating the website it is all ready for you to see.
Here's a brief view of what's on the site.
I checked the weather before leaving. The forecast was for light winds from the east through the north for our two day 200 mile trip. We started out at 8AM, the time I usually like to get underway. The wind was SSE~SE making it easy to get out of Kudat and up north around the penisula above Kudat. Once SunShine turned the corner the wind went ENE~NE and was up around 15K, a bit stronger than forecast but fine with all aboard hoping for a fast easy passage. Throughout the day numerous rain squalls could be seen around the horizon. The most noticeable being far to the southwest and growing.
By sundown the NE wind was gone and the big squall to the SW turned out to be a front coming in. We spent the night powering into a building SW wind, right on the nose of course. I expected that there would be fishing boats around and there were, as well as shrimpers or prawn fishers as they are called in this area. We struggled along making little headway and of course the rain also started. Loida and I stood watch through the night. By early morning the wind was so strong that I started to tack back and forth just to keep the boat moving.
A few hours later in the day I looked at the chart and saw a small island, Palau Mangalum (6*12'N X 115*36'E), amd thought it might make a good place to hide out for awhile. So we eased the sheets and headed off that way. A couple of hours later as we closed the island conditions were easing and I decided to heave-to under 2r main for a couple of hours for some rest and an easy meal. By 3PM the SW wind was way down and I started the motor and headed towards Brunei. By 5PM we were under solid clouds and lots of liquid sunshine and no wind.
Through the night the wind was very light and the choppy lumpy seas laid down. By morning a light NE breeze was building and the sun returned. By noon we were at the entrance to the pass into Muara Bay, a port city next to Bandar Seri Bagawan, the capitol of Brunei. And on the way...
Actually the next stop was supposed to be somewhere along the coast of the Malaysian penisula. I had Johor Bahru at 1*28N X 103*45E in mind. It lies right at the southern tip of the penisula. But the weather caused a big delay in my plans to do this. Before departing Brunei I checked Passage Weather for the forecast. This part of the trip was the longest single leg at about 720 miles, so I figured about seven days of pleasant sailing. It looked like an easy trip with maybe 15 kt, at most, winds from the north through the east. HAH!!
The reality was nasty. On Saturday November 30th we departed under clear skies and a nice breeze. But as the day progressed it filled from the west? What happened to the forecast? Later on the wind went NW~NNW, not too bad. I powersailed at 270* to make my waypoint as the wind increased. Then the course lowered a bit to 256* until 15 miles later it was back to 270* and I just could not hold that line with the wind blowing as it was.
I looked at the chart and headed a bit more south in order to be able to sail. Whenever possible I went as much west as I could until about sundown when we were finally able to ease off to about WSW and the next waypoint. The wind went lighter through the night and there was some light rain. To keep moving I was running the engine. I realized now I wish I had been able to refill the fuel tanks in Brunei because there was no way to motor sail all the way to our destination. By noon the next day the wind has gone SSE and lighter so we are motorsailing again to keep the boat moving.
At 1400 the wind is gone. At 1830 a light northerly fills, ah finally the wind I was promised. HaHaHa. There are six foot swells coming from maybe four different directions. This of course makes it very difficult to keep the boat moving. We get rolled one way then another only to finish up hobby horsing up and down as we catch two or three big swells on the nose.
By Monday morning we are still at about WSW with a light north wind. Afternoon sees me chasing puffs to keep moving under full main and drifter and the motor occasionally, until the starboard tank runs dry. The night is beautiful and clear and the north wind is pretty good so we are sailing along quite nicely...until about 0430 when a SW front comes roaring in, right on the nose of course. I later learned that these SWerlies are generated by Borneo itself and are local disturbances, they do not show up on Passage Weather. I let the boat drift off to the north.
Go here for the rest of the story and many new pics:
http://www.sbastro.com/SunShine/Journey2013New.html
Take care,
Fred
Here it is the New Year!
After much work on Sunshine and much work on updating the website it is all ready for you to see.
Here's a brief view of what's on the site.
I checked the weather before leaving. The forecast was for light winds from the east through the north for our two day 200 mile trip. We started out at 8AM, the time I usually like to get underway. The wind was SSE~SE making it easy to get out of Kudat and up north around the penisula above Kudat. Once SunShine turned the corner the wind went ENE~NE and was up around 15K, a bit stronger than forecast but fine with all aboard hoping for a fast easy passage. Throughout the day numerous rain squalls could be seen around the horizon. The most noticeable being far to the southwest and growing.
By sundown the NE wind was gone and the big squall to the SW turned out to be a front coming in. We spent the night powering into a building SW wind, right on the nose of course. I expected that there would be fishing boats around and there were, as well as shrimpers or prawn fishers as they are called in this area. We struggled along making little headway and of course the rain also started. Loida and I stood watch through the night. By early morning the wind was so strong that I started to tack back and forth just to keep the boat moving.
A few hours later in the day I looked at the chart and saw a small island, Palau Mangalum (6*12'N X 115*36'E), amd thought it might make a good place to hide out for awhile. So we eased the sheets and headed off that way. A couple of hours later as we closed the island conditions were easing and I decided to heave-to under 2r main for a couple of hours for some rest and an easy meal. By 3PM the SW wind was way down and I started the motor and headed towards Brunei. By 5PM we were under solid clouds and lots of liquid sunshine and no wind.
Through the night the wind was very light and the choppy lumpy seas laid down. By morning a light NE breeze was building and the sun returned. By noon we were at the entrance to the pass into Muara Bay, a port city next to Bandar Seri Bagawan, the capitol of Brunei. And on the way...
Actually the next stop was supposed to be somewhere along the coast of the Malaysian penisula. I had Johor Bahru at 1*28N X 103*45E in mind. It lies right at the southern tip of the penisula. But the weather caused a big delay in my plans to do this. Before departing Brunei I checked Passage Weather for the forecast. This part of the trip was the longest single leg at about 720 miles, so I figured about seven days of pleasant sailing. It looked like an easy trip with maybe 15 kt, at most, winds from the north through the east. HAH!!
The reality was nasty. On Saturday November 30th we departed under clear skies and a nice breeze. But as the day progressed it filled from the west? What happened to the forecast? Later on the wind went NW~NNW, not too bad. I powersailed at 270* to make my waypoint as the wind increased. Then the course lowered a bit to 256* until 15 miles later it was back to 270* and I just could not hold that line with the wind blowing as it was.
I looked at the chart and headed a bit more south in order to be able to sail. Whenever possible I went as much west as I could until about sundown when we were finally able to ease off to about WSW and the next waypoint. The wind went lighter through the night and there was some light rain. To keep moving I was running the engine. I realized now I wish I had been able to refill the fuel tanks in Brunei because there was no way to motor sail all the way to our destination. By noon the next day the wind has gone SSE and lighter so we are motorsailing again to keep the boat moving.
At 1400 the wind is gone. At 1830 a light northerly fills, ah finally the wind I was promised. HaHaHa. There are six foot swells coming from maybe four different directions. This of course makes it very difficult to keep the boat moving. We get rolled one way then another only to finish up hobby horsing up and down as we catch two or three big swells on the nose.
By Monday morning we are still at about WSW with a light north wind. Afternoon sees me chasing puffs to keep moving under full main and drifter and the motor occasionally, until the starboard tank runs dry. The night is beautiful and clear and the north wind is pretty good so we are sailing along quite nicely...until about 0430 when a SW front comes roaring in, right on the nose of course. I later learned that these SWerlies are generated by Borneo itself and are local disturbances, they do not show up on Passage Weather. I let the boat drift off to the north.
Go here for the rest of the story and many new pics:
http://www.sbastro.com/SunShine/Journey2013New.html
Take care,
Fred
You should always have an odd number of holes in your boat!
-
fenixrises
- Posts: 450
- Joined: Feb 13th, '05, 08:01
- Location: SunShine S2 11c
- Contact:
Another update
Hi all,
New year, new page:
http://www.sbastro.com/SunShine/Journey2014.html
BTW reaching Phuket is a half circumnavigation. Phuket being just about half way round from Florida's east coast.
Take care,
Fred
New year, new page:
http://www.sbastro.com/SunShine/Journey2014.html
BTW reaching Phuket is a half circumnavigation. Phuket being just about half way round from Florida's east coast.
Take care,
Fred
You should always have an odd number of holes in your boat!
-
fenixrises
- Posts: 450
- Joined: Feb 13th, '05, 08:01
- Location: SunShine S2 11c
- Contact:
The Ides of March...
and a full moon in Virgo.
Hi all,
And what does that mean, exactly.
For SunShine it meant a lot. We left Johor Bahru, Malaysia heading for Brunei on Sunday, March
9th. The next morning we got underway again after anchoring just outside of Raffles Marina after a fuel stop at Puterie Marina in Malaysia the afternoon before. That's on the channel seperating Singapore from the Malaysian penisula. Pleasant fellows there and I topped up all the diesel, including two 20 liter jugs. I expected to need most of it on the run up to Brunai.
Passage weather showed generally north wind just east of Singapore and then NE on up to and by
Borneo's west coast. Strength 0~15 knots. HA HA HA. Had the wind been north, getting out of
the Straights would not have been too hard. But it was about NNE~NE, more or less dead on the
nose and often more than 15k. The course varies from SE early to just about due east at the
east end. Fortunately the port tack, going east was somewhat favored. Still it took a day and
a half to get through. Going the other way back in December took just about 12 hours.
We finally cleared the eastern most point in the early hours and then could head off in an
easterly direction. I hoped to make about 60* true with a north wind but the wind just wasn't
there, being more like NE. Borneo is about 300 miles east so I figured three days, which
turned out to be accurate. But to keep the boat moving well in the conditions at the time I
could only make about 110* true.
Once we were close to the Borneo coast it was time to head as north as possible. Of course the
wind then decided to go NNE and the best I could get SunShine to go was NW. As we got farther
north the wind did shift to the north and we went off on a port tack making about 10* true.
Then the wind died and we went due north for a while under power.
While going up forward to change sails Loida said I should look at this wire. Which one I
said. This one as she pointed at the bottom of the port aft lower. Sure enough about six of
the outside strands had broken and partially unlaid. Good thing she noticed that as I didn't
even see it.
So then sit down and think it through. Parts and tools. O.K. I got it figured out. Hacksaw off
the old fitting. Take it apart and extract the old bits of wire. I have a new fitting below so
use the nut and cone from that on the original threaded stud that fits into the turnbuckle.
Re-install and tighten everything up. Great, a quick fix. Only about two hours as the boat
rolls around while hove-to. The we are off again.
The next day, March 15, we are power sailing along when the engine alarm goes off. It's early
morning and still dark. I quick turn on the engine instrument light to see what's up.
Ahhhhh!!! no oil pressure. I turn off the engine and sit down, more than a little worried. I
changed the oil and filter before we left and I know the engine doesn't use much oil between
changes. So what could be the problem. I am seriously hoping it is not the engine oil pump
because that would mean we are seriously screwed. My anxiety causes me to delay the inevitable
but finally I go below to check the engine oil level.
Nada! Nothing on the dip stick. How can that be. Then I look in the bigle. Not good. It is
filled with black oil. Hungh! Were is it leaking. I do not know at first. Then slowly piece by
piece I figure the whole thing out and it is not good. Evidentially the sever pounding that
the boat has taken to date with all the powering into head seas and wind has taken its toll on
the engine mounts.
What I discover is that three of the four engine mount studs have seared off. The fourth
remains unbroken but the motor mount bracket that it is attached to has broken and at quick
glance is not repairable. It would require welding to fix. What ever am I going to do out here
bouncing around in the sloppy seas, at best a number of hundreds of miles from anywhere.
Again I sit down and start to think it out. What do I have aboard and how can I make that work
to fix this problem and get me into port. Well the studs look like half inch bolt threads and
I have aboard some longish half inch SS bolts. I remove one of the mounts and check it out.
Rats, it's 12mm, but I have a half inch tap. So I dig out all my stuff. Yes it looks like I
have what I need. The real difficult thing is going to be fabricating a new bracket.
The bracket is the biggest challenge. I kept the broken SS strap from the aux rudder pintle.
It looks to be just wide enough to make part of a new bracket. Just try drilling four holes in
6mm SS with a battery drill while rolling around at sea. It took hours but I finally got it
done. The motor mounds were pretty easy to tap out to half inch from 12 mm. Of course all this
also required unbolting the prop shaft flange from the transmission. Easy enough if you don't
mind laying over the edge of a piece of half inch plywood on your ribs. And then lifting the
engine high enough to remove and replace all the bits and pieces.
This was pretty easy as the factory installed a bracket on the underside of the cockpit
footwell to use when installing the engine. Or maybe not. Possibly it was a prior owner.
Attaching a tackle to the bracket and engine lifting bracket made it possible to lift the
engine enough to do the work. What ever, it made the job doable. I used this setup installing
the new engine in Samao three years ago.
Fortunately I assembled the flange to the isolator and used my old time favorite, teflon pipe
dope on the bolt threads. Therefore the bolts were as easy to looosen as if I had just
tightened them the day before.
All told it took 13 hours of work. I started in the dark and finished in the dark pretty much
without a break until the whole thing was finished. The tools and material put away, I had a
bath afterwards to clean off the day's accumulated grime and sweat. Then sat down and had my
first meal of the day. Spagetti as memory serves and it was delicious.
Then I started the motor and put it into gear. Everything seemed to be holding and working
properly. YEAH! Then we were off again heading to Brunei.
More to come...
Take care,
Fred
Hi all,
And what does that mean, exactly.
For SunShine it meant a lot. We left Johor Bahru, Malaysia heading for Brunei on Sunday, March
9th. The next morning we got underway again after anchoring just outside of Raffles Marina after a fuel stop at Puterie Marina in Malaysia the afternoon before. That's on the channel seperating Singapore from the Malaysian penisula. Pleasant fellows there and I topped up all the diesel, including two 20 liter jugs. I expected to need most of it on the run up to Brunai.
Passage weather showed generally north wind just east of Singapore and then NE on up to and by
Borneo's west coast. Strength 0~15 knots. HA HA HA. Had the wind been north, getting out of
the Straights would not have been too hard. But it was about NNE~NE, more or less dead on the
nose and often more than 15k. The course varies from SE early to just about due east at the
east end. Fortunately the port tack, going east was somewhat favored. Still it took a day and
a half to get through. Going the other way back in December took just about 12 hours.
We finally cleared the eastern most point in the early hours and then could head off in an
easterly direction. I hoped to make about 60* true with a north wind but the wind just wasn't
there, being more like NE. Borneo is about 300 miles east so I figured three days, which
turned out to be accurate. But to keep the boat moving well in the conditions at the time I
could only make about 110* true.
Once we were close to the Borneo coast it was time to head as north as possible. Of course the
wind then decided to go NNE and the best I could get SunShine to go was NW. As we got farther
north the wind did shift to the north and we went off on a port tack making about 10* true.
Then the wind died and we went due north for a while under power.
While going up forward to change sails Loida said I should look at this wire. Which one I
said. This one as she pointed at the bottom of the port aft lower. Sure enough about six of
the outside strands had broken and partially unlaid. Good thing she noticed that as I didn't
even see it.
So then sit down and think it through. Parts and tools. O.K. I got it figured out. Hacksaw off
the old fitting. Take it apart and extract the old bits of wire. I have a new fitting below so
use the nut and cone from that on the original threaded stud that fits into the turnbuckle.
Re-install and tighten everything up. Great, a quick fix. Only about two hours as the boat
rolls around while hove-to. The we are off again.
The next day, March 15, we are power sailing along when the engine alarm goes off. It's early
morning and still dark. I quick turn on the engine instrument light to see what's up.
Ahhhhh!!! no oil pressure. I turn off the engine and sit down, more than a little worried. I
changed the oil and filter before we left and I know the engine doesn't use much oil between
changes. So what could be the problem. I am seriously hoping it is not the engine oil pump
because that would mean we are seriously screwed. My anxiety causes me to delay the inevitable
but finally I go below to check the engine oil level.
Nada! Nothing on the dip stick. How can that be. Then I look in the bigle. Not good. It is
filled with black oil. Hungh! Were is it leaking. I do not know at first. Then slowly piece by
piece I figure the whole thing out and it is not good. Evidentially the sever pounding that
the boat has taken to date with all the powering into head seas and wind has taken its toll on
the engine mounts.
What I discover is that three of the four engine mount studs have seared off. The fourth
remains unbroken but the motor mount bracket that it is attached to has broken and at quick
glance is not repairable. It would require welding to fix. What ever am I going to do out here
bouncing around in the sloppy seas, at best a number of hundreds of miles from anywhere.
Again I sit down and start to think it out. What do I have aboard and how can I make that work
to fix this problem and get me into port. Well the studs look like half inch bolt threads and
I have aboard some longish half inch SS bolts. I remove one of the mounts and check it out.
Rats, it's 12mm, but I have a half inch tap. So I dig out all my stuff. Yes it looks like I
have what I need. The real difficult thing is going to be fabricating a new bracket.
The bracket is the biggest challenge. I kept the broken SS strap from the aux rudder pintle.
It looks to be just wide enough to make part of a new bracket. Just try drilling four holes in
6mm SS with a battery drill while rolling around at sea. It took hours but I finally got it
done. The motor mounds were pretty easy to tap out to half inch from 12 mm. Of course all this
also required unbolting the prop shaft flange from the transmission. Easy enough if you don't
mind laying over the edge of a piece of half inch plywood on your ribs. And then lifting the
engine high enough to remove and replace all the bits and pieces.
This was pretty easy as the factory installed a bracket on the underside of the cockpit
footwell to use when installing the engine. Or maybe not. Possibly it was a prior owner.
Attaching a tackle to the bracket and engine lifting bracket made it possible to lift the
engine enough to do the work. What ever, it made the job doable. I used this setup installing
the new engine in Samao three years ago.
Fortunately I assembled the flange to the isolator and used my old time favorite, teflon pipe
dope on the bolt threads. Therefore the bolts were as easy to looosen as if I had just
tightened them the day before.
All told it took 13 hours of work. I started in the dark and finished in the dark pretty much
without a break until the whole thing was finished. The tools and material put away, I had a
bath afterwards to clean off the day's accumulated grime and sweat. Then sat down and had my
first meal of the day. Spagetti as memory serves and it was delicious.
Then I started the motor and put it into gear. Everything seemed to be holding and working
properly. YEAH! Then we were off again heading to Brunei.
More to come...
Take care,
Fred
You should always have an odd number of holes in your boat!
-
David Patterson
- Posts: 785
- Joined: Dec 17th, '10, 22:58
- Location: 1982 Cape Dory 25D #85, sv Cloud Girl.
Re: Continuation of thread..Start of November cruise to Thai
Impressive, and encouraging, self-reliance story. Thank you for sharing it. Good journeying luck to you.
Re: Continuation of thread..Start of November cruise to Thai
Very impressed with your resourcefulness. Good luck. Great fun reading of your adventures.
Jim Walsh
Ex Vice Commodore
Ex Captain-Northeast Fleet
CD31 ORION
The currency of life is not money, it's time
Ex Vice Commodore
Ex Captain-Northeast Fleet
CD31 ORION
The currency of life is not money, it's time
-
fenixrises
- Posts: 450
- Joined: Feb 13th, '05, 08:01
- Location: SunShine S2 11c
- Contact:
Re: Continuation of thread..Start of November cruise to Thai
Hi all,
It has been more than two years since I last posted. Here's an update on
happenings with me and SunShine.
After the motor mount saga we were off again to Brunei. SunShine still
had to battle head winds of various strengths and the diesel fuel was
going away as if it were evaporating. For safety's sake I decided to make
an intermediate fuel stop again in Malaysian Borneo.
The closest place according to the chart was what looked like a small
commercial harbor near a city called Bintulu at 3*15 N x 113*04 E. The
city itself had a small port but according to the chart it was very
shallow. Just to the NE was the larger commercial harbor.
I wandered in looking around for a place to go with the boat. A harbor
patrol vessel came alongside and told me to go to the VHF. I did. For
some reason it would no longer transmit! Poop! By shouting across the
water he indicated that I should follow him. This I did and he led us to
a protected place behind a seawall where I dropped the anchor in about
30'.
I explained to the man running the boat that I was heading to Brunei but
needed diesel fuel. He said please wait for one hour because he had to
drop off a pilot. OK. After about an hour he returned and we discussed
the problem. In Malaysia there are no real facilities to provide fuel for
pleasure craft. But of course there is plenty of fuel available in the
country as they are exporters of petroleum.
I hopped aboard his boat and he took me to the government dock. A young
man aboard had a friend ashore who was off duty and owned a small car.
Since the patrol boat just finished filling his tanks with gasoline he
had 10 empty 5 gallon jugs aboard.
Me and the friend and 5 jugs went off to the gas station some miles away.
Fortunately the friend understood the situation and was able to explain
to the station manager that I needed 200 liters of fuel for my yacht. The
fuel was not to be used for any commercial purpose. There is a difference
in the cost of diesel depending on its intended use. We filled them up
and returned to the harbor and then made a second trip. It took two trips
because his car was very small.
Then we loaded everything on the patrol boat and headed back to SunShine
to transfer the fuel. All went easily and I was very thankful for the
assistance of all involved. We stayed the night at the out of the way and
peaceful anchorage and left the next morning headed once again to Brunei.
The rest of the trip up to Brunei was uneventful. We arrived and dropped
the anchor off the yacht club again. Here I wanted to refill the diesel
tanks again. In Brunei diesel is very cheap, being subsidized by the
government. But once again there are no real facilities for fueling
pleasure craft in Brunei. I made an arrangement with a friend of a worker
at the yacht club. He made a fuel run for me and supplied a number of
jugs himself. This was great as the price at that time for diesel was
about US $ 1.20 per gallon.
A short hop across the bay brought us to Labuan Island (5*19N x 115*13E),
part of Malaysia and a duty free port. There was a marina there but not
too much in the way of facilities. It was a short ride / walk into town
for some shopping and check-in / check-out. We stayed about a week. Then
we headed off again to the NE and Palawan.
This was a 3 day passage mostly done in a dead flat calm. We left Puerto
Princesa on Nov.15, 2013 and returned April 15,2014, five months all
told. After returning to the Philippines in Palawan I invited my girl
friend of the last 18 months to leave SunShine and me and return to her
home. I did this for a number of reasons. Some reasons were personal and
because at that time I was seriously considering a return to the US via
the north Pacific route.
On April 21 I headed off, solo again, to Subic Bay. I thought I would
provision there for the long Pacific crossing (about 6,000 miles) and
start out at the beginning of June, which is the recommended time to start
the trip.
After spending another delightful six weeks in Subic I decided to remain
in the Philippines. I like it here in the Fils. And I already had a good
mooring down in Carmen just waiting for my return. In any case it was
imperative that I leave Subic because the SW monsoon winds had started.
These winds blow directly into the bay and at the place I was moored
meant 5~6 hours daily of 4'+ wind waves. As the season progressed the
wind would increase in strength and duration so it was definitely time to
leave.
On June 3, 2014 I started an easy four day passage back to Carmen where I
picked up my mooring on June 7. I had made a nice cruising trip of eight
months from and returning to Carmen. I travelled about 4,500 miles
overall.
As of now, May 19, 2015 I am still in Carmen. This morning I am moving
SunShine over to the south part of the bay for a bottom job. I have done
this before two years ago in the same place. I expect that all will go
smoothly.
After my return to Carmen last year in the late summer I happened to see
a link somewhere to You Tube videos on a subject I was interested in at
the time. This led to a real interest in making more videos. I started my
own channel and a new website. Since I am not sure if I will make any more
long passages I may not update this thread again.
You can go to my You Tube channel and see videos about some of my sailing
travels in the Philippines. There are many other videos on the channel
having to do with living in the country, some of my personal philosophy
and my search for a suitable companion. After 3+ years of looking I think
I have finally found her.
Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-BHAI ... d8lpeWgSYA
It has been more than two years since I last posted. Here's an update on
happenings with me and SunShine.
After the motor mount saga we were off again to Brunei. SunShine still
had to battle head winds of various strengths and the diesel fuel was
going away as if it were evaporating. For safety's sake I decided to make
an intermediate fuel stop again in Malaysian Borneo.
The closest place according to the chart was what looked like a small
commercial harbor near a city called Bintulu at 3*15 N x 113*04 E. The
city itself had a small port but according to the chart it was very
shallow. Just to the NE was the larger commercial harbor.
I wandered in looking around for a place to go with the boat. A harbor
patrol vessel came alongside and told me to go to the VHF. I did. For
some reason it would no longer transmit! Poop! By shouting across the
water he indicated that I should follow him. This I did and he led us to
a protected place behind a seawall where I dropped the anchor in about
30'.
I explained to the man running the boat that I was heading to Brunei but
needed diesel fuel. He said please wait for one hour because he had to
drop off a pilot. OK. After about an hour he returned and we discussed
the problem. In Malaysia there are no real facilities to provide fuel for
pleasure craft. But of course there is plenty of fuel available in the
country as they are exporters of petroleum.
I hopped aboard his boat and he took me to the government dock. A young
man aboard had a friend ashore who was off duty and owned a small car.
Since the patrol boat just finished filling his tanks with gasoline he
had 10 empty 5 gallon jugs aboard.
Me and the friend and 5 jugs went off to the gas station some miles away.
Fortunately the friend understood the situation and was able to explain
to the station manager that I needed 200 liters of fuel for my yacht. The
fuel was not to be used for any commercial purpose. There is a difference
in the cost of diesel depending on its intended use. We filled them up
and returned to the harbor and then made a second trip. It took two trips
because his car was very small.
Then we loaded everything on the patrol boat and headed back to SunShine
to transfer the fuel. All went easily and I was very thankful for the
assistance of all involved. We stayed the night at the out of the way and
peaceful anchorage and left the next morning headed once again to Brunei.
The rest of the trip up to Brunei was uneventful. We arrived and dropped
the anchor off the yacht club again. Here I wanted to refill the diesel
tanks again. In Brunei diesel is very cheap, being subsidized by the
government. But once again there are no real facilities for fueling
pleasure craft in Brunei. I made an arrangement with a friend of a worker
at the yacht club. He made a fuel run for me and supplied a number of
jugs himself. This was great as the price at that time for diesel was
about US $ 1.20 per gallon.
A short hop across the bay brought us to Labuan Island (5*19N x 115*13E),
part of Malaysia and a duty free port. There was a marina there but not
too much in the way of facilities. It was a short ride / walk into town
for some shopping and check-in / check-out. We stayed about a week. Then
we headed off again to the NE and Palawan.
This was a 3 day passage mostly done in a dead flat calm. We left Puerto
Princesa on Nov.15, 2013 and returned April 15,2014, five months all
told. After returning to the Philippines in Palawan I invited my girl
friend of the last 18 months to leave SunShine and me and return to her
home. I did this for a number of reasons. Some reasons were personal and
because at that time I was seriously considering a return to the US via
the north Pacific route.
On April 21 I headed off, solo again, to Subic Bay. I thought I would
provision there for the long Pacific crossing (about 6,000 miles) and
start out at the beginning of June, which is the recommended time to start
the trip.
After spending another delightful six weeks in Subic I decided to remain
in the Philippines. I like it here in the Fils. And I already had a good
mooring down in Carmen just waiting for my return. In any case it was
imperative that I leave Subic because the SW monsoon winds had started.
These winds blow directly into the bay and at the place I was moored
meant 5~6 hours daily of 4'+ wind waves. As the season progressed the
wind would increase in strength and duration so it was definitely time to
leave.
On June 3, 2014 I started an easy four day passage back to Carmen where I
picked up my mooring on June 7. I had made a nice cruising trip of eight
months from and returning to Carmen. I travelled about 4,500 miles
overall.
As of now, May 19, 2015 I am still in Carmen. This morning I am moving
SunShine over to the south part of the bay for a bottom job. I have done
this before two years ago in the same place. I expect that all will go
smoothly.
After my return to Carmen last year in the late summer I happened to see
a link somewhere to You Tube videos on a subject I was interested in at
the time. This led to a real interest in making more videos. I started my
own channel and a new website. Since I am not sure if I will make any more
long passages I may not update this thread again.
You can go to my You Tube channel and see videos about some of my sailing
travels in the Philippines. There are many other videos on the channel
having to do with living in the country, some of my personal philosophy
and my search for a suitable companion. After 3+ years of looking I think
I have finally found her.
Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-BHAI ... d8lpeWgSYA
You should always have an odd number of holes in your boat!