Category: Uncategorized

Sunday, 22 August

Shahna Bacal has now been at the AMI shipyard for 3 weeks, and throughout this time I have been staying at the KTM Resort.

The resort is very quiet during the week but busy at weekends and on the two public holidays (Islamic New Year, 11 August; and Indonesia Independence Day, 17 August). It is situated on the seaward side of a coastal hill and spreads out from the hill top down to the waterfront. It has a swimming pool but few other facilities, and two restaurants both on the waterfront, the international restaurant and the local Indonesian restaurant. The food at both is very good albeit the choice is rather limited. Owing to the pandemic the restaurants are only open for dinner from 1500 to 2000 each day, so breakfast has been a challenge every morning which I have overcome by bringing the cereal and milk supplies on the boat to my room. I have also now ventured into the main town, Nagoya, and been shown a supermarket (and hardware store) nearby, and have stocked up on these essentials.

My room is on the hill top which means I have a long, steep up-hill climb every night after dinner; but it also backs onto the local forest which is home to a troop of monkeys who on the occasional morning swing through the upper regions of the resort, including over the deck area in front of my room. David Attenborough must have stayed here at some time.

In readiness for retirement on the Sunshine Coast I have got into the habit of going to bed at 2130 and getting up at 0500. My days follow the same routine, weekends included : up at 0500, exercise, breakfast, study; then at the shipyard from 1000 to 1600; back to the resort for a swim if the sun is out and a shower followed by dinner and messing around on the computer until lights out at 2130. As most people know, I am a creature of habit – and most of them bad according to Sue.

Study, you note?! I am embarrassed to admit that after 30 years working ashore I have forgotten how to work out a sight and I decided to use this time in the resort to re-discover how to do so. My copies of “Munro’s Navigation” and “Nories Tables” are somewhat yellowed now with age, but still readable; and I would be lying if I said I have not enjoyed studying navigation again. After this intense refresher course I am now confident I will be able to not only use my sextant to take a sight, but also to now be able again to work it out! 

Whilst messing around on the computer in the evenings I managed to set up this website. I would like to say I know what I am doing with it, but I don’t. I know how to post updates on the blog page, but I am still working out how to upload photos and video clips. It doesn’t help that I bought a Gopro Hero 8 camera just before leaving Singapore which I am also still getting to grips with. Just some of the joys of being a dinosaur….

On the repair front, I have had some testing moments. As the standing rigging is now over 13 years old I made the decision before leaving Singapore to replace it whilst at the shipyard here. Marintech in Singapore are the local agent for the Sta-lok fittings I wanted, which are made in the UK. Marintech placed my order in early July, and normally they receive everything from Sta-lok within 4 days or so. That however, was before the pandemic. My order did not arrive in Singapore until last Tuesday, 17 August, and even then 2 items were missing. Fortunately, these 2 items are not so critical and I can manage without them; and will have to, as I cannot wait here until the middle of September to receive them. Marintech have now made up my new wires with the Sta-lok fittings and the  new wires should arrive at the shipyard tomorrow, 23 August.

The hull has been prepped for top coating, and the new antifoul will be applied this coming week and the topsides touched up and the waterline repainted. The bowsprit has been removed for painting and will be ready for re-fitting next week. Both masts were unstepped during my second week here and the old rigging removed, along with the spreaders so that new end fittings can be made. These should be ready this week, and all the other work on the masts, including the fitting of the new standing rigging, should be completed by Wednesday of next week.

On this basis, weather permitting and all going well the masts will be re-stepped on Thursday of next week and the rigging set up and tuned on Friday. By this time all the painting should have been completed and the bow sprit should be back on the boat, so that Shahna Bacal should be ready to go back in the water on Saturday, 28 August. Fingers crossed!

Friday, 30 July

Shahna Bacal was last out of the water in November, 2019 and I made the decision before departing from Singapore that I would go to the Asiafast Marine Industries (“AMI”) shipyard in Sekupang, Batam, so she could be lifted out and the underwater hull cleaned and the antifouling renewed, amongst other things. Sekupang is directly opposite Singapore but it is not a port of entry for Indonesia, which is why I sailed first to Nongsa from Singapore.

I woke up at 0630 on 30 July and spent the next couple of hours readying the boat for departure, disconnecting shore power, rigging the head sails and such like. My crew, John McGrath (the marina manager) arrived at 0900 with food and drink for lunch, and after stowing everything and the safety briefing, we motored out of the marina at 0930.

The passage from Nongsa Point Marina to the AMI shipyard in Sekupang is 13 miles. With a draught of 2 metres, Shahna Bacal can only get into the dock at the shipyard a couple of hours either side of high water, and the lift out was scheduled accordingly for 1500. By leaving at 0930 I was allowing plenty of time, so that we could try sailing as and when the wind permitted.

It was another beautiful day, and once out in the Singapore Strait the wind obliged, picking up a little from the South and we hoisted the sails. On a beam reach we managed nearly 3 knots in 8 knots of wind, but sadly the wind did not last for very long and after 30 minutes or so we were back motoring again. Later, as we neared Pulau Mariam, the wind picked up again and we had another go at sailing. With time to kill, we kept the wind on the beam in order to keep sailing even though this took us North of our charted course; and then at around 1230 we hove to with the sails up in order to have lunch and relax. That at least, was the plan.

Half way through lunch, the wind blew my hat overboard and before I could stop him, John had dived overboard to retrieve it! Unfortunately there was quite a current running and after grabbing my hat he was having difficulty swimming back to the boat. I threw the lifebuoy into the water in the hope he could reach it before the line ran out, but I had to let go of the line before he could get hold of the lifebuoy.  I then quickly rigged the boarding ladder, started the engine and dropped the sails, and motored around to pick him up. 

Our impromptu man overboard drill complete and my hat back on board, we resumed lunch and as the engine was now running and the sails were down, we continued on our passage to Sekupang. The entrance to the approach channel round the reefs is very pretty, and normally busy with cross strait ferries and ships heading to and from the numerous shipyards in the channel, but because of the pandemic it was now very quiet.

We arrived off the AMI shipyard at 1400 and drifted around until 1430 when the yard was ready with the travel hoist and called us in; and the boat was lifted out of the water on schedule at 1500. I was pleased to see there was not much marine growth on the hull, and that the S$200 I paid every month in Singapore for an in-water clean was money well spent. The anodes however, were all wasted and will require replacement.

John left shortly after the boat was lifted out. I remained at the shipyard until Shahna Bacal was in position and chocked at 1730. One of the senior yard workers with Netty, the sales lady, then kindly  drove me to the KTM Resort Hotel nearby where I would be staying whilst Shahna Bacal was at the shipyard.

After checking into my room at the hotel, I showered up and went to dinner at the international restaurant on the waterfront overlooking the Singapore Strait. It was a beautiful evening, and I enjoyed a few drinks after dinner taking in the view, looking across at the bright lights of Singapore. A perfect end to another day’s sailing.

Thursday, 29 July

All boats arriving in the marina are directed to anchor first pending clearance for berthing, and then when cleared to do so, to go alongside to commence 8 days of quarantine during which time you have to stay on board and cannot leave your boat.

I was in the anchorage until the morning of Saturday, 17 July. There was one other boat in the anchorage when I arrived (Stellar Australis) and she, like so many other cruising boats in this part of the World, was making her way back home to Australia because Covid-19 restrictions are making it increasingly difficult to sail around the region. Apparently, Nongsa Point Marina is one of only a few places which is still allowing access to visiting boats.

Raising the anchor on Shahna Bacal was not as straight forward as it should be. My boat has 100 metres of 12 mm anchor chain, which is stowed in two lockers in the forepeak. Unfortunately, the lockers are not that deep (waist height), and with 50 metres of chain in each of them there is little free space left inside. When heaving in the anchor therefore, the chain quickly piles up under the spurling pipe which becomes full and then if you are not careful, the chain piles up on deck and comes off the gyspy. With crew this is not a problem as I always station one man in the forepeak when weighing the anchor to properly stow the chain in locker as it comes in. When sailing solo however, this is not an option, and on Saturday morning I had to heave in the anchor in stages, nipping down below every so often to stow the chain. In the calm sheltered anchorage of the marina this was no big deal but clearly, it would be in a crowded anchorage with a strong wind blowing and/or a tidal current running. Something I will need to address.

I was all fast alongside the outer end of ‘A’ dock by 0930. The local quarantine officials arrived at 1000 and I had my first PCR test; and the local immigration officials arrived at 1300 and cleared me into Indonesia. Although confined on board, I did have the luxury now, of shore power and water, and access to the internet via the marina wi-fi. I was also able to chat now to the marina staff, and the owners and crews of other boats on ‘A’ dock albeit at a distance. And on Shahna Bacal there are always things which need to be done. Looking after a steel boat is like painting the Forth Road Bridge: by the time you have worked your way from bow to stern, it is time to start again at the bow. Then there are the basic everyday things to do, like cooking; and as my culinary skills are next to zero, this was the perfect opportunity for me to start developing them.

I had stocked the boat with provisions before leaving Singapore, mainly tinned foods including a variety of curries, spam and corned beef, tuna and salmon, soups, vegetables, and fruit; and potatoes, pasta, rice, onions and garlic and such like. Plenty of ingredients to play with therefore, and I made some interesting dinners even if in Sue’s eyes, they all looked like something she might put in the our dog’s bowl. Every Tuesday and Thursday the marina staff came round with a shopping list, so I could order fresh food during quarantine – a great arrangement set up by the marina manager, John McGrath. As well as fresh food, I could order drinks, and I spent a couple of evenings having sundowners with John, me sitting on my boat and he sitting on a chair on the pontoon.

The weather throughout was fine with very little rain, and lots of sunshine. As such, I got quite a bit done on the boat. It was hot work, but I rigged my boarding ladder over the outboard (starboard) side and went for a dip every lunchtime, swimming up and down alongside the boat. Evenings I spent in the cockpit relaxing, checking my emails and reading my books. I have fair sized library on board and during my quarantine I enjoyed re-reading biographies of Collingwood, Pellew, and Cochrane, and “Voyage for Madmen” about the nine sailors who set off to sail solo around the world in 1968. Topical stuff.

I had my second PCR test on Saturday, 24 July and was released from quarantine late on Sunday afternoon, 25 July. I celebrated by having a walk around the marina that evening and a shower ashore. Otherwise however, I did not venture far afield as Indonesia has many Covid-19 cases, including two under quarantine in the marina resort; and there were still many things to do on the boat. Nevertheless, it was refreshing to be able to walk around the resort, swim in the pool, and use the facilities including the laundry. Sadly, the bar in the resort was closed for renovation, and the restaurant was limited to providing a take-away service because of the local Covid-19 restrictions. The resort and marina are in a lovely setting but the resort is now very quiet because of the pandemic and looking very tired.

The Indonesian Coast Guard came down to inspect my boat on Thursday, 29 July, to make sure it was fit enough to undertake the voyage to the shipyard in Sekupang. The inspection focused on my life saving gear and particularly the number of lifejackets I had on board (6), and my AIS. Once over, I received my clearance papers and settled my account with the marina; and after dinner I planned my passage to the shipyard.