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.
