Sailing back to Singapore.

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We left Tenggol on Thursday, August 27. It took us about 22 hours, maybe less, to sail north from Tioman to Tenggol. It took us 37 hours to get back. It was not a nice trip, though it wasn't awful. All day Thursday there were blue skies, and a moderate breeze from the SW. We weren't going very fast, but it wasn't bad. But the current was very strong against us, and by the end of the day it was obvious that we were going to have a hard time reaching Tioman before sunset on Friday. Peter, until about five or six o'clock in the evening, kept saying that on Friday everything was closed anyway, so it didn't matter what time we arrived. When he finally turned on the engine because we were going backward, we were still 80 miles or so from Tioman. Well, the weather turned bad. Nasty electrical storm, with lightning, wind right on the nose, lumpy, choppy seas. Because it was pitch dark except when the lightning flashed, and we didn't have wind instruments, he dropped the mainsail.

We slogged along, doing about two to three knots when it was good, all night. Lumpy, nasty, rainy, yechhy. Sunrise, and it was still overcast, still too windy, but finally we could set a triple-reefed mainsail, and run the inner forestaysail. We did better, three to four knots. But the lumpiness and the cold rain was tiring, and the weather didn't improve until about two or three in the afternoon. By then we had to make a decision. Our original plan was to go into the western bay, Tekuk, get some food - basics, like bread, eggs, vegetables, and sugar(!) and then head into Juara Bay on the east side for a day or two before leaving for Singapore. But Tekuk Bay is extremely deep except for some shoally corally spots that are poor holding and not particularly safe. There are moorings, but trying to find them at night is difficult under the best of conditions, and we didn't know how the weather was going to settle out. Juara Bay is safer, it shoals gently to the shore, we knew that we could recognize features on shore at night due to its distinctive character, and the holding was excellent. So we decided we would have to go into Juara Bay. We would then look for the provisions we wanted there, and if we could get most of them we'd settle and head on out to Singapore, otherwise we could go around to the other side and try to get stuff there in a day or two.

The only thing wrong with Juara Bay is that it is rolly after 36 hours of unsettled weather, and naturally, as soon as we dropped the anchor the wind died completely, guaranteeing that we would lay beam-to the swell and roll all night. We don't have an anchor that can be easily set as a stern anchor anymore. We had broken the eye off the small Danforth that we used, and Peter decided to get rid of the anchor when we were in Australia, and didn’t get another one. So we rolled. It was a very unpleasant roll; a click, click, click over by the chart table - it seems to be inside the switch panel and Peter has never been able to find it, partly because he probably doesn't hear it, so we can't stop the clicking. It's incredibly annoying to me. Peter, of course, can sleep through anything.

Some good things come out of unpleasantness, though. Peter had cranked the headsail so tight on Friday morning when the wind was on the beam, that we were taking in water through the sink drain in the Head because the boat was heeling so severely - it was siphoning up into the sink, then spilling over. The only solution was to close the seacock for the sink. Not a hardship, since we don't use it much when we're underway - we tend to use the galley sink because it is more comfortable under just about any sea conditions. But when we finally dropped the anchor, at 8:45 Friday night, and had dinner, Peter went in to clean up - when he opened the door under the sink to turn on the seacock, he found a large (1-3/4" diameter) hose clamp just lying there. It's too dark, and we're a bit too tired, to look for what it came off, but that will be the first job in the morning. Had we not had these nasty conditions, and I had not had to close the seacock, we might never have noticed the hose clamp until it was too late, i.e., when the hose to which it was attached, lets go. A lot of water can come into the boat from a 1-3/4" hole. Whoops!

I tried to get to sleep, but the roll drove me crazy. It would stop. Then it would start to roll - three or four gentle rocks, then a stutter, then three or four violent rolls, then a stutter, then a few gentle rocks, then it would stop. And then it starts again. The gentle rocks don't lull you - you just lie there tensing in anticipation of the violent rolls. Tough to relax enough to go to sleep. Finally things calmed down, and I was tired enough to sleep, but it was late, about 2 in the morning. So when I woke up at 7:30 I was a bit annoyed - I would have liked to sleep a bit longer. The water was somewhat calm all day - enough breeze to keep the bow facing into the swell, but by 7 pm the wind died and the boat was rolling again. We finally decided to go ashore so we could buy some stuff - teabags, sugar, bread, eggs. By the time we got in there the produce store was closed, so walked down the beach to the other store. Got all but bread and anything fresh - no veggies here. But they had a large group staying at the cabins, and there was a buffet dinner. RM 8.00, all you could eat - rice, curried chicken, grilled prawns, sweet & sour fish, large vegetable medley, salad, watermelon for dessert, fruit punch or water to drink. The curried chicken was very hot, but really tasty. The sweet and sour fish was good - not too sweet & sour, just really tasty - though their fascination with fish heads is a bit much. Good meal, cheap - that's $2.00 U.S. for all that.

We met some Malaysians, they're from Johore Bahru, and the man works for Customs. We invited them out to the boat for the next day. We haven't had any good visitors in such a long time. The whole family came out to the boat to visit. Nice people. The girls, 11 and 7, both understand English, although the 11-year old is better at speaking it. I asked their mother, whose English is perfect, when they started studying English in school. In first grade. No wonder this is such an easy country for us to visit.

We went in the second night for dinner while the large group was still there so we could take advantage of the variety of food. They had fried rice, spicy barbecued chicken wings and whole fish, and fruit. All you can eat, RM 8.00. My time is worth more than that. Though it is admitted that the food is special because of the long weekend - Monday, August 31 is National Day, so everybody has a long weekend and has descended upon these places. Tioman Island has so little that even when it’s overrun it’s quiet. The cabins at Juara Mutiara are between RM 15 and RM 20 per night, two people. That’s U.S. $5.00! Malaysia on $10.00 a day.

There must be nasty storms outside, because the swell in the bay is horrible. Peter set a stern anchor using the big Danforth three times on Sunday. A squall came up after the first time he set it, and he had to let it go because the wind was on our beam and it was placing a terrible strain on both anchors. When the squall went by, Peter had to dive to find the anchor line because he hadn’t buoyed the line, just the anchor itself. So he had to pull up the anchor and reset it. The next two times he set it the angle was wrong, and so the stern anchor was more a hindrance than a help and so late at night he let it go - but this time the line itself was buoyed, making it possible for him to pick up the line if he wanted to. We rolled sickeningly all Sunday night; Monday morning Peter decided we would try moving further south into the bay to try to get out of the worst of the swell. Well, it may be slightly less rolly down in the south corner, but not extraordinarily so. We picked up a mooring and Peter set out the stern anchor again. And it took two tries to get it right.

Considering how comfortable this bay was the first time we were here, the second time it was not-nice. Going ashore is a drenching experience, and the way the dinghy surfs down the wave onto the beach is a bit frightening to this coward. We make it okay, although each time I want to chicken out and go back to the boat without braving the surf.

On Tuesday the weather looked really 'not-nice', and we waited to see what was going to happen. As the wind picked up and the chop got bigger and nastier, Peter sat in the cockpit watching things, noticing that we seemed to be dragging backwards. Sure enough, the mooring wasn’t holding us. Oof! And so we had to drop the stern anchor and mooring and motor forward and anchor. And what a nasty time it was. Anchoring was easy, but the bay is open to the east, the wind was coming from the South and then West, but the big swell was coming from the East, and so we rolled. All night we rolled. I was tired from holding onto things so I wouldn’t fall off the seat in the saloon. It is less comfortable than when we are underway.

With no confidence that we would have decent weather, we stayed - the squally conditions justified our conservatism. If we were fully operational we wouldn’t be so careful, but we don’t have much in reserve if things go wrong, and thus we prefer to wait until conditions are as near to perfect as possible. At one point I asked Peter why the weather had turned so bad so quickly - he shrugged and said "we must have really pissed off the Big Guy up there."

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