Well not the sort of start everyone wanted, like zero wind or close to it. We ended up doing a bit of motoring the first night, it was never going to be a record breaking
race.
Great Sendoff from friends on Sting
Sunday 18th August
Wind is SE about 15 knots and we have had the screecher up all morning, the swell is up and we are all feeling sea sick. Paul has caught a mackerel so fresh
fish for dinner ! Around 2 hours later a massive bite, which turned out when we got him in to be a 2m shark. No way is he coming aboard, cut the line.
Our new Hydrogenerator seems to be working but less than the claims of 40 amps at 8 knots, more like 25 amps I think. I am planning to get a more accurate ammeter system
working so I know what is happening.
Sunday night, the best sail so far - beam reaching at better 9-11 knots all night, which made me predict an arrival at Ambon mid afternoon on Tuesday - bad idea !
Screecher drawing nicely - used it a heap.
Monday 19th August
Had a good sleep last night so I suppose we are getting used to the unusual sleep patterns. Slow progress today compared with last night.
So I am winding back the expected arrival time to maybe late Tuesday. Then more delays. Ran into a cray pot in about 120m of water, saw it too late to avoid it and just had
to hope that the ropes and floats would go through the middle of the boat, was not to be and we ended up been anchored to the bottom, we tried everything to get free but in the
end I had to go in the water armed with bread knife to cut it free. In the haste to drop the main and screecher the sheet from the screecher ended up in the sea and
yeah as soon as the starboard engine started the rope stopped the motor - another trip in the drink for me, with corresponding cuts and bruises.
8:00pm
Screecher broke free of the furling drum and decided to unfurl itself, all hands on deck to drop it and semi stuff it in the forward hatch, night rolled on - just short of midnight
Paul appeared to report a fish in his cabin, a flying fish no less, landed on his head, this must be trade wind sailing. Dawn arrived and we found quite a few around the boat.
Flying Fish.
Tuesday 20th August
Very slow, well painfully slow night last night 4-5 knots most of the time, but stuck with the sailing with the expectation we would now not arrive until Wednesday morning.
Another stop around 09:30 after the schedule reporting to remove yet more rope that was wrapped around the port engine prop. Just steady sailing after that, had the spinnaker
up which pushed us up to 7 knots or so and kept us there, in a SE'ly breeze of around 12 knots. Decided that as the moon was full an arrival late at night was pretty much OK
Motored the last 40 miles as we were sick of the swell - no wind and the boom and mainsail flogging. Crossed the finish line at 1:50am after just missing one
of these crazy floating houses with no lights. Anchored in 35m of water. Up anchored the next day and picked up a mooring which (we found out later) had only
been put down the day before - that Indonesia eh.
Timor Sunrise.
Amahusu
Got to bed at 3:30am after the manditory beer. Woke at 7:00am, lots of bedding wet as it poured down all night and we were all unconcious and did not notice water pouring over the bedding.
Customs, Imigration and Quarantee arrive at 9:00am for an hour and filled in heaps of forms and used my stamp - yeah. Went ashore and drank some beer, got sick of
waiting for the water taxi and swam to the boat as its only 20m from the shore and moored in 20m of water.
Ambon Kids.
Finish line - lit by a bright flashing light at night.
Celebrations
Since Friday, its been party party party, a great reception by the chief of Amahusu, fantastic welcome lunch and entertainment including the crazy bamboo dancing
free drinks including alcohol, and some wonderful indonesian food. Then on an evening off by bus to the Lord Mayors residence for a gala dinner, great food, massive prawns and
again free beer. Tonight (Saturday) we are again off to the presentation night, where the winners get the trophys, and more food and beer no doubt. The lads have
stayed at the hotel, to give us a rest from them and them a rest from us I think - only $40 a night. The boat is getting weighed down with free T shirts.
Planning to leave on Monday morning and head for maybe Nusa Laut, or somewhere East of here winds permitting, talking of winds the wind in the harbour is like one
minute from the East, then from the South, and the wind can be blowing one way on the shore and a totally different direction on the boat 20m away. Weird !
Magic Bamboo at one of the many celebrations, see Paul at the LHS ?.
Cleared Out Sunday 2:00pm
After much stamping of documents and official sort of questions we are good to go. Intension is leave Monday around lunch time and head for Banda Islands, pretty
much to the SE a little over 100nm away, the forcast is Easterly 10-15 which, if correct when we get out there will mean we can almost sail direct, my guess is that
it will be a little SOuth of that and in the end we might have to do a bit of tacking. Hopefully the wind will be East and then in a day turn SE quick tack and we
would be there. Monday morning now, waiting to go and see a guy about a antique vase - maybe and the see how hard to getting fuel in Jerry Cans is then we are good
to go. Well fuel arrived but close on 4:00pm so decided to wait until Tuesday to leave this great place.
Pauls Antique Vase, well it is old.
Left Ambon - over the North and Eastward
Ok left Ambon at around 6:00am, a few boats left at the same time Maggie Drum, heading West. Jupiter Express heading the same way as us Even Karma left last night, heading not sure where. Australia Maid
left yesterday too, destination Bali. Sue Sea left yesterday too after breaking the mooring line, destination unknown, looked very weak to me, but ours held.
We have headed around the top of Ambon, pretty much against the wind all the way, so a day of motoring apart from a mad 10knot charge against the wind, until the wind dropped
and headed us. We cleared the North coast of Ambon and are currently anchored on the North shore of Haruku Huruano in a bay at what could be a village called Tg Hatumuri, well that is
the closest village marked on the chart. Its an absolute dream looking location. We have had heaps of friendly locals on board. All ages of adults and kids, just curious to see us I think. Lastly what
could have been the local "Call Girl" quite well dressed, tight clothes with 2 mobile phones, she was paddled out in a canoe by a young 8 year old kiddy, who knows ?. We anchored in 18m of water and drifted back to about 36m,
but all seems well the main influence on the boat is the current, its supper flat with little or no wind, we of course had the standard evening shower. The water looks super clear.
The plan is.... tomorrow we up anchor and head for Nusa Laut, its about 30nm away, the forecast for Thursday, and the trip to Banda shows lighter winds, still pretty much against us, from Nusa Laut we might
even be able to sail to Banda, but if not with the lighter winds we can motor sail / sail against the wind with not too much of a drama. I am hoping to arrive in Banda
midday Friday. Then for the homeward trip if we get a ESE'ly or even better an Easterly we can sail direct to Oz, one can only dream.
Fishing House, we think, 100s dotted all over the place with no lights on.
Tg Hatumuri - I think.
Onward to Nusa Laut
Wind is dead against us and we have been motoring all morning in torential rain. We might be able to sail the last 8 miles or so but the wind seems to be following us around
ESE and 15 knots at the moment. Expect to get to Nusa Laut at around 1-2 pm, would be nice if it stopped raining.
OK arrived on time and it stopped raining, anchoured in a great 8m of water, but a good way off the shore only to be visited by a friendly local and shown the way into the anchorage.
Depth was 30m but real flat bottom and close to the shore.
Nusa Laut anchorage.
Nusa Laut trip ashore - Sign means Good Street or Good Way.
NusaLaut Church, a new one has been built.
Lads Eh.
Time to go South - Damar
I was a great anchorage at Nusa Laut and the wind was still forcast to blow SE, pretty much the way we wanted to go, and was due to pick up to 25knots on the nose in 2 days time.
Because of this the decision was made to try and get to Banda in the next couple of days. We set off and were making good progress pretty much in the right direction as the wind was more
East than forcast. But this did not last and we were unable to make course for Banda. We ended up at a small Island called Damar about 40 nm NW of Babar in a little bay on the Northern shores
Anchored in around 10m. The bay was more sheltered to the East, so decided to take the dingy and try and find an anchorage over sand or mud closer to more peaceful waters. Was not to be too much
rock and coral. We tired a rope ashore.
A 100m line looks long when laid on the deck but short when laid in the sea and the trouble is there is large coral bommies raising up from the seabed to within
a metre of the surface, you just really have to avoid them. In the end I found a large, very large piece of coral that I could, using diving gear, tie a rope to and we used that to fasten ourselves to the bottom.
Worked a treat and was much more comfortable on board.
DugOut Canoe - leaked a bit, but works.
South For a Day ? - Or so we thought
OK time to go, winds are still forcast 20-25 ESE or SE but we figured we can make a 75nm dash to a group of Islands and anchor behind them before it gets dark, that way we are 75nm closer to
Australia and do not have to endure a dark night slamming into head winds and sea and we can wait and see what happens - sounds like a plan - off we go. Arrived at what turned out to be basically a couple of
small islands. On approach we had a problems. There was a vertical rock wall in front of both islands, nothing on the chart, but we were in 200m of water and only 50m from the rocks that were
awash, no apparent way though the reef to what looked like a nice sandy beach beyond. Scary stuff, and from where we could see there was a couple of wrecked boats on the shore, maybe they tried
to enter and anchor at night - which would have been a disaster.
Decision time - wind was still very strong and I figured the best course I could make was was going to be Western side of Joseph Bonaparte Gulf, still 250nm from Darwin and all against the wind.
There is always a plan B and I had this in mind when we left Damar - Dili in Timor Leste, 140nm away and all downwind - Dili it is.
Next Stop Dili in Timor Leste
We made great progress downwind, and yeah way easier than slamming into head seas, I felt I had made the right decision, but the problem with travelling 100 miles downwind over the top to Timor, is,
of course, you have to cover this 100nm sometime soon, up wind, another reason to go to Dili was that I had problems with the starboard engine leaking diesel from the leak off pipe and I figured
we would need both engines for the 350 mile or so run home, the intension was to get it fixed in Dili. In the end I managed to effect a temporary repair myself and it held all the way back without an
issue. The wind all the way to Dili was the promised 25 knots, pretty much dead astern, with a quick burst to 45 knots, decided I better not let the autopilot steer though that. We were not going to make Dili in daylight
so anchored around 50nm away, the anchor dragged once as the bottom was one hell of a slope and the wind was howling down the hills, we reanchored closer to the shore, dropped anchor in 10m say 70m of chain out and the boat sitting in
25-30m. Even more primative living here, with no electricity and folks living in what looked like huts with straw roofs.
Last anchorage before Dili.
Dili
Arrived around 1:00pm on Thursday 5th September. Thanks to the great help of our local office in Dili we were clearing in (and out later in the week) with the minimum of fuss and formalities
The lads flew back to Darwin the following day. Sandra and I enjoyed the great hospitality of Timor and folks we knew there. Fixed the engine and waited for the wind to stop blowing so hard. It looked
like Tueday or Wednesday was looking very settled. We organised fuel for Monday, but spent over 5 hours tied up to the commerial jetty trying to fend to boat off the pier, it was exhausting work
with the wind freshening every hour and the tide and swell rising. We got fueled up at about 3:30 after problems with the tanker (fuel would not come out). I had planned to setoff as soon
as we were fueled up. But we were that tired I decided it was a bit silly to do that so anchored back in the harbour for the evening of Monday night. Up anchored at 5:00am and headed off with
a planned overnight stop at Com on the Eastern end of Timor, about 90nm away.
Christ looking over Dili.
Dili Harbour, can be quite swelly in the afternoon.
This boat dragged the mooring a week before we arrived, was getting pounded.
The Run Home
Tuesday 10th September - 5:00am start, was supposed to be 4:00am, but well we are on holiday. Wind was still blowing at us but only 10 knots, fuel tanks were full, engines running at 1800 rpm, a bit of a tide with us
well, there seems to be a current running West to East pretty much all of the time, we were doing over 8 knots over the ground, a bit of a sea running but nothing that was bothering us - onward to COM.
Totally uneventful journey and arrive at COM around 5:00pm after a dream run over the top of Timor. The harbour was just not suitable for anchoring or tieing up to anything. Ah look, a nice sandy
beach to the East of us. We can try there says me, bound to be good. Another one of these steep sloping bottoms, got to 8m and dropped the hook. Absolutely no luck at all, from feeling the chain
seems like the bottom is rock, I suspect loose sand over coral or rock, we could not get a hold onto anything, anchor winch solinoid burnt out lifting the anchor the last time so operating the
anchor requires me to short 2 terminals out on the top of the solinoid with a large screwdriver, works but not ideal. . Nothing for it head for home, no where to stop, chugged along at 2-3 knots while we BBQ'ed
some chicken, round the corner and SE to Darwin.
Wind was lessening all the time, and the run to Darwin can only be described as a smooth and easy. Only around 5-8 knots of wind and a flat see, motored the entire way to the southern tip of
Bathhurst Island when we finally got some help from the Northerly Sea breeze. Dodged a few ships on the way into Darwin and anchored in Fannie Bay on Thursday evening at 11:00pm in 7m of water and
a nice flat bottom of mud. We ran the motors for 66 hours and travelled about 400nm from Dili, I reckon we used about 200 litres a side so .5 litre per nautical mile or 3.5 litres per hour at 1800rpm and close to
7 knots - not bad at all. I purchased a SPOT GPS earlier in the year and registered it just before the Ambon Rally, only $150 a year to register with tracking, and folks can watch you on your own
SPOT web site, our position was updated about every 10 minutes - worked great and a great device for sure.
Our 2 nice Mackerel, both caught at the same time 70nm from Darwin.
Flying Visitor - mid way between Timor and Darwin.
Checking in to Australia
Got a call at 8:00am on Friday from customs and arrived at Cullen Bay at 08:30 for clearance. Clearance was straight forward, as was quarantee, although that costs you $330.00 for a 15 minute visit
For some reason our boat was deemed by fisheries to be in need a sanitation, I think its to do with the length of time since the last antifouling. So back to Fannie bay to anchor and we were visited by
divers who inject some sort of disinfectant into all sea water inlets. The disinfectant needs to stay in the pipes for 10 hours so no running motors or using the toilets for this amount of time. Decided
this was a good time to visit the Darwin Sailing Club pub. Had a bit of a drama finding the boat on the way back in the dark, but yeah we did, we were a long way offshore.
Future Plans / Rallies
We are planning a leave on a round the world trip. The WorldARC 2014 gets to Darwin in September 2014. We are registered, plans are still been finalised with the only
certainity that we are leaving on that date. Crew positions are still not finalised either, some folks are doing the entire rally, some doing only a few legs, and we will probably have room for at
least one more person or one couple for most of the WorldARC 2014 - so fancy a challenge? Read about the WorldARC 2014 here The rally left the Caribbean in January 2014.
