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Today was our penultimate day at sea and the first day we’d seen clouds in a while. We started our day sailing, at last, under sunny skies and scattered cumulus clouds. With the wind behind us and a following sea, we enjoyed a SOG (Speed Over Ground) of 6 to 7 Kts as the wind speed fluctuated. However, as the swell built and the cross current strengthen, we switched on the port engine so as to stabilise Paw Paw and prevent the headsail from back winding.

Roy also took the opportunity to add a few more jerry cans of diesel to the tanks, given all the motoring we had done during the previous three days.

By now, however, we’d eaten the last of all our fresh produce, with the exception of a small butternut, a small pumpkin, some onions, some garlic and a few carrots. Guess what dinner is going to be, now that we’ve eaten all our prepared frozen meals. In the absence of any fresh fruit Elaine munched her way through a raw carrot at lunchtime; it was something fresh at least!

Chats to the other yachts sailing with us, as well as emails from family and friends have continued to be the highlight of our days. We’re definitely looking forward to catching up with everyone using cellphone data connectivity, though, rather than satellite.

 

We had a beautiful start to the day with the full moon setting in the west as daylight broke in the east, bringing forth another day of clear blue skies; not a cloud in sight nor the slightest breeze. Of course, that meant another day of motoring and, unfortunately, with a 2.5 Kt adverse current resulted in, not only “crabbing” across the water, but barely managing a SOG ( Speed Over Ground) of 5 Kts with both engines running; neither of us could remember ever running both engines for such an extensive period of time. It was a good job we’d polished all the dirty diesel, as it was looking like we were definitely going to need it.

Fortunately, however, the wind kicked in again, allowing us to motor-sail for the rest of the day and, when the current turned, we could eventually switch off one of the engines at least.

There was, of course, the usual bright sparks amongst the other vessels that we encountered, leaving us shaking our heads in dismay, especially when these events involved so called qualified Captains of commercial vessels.

It is fair to say, though, at this stage, we’re both feeling a little fatigued and looking forward to our arrival and a rest, but still enjoying the company of Talulah Ruby III, Golden Spirit of Islay, Kandiba, Sea You and Morgane.

 

Since we were still having to motor today, given the complete lack of wind, resulting in a “lake-like” calm sea-state, we decided to polish all the dirty diesel we got in Uligamu, while also running the watermaker to top up our water tanks.

The fuel polishing exercise became quite a mission, though; first Roy had to disconnect the automatic fuel polishing system on the starboard engine, then repipe two new, longer input and output pipes, where the input pipe was inserted into a jerry can of dirty fuel and the output pipe fed into a clean jerry can, effectively filtering dirty fuel through the filter to produce clean fuel once the pump was engaged. This process was repeated for all 13 jerry cans of dirty fuel using a 2 micron filter. The dregs of the dirt remaining at the bottom of each can was then added to a spare jerry can for disposal.

What a palaver, but thankfully we had installed these fuel polishing systems on each engine in Penang, Malaysia, otherwise we would definitely have been up the preverbal creek.

After six hours we had clean fuel, full water tanks, both engines had been checked and topped up with oil and we had clean saloon windows, the latter having become caked with sea spray. Oh the joys of a simple life; fuel, water and clean windows! Throw in an advantageous current of 2.5 Kts, providing a magic carpet ride, another delicious homemade chicken soup with freshly made soda bread for dinner and we were happy bunnies!

 

Today was another glorious sunny day, without a cloud in the sky, but, unfortunately, absolutely no wind at all. That meant we had to motor, but, due to a horrendous cross current of more than 2 Kts at times, which had Paw Paw “crabbing” across the water, we had to motor on both engines to keep our SOG (Speed Over Ground) above 5.5 Kts. It was definitely a very tedious and slow day.

The good news is that we now have about 3 more days to go before we’ll be able to take a break from all the continuous sailing for at least a week or so, top up on provisions, especially fresh produce, as well as top up on diesel.

Besides the amazing “fireball”sunset this evening, as the full moon rose in the east, we also saw a huge pod of very large dolphins to our port side, many coming straight out of the water at times, to the point that Roy initially thought they were sailfish; quite spectacular!

 

We had a lovely start to the day, sailing in flat seas and enjoying a SOG (Speed Over Ground) of 7.5 to 8 Kts, under sunny blue skies. We slowed down slightly in the early afternoon, but the winds soon picked up again, although they changed direction too, but we still managed a suitable SOG of around 7 Kts. It wasn’t long afterwards, though, that our VMG (Velocity Made Good) went downhill when the wind stopped and a delightful current developed on the nose requiring both engines to keep our SOG above 5 Kts.

Regardless, Roy continued his baking streak; this time submarine bread rolls, which we enjoyed for lunch with Italian prosciutto ham and French brie cheese.

Dinner was another helping of the buffalo stew we’d make in Uligamu and had frozen. Strangely enough, though, we still have some fresh produce onboard, including apples and carrots, both of which make a nice healthy snack.

We haven’t seen much in the way of sea-life these past few days, with the exception of some large swooping sea birds, which we have been unable to identify; not quite as big as a pelican, but certainly much larger than a sea eagle.

The usual chats to our cruising friends continue to stave off the monotony, but hopefully that’ll change in the few days as we approach civilisation again, where we can stop and take a break from all the sailing, stock up on fresh produce, as well as top up on our diesel, although we’ve definitely not used as much diesel as we did on our passage from Thailand to Uligamu. Guess time will tell if that changes!

With that, we wish everyone a Happy Valentine’s Day. For us Valentine’s Day was a romantic handwritten note to each other on our paper chart as we tracked our progress on our separate watch.

 

While sailing around in the “big blue yonder”, it’s always the little things that warm our hearts. Today it was a message from Keenan indicating that our grandson, William, had developed an ear infection after contracting a cold. When my reply was read to William about Grandma requesting that his Daddy give him a big kiss from her, William insisted on getting that kiss from his Dad. Too cute and such a personality, but apparently all the grandsons have developed a great sense of humour and are keeping their parents on their toes. So looking forward to getting to know them properly again!

A “milky seas” effect started the day, possibly created by the waxing gibbous behind an overcast sky as the sun was rising, producing a white haze that made the sea, horizon and sky completely indistinguishable. It resembled something similar to being inside a snow globe that had been shaken. Very spooky and haunting, especially with the completely calm seas!

With that our day started. Once Roy surfaced, he jumpstarted the port engine in order to switch over to that side and then started the watermaker, given the calm conditions. By lunchtime, when Elaine surfaced after a nap, she discovered Roy had baked a rustic loaf; warm bread straight out of the oven, a dollop of butter and a helping of French brie was the perfect lunch!

This afternoon Roy then tackled a few maintenance tasks on the starboard engine, including tightening the v-belt which had started to slip and, in between all that activity, he also enjoyed a chat to the men off Talulah Ruby III, Golden Spirit and Kandiba.

Under sunny, blue skies, dotted with white puffy clouds, we motor-sailed onward, but later this afternoon, the winds had set in and we were off sailing again in flat seas, enjoying a SOG (Speed Over Ground) of anything from 6.5 to 7.5 Kts.

 

The excitement for the day was twofold; from a sailing perspective, we were still sailing, in decent winds and sea-state and still enjoying a SOG (Speed Over Ground) of 7.5 to 8 Kts. From a sea-life perspective, it was raining flying fish and much larger ones than we’ve seen before. What we weren’t expecting, though, was for one to come flying through one of the saloon portholes and land on the saloon sofa. It was the funky smell that alerted us to something being amiss, only to discover the fish, which fortunately had landed on a towel, flapping widely. Seconds latter another one came flying into the cockpit, landing just outside the saloon doors. Luckily enough, they were returned from whence they came still alive and kicking, or rather, flapping!

We, of course, had another encounter with a fishing vessel, when this particular bright spark decided to cut across our bow with less than a nautical mile to spare and just ignored our hailing on the VHF radio. Fortunately they weren’t trailing any nets, but we were forced to slow down significantly to allow them to pass, when they just as easily could have passed us astern. When we’re under motor, encounters like this don’t have the same dilemma as when we’re under sail and flying along.

We’ve been luckier, though, than one of the other yachts sailing with us, Morgane (Noelle and Daniel). Yesterday they got caught in a fishing net which wrapped around their rudder, taking a significant amount of time to cut it away.

We’ve had a few of our own niggly issues to contend with, however, specifically an intermittent problem with the generator, which started before we left Thailand and has continued, regardless of what troubleshooting Roy has undertaken; one minute it works and the next it doesn’t. Then an issue materialised with the port engine, but we’re not altogether sure if it’s the new battery we added in Thailand or the starter motor that has decided to give up the ghost at the most inconvenient time, as did the starboard side just before we left Thailand. Either way, we have spares for both, so it may well be a repair job for tomorrow. Fortunately, Roy can jumpstart it, so it’s not urgent. More infuriating, though, is discovering a small water leak in the new starboard hot water tank, which was only replaced in Australia. Fortunately it’s not a major leak, but another repair required nonetheless. Lastly, this afternoon Roy noticed the clutch on the main halyard had started to slip, not a major issue as the halyard is always secured around the winch anyway when we’re under sail, but some maintenance will be required on that as well, no doubt.

Guess none of this should be surprising, given the lack of use over the past two years, never mind the harsh climate of SE Asia that the yacht sat in. Frustrating, though, given the time and effort spent in keeping Paw Paw in top notch shape for that period. Guess that’s the joy of owning a yacht; fixing it in exotic locations!

 

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