Kota Kinabalu to Singapore April 2016

Track of K'Gari.  Kota Kinabalu to  Singapore (green line) 

As the previous afternoon had been somewhat occupied with cleaning up the  freezer and fridge debacle, nothing was in fact ready for the arrival of the crew. Steve and Peter arrived on two different flights, within an hour of each other, the next morning.

When  K'Gari is left for any extended period, all the cockpit seating cushions etc are removed and stored inside , along with the jib, dinghy oars, life buoys etc. These are distributed equally into the spare cabins. So when the keen and willing fellow adventurers stepped aboard, it was to a scene of "useful piles" of stuff all over their beds. Just what you long to see, when stepping off an overnight long haul flight!

Over the immediate next few hours , with combined effort, everything was made ship shapeish, I was still cleaning the freezer , which had been unhinged but still in situ. The boys went ashore for lunch, leaving me to my self made mess and the scent of decaying weevils, mixed with oil of cloves and vanilla. Couldn't purchase any vanilla extract, but had found vanilla "flavouring", which is a far sweeter (sickly) smelling substance, but needs must, so it was left in the now completely washed out ,wiped down inner cabinet of the freezer, to do its thing.

Job two: The dripping mixer tap in the galley was made drip free, by the insertion of the new mixer valve (flown in, direct from Australia,only the previous day-with me) and the damp area which had developed under the sink top was taken care of, by Steve  one of the incredibly handy chaps who were joining  for the trip.

Job three: The face plate of the switch in the cockpit fridge was reversed, so that the numbers were in fact visible , and the new  fridge fan , which I had bought as a replacement with me from Australia , as the original one had malfunctioned, was fitted by Peter the other  (returning after the delivery from Vietnam) adventurer.

Yes, its all based on the fact that the devil makes work for idle hands , so there would be no idle hands on board!

Job four:The fresh water accumulator which had failed in January, was replaced next,  having again  carried the replacement part up from Australia. The temporary bypass, so ably constructed in January by my accomplice on  the day it failed , and which had worked splendidly, was retired.

Call me suspicious , or by now, just plain wary,
but I don't think the replacement (R) is going to fit in the original bracket or space!

The new accumualtor, which naturally had to be not only fitted, but slightly relocated to enable it to fit, works wonderfully. Far better than the the one originally fitted in every sense. The spare plumbing fittings and pipe, purchased in Oz,"just in case" we needed to relocate the new accumulator, which was naturally a different size to the original, were jolly handy!

https://youtu.be/zv--4TpofBM

More jobs:The jib was bent onto the forestay, props debagged, seacocks on the engines opened, everything tested ok , fresh water filled, spare fuel purchased and stowed , outboard given a test, so in those few busy days K'Gari was made ship shape and ready to depart. The rigging aloft was inspected for wear and tear , putting an  unprotected head on the line, whilst being attacked by angry birds! Thanks guys, couldn't have done it without you.

https://youtu.be/KYdQgK9a508
'angry bird's 

Port master, Customs and Immigration clearances all obtained.

19th April 2016,  1044 hrs.

Roti Canai

We slipped the berth, having said goodbye to the wonderful people I had met over the last ten months.I'm sure that somewhere around the world we will meet again.


Found just enough time for a last roti canai for breakfast.




Topped up with fuel, fresh water, courses laid off. By 1115 we were on course for Tiga Island, main and jib set and zipping along in a 12kt N'ly , averaging 7.5 kts.

The adventurers.

That's better- knew something was missing from that first photo!
The full crew- meet Buffy the 'world traveller' cat

Passed Tiga at 1540,flashing along, K'Gari was having fun, as were we.
The wind started to drop about 2200 that night. One of the things in my mind when planning this trip, was that we needed to carry the last of the NE monsoon as far as we could. Being unable to get back any earlier to K'Gari, due to work commitments, meant that we were leaving right on the tail end of the season. The wind  must surely die  soon and then the SW'ly monsoon would come away for the next several months. Maybe we would sneak it in , maybe not.

Every picture tells a thousand words, so here the story unfolds pictorially:

https://youtu.be/M_80FGV4wc4

   evening one
        

https://youtu.be/WKBQjeQ7pqs

                                                                                      Morning two

https://youtu.be/zgNiJH8IdoA

Morning three, having a dip in the South China Sea.

Reason for dip was to investigate the seawater intake for the Water maker.

All good now.

Morning, all day, evening and nights four ,five and most of day 6 are summed up in this shot.

                

However that means you get shots like these!

https://youtu.be/aP9VWShiaOk

https://youtu.be/Mr7jPJ1EFoY

https://youtu.be/eDsPejX36pA

Ever wondered what its like sailing in the middle of nowhere at night? On  a nice night its beautiful. This is the best I can do. 

Bet you have never  wondered what swimming at night in the South China Sea would be like?
No, nor have I.
I have however, now seen it done. Just before midnight one night, I was having a look around as we sailed quietly onwards. Check the sails with a torch,  everything seemed fine. Then I thought I' d just check  the rudders and props, to the extent that is possible, with a torch, from above the water line. The anti foul paint on K'Gari is three coats , black, blue then black. The paint is ablative, meaning it wears away over time, thus by having a blue coat between the blacks, gives an indication as to how well the paint is holding up. In the beam of the torch, something looked odd on the port side rudder. There was an obvious patch of a lighter colour showing up. A plastic bag? Piece of rope?
The sea is full of garbage unfortunately, it could be anything. Whatever it was, it shouldn't be, and needed to be checked out. As midnight rolled by, it was time for me to go to bed. Once two of us were up, I pointed it out . Yep, better check it out.
So there and then, in the middle of the night, in almost glassy calm, in the South China Sea , we dropped the sails, and let K'Gari drift to a halt. Rigged a safety line over the stern, talk about being a wuss, and in went supercrew, Peter, armed with a waterproof torch and a knife.

 I was still "on watch" , so obviously it couldn't be me who went in, could it?

Whatever had caused the paint to rub off to the blue layer on the rudder, was gone. No damage , nothing undue to worry about. What "supercrew, the midnight swimmer" did find however, was a remora fish, hitching a ride on the hull. Not my cup of tea at all, coming face to tail with a remora in the middle of the night under the hull!