The Straits

We made good time over the next two days.

A 42 mile hop to the Water Islands on the first day, mainly under sail, with only an hour or two of motor sailing.

We didn’t get away quite as early as anticipated as there were still a few “last minute” things to do. Top up the water, bend on the jib- (stay tuned on that point), pay the marina, dump the rubbish, disconnect the power- one of the pins in my plug was seized and a tad corroded after 4 months and is now looking the worse for wear**, buggered in fact, comes to mind, despite being wrapped up in plastic bags etc initially, run through the engine checks, again and then we were off. Departure time noted as 0945.

That night a tremendous thunder storm and lightning bolt display reached us at 0200, having been visible for hours as it approached. Torrential downpour which lasted for hours, not the usual short sharp torrent. Then the tide changed at 0400 and that made the anchorage less than delightful, so we were up and under away a little before first light, as it was a long day planned.

I was hoping to making it all the way to the SW tip of the peninsula just under 90miles and anchor for the night at Kukup and then run with the current through the Straits.

The wind, or lack of it, with the current against us, precluded this and in the end we were anchored some 20miles short, at Palau Pisang, which I think was the better choice, when the next morning I identified the anchorage I had been aiming for. We anchored , predictably it would seem, in the middle of yet another glorious display by mother nature, lightning, thunder and heavy rain, but most importantly it was a lovely quiet night at anchor allowing a good sleep before the awaiting Straits adventure.

Leaving just before daylight again, we sailed towards the Straits. Identifying the mass of vessels at anchor just west of Tanjung Piai, my planned contra flow courses looked ok.

The Straits have a traffic system. The West bound traffic passes closest to Singapore, the Eastbound traffic passes closer to Indonesia. There are various sections along the way for traffic to cross at 90 degree angles to access the ports and pilot boarding grounds as required.

I wanted to stay on the Singapore side, as at the Eastern end of the scheme I then would not have to cross both lanes of traffic, to be able to duck into an anchorage for the night. So I had laid off my intended courses, so that I would proceed from west to east , just to the north of the west bound traffic lane, (hence my contra flow term) but definitely outside the Port Limits of Singapore, ( after my stunning arrival in Singapore waters last time, I wanted no repeat of that!). There is a gap of up to about a half mile between the West bound lane and the Singapore Port limit. Using these courses I would only need to be on the alert for the obvious oncoming traffic and anything crossing at the traffic crossing sectors.

The excitement begins- first of the obstacles

Arriving at my first waypoint of the 42miles of excitement that was to fill most of the rest of the day, everything was looking fine , we were about an hour later than I had planned so by now we were motor sailing.

Then the first of the sandwich manoeuvres as Jo called them began to unfold. An anchored vessel, had just heaved up and was making its way to somewhere, that I hadn't registered whilst listening to the vhf ,so we took the option to pass it down the leeward side, which with the wind, meant her port side. Yes folks you read that correctly, we were PASSING it, as it had only just got under way. So, target one, under control. Wind increasing a bit and we were hitting about 7.5 kts speed. Wind increasing more, within minutes, oddly, and for no obvious reason, no rain coming, no visible squall. The wind went from a gentle and manageable 10kts to 22-24kts and I was under full sail manoeuvring through a fairly packed anchorage.

Thinking now about putting a reef in the mainsail and so identifying the next anchored ship, I was planning to pass around its stern , into its lee and drop a really quick reef into K'Gari's mainsail.

Possible question might be raised in your minds by now, why was I even under sail?

Answer , the wind was in the right direction, we were a bit behind my schedule and I was trying to carry the maximum effect of the current as long and as far as possible before the notorious tides changed, and finally, it makes me far more visible, with sails up, than with bare poles.

So we ducked into the lee of the obligingly anchored ship and dropped two reefs into the main. Bore away, and started on our way again. At which moment Chris, who was tightening the jib , announced “oh oh Lizzie look”. The clutch housing for the jib sheet was looking extremely ordinary! In fact not healthy at all. The back edge of it had busted completely at the point where the sheet left the clutch housing. The clutch itself mercifully was still working and holding the jib sheet.

My first thoughts were bugger, bugger, bugger , don’t tell me the sun was so fierce in this part of the world that the housing had perished? Never mind it was holding and we would deal with it later. My greater concern right now, was another vessel heading right at me.

sandwich manouvre 1. Apologies for poor photo.
The red vessel is Snow. At 338m long and 60m wide (5times wider ,than I am long)
she wins in the might s right stakes!

With a few things going on all at once, it had became clear that a tanker (Snow) had also just got under way and was in fact departing the anchorage , right ahead of us. She had done a slow round turn to port and was heading for the same bit of water I wished to occupy.

To my starboard side and upwind of me and now overtaking me, was the original vessel that had got under way. Ahead of me and slightly off my port bow and now sounding two blasts , (altering course to port, and thus closer to me ) was the rather larger than me, tanker Snow. I think my crew were getting agitated about now, but knowing that he couldn’t get us as he was hardly going to alter course into the ship beside me who was now a guardian shield really, I told them it was ok, he couldn’t really get us, it was just going to look a little close. 

Once the traffic sorted out, it was time to do something about the jib sheet. Obvious immediate solution was to re rig it through the currently unused clutch which is for the MPS , when we have it up.

Oh dear! The initial excitement and the busted clutch seem to have revealed a somewhat nervous disposition!!!!

Easier said than done, the clutches are designed for 8-10mm sheets. The sheet in question was a10mm one. To feed it through the clutch mechanism is a bit tight, fiddly in fact, if the end is not perfect. Guess what, the end wasn't perfect. Jo tried , I described where the paraphernalia that has been devised for re rigging the sheet was located. Steve had made a small wire hook,which we use to grab a tail made of sail twine or stronger which has been sewn through the end of the sheet . This is guided through the clutch and then “simply” pulled on and the sheet passes through..if it has a perfect end that doesn’t catch on anything....

whats wrong in this photo???

Having broken the sail twine twice, the next best option was to create the “perfect end”. So now Jo had to locate the hot knife, the cutting board , the welders glove and we created the perfect end. Hot knifing it, cuts away the damaged part and seals the rope so that it should no longer fray. The welders glove, I use for rounding and smoothing the molten end into the best shape possible. All of this whilst , keeping an efficient lookout,dodging the traffic and bouncing along in the 20kts plus breeze. Instead of sail twine I sewed an end of fishing line through the rope, as it was going to be more substantial to heave on, in case the end still wasn’t “perfect” . That worked. So we now had a fully functioning jib sheet clutch, and we could re set the jib. That along with two reefs in the main , gave us far better control and we were still on our way.

Later we encountered the Gaslog Salem wanting to alter her course to starboard at Raffles Lighthouse, at almost the right time for us to alter to port.

 A couple more minutes would have been perfect, but as it was, I took the option of taking a round turn, as soon a she indicated her intentions, as had I altered early, I would have crossed in to the Singapore Port limit. Then a second round turn for the Pink Diamond, did in fact, I see in the photo, have us crossing ''the line”. Never mind it was only briefly. 

The only other bit of passing excitement for us was off Eastern Pilot boarding ground Alpha , when the MSC Susannah was clearly trying to get there for her pilot boarding, so I actually entered the West bound traffic lane to let her clearly see that I was aware of what she was trying to do and where she was trying to get to.

Split the difference! MSC Susannah on left, LNG v/l on right and we are are going 'contra flow' IN the west bound lane

All the way through we were listening to the Singapore VTS operators clearly directing the shipping, identifying the transgressors, stopping them from entering the port limits without their pilot on board, clearly instructing vessels not to approach their pilot boarding ground early and where they should wait to kill the extra time that their early arrival meant they now had to waste.

We witnessed only one vessel the Kelud who got himself into the wrong scheme, he was advised of this and told to re-enter the west bound traffic lane, which he immediately tried to do to the obvious annoyance of the also west bound vessel who spent the next 10 mins sounding his whistle at very regular intervals as he could see the Kelud merge was not going to work. Eventually the Kelud increased to 18kts to jump ahead, at which point I lost interest in them.

Right at the beginning of this post I said stay tuned on the bending on the jib.

Upon mature reflection as the day wore on and as we had re rigged the sheet through the spare clutch it had become apparent to me why the clutch had apparently failed. It was my own fault, I had rigged the sheet incorrectly the first time when putting everything back prior to departure. I guess the relief at finally getting the sheet through the clutch and the fiddling about that had taken, I then had totally failed to run it further down the deck to the sheave it needed to pass through before going to the winch. Simple mechanical advantage , and I had failed to notice the mistake. The incorrect angle of the lead from the exit of the clutch to the winch, was what had destroyed the clutch housing. Young Mr Strong Man had complied completely when I said , give it a bit more, he did, and kasnaffu went the clutch housing!

I’m not having a lot of luck with that starboard side, so far I have mangled a winch fitting and now a clutch , through my own ineptitude.However nothing makes a better lesson in how to do it properly than breaking it and having to replace it. That now wont be happening again with either the winch or the clutches, I might be slow, but I do remember!!

Even my highly refined electrical skills tell me something looks odd!

** Days later when I actually got around to looking at the plug again, I suspect that the pin is loose as it has melted its surrounds for some reason. There seems to be a definite hole that looks like melted plastic to me ( in my official electricians role). Lightning? Power surge? I dont know, but it's still not looking healthy. I have a spare and reckon if I ask nicely at the next marina perhaps they will have someone handy who can re wire it for me. Electricity scares me ,as you can't see it and I dont want to destroy either myself or the boat with dodgy wiring.