Sailing by on Sara II

Our two months at home included a 5 day trip to the Isle of Man to celebrate my mother’s 90^th birthday. Mum woke with a painful arthritic knee on her party day and almost stayed at home. Thanks to my sister Sara’s efforts, Mum was persuaded to join everyone but she remained in her wheelchair. She enjoyed having her three daughters present and most of her grandchildren and great grandchildren. The weather was excellent, everyone had a good time and Mum was able to sit outside after the lunchtime meal and watch the crown green bowling. Thank you, Pat, for organising the venue and letting five of us take over your house.

Back at our house, we had about 10 days before leaving for Malaysia. Ellie enjoyed an afternoon out with us at Campsea Ashe Village Fete and then it was time to say good-bye for three and a half months. We shall miss our granddaughter and Emily and Ben as well. We’ll also miss Simon and Erin as they are moving to the USA in October. Perhaps we’ll sail across the pond once more!

Sara II at Pangkor Marina

We packed our bags and left our house on 27^th August. One train, one bus, two flights and another train later, we were in the Tune Hotel at Kuala Lumpur Airport (Klia2). Unknown to us it was a holiday weekend in Malaysia so our 4 hour bus journey to Sitiawan the next day took almost 6 hours. John and Chris, the owners of Sara II, were waiting for us with a hire car and drove us to Pangkor Marina. Our sailing adventure had begun. It was our intention to be crew on Sara II and sail with John to South Africa.

First there were lots of jobs to do and much to learn about the boat. John and Chris had been working very hard and Chris kept us all on task with detailed lists of things to do. We missed her organisation when she returned to the UK 4 days later. There was air conditioning on Sara II, so we were able to acclimatise to the heat and humidity gradually.

Will these jobs never end!

We cleared out of Malaysia on 4^th September and motored out of the marina on Saturday 5^th September. Next stop was Cocos Keeling about 15 days away. One hour later the batteries were overheating and we returned to Pangkor and anchored off. Soon John had a new regulator fixed on to the alternator and we headed south once more. A fresh wind blew and heavy showers soaked us. I took a Stugeron. This was meant to be the calm bit. The mainsail was hoisted and reefed and the genoa was unfurled and Sara II began to show us her paces. By evening we were motoring in light winds, avoiding fishing boats and anchored ships. We started our watch system of mainly 3 hours each with a 2 hour watch in the afternoon. I am very happy with my 6 hours off watch from 0100 to 0700.

Day 2 was a calm motoring day. There were some differences of opinion as regards navigation but John allowed Jeremy to get to grips with the two chart plotters and the new Garmin GPS on board. Unfortunately, none of these machines work together, so all the waypoints for our route have to be entered individually, which is extremely time consuming.

Tropical dreams

Day 3 began normally but soon after breakfast as we motored just north of the Pisang Islands, not far from the shipping lane in the Malacca Straits, a warning light came on and a buzzer sounded on the engine control board. John went to investigate and a hole the size of a man’s finger was at the bottom of the heat exchanger and all the engine cooling water had run into the bilges. We were drifting but we had sails, so I held the boat steady in the light wind while the men examined the hot engine down below.

Galley slave

Two hours later, after much sharing of ideas and discussion, Jeremy had made a temporary repair using a strip of neoprene from John’s diving hood and part of a plastic rice container. This was bound and stuck round the hole and we were able to motorsail gently to Puteri Marina, which is near Johur Baru. The Singapore Police stopped us in the night and were going to board us. Fortunately, they believed us when we explained what had happened and allowed us to continue. Thanks to them, we went under the correct, but badly lit, arch of the Singapore Bridge and tied up in Puteri at midnight.

Sara II sandwich in Puteri Harbour

Immigration has granted us a one month stay in Malaysia for repairs. John has contacted Chris and she has ordered new engine parts. We now start the waiting process as the parts are flown out from England. We hope that we’ll be fixed and ready to go in a week.