Phuket to Singapore was my first long distance sailing adventure! What an experience! I wish I could tell you that I had the time of my life. Embarrassingly, I was flat on my back for most of it. As it turns out, I'm not a natural sailor.
I remember we had to motor a fair bit as we had wind on the nose from Langkawi to Port Dickson. Let me just say, wind on the nose is not pleasant and neither is motoring.
It's one thing to use the engine when we need to anchor or maneuver in a marina or short distances when there's no wind, but when you have to motor for days, the noise and vibration gets to you {well, to me definitely}.
I remember we had to motor a fair bit as we had wind on the nose from Langkawi to Port Dickson. Let me just say, wind on the nose is not pleasant and neither is motoring.
It's one thing to use the engine when we need to anchor or maneuver in a marina or short distances when there's no wind, but when you have to motor for days, the noise and vibration gets to you {well, to me definitely}.
4 days and 55 engine hours later, we stopped in Port Dickson at Admiral Marina for several hours to top up our fuel tank (180 liters).
Admiral Marina is a small but nice marina located about 10 km from Port Dickson town. I was so glad we had that break in the journey. I felt almost instantly better once my feet touched the ground, my appetite came back and we had some local Ramly burgers for dinner.
We resumed our journey that night. Unfortunately we continued to motor again, but this time it wasn't because we had wind on the nose, but because we had no wind at all! Ah.. fickle wind.
Admiral Marina is a small but nice marina located about 10 km from Port Dickson town. I was so glad we had that break in the journey. I felt almost instantly better once my feet touched the ground, my appetite came back and we had some local Ramly burgers for dinner.
We resumed our journey that night. Unfortunately we continued to motor again, but this time it wasn't because we had wind on the nose, but because we had no wind at all! Ah.. fickle wind.
About 55 nautical miles from Singapore, we stopped to replace the alternator belt on the engine. For some reason, it was wearing off very quickly; probably misaligned. Another item on our to do list!
We arrived at One Degree 15 Marina on 24th June 2012. I survived! I can't believe a flight from Phuket to Singapore takes under 2 hours but when you sail, it takes 5 days!? It may be a small world for a pilot, but it's a big BIG world for a sailor!
What was meant to be a couple of weeks stop in Singapore, turned out to be about a month and a half as Alex unfortunately fractured his right shoulder.
No complaints, as I was happy to be on land again and got to spend more time with family and friends and eat good food!
No complaints, as I was happy to be on land again and got to spend more time with family and friends and eat good food!
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| My mum came for a visit |
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| My mum on Raptor at One Degree 15 |
Call me hopeful or stubborn, but I did not quit my job just to sail from Thailand to Singapore. Determined to grow my sealegs, we departed Singapore for Kuching, East Malaysia on 4th August...