Day Four

Had a pretty good run yesterday, sailing the whole day again, which makes a nice change. Conditions varied with a comfortable southerly getting us along at more than 6 knots interspersed with rain and wind squalls at 20-25 knots. One particular passing squall decided to come from the SSE which made our intended track unattainable so we changed tack and went west and south of a group of shoals rather than north and east. This worked out well and the first part of the night we were honking along at 7+ knots with a favourable current. Once we came inside the NW cape on Borneo, Tanjung Datu, the breeze started to drop and we have been going flat out with sails and engine to try and make the Santubong River entrance just before the 9:04 high tide.

At 0600 our position was 01deg 54.970N, 109deg 32.928E, wind was about 5 knots from the south and our speed was 5.8 knots. We should arrive in the anchorage at Santubong about 0930. Distance travelled will be 398 nautical miles in 72 hours.

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Day Three

Continued to have good wind all day with about 12-18 knots from the SSE giving us good speed. Once we came past Pulau Bawah the current was not so strong against us. Towards the end of the day we started seeing shipping traffic along a NE-SW track. Our AIS has made identifying the speed and direction of the ships much easier than just relying on radar and guesswork. From about 0400 the wind has been southerly at about 20 knots so have made good time despite a double reef in the main and reefed headsail.

At 0700 our position was 02deg 24.990N, 107deg 55.032E, wind is 15-28 knots from the south and our speed is 5.8 knots. We are sailing under double-reefed main and staysail. The reef will come out shortly.

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Day Two

After yesterday's slow start, we are moving along nicely this morning. We had a busy time with crossing the shipping lanes up until about midnight when almost every ship going north or south crossed our track within less than two miles of us. We were able to sail from just after midnight and the wind increased to 10-15 knots from the SE. A line of thunderstorms slowly drew closer behind us with some fantastic flashes but it never quite caught us before giving up. At 0720 our position is 02deg 32.977N, 105deg 45.474E, wind is 12-15 knots and our speed is 6.2 knots.

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Day One

It has been a slow day after a slow start. We were finally wedged out of our berth when one of the catamarans left about 9:00. There was a nice wind blowing but by the time we cleared the island the wind had already started to drop plus it was from the stern so not much pushing happening. We tried sailing until about 12:00 when we turned on the engine and have been motoring ever since. The sloppy seas have calmed down and we have a swell from the south making the boat roll a bit, otherwise all is well. Position at 1800: 02deg 48.180N, 104deg 40.405E. Distance so far: 36NM.

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D-Day Minus 1

Tomorrow we depart Tioman Island off the east coast of Malaysia for Santubong in Sarawak. Below is a chart of our proposed route across the South China Sea, passing close by the Indonesian islands of the Anambas. The passage is about 400 NM and should take 3 days, possibly 4. Three days will put us outside the Santubong River to await the high tide in the morning when we will be able to enter the muddy waters to anchor off the small village of Santubong.