To Ketapang
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Fri 7 Oct 2016 22:57
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To Ketapang  At a quarter past seven we say ‘farewell
to Kumai’. 258 miles to
Ketapang.  The ship we had seen during her paint job (well her green line) was now very smart
indeed.  A local waved enthusiastically but then had to tend to the serious business of bailing.  Gatra-1 was our first girl
in the river.  A bit of loading out at
sea.  Out of the river we met a beautiful sight – the bluest sky and smoothest sea.   This boat was a complete nuisance
zig-zagging in our way but eventually got bored and shifted. Sunset came.  Lots of fishermen working their
nets all night.  Safest to go one side or the other in case they are working in
pairs – or brave choosing a pair and going for the
gap.  A pleasant morning. Just after we admired this
shrimp boat at a quarter to one - all hell broke
loose. 28 knots of wind hit us like someone had shot it out of a machine gun.
The sky went dark and within minutes the sea heaped up. Then..... the auto pilot
gave up. Time to hand steer. I was quite lucky as it got dark, a small passenger
ferry was heading north so I followed him for a couple of hours.
  Skyfall gave a little
light relief at four a.m. At least the sea had gentled and I could listen to my
book.  Daybreak and for me - the wonderful
threat of bed.  At half eleven more excitement. We were approached by this
longboat, they wanted us to follow them, pointing to a
marker we understood this marked the edge of their massive
nets.  Quite a sight.  We spot the marker buoy that took
us from seven metres below to four and then two.  We thought we could follow a tug and
tow in but he had other plans – he wanted to follow
us.  We turn right at the next
marker.   We anchor and the tug and tow passes
by.  Our first look at Ketapang on the
other side of the river.   A local girl leaves, it’s not until
she passes Wirraway that her size really
shows.  Anchor down at 13:00. After peace on a pond-like sea surface
to an eventful storm and hand steering for nine hours each........ The good
thing is we arrive in Ketapang having notched up 30086.72 nautical miles on this sometimes wild At-Venture of ours.
This is our 328th stop. The busy map shows we have
gone from bottom right, past the dodgy shallows bottom right and arrived half
way up the left (cross called Pos). Time for a sherbet and a win at
backgammon..........
ALL IN ALL A MIXED
BUSINESS
A BIT OF A TRYING
JOURNEY |