Position           09:35.55 S 122:02.24 E

Date                1200 (UTC+8) Friday 23 October 2015

Distance run    in 19hrs 99nm over the ground, 90nm through the water

Trip total         99nm over the ground, 90nm through the water

To go to           Lehok Uwadi, Rinca Island, Indonesia 150nm

In passage planning for this trip we had to make a number of assumptions.  The forecast files indicate not much wind and our limited experience says that what there is is likely to be land and time of day affected.  If there was any useable wind it was likely to be well aft the beam.  Like it or not there was likely to be a good deal of motoring.  We wished to arrive in good daylight as the charts, electronic and paper were well off the mark..

With the mornings shopping mostly stowed away we left our once again bouncy anchorage at 1700 which gave us enough time to get through the local offshore fishing fleet before darkness descended.

Typical local boat hauling nets encountered just before nightfall

Around 2000 and 5 miles north of the island of Semau, I was alerted by an angry loud quacking noise which appeared to be coming from about 50 meters off the starboard quarter; it sounded as though I had just disturbed a flock of ducks.  Putting the spotlight on the source I saw what appeared to be a 20 foot open boat with two men standing up.  Whether it was them quacking or some resident wildlife I do not know.  What I do know is that they had no lights showing either before or after the encounter and no radar signature.  We are travelling with the mizzen flood illuminating the hardtop as well as deck level navigation lights so hopefully they had seen us coming and moved out of the way.  Definitely a hazard of the course.

The remainder of the night was uneventful and we continued to sail averaging 4.5 - 5 knots, with the exception of two hours, through until midday.  The morning was very hot.