Vega - Malaysia

Malaysia

Vega

Hugh and Annie

Thu 21 Nov 2019 03:02

06:17.74N 99:47.36E
Malaysia has been a whistle stop tour up the coast although with little wind the sailing itself has been a bit tedious, motoring would be a more accurate description. Wishing to avoid overnight passages because of the number of fishing boats and nets around this has meant long day sails, stopping to anchor overnight, with up to 60nm between anchorages. North of Port Dickson the weather showed signs of the north east monsoon and the wind began to settle from the north east during the day, allowing motor sailing and on our last day up to Langkawi, even a proper sail! We opted for an overnight motor up to Penang with a full moon and no thunderstorms to dodge until the morning. Still plenty of fishing boats around, brightly lit with an intense green glow but no nets that we were aware of. The Malaysian fishermen use AIS search and rescue beacons to mark their gear and we would have up to five being picked up by our plotter at any one time. They appear as a red spot on the screen and we could see them in ports, on fishing boats at sea and on their own, presumably attached to some float or marker. The red dots are accompanied by a loud bleeping that has to be disabled every time it goes off - this was every few seconds and it was getting so wearing we actually disabled the audible warning function. The first time it happened we thought we might need to investigate a man overboard until we noticed that the beacon was in a port amongst a group of fishing boats. Fortunately, and unlike anywhere else we have been, the larger fishing boats in Malaysia transmit an AIS signal, but there are still the majority of small boats that don’t.
For our last night at anchor we settled at the small island of Bidan, steeply wooded with eagles roosting in the tree tops above us, a lovely golden sand beach and a small community of fishermen and their families. Perfect shelter from the westerly wind and swell. Of course as soon as we settled in for the night the wind went around to the north east and we had wind against tide that made for a rocky time. Fortunately in the very shallow water along the coast the waves will never be large unless the wind really blows and so we were uncomfortable but safe. In the morning we dodged the fishing floats, put the sails up and looked forward to the final leg up to Langkawi. In our sailing euphoria we became complacent and looking up from my second cup of tea I saw too late a fishing flag hit the bow and run down the side of the boat. Probably not a net and so unlikely to be a problem - until it disappeared under the transom and our speed slowed to one knot. So there we were, our last morning at sea, in the middle of nowhere, stuck on a line or net and with no idea when the fishing boat might turn up. At times like these you just have to take a deep breath, work out the options and do what is the only thing you can do - bring the sails down and go underneath and take a look. In circumstances like this Annie is absolutely brilliant and was happy to take a look from the ladder on the transom. She reported the float and flag on one side of the rudder with the line down to the seabed on the other. I tried to steer a course that would relieve the tension on the line but the wind wouldn’t allow it and we didn’t want to start the engine and risk the line going around the prop. Annie couldn’t push the line down the rudder with a boat hook and it was either one of us go underneath and have a go directly or we cut the line. The quickest and safest option, despite our misgivings about the loss of the fishermen’s gear, was to cut the line. This Annie was able to do easily and we were free to continue our by now less relaxing journey north through an absolute maze of flags and poles in the shallow water.
Malaysia has been a big surprise - at least to someone who had very little preconception of what to expect. It seems more prosperous than Indonesia (apart from Java) and there is modern development and good infrastructure all the way up the west coast. Malacca is a tourist hot spot combining big new hotels with historic riverside development. It is wonderful visiting places with such historical resonance although most would now be unrecognisable to the likes of Joseph Conrad. We spent one night in Malacca but could happily have spent a week there.
Penang was the biggest surprise. I expected a sleepy holiday island only to find Malaysia’s second largest city spread all the way up the east coast of the island - modern, high rise, vibrant. Two long bridges connect the island with the mainland and it is another example like Singapore and Hong Kong where a strategic location on a major trading route seems to be a sufficient driver for economic growth. Whilst there we visited the old Georgetown and one house in particular, now a museum, filled with collected items from China and Europe, representing the past cultural influences. One strong social influence in Malaysia arose from the marriage between Chinese men (merchants) and Malay women. Local clans developed along the lines of the Chinese triads and these tended to dominate trade and local politics. In fact there is a cultural blend throughout Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia that Joseph Conrad refers to in his novels. The Chinese are heavily represented and so are the Indian people, having been brought here as indentured labour by the British. Each island of what is now Indonesia had its own peoples and culture and all were influenced by Arab traders who introduced the Muslim religion. British, Dutch and Portuguese influences remain in the political arrangements and in the architecture and Malaysia is a member of the Commonwealth. They drive on the left over here! Mix them all together and you have today’s blend with the Muslim religion predominating in Indonesia and Malaysia and seemingly becoming more entrenched, promoted by the Malaysian and Indonesian governments.
Our final port of call on this leg of our journey is at the B&V Marine yard in Langkawi where Vega will stand on the hard until we return from the UK. This followed three nights at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club Marina where we removed the sails, tidied up inside and out and packed our cases for the trip to the UK - retiring for a very comfortable meal and Tiger beer each evening. Getting Vega out of the water at B&V was a bit of a trial because the 16 tonne travel lift has difficulty accommodating yachts with a forestay - it comes up against the cross beam of the travel lift and has to be detached. Detaching the forestay is not a simple matter with our fractional rig because to release enough tension in the forestay to remove it from the stem fitting you need to release tension not only in the backstay but the swept back shrouds also whilst simultaneously providing alternative forestay support using the spinnaker halyards (since NZ we have two as you may recall). We also have a detachable inner forestay that is now providing most of the front support for the mast whilst on the hardstanding. All a bit fiddly and, for me, nerve wracking as we bobbed around in the travel lift berth. It will all need tuning up again when back on the water.
For the more technically minded I will post separately the list of maintenance items to be undertaken while we are away. There is nothing major on the list but we do get a lot of cavitation or shaft noise that we can hear from the outside of the boat at low engine revs. This disappears at higher revs and I suspected a worn cutlass bearing. We also get more engine resonance throughout the inside of the boat than we used to - this was a concern I had in Australia. The yard says the cutlass bearing shows no movement and suspects a worn engine mount which makes sense but I hope doesn’t develop into a major and expensive investigation. They seem quite practicable at the yard - querying why I wanted the windlass dismantling and servicing if it is running perfectly. Well, it is, but after 8 years isn’t it overdue for a thorough overhaul? We have compromised with a clean up of the readily accessible parts and an oil change. Another potentially major job given that we have crossings of the Indian Ocean and Atlantic Ocean (twice) coming up was to replace the standing rigging. This is still the original at 8 years old but with more wear and tear than a normal coastal sailed yacht. Insurers usually require a change at 10 years which would be back in the uk but might it not be prudent to do it at this stage? Like the windlass, one view I have received is to stick with what is working - a failure is more likely after new rigging has been put on. Noted, but rigging failure in the middle of an ocean is not a welcome prospect so we will have the rig checked over and get a quote for replacement.
It has been getting hotter as we have headed north and it is now in the mid 30’s with high humidity. The temperature only drops by about 5 degrees overnight! Absolutely draining! It was cooler in Singapore and in fact the air conditioning was so cold in the buildings there that we were relieved to get outside again! One more day of sightseeing around this lovely steeply forested Island and we will be on our way...........

Melacca (or Melaka)