Day 65
Untied and all wrapped up
Mike, Paul, Connor
Tue 13 Nov 2012 19:06
At around 6 in the evening we decided to make a break for the other side
of straights of Malacca . We had manually checked the fuel tanks using a
home-made Dow stick ( Piece of Cardboard folded into a long strip) So with
2 days fuel and a reserve of 12 hours , we made the jump. The horizon
looked clear of ships but in less than 2 hours of making the crossing we
were surrounded. It was like a massive game of Space Invaders , Just we
were the small little thing and all these massive "things" were just
bouncing around. Some of the ships were going at 22 knots and considering
we were motoring and had a slight head wind we were only able to do around
4.5 Knots , it felt like crossing the free way with your pants around your
Ankles.
With our AIS ( Automatic Identification System ) it sends out a signal to
the ships that tells them information about the type of boat we are on ,
the speed and direction we are going in. It also creates intercept lines (
CPA's , Collision Proximity Alerts )that gives times that the ship will
cross your path. If a ship gets to close then an alarm goes off. The big
ships have this same system as well. Massive 300 ft ships would spot us
and slowly manoeuvre out our way , no fuss , no hassle.. At one stage we
even had someone playing Justin Beaver over the VHF Radio , just felt so
surreal as here we were in a life and death situation listening to "Baby
Baby "
Its now almost 12 hours after crossing the main shipping channel and we
have decided to make our way to Lankawi , We hope to get there in the
morning and will grab some fuel , some ciggies and speed off for the last
400 miles to Singapore.
Yachting is not for sissies....