Indo to Singapore - Day 1
Digiboat's "Product Testing"
Simon Blundell
Fri 14 Sep 2012 02:24
06:59.14S 114:46.76E
Fri 14/9 0430
Departed Medana Bay, Lombok at sunset after a day
cleaning the hull and last minute preps.
My full time crew, Aung Tin Oo from the Myanmar
shipyard, and two Gili Trawangan ex-pats, Tony (Gili Getaway) and Chris (Irish
Bar) join for the week trip to Sing.
Strong SE trades and
big seas have been blasting Gili T for the past few days, which are ideal for
our voyage N. As we get past Air and Meno we start to feel the
effects after the shelter of N Lombok anchorage. So with just half the
jib unfurled, we charged through the night at speeds up to 12kn in fairly
constant 20-25kn breeze. Typical Lombok Strait rough and confused seas had our
new sailors unsure as to the wisdom of choosing this sailing adventure as the
boat was rolled and yawed quite violently at times. After a quick trip across to
N Bali the seas did calm somewhat but still random areas of washing machine
effects from the strong currents kept us always hanging on.
The winds remained
through the night resulting in 100nm for the first 12 hrs, but dropped to 8-10kn
around sunrise as we passed by Medura Island and into more protected
waters. The lighter breeze slowed us considerably for a day of gentle sailing,
with occasion engine-assist, in calm seas.
With Tony as self
appointed fisherman for the day, throughout the day we organised our menu -
sashimi and wasabi for breakfast, roe omelettes for lunch, Pasta El Oro
with fresh tuna for dinner.and although conditions poerfect for him, Tony
failed us miserably. Chris' turn tomorrow...
Gentle winds again
through tonight with mostly motor sailing but around 3am the wind shifted more
to the beam which suits better when it's light and suspicious noise from the
engine indicates a probablye rope/net/junk tangle around a propellor so sailing
again at 5-6kn waiting for the sunrise swim to check the
prop.
SJB