Benkulu to Krakatau

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Adam Wible

Time start: 1700 | Time finish: 16/3 1300 | Engine hrs: 2091.0 – 2124.0 | No alternator | 2,500 RPM

Coastal cruise from Benkulu down. Near miss with a tug pulling a giant barge, which only had dim flashing red light. Adam sailed nice and close past a cheering fishing boat as well. It rained a lot, on and off, but no major squalls like in the Mentawais. Generally uneventful motoring with intervals of sailing. No cell reception for most of it. Raining on approach to Krakatau. Old Krakatoa on starboard, Anak Krakatoa on port. Deep until you curve around to southeast side, where a very calm, wide black sand beach awaits your dinghy and 18m contour awaits your anchor. We anchor close enough to swim in, but take the surfboards. Climb to the top of the cone. Very cool experience.

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West Coast Sipora to Bengkulu, Sumatra

Posted on March 13, 2011 by Ian McHenry
Date: 13 March 2011 | Time Start: 0000 Finish: 14 March 2011 1200 | From: West Coast Sipora To: Bengkulu, Sumatra| Eng Hrs Start: 2060.5 Finish: 2091.0 | Avg RPMs: 2500 | Weather/Seas: 1m+ swell, rainy, some squalls

A squall or two and some decent swell (1-2m) all the way down the Mentawis. Engine stayed cool most of the way, right at 150 deg F. One time, when coolant overflowed and we did not manually return coolant to header tank, we restarted her after a refuel and temp quickly went to just below 180 deg F. Shut her down, refilled coolant, then no problems. So the engine is staying cool but coolant is not returning to the header tank after expanding.

Also, oil leaks are slowly getting worse, but still manageable. Come into Bengkulu and decide to just anchor at the point near the fort and dinghy ashore rather than go 15 nm south to the port. Anchor in some decent swell just behind the breakers and load up jerry cans. Shore is protected by breakers all the way north until you finally can slip in where you see the fishing boats anchored just east of the point. Exciting dinghy landing on small bit of sand. Go in and try to fill cans at Pertamina, but they cannot sell in quantity. National law. Get some daging at a nice Padang-style restaurant, check out the old British fort, then find some guy with a stall who agrees to get our diesel for us for 5,500 rupiah (1,000 more than at pump). Runs off on two motorbikes and comes back quickly with over 100L of diesel. Local boys help us push back our dinghy and we get soaked going back. Someone had stolen our sunscreen but not outboard motor. Ha!

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Teluk Dalam to Teluk Lagundri, Nias

Posted on March 3, 2011 by Ian McHenry
Date: 3 March 2011 | Time Start: 1000 Finish: 1130 | From: Teluk Dalam, Nias To: Teluk Lagundri, Nias| Eng Hrs Start: 2016.8 Finish: 2018.3 | Avg RPMs: 2500 | Weather/Seas: Sunny day, easy swell

Uneventful. Took dad on first sail/motor around to Teluk Lagundri and the surf break. Motored around, avoiding rock on chart at entrance to Lagundri, which was not visible. Charts off. Unsure of what offset should be. Temperature quickly went up to 180 deg F. Did not check oil/coolant before setting off. Anchored in close to light, and went surfing immediately. Great right hand break. Decided to worry about non-functioning alternator and hot engine later.

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Sibolga to Teluk Dalam, Nias

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Ian McHenry
Date: 28 February 2011 | Time Start: 1445 Finish: 0657 (1/03/2011) | From: Sibolga To: Teluk Dalam, Nias| Eng Hrs Start: 2000.7 Finish: 2016.8 | Avg RPMs: 2500-2300 | Weather/Seas: Rain storm last night. Cloudy and warm for passage. Calm seas, no wind entire way

Went to harbourmaster to check out. he took a long time again, typed out clearance, got everything neat and ready, then before handing over talked about a 100k Rupiah coast for administration, another for typing, and then something extra for him. We asked to see the document of prices (like the one for cargo ships) and he said there was none and no receipts given. So we clarified it was a gift and we would not have to pay, since our CAIT included Sibolga. Finally said we’d give 50k, he said 100k, w ouldn’t budge. Called a guy who spoke English. Beng Beng, guy who had “helped” us before and is a “local agent” called us and we ignored him. Guy gudgingly took the money and gave the clearance. Diesel and water sorted. New regulator installed. Motored out. Alternator working, but shuts off after a few hours, though light says it is in float cycle. Temperature gradually rose to 180 deg F and temporarily went a touch over. Oil pressure 40 psi and occasionally over. Took RPM back to 2300 early in the morning – temporary drop in temp but came back up and steady at 180 deg F. No wind – motored all the way. Lots of squid boats as no moon. Came into Teluk Dalam, anchored, and went to sleep, after calling harbour master and getting no reply. Coast Guard met our dinghy on north side of pier, took our original documents, and said to come back tomorrow for clearance. Next day, had to go to “new office” on west side of bay. They kept the documents until we checked out.

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Pulau Baleh to Sibolga

Posted on February 15, 2011 by Ian McHenry
Date: 15 February 2011 | Time Start: 1330 Finish: 0630 (16/02/2011) | From: Pulau Baleh To: Sibolga | Eng Hrs Start: 1983.6. Finish: 2000.0 | Avg RPMs: 2700; 2500 after 3 hrs | Weather/Seas: Little wind until offshore breeze in the morning

Midday start. Easy motor out and set way points to avoid 5m spots on the chart along whole mainland coastline. At some point at night, Adam shut down engine to refuel. Previously, we had reduced RPM to 2500 after realizing that @ 2700 we were burning 3L/hr. When Adam shut down, temperature went up to 180 deg F. Let it cool down to around 140 deg F and changed shifts. Exhaust water was coming out when we restarted, but after a couple minutes, temperature alarm went off and temp had hit 240 deg F. Shut it down and decided to sail for a while to let it cool and be okay for entering Sibolga. This is around 3 am. Sailed at 43 deg to wind toward Sibolga, between 2.0 and 4.5 knots of speed. Several fishing boats. Close to 6am, ferry from Nias passed closely behind us (still we don’t have starboard nav light). Looked up from Kindle and saw the autohelm had taken us strongly to the south as wind shifted. Woke Adam up to check coolant. Overflow tank had overflowed and header tank was low. Refilled, started engine, and headed into Sibolga – no further temp problems Anchored near ferry terminal and coast guard. Had breakfast in terminal where CG was hanging out, then walked across street to harbor master. He didn’t speak much English and took a couple hours on documents. Explained we need to see immigration. Went to VoA office (15 minutes outside of town), sent back to main branch of BRI to pay $25 and get receipt (other branches had no idea). Back to immigration, then return @ 230 pm to pick up and pay 100k Rupiah bribe, but got stamp in passport so could leave the ship.

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Pulau Bangkaru to Pulau Baleh, Banyaks

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Ian McHenry
Date: 14 February 2011 | Time Start: 1024 Finish: 1600 | From: Teluk Brassi, Pulau Bangkaru, Banyaks To: Pulau Baleh | Eng Hrs Start: 1978.1 Finish:1983.6 | Avg RPMs: 2700 | Weather/Seas: Early clouds cleared. 11 kts wind from N. Calm seas.

Pulled up anchor to head to P. Baleh (P. Balai in Lonely Planet and Wavefinder), which we assumed was the biggest town. Decent winds between P. Bangkaru and P. Tuangku. Saw some surf at the south tip of P. Tuangku and going into a bay just north of the tip on the west side. Upon closer inspection, seemed small and breaking shallow. Local guy Eddie in Baleh later told us it was one of the good spots. Shot the curl between P. Palambak Besar and Kecil. Looked like some losmen on Besar and a single one on Kecil. Supposed to be one spot tourists go via ferry from Baleh. Anchored just south of Baleh, east of last starboard lateral. Dropped anchor in 12m, but quickly drifted into 4m patch on south side of channel; jumped in water and there was bombie I could stand on 5m behind the stern. Oops. Movied it further north and west and okay. Dinghy around to east side of village. Tied dinghy up at lobster farm/ Palambak ferry terminal. Crazy little town with houses surrounded by coral reinforcements. Small market with decent mie goring and person that sells dirty diesel. Got 3 jerry cans full, scooped out of bucket a liter at a time. Practiced Bahasa with locals, all very nice. Ran into Eddie, who said he arranged Bear Gryll’s “Ring of Fire” show in the Banyaks. Also a fisherman, said swell too big to fish today but good for surf. Morning snorkel the next day – nothing really good at all. Lunch and then off for Sibolga.

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Pulau Tuangku to Pulau Bangkaru, Banyaks

Posted on February 13, 2011 by Ian McHenry
Date: 13 February 2011 | Time Start: 1100 Finish: 1700 | From: Teluk Dalam, Pulau Tuangku, Banyaks To: Teluk Brassi, Pulau Bangkaru | Eng Hrs Start: 1974.0 Finish:1978.1 | Avg RPMs: 2700 | Weather/Seas: Hot, sunny. No wind, calm seas.

Got up at 6 AM after our sleep was disrupted at 3 AM by rail-to-rail rolling from the small swell that crept into the bay. Went to work on forward winches, port one had seized yesterday. Watched Harken how-to video on iPhone with full EDGE. Cut hole in sheet to protect gel coat. Had to WD$) port winch and really pull to get drum off. Washed everything in acetone. Used chasis grease and motor oil to lube. Noticeably different performance after. Motored around P. Tuangku. Stopped at NW tip to explore some surf and a wreck. Anchored in 10m with large rolling swell. Boards out, fins on, paddle to the point. Kept moving east as each successive break smashed into dry reef shelf. Eventually went ashore and walked around to wreck. Cargo ship “Marisa” (IMO: 8823616). Ran onto reef at tip, 15m from dry land. Waves crashing onto either side. Seas too nasty to swim to. Many ropes hanging down the side, presumably used to escape. Long paddle back to boat. Motor to P. Bangkaru to explore surf waypoints. Anchored in 9m, just off drying reef to port. Dingy to point. All surf was breaking on rocks or in 1m of water. Jumped out and tried mellow break but kept breaking too far in. Dinghy back, tied board leash on and tried water-surfing. Mild success. Exhausted, but good anchorage with no roll. Brinner then bed.

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West Coast Sumatra to Pulau Tuangku, Banyaks

Posted on February 12, 2011 by Ian McHenry
Date: 12 February 2011 | Time Start: — Finish: 1800 | From: Off W. Coast Sumatra To: Teluk Dalam, Pulau Tuangku, Banyaks | Eng Hrs Start: 1958.3 Finish:1974.0 | Avg RPMs: 2700 | Weather/Seas: Calms with lightning, single short rain storm

Fluxgate compass went funky around 3 AM and turned us 90 degrees. Desengage Pilot Track and switched to normal directional autohelm. Compass later corrected itself to match analog compass. Lightning all around. 430 AM winds steadily picked up, rising to 20 kts apparent. Then rainstorm, and winds died. All over in 20 minutes. Didn’t bother to take heady out. 9 AM shut off engine to add diesel. Put in two 27L jerry cans. Started her and within a few minutes temp went to 180 degrees F, 25 degrees above normal. Shut her off. Let her cool down to 150 deg F. Started again. Within a few minutes shoots to 240 deg F and alarm goes off. Shut down. Raw water was coming out exhaust, so fesh water likely problem. Let cool down while reading over engine books. Cools to 130 deg F. Check oil. 1/3 full. Add oil. Check coolant and see that overflow tank had spewed out coolant, which was in the bilge and overflow was full. Took off radiator cap and checked head and couldn’t see coolant. Added 1L coolant (premixed) and 0.3 L filter water until we could see coolant level. Siphone out overflow until slightly over “low” level. Started engine and watched closely for next few hours. Never over 160 deg F. Motored rest of the way. Jumped in and snorkeled to tiny outcrop off anchorage; poor visibility but good coral and fish. Fishermen cambe by and we bought 3 fish (1 kilo) for 40k Rupiah. De-scaled, gutted, and filleted two of them and cooked in ghee, salt, pepper and lime. Pretty good. Need to work on filet cutting skills. Big cell phone tower on next island = 5 bars of EDGE.

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Iboih to West Coast Sumatra

Posted on February 10, 2011 by Ian McHenry
Date: 10 February 2011 | Time Start: 1800 Finish: — | From: Iboih, Pulau Weh To: Off W. Coast Sumatra | Eng Hrs Start: 1932.7 Finish: 1958.3 | Avg RPMs: 2700 | Weather/Seas: Calms seas, mostly no wind w/ brief sailable conditions. Changing wind directions.

Package from Jakarta Yanmar dealer (PT Pioneer) arrived. Picked up at harbourmaster. All parts correct except R12P primary filter by Racor. Changed oil, replaced and bled secondary. Got clearance from harbourmaster (150k Rupiah bribe), passports from immigration (300k Rupiah bribe), and avoided coast guard chief, as they already had 1 million Rupiah profit from diesel and bottle of Johnny Walker. Provision at Sabang market and only grocer open at 130 PM (1-6 PM daily closures common). Motor to Iboih, dingy to N point of island N. of Rupiah, dive w/ brief shark sighting. Back Iboih to refill tank but they’re finished for the day at 5 PM. Avocado shake then shifts start. 2 dolphin escort in phosphorescence as approaching Banda Aceh. Take path through narrow Aroih Cut – scary at night. Depths fine but crazy 4 knot current, flowing from W to E. Around 3 am wind is up. Sails. Quickly grew to 20 kt apparent which was too much for near full, racing heady. Could not furl in heady (later discovered winch stuck) on same tack so brought her into wind and no problem. Wind died then later picked up and got nearly 3 hour sail in from 6 AM to 9 AM. Wind always swining around, suggested prevailing NE monsoon wind minimal and wind more driven by on-shore, off-shore winds and storms. Cell phone reception up to 13 NM from coast.

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Little Nicobar to Sabang

Posted on January 30, 2011 by Ian McHenry
28 January 2011 | Eng hrs: 1889.0 – 1926.0 | 2,400 RPM

Painful slog against consistent 1.3kts of current. Engine is groaning every time we smash into 3 waves in a row, bringing our speed through the water down to 1 kt. Some close calls with big tankers, and some very large waves washing over the cockpit and even down the companionway, but otherwise uneventful, difficult sailing. At 9:30 in the morning on 29 January engine RPM began to fluctuate and then the engine died. This has happened several times before, mostly when bashing into waves. We think the problem is either clogged fuel filters (we have no spares) or turbulence + ½ tank of fuel + heeling to starboard leading to air in the fuel lines.
Tried to sail with just the mainsail for a while but we were not making any headway, even in 25 kt winds. The sail simply does not translate wind into boat speed at any point of sail that we can figure out. Do not know why. Let the boat flounder unattended while we go below.

We put in 1.5 jerry cans, cleaned the primary bowl, replaced the secondary filter with another used filter, and then bled the system. Engine started really rough, and we had to give some revs so it wouldn’t die. In the process, we burned off the alternator belt.
Motor straight for Sabang, eventually coming into the lee of Pulau Weh from several miles off. After we changed course to be more easterly, the current against us eased, indicating that the current we have been fighting for two days is more southerly than easterly.

Engine holds up all the way to Sabang with speed increasing near the end of the journey. Drop anchor at 1am on 30 January 2011.

Indonesian numbers from US coast guard: +62 21 352 1111, +62 21 3483 2901, +62 21 550 1512
Sabang local rescue – +62 65 133 876
Indian coast guard: +91 3192 245530, +91 3192 242948 (fax), mrcc-ptb@indiancoastguard.nic.in

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