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SEA GEM LOG
November 26, 1999
SINGAPORE TO LANGKAWI
 It
is hard for me not to be apprehensive about traveling up the infamous
Malaka Strait. It is known for the extremely heavy commercial
traffic, pirate activity, severe storms, punctuated by fierce lightning
and it is peppered with small unlighted fishing boats that string
long lines. Add floating logs, debris and current borne rafts
of trash and you have a challenging run, especially if there are
only two on board to stand watch.
So far so good. We left Singapore, Friday,
November 26, with new radar and a functioning port engine.
Getting out of Singapore is a feat in itself. It is the busiest
harbor in the world and I am convinced that much floating stock
of the world is there.
We had planned to visit the old port city of Malaka by bus but had to satisfy ourselves with
sailing past. After leaving some of the heavy Malaka traffic behind, I was on watch while Charlie was getting some much needed sleep. We were under sail when all the power started
shutting down. First the instrument panel lights went off, then the radar, then the auto pilot. I looked up to make sure our navigation lights were still on and reached down to crank the
engines. There was barely enough battery power to turn the engines over but they did start and the instruments started to come back up as the alternators started generating power. I
was doing my cockpit stomp to awaken Charlie and he appeared in a short time but it seemed a long time to me. He started checking things, got all systems functioning again and started
searching for the problem. Our last malfunction was the Heart Interface, which we removed in Singapore to send back to the states for repair. It had worked well in converting 220 shore
power to be able to charge our batteries. It makes it nice to be able to plug in and not have to worry about running the generator to charge for refrigeration. We still have to run the
generator to use our range or of course air conditioning but for everything else we can use the inverters. After trouble shooting, Charlie found that one of the many repairmen on board
had switched the house batteries to the engine batteries and we had been running all the systems on just the engine batteries. He corrected the problem. We breathed a sigh of relief and proceeded.
The heavy traffic is unrelenting and you must be on your toes every minute. Mainly they are huge ships carrying everything from stacks of containers to oil tankers headed in both
directions. They move fast and we do understand the rule of big--if he is bigger than you he has the right of way. We sail/motor defensively anyway, always figuring it is best to stay
out of the way. Twice we had fast fishing boats run right across our bow, then stop shortly after they were past. We had one come from a long distance and come right up beside us
and just look us over. Of course if you are thinking pirates these encounters are always a little un-nerving. We sailed non-stop from Singapore to Langkawi and really had no
problems. The traffic and storms don't seem as vivid when you are at anchor and the sun is shining. From now on we will have shorter runs and be with at least one other boat most of the time.
We will run this down to the internet place which by the way is right next to the place where Charlie has found great buys on VCD movies. We are well stocked and since they have
Chinese subtitles, who knows? We may learn to write a little Chinese. Also our laundry should be ready. I had to talk the lady into getting it done today so I better show up on
time. The communication was a bit ragged, something about tomorrow and yesterday as part of the confusion. I took out a calendar and we worked it out that way. We will leave
Langkawi this afternoon and go to an anchorage with some nice water for swimming. We had boat help coming today to help get the Singapore grime off but they did not show
up so we will probably end up using our own elbow grease. From Langkawi, Maylasia.
Until later... |
