This week has been extremely exciting but not in a good way...we had a great time anchored in Danga Bay in Malaysia and caught the bus over to Singapore for a couple of days exploring and sightseeing. It's a great way to see Singapore without checking the boat in and Out and having to stay in an expensive marina. The Malaysians are really friendly and with the combinations of many cultures including Indians and Chinese it's a really diverse place to hang out and more importantly eat out! So after a week of acclimatizing to a new country we decided to get underway and start heading up the Melacca Straights and the west coast of Malaysia. All went smoothly and we were making good time motoring along until all of a sudden we heard a loud crunching sound from under the boat, every sailors nightmare and panic shot through us both as all we could think was 'the strut'!
We'd noticed in Australia that the bronze strut holding the propeller shaft in place had become weakened after we got a rope caught around it in Brisbane. Jimmy had reinforced it and was fairly confident that it would out until we could get ourselves to Lankawi in northern Malaysia where we'd find a cheaper
haul out yard to get the work done.
Obviously our luck had run out as Jimmy jumped into the water and confirmed our worst fears...the strut was hanging upside down from the shaft and no longer attached to the hull so we were without an engine. We quickly made the decision to turn around and try to sail the 15 miles back to Singapore, luckily we were traveling in company with Ingvil and Gunnar on s/v Helen Kate so we called them on the radio and they agreed to turn around to accompany us back. By 4pm the wind started to die off making it impossible to sail and so we threw a tow line across to Helen Kate and they pulled us the last nine miles back to a small island on the Malaysian side facing Raffles Marina on the western tip of Singapore.
We anchored up and dropped the dingy to use as an emergency engine if necessary and were happy to get some sleep. At 4 am we were hit with a huge lightning storm with winds blowing up to 40 knots and heavy rain. If the anchor didn't hold we would have been in serious trouble without an engine we wouldn't have been able to stop ourselves dragging into the rocks of Singapore! Luckily the anchor did hold and at first light we made the decision to get Blue Moon into a Marina as soon as possible.
Raffles was the only marina close enough with a haul out yard but of course we had to check out of Malaysia before we could enter Singapore waters. The check out process took all morning but with the help of the Puteri Bay marina it all went smoothly and by mid day we had the dingy strapped to the side of the boat and used the outboard engine to propel us the three miles across to Raffles without a hitch. We said a sad fair well and big thank you to Ingvil and Gunnar as they returned on their trip up the coast and we tied up to the dock to start the waiting process for being hauled out!
Luckily we'd already ordered a new strut to be cast back in the states so it was sitting on the shelf waiting and with the help of Jimmy's dad it arrived today by Fed Ex. The problem is that there's a long waiting list for yard and we're definitely not at the front of it. I can't complain though as there's a great swimming pool to hang out in and easy access to the city so we'll be seeing a lot more of Singapore!
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1 comment:
Well.this is hoping you have finally forced Raffles to haul you so you don't sit in the pool all the time getting all wrinklely
Terry
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