Grounded

They say if you have not grounded, you have not tried hard enough.

Pulau Tulai is situated about 6 nm from the Tekek Marina. After breakfast and ordering nasi goreng takeaways, we motored out of the marina. It was around 11am, the tide was its highest and the sea breeze was picking up. With a direct northwest bearing, we put up our sails. It was great. We made 6 knots. As we turned the headland and entered Pulau Tulai's Western Bay, we turned on the engine and brought down the sails. Ahead, a few fishing boats already picked up mooring boys.

Water in the bay was clear blue. I glanced at the depth indicator and it showed 10 meters. I wasn't too worried. Relax Lah has a draught of 1.4 meters. As we moved deeper into the bay, the rocks at the bottom turned to coral and then to white sand. Meanwhile, the depth indicator still showed 10 meters. I was getting a bit puzzled, since the Navionics chart on my iPhone shows MLWN of 0.5 meters. But I had no reason to doubt my depth indicator. We set anchor.

Eddy grabbed a life jacket and somersaulted off the pulpit. Next came Danny, who a few minutes before that was on the onset of getting sea sick. Then a funny thing happened. Danny found that he could stand in the water. "This cannot be 10 meters!", he hollered to me up the cockpit

The words struck like thunder. My eyes jumped to the depth indicator, which was still showing a depth of 10 meters. Something was very wrong. Immediately I told Danny and Eddy to pick up the anchor and put it back on the boat. I put the engine on forward, towards the direction we came from. The boat did not move. I put the engine on reverse. Again the boat did not move. I asked Danny and Eddy to push the boat. It didn't budge. It was obvious we were grounded. I asked the guys to climb up the boat and put their weight on the starboard side (where the engine was). Again I tried to motor forward and backwards to no avail.

After a few minutes trying, I gave up. I had a close look at the depth reader, which was still showing 10 meters. But then I noticed the word SIMULATION flashing at the bottom left of screen. I turned it off and on again. There was a message, NO CONNECTION TO THE TRANSDUCER and after a few seconds the message went away. I check the connections at the back and true enough, the wire connecting the inducer to to set was undone. I fixed the connection and now the screen shows 0.4 meters (without the word SIMULATION). OK, now I understood.

It was now 1:40pm. The boat was leaning on its starboard side. I told the crew the bad news. I moved the anchor to the direction I expect the tide to come back in. This would ensure that the coming tide would not push us further into the shallows.

Since we came in at high tide plus two hours, we need to wait for the tide to ebb for 4 hours and for it to flood back, another 4 hours. We can expect to leave the bay around 10 pm. I offered Danny and his son, we could get them a lift back to Tekek with passing fishermen boats. He said, he would rather stay. We carried some essential supplies to the shore, which was about 150m away. Danny and his son, Jonathan put on a bonfire using dried branches and twigs.

If I had a choice of a place to be marooned on, then Pulau Tulai would be tops on the list. We had shelter, in the form of rock formations. The afternoon heat, the sea breeze and the swaying coconut all conspired to make our eyelids heavy. But I was too worried to sleep. What if water gets in the boat, what if it did not float, what if the keel was damaged.

Slowly but surely the the bay started filling up with water again. Slowly, Relax Lah was rising with the tide. I made a few trips to the boat to check if it was dry inside. One or two small buckets managed to seep in through cracks in the window. I quickly bailed the water out. I was relieved. Overall, there was no danger of sinking. Around sunset, we started carrying stuffs back to to the boat.

We motored out the bay around 11pm and reached Tekek Marina around midnight.

Lessons Learned:
1. Always know what the tide is doing (ebbing or flooding).
2. When entering unfamiliar waters, do it in a flooding tide. If you get stuck, it will be a matter of minutes rather than hours for you to get unstuck
3. Always double check your equipments. Batteries, cables etc. And be wary of warning signs
4. If in doubt, deploy the inflatable.
5. In case of discrepancies between chart and equipments, trust the charts!

Tioman: Second Attempt

The conditions were ideal for the trip. Weather was hot. Winds averaging 10mph coming from the southwest will push us all the way. Relax Lah in top shape with a newly serviced engine and two new batteries installed. There was only one problem. The crew. The trip was almost cancelled due to last minute cancellations. In the end it was just the three of us, an old friend from my Petronas days, Captain Zuki a paid hand, and myself.

On the charts, the journey from Sebana Cove to Tioman covers 120nm. Since we cud be doing an average of 5 knots, it should take 24 hours non-stop. We made plans to pick up fuel along the way at Tanjong Leman Jetty. With the inflatable in tow and 4 full tanks of fuel, we motored out into Sungai Santi on Sunday 23/7/2017 around 1830.

We rounded Tg Pengeleh around 2000 hrs. That was about the time I went into the cabin to catch some sleep. There were three of us and a big area to cover. I figured we each needed to take turns at the helm. Captain Zuki was at the helm first and Azmil was keeping him company.


I woke up when we were rounding Pulau Lima and turning north. Made two cups of Nescafe, one for me and the other for Captain Zuki. Azmil had gone below while I was sleeping. That night, the moon age was 29 days. Stars were out in full force. I tried to locate the constellations I was familiar with when sailing in England, like Orion and the Big Dipper but could not find them. Later on, I found out that these would not appear at lower latitudes that time of the year. Captain Zuki told me that we could actually hug the coast  and stay between Desaru and Pulau Lima. Earlier I had thought this route was risky as I have sailed around these groups of islands and found rocky outcrops around them.

Around midnight, I found Captain Zuki helming with his eyes closed. I guess being the son of a Kemaman fisherman plus having spent all his life at sea, he must have developed this special talent of helming while sleeping! No doubt he was using the feel of wind on his cheeks to give him the reference direction. When I accidentally knocked the engine into neutral gear and it suddenly roared, Captain Zuki jumped up while continuing to steer in the same direction.

I took over the helm from midnight till day break, when Azmil joined us at the cockpit. Azmil took over. We found that the inflatable that we had in tow was filling up with water and was slowing us down. I told Captain Zuki that the way the tow line was set up kept the front of the inflatable downwards and therefore water kept seeping in. We pulled the inflatable near so that Captain Zuki can get on board and bail water out. He then changed the configuration of the tow line such that the front is slightly pointing upwards.

It was about noon that we reached Tanjung Leman Jetty (N 02° 09.114' E 104° 00.322'). By now we had been motoring for about 12 hours and have used up two tanks of gasoline. There is a fuel shop at the jetty where you can fill up your jerrycans, if you call in your reservations to Shahril Ibrahim (+6013-733-7631). The jetty is used for commuters going to Pulau Sibu. In addition to the food stalls, there is also a KFC. Since the jetty is a busy one, and there were no place to tie up Relax Lah, Azmil and I jumped off to do errands while Captain Zuki stayed on board close to the jetty.

Having spent about an hour for the fuel and food at Tanjung Leman, we left around high tide with 4 full tanks of Unleaded Gasoline 95. I decided that it was time to put on sails, in addition to the engine. We were chased and overtaken by ominous clouds and thunder as we sailed past Pulau Sibu and Pulau Tinggi. When rain finally reached us, the surrounding seas turned white. We were thankful that the lightning and rain subsided with a whimper.

Around sunset, the facade of the Dragon Island appears on the horizon. We were welcomed to Tioman Island by a committee of Nicobar pigeons. Captain Zuki directed us straight to the Tekek Marina. It was dark and the marina was not well lighted. Tired and hungry, we scouted for a berth. In the end we found the there was no berth available. We tied up to a fishing boat for the night.

Captain Zuki and Azmil left on the 7 am ferry to Mersing on the next day. I sent them off at the Tioman Jetty and came back to Relax Lah - still tied up to a fishing boat, to wait for a more permanent berth. One by one the tour, diving and fishing boats left the marina. Around 10am I single-handedly brought Relax Lah into a suitable berth and tied it up. I then went to the marina office and paid the mooring marina fees for the coming two months.

Tioman: First Attempt

The North East Monsoon hits the East Coast of Malaysia hard between December and April every year. Winds can go up to 20-30 knots making waves up to 3-4 meters. Traditionally fishermen on the Malaysian East Cost avoid going to sea during this period, taking this down time to mend their boats and nets.

My plan was simple enough. Get a crew to help me catch the tail end of this monsoon to sail Relax Lah from Sebana Cove to Tioman. Meet up with the family and spend the school holidays snorkeling and sailing. Spend the week after on the boat with friends. And sail Relax Lah back to Sebana.

Being ‘in-between projects’, I have had time to plan this trip. I have readied the boat with new GPS, Radar Deflector, Solar Panel and even a new engine. I have looked at the charts countless times and worried about the weather forecast more than I care to remember.

It was never going to be easy. First it was impossible  for me to gather a crew for the delivery to Tioman. The usual suspects all had usual excuses. I thought then it would be a perfect opportunity for me to do the delivery with my two girls, Qurrata Ain (17) and Rayhana (14). 

We left Sebana at 4 am on the Tuesday. The first leg was supposed to be a 74 nm upwind sail from Sebana to Pulau Sibu. This part of the journey presents a unique challenge. Between Sebana and Pulau Sibu, there will be no protection against the North Easterly winds and waves. Only when we reach Pulau Sibu will we be sheltered from the elements. We would anchor for the night and resume the next morning with a beam reach for the remaining 30 nm from Pulau Sibu to Tioman.

About 10 in the morning we rounded Pulau Lima at the southern tip of Johore and entered the South China Sea heading North. With the sails up and the engine off, we were cruising between 5-6 kts, exactly as planned.

The next few hours were uneventful. We all had a good laugh when a fish flew off the water, hit the cabin roof and fell over the other side. Slowly but steadily we were moving north, leaving Punggai, Penawar and Kota Tinggi behind us. There were loads of fishing nets strung across these bays, marked by lines of bouys with flags.

By now, the tide has turned south. And white caps were slowly filling up the horizon, a sign that winds were picking up. I took a reef in, reducing the sail area in order to reduce heeling to the side. Soon after 2pm, the waves became bigger. The combination of  tide, waves and wind coming from our bow meant that we were barely moving forward. To maintain progress, I put the engine on.  Yet with engine and sail we were doing 2 knots on the ground.

Around 4 pm, about 10 miles from Jason Bay (Sedili), there was a loud crash coming from the transom. Lo and behold, the outboard engine, although still functioning was almost fully under water. Upon inspection we discovered that one of the brackets on the mount holding the engine gave way no doubt due to the battering of the waves. I lifted the engine and with the help of the girls managed to prop it up using what is remaining of the mount, and a steel chain.  With this crippled engine, we were making no headway at all. We were getting pushed into the bay and closer to the shore where the waves were yet bigger.  I put out the headsail and the main sail hoping to limp forward and find refuge from the wind and tide at Jason Bay. 

Alas, after struggling for one hour to get some traction north or east it was apparent that the only direction we could move was south. 

I made a decision and briefed the crew that we were heading back to Sebana. This would mean we would trace our tracks back to where we began that day. At this point, we have sailed twelve hours, and would have to continue twelve more.

Getting back to Sebana, with the wind, wave and tide behind us was a smooth ride. With the engine turned off and secured above water level with an iron chain, we were doing 8 knots very comfortably.

Still on sail, we rounded Pulau Lima slightly past sunset hugging the coast in order to avoid the heavy traffic into Singapore Port. Again we had fish jumping into the cockpit and this time it got stuck so I had to throw it back into the sea.

When we entered the anchorage area off Teluk Ramunia we dodged the parked ships using sail. By now we were sailing for almost 20 hours. The half moon, stars and those ships with their anchor light a spectacular sight by any measure escaped us, we were too exhausted.

Around 2 am we entered Sungai Santi. The 45 minutes in river ride, this time took us 2 hours with the crippled engine. We came into our berth in Sebana close to 4 am, drained. The whole family then took the 5 pm ferry to Tioman, from Mersing.

The Ensign

My RYA training tells me that a leisure boat like Relax Lah should fly the civil ensign in the form of a defaced national flag. Yet, it seems to be common practice in Malaysian waters that all boats I see carry the Jalur Gemilang in its full form. The exception being the Royal Malaysian Navy boats which fly the Navy Ensign.

If I’m not mistaken, I saw the civil ensign on sale to members only at the Royal Selangor Yacht club for MYR300 a piece. Other than that, I could not find a place that sells it.

So I did the next best thing, I went to a flag maker’s shop and had one custom made just for Relax Lah!  I am very happy with the end product. Maybe this is a good business idea, if there is a market for it.