Parts of a Boat (English)

I guess it's about time for me to introduce readers to parts of a sailing boat. The above drawing, taken from the RYA Competent Crew textbook best represents what I want to share. I know it's overwhelming. Appreciate that each part of the boat has a specific name.

Two asides:
The very Malaysian terms gohed and gostan actually came from sailing lingo 'go ahead ie. go forward' and 'go astern ie. go towards the back'.

An old sea captain once told me that the terminology used for boat parts and seafaring activities reflect how far a civilisation has advanced.  For centuries, boatbuilding and seafaring activities has been at the forefront of cutting edge technology. Therefore, in his view the more exact terminology used, the more advanced a civilisation had progressed. He used this argument to promote the idea that since boating and seafaring terminology used in the West is more detailed and exacting as compared to East, Western civilisation is more advanced. Some flaws in his argument here. Firstly, having gone through a sampling of both Malay and Western literature on seafaring and boatbuilding, there is no clear distinction on which is the higher civilisation by just referring to to terminologies. In a future post, I will share the Malay terminology of boat parts and the reader would agree with me that it does not lack any details. What I find interesting is that while in general, the literature of the West is focussed on the physical aspects of the seamanship, Malay sailing literature puts emphasis on the non-physical aspects such as the relationship with natural phenomenas and the spiritual. I will elaborate more on this when  I complete my transliteration of a very old Malay manuscript on seamanship. Unfortunately, my language abilities limit my exposure to literature from other eastern civilisation.

The trip that almost never was

Moderate winds coming from Southeast

It was the long Malaysia day weekend. Edddy, Rahman and myself booked the Saturday 8am ferry from Tanjung Gemok to Tioman and the 2:30pm back on Monday. We left Bukit Antarabangsa around 1 am.

Two flat tires, a rescue operation and one missed ferry later we arrived at Tioman Island on Saturday around 5 pm. We quickly prepared Relax Lah to be sail ready for the next day.

We left Tekek Marina with the flooding tide after breakfast around 9am on Sunday. The sky was clear, the sea breeze not yet blowing. The intention was to have lunch at Pulau Tulai and proceed to Juara Beach. From there we would decide whether to spend the night or to come back to Tekek.

We motored until halfway through to Tulai, when we put up sails. At first the winds were confused. The prevailing wind was coming from the South-Southwest (SSW) direction, yet in the sheltered water of Tekek Bay pretty strong wind was coming from the North. As we ventured out, the SSW started to pick up. With 10-15 knots winds coming from our port quarter (left rear), we had speed over ground of 4 knots. From afar, we saw white caps coming.

Pulau Tulai and its white sands

We brought the sails down and motored into Pulau Tulai west Bay. (Yep, the same Bay that Relax Lah ran aground last year). We picked up a mooring line, jumped into the inflatable and rowed the 200 meters over crystal clear water to the white sandy beach of Tulai. By the time we had lunch and completed our Zuhr prayers it was 2 pm. Around 3 pm we made our way back to Relax Lah.

Relax Lah on a mooring bouy in Pulau Tulai East Bay

Just as we were leaving the sheltered area of Tulai with full main and headsail, the southerly wind hit us like a tonne of bricks. Relax Lah was heeling 30 degrees to its starboard side. It must be about F4-F5 gusts. We quickly reduced the headsail to a quarter, and put the main down by one reef.

With the wind on our back, we rode the high waves and reached the Northern-most tip of Tioman around 5:30 pm. I decided not to proceed to Juara. As always, winds were strong but came from the wrong direction. Proceeding to Juara by engine or zig zagging by sail would mean we will reach there past sunset. With Juara Bay exposed to the South-Southeast winds, anchoring in the bay would mean a rough night for us. The other option is to head South towards Tekek, and pick up a mooring bouy along the way that would be suitable for an overnight tie up.

At twilight we passed Salang Bay. It was busy, full of chalets and scuba diving schools. The few buoys available in the Bay were either occupied by scuba boats or local fishing vessels. Not sure whether it was a case of sour grapes but at that time I felt that Salang Bay is still exposed to the South-Southeast wind. Things would have very rocky over the night. We motored on.

Halfway to the next bay, Rahman stood up and said "Hey, where is the inflatable?". There was a moment of silence as we all looked back at the end of the towing line that held the inflatable to Relax Lah. I checked and found that due to the constant chaffing, the seasoned towing line gave way. Note to self: Get rid of old stuffs on the boat. These will give way at the least convenient moment. We spent about 20 minutes tracing back our track on the GPS. With the darkness setting in, the unfamiliar direction of current in that bay and the fact that the inflatable wasn't equipped with reflectors I would put the possibility of us finding the lost item much lower the the proverbial needle in a haystack. Yet, after about 15-20 minutes of re-tracing our route on the GPS, Rahman's torch landed on a distant floating object just outside an unlit bay. It was our inflatable!

Route back from Tulai

By the time we reached Air Batang Bay, it was already dark. The bay itself was well lit, but we could not see any mooring buoys.  Memories from last month's open water scuba dive is still fresh. I knew the Bay is sprinkled with coral life, so anchoring was out of the question.

Tekek Bay came next. We motored into the marina on the off chance that our berth would be available. As expected, it was occupied by a snorkeling boat from a different village. We came out and looked for mooring buoys nearby the ferry jetty.  A few buoys have already been taken. Some were available, but  were too close to what looked like a scuba boat doing a night dive. I decided to stay clear of the boat and asked Eddie and Rahman to throw the anchor overboard. It was an ebbing tide and we were at 4 meters depth. When the anchor settled (or so we thought), I asked the crew to lift it back onboard as I was not comfortable with the distance we had with the other boats.

It turns out that the anchor line was fouled! Try as we may, we could not get the anchor back on board. Since the boat wasn't going anywhere, we decided to call it a night and get some rest. I slept in the cabin while Eddy and Rahman chose to sleep in the cockpit underneath a clear sky.

We woke up early the next morning. In order to catch the 2:30pm ferry, we had to clean up the the boat and tie it up at the marina by noon. Then we would have to check out from our lodging, get some lunch and rush to the ferry jetty. But first the anchor. Around 9:30am, when the water level was at 4.5 meters on an ebbing tide, I jumped into the crystal clear water to find out what happened to the anchor line. It turns out that the line was fouled around a disused concrete base for a mooring bouy. It took me about half an hour and five attempts before I finally figured out that I needed to keep calm in order have enough time underwater to yank the chain out from underneath.

The fouled anchor line and chain around a mooring block

We quickly brought the boat back to Tekek Marina. Made it just in time for the ferry back to Tanjung
Gemok.

Tioman-Seri Buat-Rawa-Tioman

When I left Relax Lah at the Tekek Marina in Tioman last October (2017), I had no idea that the next time I’d see it again would be nine months later.  The intention was to sit out the north east monsoon and reunite with her in March when the conditions would be right again. But as the saying goes…the best laid plans of mice and men often goes awry. March and April came and went. First I was too busy with work. Then Eddy got baby Seri. Finally as we were preparing to enjoy the long awaited sail in Tioman waters, I got news from the boat minder in Tioman that my outboard engine was held at the island’s police station due to a botched robbery. I’ll write more about that in a later post.

So here we were, Eddy and me in Aug ready to set sail. We prepped Relax Lah for a weekend’s sail. Put the sails up, put the inflatable in tow. The weather was sunny. Wind was blowing from the south – southeast direction at 8-10 knots. Where to go?

Weather Forecast for the weekend

In the southwest lies Pulau Seri Buat and surrounding islands close to Mersing about 29 nautical miles (nm) from Tioman. 17nm in the southwest lies Pulau Pemanggil. Both were not ideal destinations considering the wind direction.

We left with the rising tide. Out the marina and turned right, with the wind on our port beam (perpendicular to the side) we sailed southwest.

By 4pm we arrived at the narrow straits between Pulau Sembilang and Pulau Seri Buat. At its widest point, this body of water is about a mile wide. However, it is too shallow for Relax Lah or any boat with a keel to pass through. We looked for a mooring buoy to tie up for the night. There were a few available. I put on my snorkeling gear and jumped in. Three hours before low water (LW-3), the depth gauge on Relax Lah was showing a height of 5 meters. I reckon by LW, we will have about 0.5 meters clearance between our keel and the reef and big rocks underneath. (Incidentally, as I as looking under the water line, I saw a Ramora fish feeding off Relax Lah’s keel). Since wind was coming from the south-southwest at that time, we decided that these mooring buoys leave us exposed. Tying up on these buoys will mean a rocky sleepless night for us.

Late lunch between Pulau Seri Buat and Pulau Sembilang

So we motored clockwise around the Pulau Sembilang with the intention of finding a good mooring or anchoring spot that could shield us from winds from the south. As we went halfway up the western rocky cliffs of the island, it became apparent that the waves were getting bigger from wind coming from the north!  Therefore when we come around to the northern opening between Pulau Sembilang and Pulau Seri Buat about 6pm we found that it was exposed to a much stronger wind than the initial mooring spot we had in the south! We went as far into the straits as we could to see if we could get protection from the wind, meanwhile the depth reader went drastically from 6 meters to 3, 2, 1 meters. The north-northwest wind was still blowing strong on us. Then we touched bottom and immediately turned around. We came to the conclusion that the north side of the strait was also too exposed. We went back to the south side completing our circumnavigation of these two islands. By the time we found a good spot to anchor, it was already 9 pm. Although we were on the side of the island protected from the northwest wind, we still had a rough night. Maybe some of the wind coming through the straits is refracted to our location.

Pulau Rawa from our mooring buoy

At daybreak on Sunday we picked up anchor and sail South West towards the group of islands near Mersing.

With the wind on our port side beam, and the predictable track of 5 knots we rounded the southern end of Pulau Rawa and picked up a mooring buoy around lunchtime. For those who haven’t been, the beauty of Pulau Rawa cannot be described with words. I thought Pulau Tioman and Pulau Tulai were beautiful. But Rawa brought it to another level altogether.

We rowed the inflatable onshore and had lunch at the Pulau Rawa Resort and rested. I had promised Eddy a night sail so we waited for the sun to go down. As we waited, the eastern sky grew dark and we heard the sound of thunder getting louder and louder. Soon Pulau Rawa was overcome by the thunderstorm. When it subsided and we rowed back to Relax Lah. It was almost midnight when we put up sail. Tioman was about 20 miles away. With a good 10 knots wind on my starboard beam I was expecting to arrive in Tekek by dawn.

Thunderstorm approaches Pulau Rawa from the East (Mersing). Relax Lah on her mooring

It was almost 7 am when we reached Tekek. We picked up a mooring near the ferry jetty. Onshore winds were too strong to bring Relax Lah into her berth in the marina so we took the time  to clean up the boat. We left on the 2:30pm ferry to Tanjung Gemok that afternoon.

Our Journey Tracker

Sea Winds

Ask any modern day sailors and they will tell you all about the Beaufort Scale to tell the sea conditions. It is simple. A set of numbers to represent the combination of wind speed and sea sate. You know the number, you know the sea state. What is beautiful about this scale is, if you know the sea state, you will also be able to work out the number.

Example: Force 6 = Strong Breeze 22-27 knots winds. Large waves, white foam crests. For sailing, deep reefing required for main and put up a small jib. (I am uploading the full list below for reference)

This scale allows us to tell the sea conditions and how to prepare the sail boat given the wind speed. Conversely, just by looking at the sea we can roughly estimate the wind speed. There is an elegence and beauty in this scale only sailors can appreciate. As commented by Tristan Gooley in his book How to Read Water, with one stroke the scale deals with two main traits of sailors. The exageration bit ("I faced waves a high as mountains") and the aversion to  exactness ("You are safe if you keep the sandbanks to the port side").

This week I learned that the Quran has given this classification of sea winds more than a thousand years ago.  There are three places in which sea winds are mentioned:

Verse 1: If He willed, He could still the wind, and they would remain motionless on its surface, Indeed in that are signs for everyone patient and grateful. (42:33)

Verse 2: It is He who enables you to travel on land and sea until, when you are in ships and they sail with them by a good wind and they rejoice therein, there comes a storm wind and the waves come upon them from everywhere and they assume that they are surrounded, supplicating Allah, sincere to Hm in religion, 'If You should save us from this, we will surely be among the thankful" (10:22)

Verse 3: Do you feel secure that He will not send you back into the sea another time and send upon you a hurricane of wind and drown you for what you denied? Then you would not find yourselves against Us an avenger (17:69)

Calm (Saakinah) winds is when the sea state is calm and there is no presence of wind and no vertical wave movement. The ship would be motionless.

Pleasant (Tayyibah) winds is used to describe Force 1 - 6 breezes on the Beaufort Scale. These winds produce pleasant and delightful effect. The ship travels in these winds and seafarers are in a state of joy.

Gale ('Aasif) winds describes Force 7 - 10 gales. Here the waves are extremely high, leaving people on the vessel in a state of intense fear and certainty of death. The ship is sorrounded by waves in every direction and fould either sink or be spared.

Hurricane (Qaasif) winds describes Force 11 and 12 hurricanes. These winds destroy ships and leave no hope for survivors.

After learning about these wind classifications, the following verse of the Quran kept me in awe:

And to Solomon [we subjected] the wind, blowing forcefully ('aasifah) (21:81)

Imagine, if we were given the same gift as Solomon to control the winds!