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.