Sumatran Cruise

[dirkdig]

That is heavy, did the road to g- land years ago from Kuta, much the same trucks running off all over the place,honking the horn people w
King on the road diving off to avoid being hit.
No fire with bandits though,thats stepping it up a bit!

[surfmachine]

Ahoy shipmates, have ditched the crew, not up to the job!
Just departed Sibolga harbor at 1800 hrs for the 20 hr passage back to Lagundri Bay on Nias, stay a few days then down to explore the Telos Islands.

Stormy weather ahead, but here a light nthly for my SW passage, so may be able to sail some of the night?

Back amongst the right handers tomorrow?

Fair winds from Keith.

[dirkdig]

Fair winds, there is nothing quite like sailing along no motors nice and quiet!
Wish i had time to get over there and crew, especially in right hander country.
Regards Harvey

[surfmachine]

Cheers Harvey.

I have been out surfing the beautiful right hand break of lagundri bay in nias, the sunset was amazing, the best I have seen all year!!

That makes two sunsets and a sunrise that I have seen now ithout any real sleep, will sleep soundly tonight.

Lots of fishing here, diving is a problem as the water is too stirred up from the surf.

Had the old yacht doing 7.7 knots with 60% reefed jib alone in a 27 knot heavy squall at 2300hrs, blinding rain, for 3 hours, on and off. then it glased off, then another squall at 0300 hrs, then main up at dawn and sailed for 5 hours with 9 knmots of fair wind.

Sailed into lagundri bay and anchored in 11m of water and hit the surf, glassy, head high rights, with 5 others out, surfed under the full moon, a few silver barrels, with the moon shining into the pit and the walls all silver, then the moon went behind the clouds. Huge swell coming here on staurday.

I have an american crew flying in fron Paris on Wednesday, he did not mess around, keen to help with the 6 day sail back to Malaysia.

Yacht is rocking, so the swell is rising?

All the best from Keith.

[surfmachine]

At least 12 to 15 foot at nias yesterday, like a mini taephuo!!!
Terrifying if you are caught in the wrong spot, luckily I wasn't! Got 7
great waves, only 3 others out in the morning, about 7 in the arvo,
biggest, deepest, longest most scary barrels I have ever seen, you could
drive ur car through some of them! I stay away from the deep barrels,
too scary, need to stay in 1 piece to sail the yacht!!?

Rained all night, the water tanks are full and all the rivers are flowing strongly into the chocolate covered bay!

Two days ago, I was in the lineup chatting with the captain of Micah, a south african cat, and was not watching the surf! A huge 8' set came in and we all dived deep, he broke his nice new epoxy, the guy behind me broke his board as well and my legrope snapped like a twig, a long swim into the beach and washed over the coral, got the board back ok!

Smaller today, phew!!!?

The new crew is good value and we sail South for the Telos islands when the weather clears. We will explore there for about a week, lots of beautiful anchorages there.

Fair winds from Keith.

[tropicalescape]

Originally Posted by surfmachine

At least 12 to 15 foot at nias yesterday, like a mini taephuo!!!
Terrifying if you are caught in the wrong spot, luckily I wasn't! Got 7
great waves, only 3 others out in the morning, about 7 in the arvo,
biggest, deepest, longest most scary barrels I have ever seen, you could
drive ur car through some of them! I stay away from the deep barrels,
too scary, need to stay in 1 piece to sail the yacht!!?

Rained all night, the water tanks are full and all the rivers are flowing strongly into the chocolate covered bay!

Two days ago, I was in the lineup chatting with the captain of Micah, a south african cat, and was not watching the surf! A huge 8' set came in and we all dived deep, he broke his nice new epoxy, the guy behind me broke his board as well and my legrope snapped like a twig, a long swim into the beach and washed over the coral, got the board back ok!

Smaller today, phew!!!?

The new crew is good value and we sail South for the Telos islands when the weather clears. We will explore there for about a week, lots of beautiful anchorages there.

Fair winds from Keith.

Wow..Id like to drop in on a few
of those myself..have you got room for more crew for 2 weeks in Dec?I can pay...pm me if so..DVC

[surfmachine]

Aloha, tropical escape, surf is all over here in late November, at which time I will be back in Malaysia. At the moment, "it's as good as it gets", to quote Jack Nicholson, beautiful overhead glassy barrels this morning, just came in to change my legrope as it was getting a bit frayed!

Sorry, cant help you with the December sailing, I will back on land in Margaret River, west Australia, dropping into the 8 to 10' left handers there at the point break!!

Cheers from Keith.

[hogesinwa]

Hi Keith.
Margs was 20' on the weekend.

Coastalwatch :: Reference :: Features :: Righteous Waves in West Oz

[surfmachine]

Ahoy shipmates, been flat here since I left Lagundri Bay, a few rights and lefts at Telos islands, now going down to finger bay at the bottom of the Telos group, a great day sail! Had a visit from the "local security" at Telos island yesterday, when we had just baked 2 loaves of fresh bread, fed them on hot bread, butter and mulberry jam, aboard, as it poured down with rain. Then they showed me their 38 caliber pistol, with the nice wooden handles, lovely!!?

This Telos island group has got to be the prettiest set of islands I have seen so far!

Hope that the surf comes up soon?

2 weeks to go till I check out of Indo via Sibolga and head back to Langkawi.
Cheers from Keith.

[dirkdig]

Good to know there is security looking after you on a full belly!
Hopefully the swell picks up.
The surfline forcast for the mentawis is 2-4 ft till Nov 2nd then 4-5ft 3/11 5-6ft on the 4/11 then back to 4-5ft on the 5/11.
Thats an American forcast so i think they measure from the front.
Happy surfing Harvey

[surfmachine]

Thanks Harvey, made it into finger bay at the very southern end of the Telos Islands, met by a flotilla of natives in canoes, but no bare breasted virgins like Captain Cook in Tahiti!!??

Only locals who are believers in the "cargo! cult".

Also some hodad who insisted we accompany him to the desa kepala to check in, told him to clear off!

Went ashore at dusk and wandered around and was ambushed by a posse and carted off to the head man's house, where to the light of smoky kero lamps we discussed our situation!!!! Not that I understood anything?? So, I will leave it until "besok sore" and revisit the chief's house to sort it all out!

Does not look like any good surf on the near horizon, getting near the time to turn the nose of Surfmachine back North again?

All the best from Keith.

[surfmachine]

Ahoy shipmates, well its all been good and very hard work getting back to Langkawi! Went back to Nias for some stormy surf, then to Sibolga to check out. Picked up a new crew, an Italian, 30 year old woman, begged to come aboard for trip back to the banyaks/sumatra/langkawi!!! Agood cook, pretty and good company. She jumped off at Bandah Aceh and cried her way onto a plane KL, as she had checked out of the country already!!! Nothing that a few tears and a couple hundred thou rupiah wont fix???

Sailed for the Banyaks and had 5 days of small, high quality surf at Mariabah Bay, then Bankgaru, then Sinabang onto Bandah Aceh, then the hell bash back across the Malaccan straights!!

Normally 3 days and 2 nights, took, 5 days and 4 nights, heavy motoring into 25 knot NE to Easterlies, very rough, 2m seas, short and choppy, lots of water over the deck. Non stop....

Blew a hole in my head sail, the dingy broke one of the ropes holding in onto the davits at 2 am, in howling winds and heavy seas, had a struggle to get it back on the davits, boat heaving heavily!!

Fuel pump blew out and had to keep filling the day tank for gravity feed every hour using a high volume back up electric fuel pump.

But the boat performed flawlessly, a bit of sailing/motor sailing, mostly at 2.5 knots, sometimes 1.8 knots was all she would make into the seas and wind, shipping all around, the radar was spectacular, guard alarm going off all the time!!!

Crew from USA was good, stood all his watches , but was seasick the whole way!!!

Now organising the lift out at the french asia yard and leave her on the hardstand for 5 months and back to Margaret River for Christmas.

A huge bushfire took out 40 houses near our home, came within 30 metres of the house, burnt everything from just across the road, completely surrounded by dead tress now, and ash. Wow!!!!

What a wonderful trip, and I kissed the shore at Langkawi when we landed!!!!

Fair winds from Keith.

[dirkdig]

What a shitty trip back, whats the saying about paying for the good days at sea?
Was thinking about you with all the fires at Margaret's, bum deal considering it was a burn off.
Had a blast following your trip and surfing, all inspired to get there next year $$$ permitting,

Regards Harvey

[Beersmith]

Subscribing to this thread. You are living my dream, I can't wait to get out there and sail for surf.

Rebuilding a boat right now to do just that.

I'm sure I will have a ton of questions for you regarding surf exploration and the logistics of doing it out of a sailboat.

[surfmachine]

Thanks guys. The boating life is not all bare breasted girls and cold beers with the blindingly beautiful sunset!!!! Lots and lots of awful things can happen, and always seem to happen, at 3 am in the morning!!!! Like the raw water pump refusing to self prime after sailing for 10 hours on a 30 degree heel, like the electric fuel pump dying in the middle of the malaccan straights, like the crew breaking the connection for the signal feed from the radar magnetron in the middle of the shipping lanes, like having no oil showing on the dipstick upon arrival in Langkawi. Like the headsail tearing a panel out in a 27 knot broad reach, all in the space of a few days.

But at least I stayed off of the reefs?

Enjoyed the company of the Italian female crew!!! The fifth woman to have aboard!!!?

Lots of boats in Kuah harbour in Langkawi, a big air naval show happening here, MIG's doing barrel rolls over the town, subs, pakki navy, usa planes, frigates, tall ships, fireworks..... Its all happening.

Will lift the yacht out today, at the asia french yard at Port Kuah, need to weld soem more s/steel onto the rear arch for another wind genny and 2 more solar panels, to run the new fridge!

Fair winds from Keith