Raja Muda Races & Langkawi race week

November had the Raja Muda Regatta again sailing from Pt. Klang to Langkawi with a series of three passage races and numerous inshore day races. The series followed on what was once the Malaysian Offshore Series. When the Selangor Yacht Club gained Royal patronage from the then Prince heir or Raja Muda to the Sultanate of Selangor, it became a new series. While the prince is now Sultan, the name sticks.

Some serious boats
2011 series saw good winds for most races and the first leg Pt. Klang to Pangkor Island saw a good race with only a few light patches. Ashore in Pangkor reverted to the Seaview Hotel on Pangkor, as Marina Island is now so popular, that they were unable to house the fleet and only a few lucky ones who booked well ahead could find a birth there. The rest rocked all night in the bay between Pangkor and Pangkor Laut Islands.

Crew member Emy gets into the mood and has his own way with navigation colours
Pangkor to Penang was shorter this year, with the finish the south end of the Island, well upstream of a vicious current that our sailing caravan “Virgo” a Hunter 49, had serious problems with. Festivities ashore in Penang is one reason everyone sails this series. The annual trishaw races followed by the Khoo Kongsi, who always put on a lavish spread in their most unique and staggeringly beautiful compound. Much beer great food and the traditional Lion Dance, which this year I made a very shaky video of for YouTube. The title sort of came out wrong as “Lion dance at Knoo Kongsi” CIMG4392.AVI and I didn’t have the best vantage point sorry.
Inshore race saw light winds till almost the end when a strong wind picked up back markers who romped home.

Our Hunter 49 cutter
Penang to Langkawi usually has a storm, but this time is was a very strong wind which saw most of the fleet of go fast boats struggling, while our caravan loved it and we made a happy second in a race division we are usually way too slow for. The inshore races were again with fair winds and we managed to add a rounding mark that wasn’t in the instructions and so came our usual last.
The Royal Langkawi Yacht Club in the main town of Kuah is a very well set up and most hospitable place…even if the food and beer prices ignore the fact Langkawi is a duty free Island…actually 99 Islands. Sailing around these islands is one of the best experiences a sailor can have. Incredibly beautiful and makes sailing last OK as you spend more time enjoying the scenery.

Some serious money in Langkawi
And so Langkawi Race week in January 2012 got underway and after the first day 2 races around the cans, the race committee asked the question that has vexed us for years…What was a sailing caravan doing is class 1 race division….and so it was politely suggested we join Club Cruising division instead, which we readily agreed to. Suddenly we were in the middle of our class fleet and made racing so much more enjoyable. I only hope future races, the powers keep us in club Cruising. Lets face it the average racer does not have 3 lavish staterooms, 2 heads with 2 showers, microwave, icemaker, giant gen set to run it all, electric winches and the list goes on. We are definitely a cruising cutter. Mind our skipper has spent some serious money upgrading sails for this season and we were able to get much more speed and much higher point out of her, which was most enjoyable.
So sausage and triangle circuits prevailed with one exception being a race around numerous islands. This we had in the bag with a strong wind that really suited us…but then our Scottish navigator added a rounding mark and you guessed it…the same one as last time in the Raja Muda series. Strewth you would think we would learn, and so last again.

“Vega” and “Evelyn”
Sorry about lack of photos, but a few showing boats before the races and the lovely old “Vega” as press boat and still racing the 1910 built Bristol Cutter, the slightly modified “Evelyn” which relished the fresh conditions.

Raja Muda 2010

I had been asked months ago to crew on Dato’ Alex Ngah’s Hunter 49 “Virgo” for the Royal Selangor Yacht Club’s Raja Muda race series. This combines 3 offshore and 3 inshore races over a week. The Hunter is as cutter designed for family cruising, which it does extremely well. A/C, microwave, big gen set and 110HP turbo motor, 3 luxury double cabins and 2 heads complete with shower, 700lit water tanks, electric winches etc, she was not designed for super speed, but wow what luxury.

We had 5 on board all old friend bar one who was son of a friend and unfortunately an arrogant know-it-all, which became tiresome in the extreme.

Race day and there was not a breath of air, but eventually set of in a light breeze that lasted the 90km to Pangkor.

We realised a few hours from race time limit we had no hope of making it, so had to pull out and motor in to the new marina at Marina Island Pangkor. A great party and anticipation for a good race to Penang. Not to be with only slightly better winds for this next 90km. This time we were within 7 km of the finish before we realised we would have to have a typhoon up out backside to make it in time and again pulled out. 2 DNF was a bit upsetting.

The next race inshore off Batu Ferringhi again was a drifter and over 2 hours late to start. The only problem with this was the finish time remained the same, so average speed around the circuit increased dramatically. We were only just outside this time having gone well and as fast as we could. Not being able to point well really hurt in this race.
This was soon forgotten with a slap up buffet at the Khoo Konsi with the best Lion dance display I have ever seen…and in light rain.
Next day Penang to Langkawi..with wind. So much so that the race was started 15min early!

While we can’t point, it was enough to hold us on one tack close to shore in a moderate breeze, This we enjoyed and although down wind kept most of our competitors in sight till the storm came in at sunset. With Genoa, staysail and main we had a close fetch in 25-30 knot winds as the sky went black. Up over 9 knots over the ground and loving it…till the clew pulled out of the genoa with a load bang. As no way to keep it furled, (the furling line had ripped out as well) we had to muscle it down and unceremoniously dump it in the luxury cabin. By then the storm passed and we were left to flop about for almost an hour before the wind came back strong on the beam. Up goes the asymmetrical spinnaker and we took off. Really thrilling driving this heavyweight up over 9 knots and reaching 10.4knots across the ground. We actually overtook a couple of yacht lights all converging on the finish and were 50m from the boat in front, 300m from the finish…when the spinnaker halyard snapped and we had a rather large sea anchor. But we were able to retrieve it and under staysail and mail cross only a few boat lengths behind the yacht we had been attempting to overtake.
We had ripped the clew out of the Genoa, pulled the furling line from the roller reefing and lost the clamp, broken the spinnaker halyard and a few lesser problems…so we didn’t sail next day, but got all repaired and ready for the last round islands race.

 Alex wife Cheryl and Gerhards wife Shirlee joined us to cheer us up.

Langkawi has some of the most beautiful islands and not only did we have spectacular scenery, but some fickle, but sailable winds.

Class 1 gets away.
Happily we finished this inshore race also and had great fun racing a Hunter 36 to the finish.
So it was party time at The Royal Langkawi Yacht Club with the Sultan of Selangor enjoying the wonderful night organised by members of the Negri Sembilan Royal family who run the Club.

Next day was shopping day and provisioning for trip back to Pt Klang. After a good sleep in we took off about midday and motor sailed (plus a bit of unsuccessful trolling) for 33 hours back to Pt Klang…in wind!!, doing what this boat really likes to do…fast cruise.

Sri Rani- a week in the life of..

Sri Rani was never meant to be a racer. This Hunter 26 owned by our good friends Gerhard and Shirlee was meant for family day trips, but….
Get 2 old fart and a very keen newbe and a race at hand, its on for young and old.

 
To celebrate Malaysia’s independence, Merdeka
The Royal Selangor Yacht Club holds a long weekend race series. First race from Pt Klang, 90Nm up the coast to Pangkor Island. This has a time limit of 30 hours, so must average 3 knots over the ground.
Race starts at 1035 and in the virtually zero winds, the north bound current took us about 15nm in 10 hours. then having to anchor when the tide changed to stop sailing backwards. At this stage some larger yachts pulled out thinking 30 hour is not possible. But Sri Rani, the slowest boat knows that in a handicap race, the longer the “fast “ boats are held up as well, the better for the little guy. Besides there was a series of gates to go through and times taken in case a finish was not possible.
Finally a breeze comes in allowing a very shy spinnaker which carried us through the first gate within a close time to the big guys. Then during the night a very good wind came up for a close reach allowing us to break friction once or twice to over 9 knots. On the tide change, we got the same wind, but on the other tack. Glorious sailing till almost midday the next day. It then went light but later set to a dead spinnaker run 4 hours to the finish. Yes after such a slow start we did finish and not too far behind the big guys. Good enough for a third place.
After a grand meal at the new Marina Island Best Western Hotel, (where our partners partied) the next day was a round islands race, taking in 2 of the Sembilan’s Nine islands.

Got a good start, but very soon crowded out by all the big boats.

We tacked away to the other side from the others, thinking we would be able to make better use of the tide….and it worked. We were not last around Fairway Rock, the windward mark after about 6 Nm and very close to the “big guys”. the next leg 2 sail reaching, even with our new light weight foresail (donated as a present from another great mate John), the longer waterline of the big boats came into play and while we went very well, sort of got left in the spray.
Just missed a submerged rock round the next Island Palau Agas, perfect spinnaker set and a shy run to the finish. …frequently up on a plane and stayed close to the big guys in front and still a couple of big guys behind.  Good enough for a second on handicap and some really happy guys.

 















Some competition…..

…and trophy’s sort of says it all.

Hypothetical trailer across Malaysia

This must be hypothetical as would I really pull an unregistered trailer across Malaysia?
In theory a fun trip!!!
I had been worrying about the trailer for the catamaran, and so one friend offered his old Isuzu Trooper which has a towbar. I tried to get a permit to tow the unregistered trailer and no go....so it was a case of forget it or drag the trailer across to whole country illegally. That sounded like fun so off we went (in theory). Another old sailing friend came as well (more as moral support)

Ready to go
Got to Cukai in Trengganu and stayed with Capt. Wong who's boat we bought. Eating (fresh Durian and Rambutan from his farm) and telling ghost stories till 2am, then off Friday morning. Capt. Wong had taken the trailer axles to a workshop to get new axles, bearings, and good second hand rims and tyres. Great all will be good. Capt. Wong led us out of town on a back road and just got up to 40kph past the town when a god almighty bang. "The wheel came off" screams KC.

Which bit?
Happens we were outside the local tip with 10ft high wall around. No sign of the wheel until a poor guy struggles out from the tip with the wheel and asked if I have lost anything!! Lucky the axle nut was still with the wheel, but a spacer and bearing cone were missing. As it had been raining it took a while sleuthing to find them . We found that not only had the workshop done the nut up only finger tight, they didn't use any grease and nothing else was tight. Goes to show only trust what you do yourself.

…so that’s how to put a wheel on!
Anyhow an hour later we start attempt No 2. We headed north up to Lake Kenyir through lovely back country on good roads. Then had a great run on an unopened and unmarked highway around the top of the lake. Few bits of roadwork but mostly great. Staggering country with the mountain ranges and glimpses of the lake through jungle, driving around Elephant calling cards and soaking up the wonderful smell of the jungle and earth…. Then the highway stopped….and became 20km of plantation potholed hell, with giant trucks broken down everywhere and altogether fun driving with the trailer behind.
We gained the Kota Bharu-Gua Musang road via a police pondok with 2 young constables at a table outside....so I sailed past waving like an angle and they simply waved back with mouths wide open. In Gua Musang we topped up the tank...this bloody thing does 7.2km to a litre and had some lunch on the run.

Lunch on the run
So the wonderful road from Gua Musang to Cameron Highlands. This is a must drive. As we climbed we got well onto the clouds and rain. Saw a side of Cameron's most don't see and it was something else. Down the new road toward Ipoh behind a bloody bus for what seemed like hours, before we finally got past. Then beeline to ..ROCK ELEPHANT as KC texted friends who were following our exploits (Batu Gajah). By this time its still drizzling and light fading and very overcast. The poor old trooper actually got up to 90kph and we rattled and bounced our way toward Sitiawan. Thank goodness, Percy (the GPS) lead us round a back way to the Perak Yacht Club.

Trailer mods
We had to go down a narrow plantation track to get to the club with spotlights blazing (had to.. the headlights were useless) and persuade the new... started today...jaga we really can come in and dump the trailer. Poor kid was terrified with a very tired mat salleh with no Malay making gestures to open the bloody gate or I'll have his guts for garters.

…she is on!
Next morning we added some cross beams and eventually got our Strider24 on.

Strider 24 around Malaysia 520Nm

Monday 3^rd May 2010 our good friend Mike drove us across Peninsular Malaysia from Kuala Lumpur to Cukai on the east coast. Here we met up with Capt. Wong, who had us all organised including an overnight stay and a gourmet meal cooked with his own hands. We had bought the Strider 24ft some month earlier from him, but had not had the chance to pick it up.
The day was spent checking the boat out and making a few minor adjustments, food and drink etc. in
preparation for a passage sail the next day.

Capt. Wong helping to load provisions

K.C. Is ready to set sail

Capt. Wong says goodbye

First night near the bridge at Kuantan
After a great breakfast of Won Ton, we topped up fuel tanks and set sail around 1100. By noon we were clear of the Kemaman River and under the watchful eye of giant tugs and offshore oil rigs, we set the sails for the first time. The very odd little wrinkle popped up like broken shackles etc. but the cat sailed superbly. All the rest of the day we were on a close reach all the way to Kuantan over 40Nm south. We topped 8.3 knots across the ground surfing into the mouth of the Kuantan River. This had not been a good day for wife KC as she was dreadfully seasick. Thankfully over the next few days she got her sea legs and all was well.
Totally knocked out, we anchored in shallow water below the bridge for our first night aboard and how we slept!

By 0700 next morning we motored out of Kuantan heading south again. The winds were fickle and on the odd occasion we got much, it was on the nose. So a lot of motor sailing and by evening we swept well south to come into the river mouth at Nenasi with home made fishermen's markers as a guide. Here we found a superb sandy beach with good water just meters out and had a swim and settled down much to the amusement of passing fishermen.

Sunrise day 3

Motor sailing is not ideal...but gets there

Palau Tioman (Tioman Island)

No wind so lets have coffee
0600 next morning found even less wind and the poor little Suzuki 8hp slogged its heart out all day till we reached Tiomen Island. I heard that this was the the island used in the original South Pacific musical and its nothing short of spectacular.
With our hopes up for wind, 0700 next day we headed for Tinggi Island, but after a few hours it was evident there was to be no wind at all. The fuel tanks had taken some punishment by now and we motored into Mersing late afternoon. What a dreadful river to negotiate. Shallow, narrow, strong current, fishing boats everywhere and bank to bank rubbish. We fouled out propeller aiming at a Police boat and managed to get untangled only just in time. We found friendly locals who helped to get out tanks filled and we took off out of there as the mouth gets too shallow at low tide and we were only an hour off.
We had these new fangled flashing nav lights which all the fishermen use as well, so we set the jib up and drifted south all night pretending to be a trawler so others kept away. We had seen a small bluish white light with 4 sec flash all night and assumed it was another boat, but at daylight it was a brand new lighthouse strobe on a rock...not on our chart!!. During the day passing Tinggi Island and Sibu Island and a huge number of smaller islands, it struck me what a sailors paradise. The waters are pretty clear and the islands all have their own distinctive character. Also, when there is wind during the NE monsoon, each major island is a perfect days sail from the next. This has to be one of the great sailing spots in the world and a few Singapore boats were the only ones seemed to realise this. That night we reached Sedili in a wide bay. The new village was basic but had fuel and food, a cool breeze and long easy chats with the locals while watching fishing boat loads of Singaporean sports fishermen come and go parting with money much to the delight of the locals. The only blight again was the habit of fishing boats to throw rubbish into the river, this time in neatly tied bundles that the Singaporeans had left to be cleared up.
I have a problem with Malaysia and rubbish. Kuala Lumpur is a wonderful city...but the dirtiest in S.E Asia. The seas and rivers are floating masses of rubbish. You can study the dietary habits of a trawler by studying its trail of rubbish. Why do people take the time to replace the cap on an empty drink bottle if they are going to throw it in the sea?

Sedili

Singapore ...wall to wall ships
0700 Sedili on route to Sebana Cove. This was a monumental mistake. Not only is Sebana Cove in the middle of nowhere, its unfriendly, second rate with 6 star prices. Fuel at almost double the bowser price. Yuck and never ever again. We got out of there 0430 to try and be out the river at daylight. I don't care how up to date your charts are, Singapore keeps creating islands and extra land so fast nobody can keep up. I have never liked sailing round Singapore and my last time was over 25 years ago when there were 100's of ships in the main channel. Now there are a lot more channels and all absolutely full. Not kidding to say 1000's of ships are either killing time, bunkering, waiting for a spot in one of 100's of wharves or charging off at a great rate. Sailor beware. We survived the rounding of Singapore and stopped totally exhausted a few mile north of Kukup Island off Johor back in Malaysia. Actually in the quite shallow water a mile or so off was a very good nights sleep. We did the same next day south of Batu Pahat.
We now had wind again, which would come in around midday and create an uncomfortable chop as we had the current with us, but the wind against. Still it was wind and the cat loved it. Capt. Wong had made new dagger boards and they were a bit longer than standard. I think they did a great job as we didn't fall off the way I would have expected. Getting used to sailing the cat took me back to dingy days. Set the jib, then the main to it and forget a quite decent luff. The apparent wind became pronounced and the point higher and higher. The trick is not to point that last degree too much or you have to do a massive bare away to start all over again.
Next stop was Muar, where we found what looked like a marina just inside the breakwater. ..but totally abandoned. We motored in and saw one pier and fingers destroyed, but another in good condition. We tied up and a young guard announced “you no parking” “ Oh but I just want a bit of petrol and some makan lah” (food). After a few phone calls 2 off duty officers of the Marine dept came down and explained that before the marina was finished a huge storm washed trees and stuff downstream and demolished part of the marina. I gather everyone then lost heart. However we were allowed to stay and all are welcome although overseas boats are charged a small fee. The officers gave us pillion rides on their motorbikes to the petrol station and top up. There were hawker stalls and some small food shops close at hand and we enjoyed our stop there a lot.

All alone in Muar Marina

Admiral Marina, Pt Dickson with Col. T. Tay
Next day was my long suffering wife's 61^st birthday...so she took the helm... a while and we headed for Admiral Marina at Port Dickson. We had the usual tide with us, wind against and nasty little chop...but the tide changed against us just short of Cape Rachado and that Cape did its usual. Rounding we caught 2 wind and wave patterns and got a drenching. The first wave over the top found KC below under an open port trying to keep cool. A drenching was not her idea of fun especially on her birthday. Col. Tommy Tay and lovely wife Claude met us and took us for a great meal at the old Port Dickson Yacht Club. ...and put us up for the night so we could sleep in a soft bed and have a long shower.. Just a wonderful stopover. They saw us off from the marina at 0930 next day and we mostly motor sailed as fast as we could to try and reach our final target, Port Klang in daylight.
We actually made very good time and were around 4 miles from south channel Port Klang, before the current turned against us. This was then a motor slog inches from the mangroves to keep out of the current until being swept into the Royal Selangor yacht club at 1830. Met by very great friend Gerhard who had missed some SMS from us and was about to send out a search party, so he was relieved to see us.
It took 4 days of Gerhard and Shirlee's nurturing and countless numbers of beers to get us fully recuperated after what was quite a long trip in a small boat. For another perspective on this trip see http://pythonjoe.blogspot.com/2010/05/day-my-cat-sailed-off.html

Gerhard Poel waiting our return

We made it to Royal Selangor Yacht Club