10:30 PM local time, December 11 (1530 December 11 UTC) 1 11 N 104 05 E.
Nongsa Marina, Batam, Indonesia.
Greetings from the crew of Maverick.
We arrived yesterday here, in a marina across the Singapore Strait from
Singapore. We'll stay here rather than go to the expense and tedious check-in
procedure necessary to take a berth in Singapore itself. It's relatively easy
to get there by ferry. The computer, a Compaq Presario 1200 laptop for those
of you keeping score, has been taken to the doctor so I'm writing from a
rather lame email cafe here in Nongsa. The laptop suffered some kind of
malfunction in its backlight, which meant that although the screen looked
black, everything was there, and could actually be illuminated in small
areas, as odd as this may seem, by holding a flashlight next to your head at
the right angle. As a result I was constantly losing the curser, which is
more aggravating than one might think. In combination with the athletic
effort needed to hold oneself in a position suitable for typing while the
boat pitched and rolled in the rough conditions we encountered out there,
this lamentably kept communication to a minimum. It also meant we had no
weatherfax, but since we were already getting pounded and there was no way
out, that didn't really matter. We were glad to be able to get some messages
out and to receive the few that got through from you, even from GV who chided
the Captain for his sentimentality on Thanksgiving.
We haven't talked to all of the boats that made this passage at about the
same time, but we know that Millennium lost an engine, beautiful Oceans Free
lost its engine and suffered massive damage including losing half the keel
and rudder, quite a few sails were shredded, Okiva was plagued by electrical
and engine problems and ran aground, Maverick ran aground and mangled an
extrusion on its roller furler, and every skipper agreed it was at least the
equal of the most unpleasant sailing he had ever encountered, notwithstanding
the lack of actual storms unless you count the daily two to four
fifty-knot-plus thunderstorms.
We'll have stories about the passage and the monkeys and also our views on
the things people warned us about in Indonesia: Pirates, big ships, unlit
fishing boats, and political activists who follow the Islamic faith. We'll
also compare the performance of Okiva, an Islander Freeport 41 Motorsailer,
and Maverick, the upwind rocket, in heavy upwind going, with results that
people might find interesting, if, that is, they are the kind of people who
find that kind of thing interesting.
Meanwhile, if you care to write, even immediate family must use
terrulian@aol.com since the laptop will not be receiving any messages sitting
there in the shop.
We'll get back to you soon as we can.
|
