At anchor just outside of Kota Kinabalu

Always great to finally get out of the marina and away. The task today was to use the last of the free flowing tap water and wash down the boat, a few last minute shopping things and then once out of the marina go to a fuel barge off the township and fill 'er up.

Now we are at anchor in a small bay off Gaya island which is one of three island that make up a marine park off KK. Very pretty.

With a few extra jugs for diesel we have around 540 litres of fuel aboard. This relates to a around 700 miles of motoring. As our trip is around 1800 miles we hope to not have to stop to get fuel and still be able to motor on calm days.

This message is sent using our email system on the boat. It uses a special 'modem' called a pactor which communicates with our short wave radio to another radio, in this case in India, which then sends it on through the Internet. Much much slower the WiFi, but much better range.

If you post a comment on the blog, the comment will be emailed to us on-board.

Colin and the girls.

PS: the legs have almost recovered from climbing Mt Kinabalu!

The plan as it stands

The plan is to sail the boat back, probably to Newcastle.

The first part of the trip is to get to Gove in the Northern Territory, which should be achievable in the six weeks that Liz and the girls have off school. From there I (Colin) will continue on, keeping an ear to the ground for any job possibilities.

I will be looking for crew along the way so anyone interested should contact me.

Liz and the girls will then head back to Phuket. The main reason is to allow Courtney to finish her IGSCE in June 08.

From here in Kota Kinabalu, we head north east along the coast, round the tip of Borneo, and south east along the coast to Sandakan where we will leave Malaysia. From Sandakan we head east towards the western end of of Irian Jaya and then skirt along the southern coast till we are due north of Gove. Then across the trade winds that blow hard from south east to Gove.

It's a long way (2000 miles) and plenty of potential for things to change. A lack of wind in the first 1500 miles then too much in the last 500 miles are the most likely.

So in a few days we will leave KK and hopefully have a relaxing coastal hop to Sandakan. I can send posts to this blog from our radio email so 'stay tuned'.

Colin.

Climbing Mount Kinabalu

Liz and the girls flew in from Phuket just on a week ago. Now we are just about loaded up with supplies and are getting close to leaving.

We had hoped to climb Mt Kinabalu but as we hadn't booked ahead and didn't have a budget to do a package tour (which still needs to be booked weeks ahead) we thought we'd missed out and decided to just go to the park headquarters and stay there for the night to enjoy the cooler climate at 1800 metres.

When we arrived we asked about cancellations to climb, and found there was two spots available. A quick consult with the girls, and they were more than happy to stay in the unit we'd booked and endure Satellite TV and a fireplace instead of hiking. Liz and I hurriedly packed our gear and set out to the first stage of staying overnight at the Laban Rata guesthouse, 6kms away and at 3200 metres. We started at 1pm and after a very hard long climb we reached the guest house at 6:40pm, feeling very tired and cold as it was 8 degrees. Liz was feeling dizzy and had a pounding head, which we thought were symptoms of altitude, so she decided to not try to do the summit the next day.

So after a short sleep, laying awake mostly to the noise of wind and rain, I got up at 2am and got ready to do the 3km climb to the summit at 4100 metres. The rain was a real worry and I decided if I got too cold in the first hour I would turn back. I had good warm clothes but had only sailing gloves with exposed fingers I knew that my hands were in for it - and of course a set of legs that hadn't been well prepared for this ordeal.

The short story is, after 5 hours of walking, pulling myself up on ropes, shuffling up a long smooth granite face and finally scaling hand to foot up the summit I crouched (too windy to stand) on top of the highest mountain in South East Asia. The trip down was eased by the fact the surrounding clouds cleared and I was presented with a truly incredible view.

Meeting back up with Liz at Laban Rata at 9:30am, we then headed down to the park headquarters. The trip down just became harder and harder as my body started to tell me what sort of unaccustomed effort I had put it through. In just over 24 hours I walked only 18km but during that "walk" went up and then back down 2.2km

Today it's the next day, back on the boat, and I feel very flat and any attempt to move my legs is met extreme reluctance. Walking is more of a wobble. No boat jobs today.

But it was really worth it - come and do this!

Colin

The photos of the climb are here.

Sutera Harbour Marina, Kota Kinabulu - Time to get ready

Welcome to my first post on our blog.

After three months 'on the hard' - out of the water in a boat yard, Reflections IV is now back in the water. Going back in the water was a stressful time as I was on my own and memories of the last time when the motor failed and had to be rebuilt were ever present.

But no dramas this time, and with great relief I motored away from Kudat on a calm sea and found no leaks and a motor showing all the right signs. Sails up in a light breeze and she's slipping through the water really nicely.

The next three days I day-hopped along the Sabah coast with a little bit of wind most of the time and only one squall that looked fiercer than it was. On the last day I was treated to an all day viewing of Mt Kinabulu. This 4000 metre granite monolith rises up 50kms back from and is very impressive. Thoughts of climbing it while we are in KK are considered.

Sutera Harbour is probably the nicest marina we ever been to. Flanked by two large hotels it has a myriad of pools, gyms, bowling alley and a regular shuttle that weaves through KK town each hour. With free WiFi, cheap laundry and towels supplied the cost of A$115 a week seems justified.

Now I have two and half weeks till Liz and the girls arrive from Phuket. The night before I hope to be able to look around and see a boat ready to embark on the 1800 mile journey back to Australia.

take care
Col

May 2007 A week in Sandakan with Wendy

It's always great to get a visitor but when it's your sister, well that is particularly special. My (Colin) sister Wendy came to Phuket for a week at the end of May. I showed her around and we all enjoyed having here with us and showing her how our life goes along in Phuket. After the week Wendy and I flew to Sandakan, in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. This worked out well as I was due to return to the boat in Kudat and I had been given plenty of information from other yachties of how good Sandakan is to visit.

Particularly, I was given the name of a guide they had used and this turned out perfectly as Hadi arranged everything and made the trip effortless from an organisational point of view. This wasuite a departure for me as we always tend to travel independant and rarely use a guide or take a package deal. Hadi (phone: +601389631420) was great and made the trip all the more memorable by his good humour, solid information flow and arranging things so we avoided any other groups or crowds that may have been about.

Kinabatagan River

After a night in Sandakan we took off for the Kinabatagan River and two night stay at the Kinabatangan Jungle Camp. The forest surrounding is literally the one of the last areas of forest in the region that have not been cleared for palm oil plantations. The narrow strip of forest  along the river banks has created an environment where seeing wildlife from the river is virtually guaranteed, A strong sense of irony plays at the heart here as we cruised the riverbanks seeing an incredible display of diversity, knowing that this is a last refuge or remnant.

The things we didn't see where the pygmy elephants, but we did see lots of droppings which are kinda hard to miss, any wild orangutans but we did see, at night a clouded leopard which was quite a thrill to see a large wild cat in the wild.

Photos are here on a Picasa generated web album (my favourite photo manager software)

Use the slideshow option for the best view of the photos.

Sandakan Memorial Park

Returning to Sandakan we then went to visit the Memorial Park on the site of the POW camp. As an Australian I knew the words "Sandakan Death March", as a chapter in our war history. A camp was established here of British and Australian  POWs from Singapore for construction work and in the later stages of the war the POW's were moved close to Kota Kinabulu.  60 years later this this journey is still a hard six hour bus ride. The camp was evacuated through two forced marches that claimed the lives of most of the men. At the end of the war all (yes - all!) of the 2500 men interred there were dead. Only six who had escaped survived to tell this terrible story.

Again the photos are on a page here.

Sepilok Orang-utan Sanctuary

Just outside of Sandakan, this sanctuary returns orang-utans, displaced by deforestation or former pets, back to the wild. The process is simple. Look after them for a while in an environment where they can acclimatise and learn their survival skills from imitating others. The orang-utans voluntarily return to the wild when they are ready. feeding platforms are maintained so that when needed the orang-utans can supplement naturally acquired food as needed.   An interesting aspect is they have transported some older males to other protected regions so that they can take on dominant male roles naturally.

It was a holiday in Sandakan so there were many people but on the feeding platforms there were many orang-utans and was quite a sight.  later Hadi took us for a walk in the forest in an area surrounding cages holding adolescents not ready for the wild. Many older adolescents recently released stay in the area - normally an orang-utan will stay with it' s mother til four or five so these orphans want close contact with others to replace that bond.  The sky turned black and the rain came down thick and hard, so we sheltered around the roof of one of the cages, as did three or four orang-utans.

Pressed against the bars to avoid the pelting rain, we found ourselves surrounded by orang-utans, inside and outside the cages. A ranger opened the cage as it seemed safer inside where the number of groping orang-utans was constant, these guys were younger and slightly less strong. In a mix of chaos, thunderous rain and limbs reaching down from the outside of the roof of the cage we took a few photos while holding on to watches, glasses and ear-rings. The touch of these animals is one that feels like affection from a child who has grown too strong.

If anyone asks me how  I spent my birthday this year I think I have a reasonable story to tell!

Photos are here

Turtle Island

On hours speed boat ride from Sandakan and we arrived at the Turtle Island marine park. This is part of Malaysia's active intervention approach to turtle protection. On the this and the two nearby islands, rangers collect eggs as they are laid each night and place them in hatcheries to protect them from predators (monitor lizards, rats (native I think) and release the hatchlings at night. Green turtles are the most common but Hawksbill turtles also frequent.

The island was lovely, accommodation was excellent (air-con!) and the snorkelling OK. In the evening we waited in the dining hall and when told by the rangers we followed them up the beach to the watch turtle who had already dug a nest, lay its egg. Quite and amazing sight.  That night 20 turtles came to the beach to lay and the night before 13. Later the rangers had 40 or so hatchling that had hatched that day in a basket with too many torches (including mine) the hatchlings seemed without bearings and headed for the lights. Lights out and they turned for the water to get through the next few high risk days before disappearing from our knowledge base of turtle activity to re-emerge ten-15 years later.

Photos here

Around Sandakan

The last day of the Sandakan adventure saw us cruising around town. The market was plentiful and will be a victual stop for Reflections IV in the near future. Up on the hills, a Chinese Buddhist temple gave an excellent outlook, of the harbour and town,  and on the last run to the airport Hadi stopped so Wendy could see some of the unique pitcher plants that are more common in higher, drier areas of Borneo.

Photos here

Reflections.

Go and do something with your brother or sister if your lucky enough to have one. For me this was the most enjoyable aspect of the events on this page.

What is happening with palm oil production in Malaysia and Indonesia is occurring under a banner of green alternative fuels. Sounds good, but the thirst for this fuel will justify the permanent depletion of these forests that are just recovering from previous logging efforts.  And with it will go the diversity that Wendy and I have been privileged to witness along the banks of a river in Borneo.

December 2006 Christmas newsletter

So here we are in Phuket and Christmas is fast approaching. Time for a newsletter. As I'm sure you all know we have settled in Phuket for a while as Liz has a Primary teacher's job at the British International School. As part of her package, the girls go to the High School section and we feel that this is an excellent opportunity for them.

Anna started her first year of high school in August (the school follows a UK/USA school calendar). She's settled in well and seems to have grown up both physically and mentally with the change to high school. Her first term report shows her being active in class, doing well academically and controlling her temper very well!

Courtney is in Year 10 and has started a two-year program that culminates with her doing the IGCSE, an international school certificate. She has taken French, Art and Drama which reflects the person Courtney is. The story-writing has taken a step back in favour of lots of drawing lately.  An interest in photography seems to be building as well. She posts her work on this website http://ralindir.deviantart.com/gallery/

Liz has had a very busy year at work. The school is very demanding so her days are long and unrelenting. Still she seems to be enjoying the work and gets great feedback from the parents.   She has joined a local book club and it's pleasing to see her reading her book instead of doing marking each night. 

I (Colin) have kept myself busy by going back to school.   I enrolled full-time in a Graduate Diploma in Information Technology with Charles Sturt University. Studying by distance, it is quite a challenge to keep focused and maintain the discipline of study. I quite enjoyed it and feel I have a fresh outlook on what's happening in the IT world. I finished the eight subjects required with six distinctions and two credits. I may continue into the Masters program (eight more subjects) but not at the same pace as I want to chase some sort of work this year.

This year we have been quite successful at getting value out of Reflections IV. In February we had a week-long break and sailed to the Surin Islands, which are a 100 miles north west of Phuket. This is a beautiful national park and we enjoyed very quiet relaxing days, interspaced with some great snorkelling and memorable diving at Richeleu Rock, where we saw large manta rays.

The term break in April saw us out again, and spent our time around the islands between Phuket and the mainland. Again it was just great to relax aboard. We did quite a few dives around the Phi Phi islands which are the perfect dramatic backdrop for life at anchor. We decided we wanted to use the boat over the July-August break and with the weather around Phuket being very poor that time of year, the decision was made for me to sail the boat to Borneo.

I enlisted a friend, Kelana, whose wife Margi works with Liz, to come with me and we spent four enjoyable weeks sailing the 1200 miles down the Malacca straits to Singapore, and then a long 600 mile run across the South China Sea to Miri in Sarawak. Kelana was an great crew member and kept an excellent watch, which allowed me to continue my studies while we went along.   Reflections was left in the newly built Miri marina.

Liz's father, Gil, came to visit in June and was able to see the girls at school and help Liz out in her classroom. Anna was particularly pleased to have Grandpa at her primary graduation ceremony.   With the school year finished at the June, we flew to Kuching, Sarawak and had a wonderful two weeks, exploring this excellent city. We visited a longhouse, hiked in a national park and went to an amazing world music festival set in the rainforest at Santibong. Kuching is a definite recommendation.   Gil returned home and we went on to Miri and spent the next five weeks having a lazy time aboard Reflections. We made our way from Miri to Brunei and then on Kota Kinabulu. The girls and Liz flew back to start school and I stayed on to get some study done and to sail the boat back down to Miri. I participated in the Borneo Cup yacht race, which was great fun and profitable as I was paid $US500 for entering Reflections in the races.

Reflections is back in Miri marina and in January I plan to take it to Kudat, at the northern tip of Borneo and lift her out of the water at a shipyard there. I will probably leave her out of the water til June, when we plan to return for the 'Summer/Wet' season break to explore the eastern coast of Borneo.
The first term of the new school year has now finished and we are in a three week break over Christmas and the new year. We plan to stay here for the break and maybe have a few day trips in the area.

Love and best wishes to all
 Colin, Elizabeth, Courtney & Anna

There are a few web pages of the year at our web site – www.reflectionsiv.com


 Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,
Colin, Elizabeth, Courtney and Anna

2006 September Race week on Reflections IV

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Race week on Reflections IV

The story starts in Kota Kinabulu.  Liz and the girls have flown back to Phuket to start school, and I stayed with the boat. After two weeks working hard to catch up on my uni work I set out to Labuan, for the start of the 'race'.  Before we returned to the boat in Miri we heard from friends about a yacht race from Labuan to Miri and there was a $500 participant prize for the first twenty boats to register. I was quite unsure about this as I'd never taken Reflections in a race before and it didn't seem like 'my sort of thing'. Still the idea of the money was too attractive, so I signed up for the '3rd Borneo International Yachting Challenge'.

I assumed I would sail the boat alone but had invited Laura, who had sailed with us from Miri to Brunei, to come and was very pleased the day before I left for Labuan to hear that she would be in Labuan. With absolutely shocking weather the day before, it was quite a relief to see a clear sky in the morning as I left on the 70mile run to Labuan. Going along, motor sailing, I found myself trying to adjust sails and paying more attention to boat speed than we do normally. The competitive spirit was starting to grow.

After a beautiful night anchored off Labuan I came into the harbour the next morning to find lots of yachts anchored off the Waterfront hotel and many more tied up inside the remnants of a marina that had, in great Malaysian style, completely fallen down.  Anchored a respectable distance away from the others, I jumped in a passing dinghy and made my way ashore.

     

After living a bit of a hermit's life while finishing uni assignments,  I really wasn't prepared for the onset of people rushing around, directing me to Customs, Immigration, Ports, Race Registration, Yacht measurement, Hotel check-in and pre-race meetings. All this happening while trying match faces to names for all the different yachts that I'd met over the last two months.  I completely blew the yacht measurement as I didn't know any of the exact measurements and gave lengths in the same way I'd order rope -  a metre extra to be safe. So I ended with a big handicap and in the section with the bigger, faster boats. Seeing I hadn't cleaned the bottom for two months, and the sails are very old  & saggy, I could see a real embarrassing time ahead.

The first night was a buffet dinner, with a band playing good music so loud you couldn't talk. Outside offered the chance to meet a few new people. I was approached by Chris the editor of Fragrant Harbour, a sailing magazine in Hong Kong, to come with me on the overnight passage race from Labuan to Miri. The next day I woke early to get the boat tidy and ready for the first race - ever. Butterflies were working overtime!

So at the appointed hour, we raised anchor and headed out to the race start point. With a only a vague idea of where the start/course was, we decided to take it easy and hang back a bit. This was the strategy of most of the 17 cruising boats taking part so we were spread out for miles. The race organisers announced the start countdown and 5-10 minutes after that we crossed the start. With ridiculously light winds we slowly beat up towards the windward mark. Now it was really showing how bad a sailor I was, as most of the boats steadily left us for dead.  Luckily the wind shifted to our advantage and we made up lots of ground. Reaching out to the next mark the wind died, and whispered from right behind. Put the spinnaker pole out to hold the headsail out,  and we basically moved forward at a snails pace. Three hours later, and we were feeling melted by the heat. If wasn't for the fact that I had a visitor aboard,  I'm sure I would have completely lost my temper in the heat and frustration.  Eventually a whiff of wind took us to the mark, and we turned, feeling the wind almost instantly pick up to12 knots. We rocketed back to the second last mark, actually overtaking a smaller boat and feeling really great about the rush of air and speed. Crossed the line felt really good and sailed on to the anchorage,  happy with the day's outcome - Never hit anyone, and never got in anyone's way.

     

That night a bus trip around the corner to the first prize giving function, with lots of speeches and trophies. A dry night with the staff topping up the orange juice as fast as we could get it down - not a bad thing seeing tomorrow was the overnight race.

The next saw Chris and Laura aboard, and we approached the start with dark skies around. A light wind start followed by a strong wind on the nose and we started to charge across to the Borneo mainland, toward Brunei. With Reflections heeled over and sails in tight, we were charging along, holding our own on the rest of the fleet. So we get ready to tack, and Laura notices the headsail is starting open on a seam - bugger. Not wanting it to rip it right open (been there, done that) I rolled it up and we came to a crawl while I rigged the much smaller cutter sail, and sailed way off the wind at 4 knots. After a few hours the wind died down and, with so little sail area, we assumed a snails pace. The rules allowed us to motor with a time penalty, so we started up and continued to motor for the rest of the 100 miles. Such a shame, but most other cruising boats did the same, as the wind collapsed for most the night.  It turned out to be a very enjoyable trip with a brilliant moon, and very enjoyable conversation with my two crew (pretty sure I talked most of the time).

   

So we motor-sail into Miri, and as we approach I can't see many masts. Fear starts to set in that we may be first. While it was legitimate to motor - no one wants to cross the line first by motoring nearly the whole way. Our saviours were Alistair, Vivienne & Russell on Largo Star (NZ) who won our bet for a beer to the winner between us, and got all the glory. The press arrived, and not understanding about yacht races, assumed they were the winners.  It was with great amusement that we watched the press crowd around them. All in good fun. As the other boats arrived, each being greeted with a case of beer, a party developed.  Sailing all night and then drinking early in the morning is a dangerous mix, but everyone behaved pretty well. I had an absolute ball that day.

That night was aboard the boat, then a lay day to recover, and check into the Park City Everly Hotel for two very comfortable nights.  The last race out of Miri went quite smooth and with a little wind we went around the buoys OK.  On the first of these nights we were taken up to the local Boat Club at the other end of Miri for an excellent night, and the last night was Chinese banquet and full on prize giving, traditional dancing and lots of speeches. Dancing in the small bar of the hotel till early morning, and the race week was done... and I had US$500 in my pocket!  This whole thing was quite a local event and there were lots coverage in the newspapers.  I even got my head in a couple!

       

 

Laura and Christine from Augusta (Norway) had birthdays, so the final celebration was a pot luck party on the jetty the next night. Quietness has now settled as we all start fall back into more sustainable routines.

  

I so wish that Liz, Courtney & Anna could have here for this crazy week, but that wasn't the way it could be. But I was very fortunate to have such good company aboard and would them have them back again anytime, especially this young lady from the US, with which Anna became such good friends.

  

from Laura's blog:

Here is my new best friend Anna. She is the bosom buddy I’ve always wanted. We’ve had hours of conversation paddling all around the Marina.

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