Year 2- 12 August 2025 – Departing Ambon– Indonesia at Last!
It was a reasonable day when we woke and we had a cup of tea watching the day start with the traffic on the road and people on the beach. We had some breakfast. John of Ambon came about 7.50am which was good. We had a cup of tea with him and he then set about beginning to bleed the air out of the fuel system. He got as far as the filters and then suggested we did the rest by turning over the engine. He refilled the coolant system and this time we opened the valves to get the air out.
It came to a time when. I turned on the ignition and the engine turned and after about 8 seconds it started slowly. This was sucking the fuel through and John apparently did the first and sixth cylinders first and then the others. This did not take long and she began to run as normal which was great. The next issue was to check the coolant and bleed any further air out and ensure the system was full otherwise the system will not work. We continued to run the engine in idle and we watched the temperature rise to about 80 degrees or slightly less and there it sat. There was no sign of any leak from the block so the new gasket must be working. Jon and Tony went ashore to do some provisioning whilst we sorted out the engine and tested it.
We now needed to put the engine under load and so we upped the anchor and headed out and round the bay for about half an hour with different speeds and the temperature sat at about 80 degrees. Clearly the coolant was circulating as the temperature did not rise and if it was not working then by now the temperature would have risen and the alarm gone off. This was great and what a relief. We came back to the anchorage when I was ready and anchored again.
John of Ambon and his friend then checked under the engine and checked all the bolts etc and a final overview and check and they were happy with everything. I know Ambon has not been great but I think I was lucky that we found John of Ambon. Whilst the oil cooler was not actually leaking as the coolant was coming from the block above and dripping on to it there had been some corrosion of one of its pipes which was re machined. The real issue had been the gasket. There had clearly been a problem there before and the gasket had been reused and sealed with silicon. It was therefore good in hindsight that we had resolved this problem going forward even though it had delayed us a few days.
Jon and Tiny returned and we got ourselves ready and for the second time we upped anchor to leave for Tifu Village on the island of Buru. The fleet which are there are clearly having a lovely time with the locals, dancing, having meals, visiting the school, walking etc. and they had met the resident crocodile. As we left the anchorage the wind increased to about 18 kts. I continued with the engine to check it again and when satisfied we upped the sails and were soon sailing along about 8 + kts. It was so good to be out on the water again and on our way. We looked back toward Ambon which was its usual grey. There were many FAD’s (Fish Aggravating Devices) on the way our of the isthmus. There were little platforms with a roof and a buoy hanging off them. We sailed on but the water was quite choppy as the water came over the shallow areas on the East side of the land. The wind then settled down and we made good speed in a 14-16 kt breeze.
I decided that Tony and I would take the first watch up until 4.00pm and then Adam and Jon would take over at 4.00pm. There was a little traffic as we came out of the isthmus and a catamaran was following us out. We continued on at a good speed and once out we headed for our first waypoint off a small island before Buru. Jon made lunch and it was quite bright but not full sun. Stormbird was sailing along nicely and probably too fast bearing in mind the distance we had to travel. I wanted to enter the anchorage at first light. However, the wind if forecast to lighten overnight so we have time to slow down.
The afternoon wore on and Adam and Jon took over at 4.00pm and I then had a rest, The wind had not really changed and we were due to get to our waypoint at about 8.00pm when Tony and I took over. At about 7.00pm we put away the main and sailed under genoa alone. This slowed us down a little. Tony felt a little bit seasick and so he stayed outside. I therefore decided to make supper which was a spaghetti bolognaise which was fully eaten. Tony and I took over and we settled down for the night going at a slow pace of about 5-5.5 kts.
The picture of the day is my holding the gasket that caused all the problems.
Need/Opportunity Year Three
In year three I will be going from Thailand to Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and then on to Chagos, Mauritius, Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK. I am looking for crew from Mauritius/ Reunion Island to Cape Town and from Cape Town to the UK. If of any interest do email me.
The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com