Year 2- 12th October 2025 – Borneo-Kalimantan – Kumai Town
We woke about 6.30am and had some tea and then upped the anchor and set off for the entrance to the Kumai River some 20 plus nm away. Steve was up and he was feeling much better as was Ruth and Janet when they got up.
We motored initially but then the wind got up and so we upped the genoa and were soon whizzing along quite nicely. We could see Pegasus was also on the move but they kept well over to the East. Ahead of us was Kiskadee, a catamaran from the rally which contained a Dutch couple called Eddie and Theresa and they have a young German girl on board called Clara. In addition some miles back was Ali Cat also from the rally owned by Wayne and Jenny from Australia.
The sky suddenly got darker and I knew rain was on way and before long the heavens opened and we got a really good tropical downpour and being on the helm I got soaked. However, the good thing was that Stormbird got a really good washdown and it really cleaned the decks. The deck drains could not really cope with the volume of rain.
Like most tropical downpours it did not last long and we wrung ourselves out and sailed on. The rain came and went a few times and it was grey and dreary. We had breakfast on the hoof and began to get closer to Kiskadee and they took some pictures of us and vice versa. We carried on and overtook them and then the wind began to die so we put on the engine. We motored on and it took us some hours but we came into the river and then meandered with the river for about 15 nm up to Kumai town. Either side of us was the jungle and the river was a dirty brown colour. We looked out for monkeys and orangutans but did not see any. We did see Pegasus which was a trimaran but it had two masts and they continued sailing. It was a light boat and I am sure quite fast.
We motored on up the river and at about 12.30pm we approached Kumai Town on our left. We had been given a buoy to anchor downstream of and we found it and by 1.00pm we were anchored in the river opposite the town.
The sky darkened again and we were likely to have rain on and off all day. We had a celebratory beer and had travelled some 202 nm since Bawean. We all cleaned up and had showers and then relaxed in the cockpit.
We were moored opposite the town and within 50 meters there was the bush and jungle and during the afternoon there were various animal noises – monkeys etc. We had some lunch and talked about our forthcoming trip and what we needed to bring with us. The lady who was organising our tour came alongside and we chatted with her about our trip.
We then had a sundowner and then had supper of spring rolls and vegetables. Keith had cooked a banana cake which we enjoyed as a pudding.
It was good that we had arrived safe and sound and we look forward to our trip.
The picture of the day is a picture of Stormbird sailing taken from Kiskadee.
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