Year 2- 17th October 2025 – Kumai -Borneo-Kalimantan – Belitung Island

Steve and I were on 11.00pm to 2.00am shift. However, by about midnight the wind had not only dropped but was also sending us 45 degrees off our course. I could see ahead tanker traffic and it was clear through the strait that this was a route cargo ships and tankers take. I had looked up currents earlier and they can get up to 3 kts through this strait. For a number of reasons it made sense to take the sail down and motor directly across the strait and the traffic one. This we did and we saw Pegasus, a trimaran, we had seen coming into Kumai and who was parallel to us.

 We motored on through our shift and handed over to Mark and Ruth who in turn handed over to Keith and Janet. We motored through the night but Keith put the genoa out for a period. In fact I got up about 6.30am and we had about 16-18 kts of wind and had not been sailing long. They had seen dolphins earlier and then suddenly I saw a whirlpool or some call them twisters ahead. It was spinning up to the clouds and on the surface of the water I saw a disturbance and as if mist or spray was coming off the water. It was about 3-4 nm away and off our port side. Luckily we were not close.

 Steve and I took over at 8.00am and Janet made bacon and eggy toast which was a good start to the day. Mark then set about making a loaf of bread. We had to motor on and although we were now making some miles we were not going to get to the anchorage before dark. There are some tricky waters around Belitung and a number of small islands and reefs around it. In fact a catamaran had been damaged on a reef about a week ago even though the navionics chart showed no reef at that location. I therefore plotted our course conservatively so we were not going to hit anything. I had also enquired whether we could enter the anchorage at night and the advice was no as there were bommies. I therefore planned where we could anchor some way off so we could wait for the light before proceeding to the anchorage properly.  

 We motored on avoiding any tankers or cargo ships and the odd fishing boat otherwise we had open sea. I made lunch which including Mark’s warm bread which was nice. We chilled throughout the afternoon and read if we were not on watch. It was hot, humid and airless. By about 4.00pm we came in sight of some of the outlying islands and we passed through a wide deep passage between two sets of islands without issue. It was a question of motoring on using the waypoints and course I had set out. There was a bit of cloud around and it was unlikely that we would get to anchor until about 1.00am.

Ruth and Mark made a tasty chicken stir fry with teriyaki sauce. We then settled down for the night again with the knowledge that we were nearly there and it would not be a full night. Steve and I took over at 8.00pm and apart from the odd fishing boat it is very quiet and very dark as there is no moon out.

 We motored on eating up the miles but we had a little current against us. As we came up to the 11.00pm handover we had a line of about 20 fishing boats out in a line which we had to negotiate. We handed over to Mark and Ruth and I asked them to wake me when we got to the last waypoint which they did about 1.00am. We then crept in with the aim to anchor in about 15m on the 15m contour line. In fact when we got there it was about 18.5m so we just anchored safe and sound. We had covered 290nm and had a Bintang to celebrate. It had been a well-executed trip

 We then collapsed in bed and will negotiate the last 2 nm through the reefs in the morning.

 The picture of the day is a picture as far as I could it of the whirlpool or twister. 

 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