Catamaran Odyssey - Phuket to Singapore 2002

Phuket to Singapore

In September 2002 we set sail for the open sea, mariners five. Four young sailors and our boat builder, Gunther, embarked upon an odyssey of Grecian proportions - Phuket to Singapore, and back to Koh Phangan, in our tiny 30ft Wharram catamaran.

We left Ao Chalong, a thundercloud hanging over Phuket as we left the island behind.  We were to feel no rain, only wind, and maybe Lettie, Gunther's wife, had been right...

... "The wind really is behind Nok Talay!"  We set the sails and we were bombing along - twice the speed of Kerida, our boat builder's ketch, and no heeling.  Gunther had told us that Nok Talay would feel like a Rolls Royce after our week long trip on Kerida.

"The wind really is behind Nok Talay!"

We sped passed Phi Phi island, a rainbow guiding our way - 
a good omen for the beginning of our trip 

Twenty-one hours later we'd accomplished what had previously taken four days in Gunther's little ketch.  We'd arrived at Rebak Marina, Langkawi, in our own boat. 

We manoeuvered Nok Talay into the bay to see how tiny she looked compared to the other yachts.  She sat so low in the water that from the jetty it looked like there was nothing of her - a strange that illusion, as aboard was only a feeling of spaciousness.

After a trip to immigration, swims in the marina pool and dinner in the yacht club restaurant, it was time to set sail again further down the Malaysian coast.  We navigated our way through Langkawi's outlying islands, then took to our 3 hour shifts at the helm.

Setting sail for the open sea... in our own boat!

3 hours on, 12 hours off, the rhythm of our days. 

Cooking up chicken, and fish, when we caught it...

the boys reefing the sails when it looked like a storm was brewing.

And that night we had a storm to 'blow the man down' - and we were hossing along.  We averaged 10 knots, maximum speed 13 knots... although later in the Changi Sailing Club Seaman Stu would comment, "No-one's ever got a Wharram to go that fast!"

We were screaming along, Nok Talay's port bow diving under the water, starboard hull reeling, water slamming over the deck into the cockpit.  The wind was biting us, and only later would Gunther admit he was so worried he had goosebumps.  But the boat, his creation, stood the test well, holding herself together and proving herself seaworthy.

An exhilarating storm - but in the back of my mind I couldn't get rid of a friend's words from his outings on his own Tiki 26, "12 knots is TOO fast."  When the storm had passed we were all content to sail along at a meagre three knots for the next couple of hours.

Sailing aboard Nok Talay - 'Seabird' in Thai

Supertankers by Night

Later that night we approached Penang and had our first experience with a supertanker, up close and personal.  As its navigation lights came closer and closer, Gunther told me to hold my course, it would be gone by the time we got there.  And true enough that supertanker did steam on by - but it was still hair-raising stuff the first time, especially at night!  By the time we reached Singapore we were hardly batting an eyelid at them.

We passed on by in the night, rainclouds threatening, 
a storm brewing but no wind or rain... 
"Weird," said Guenther

The tankers disappeared and we were back to the open ocean, working our way south down the Malaysian coast.  The next morning we passed through One Fathom Banks, a bottle neck on the shipping lanes, and suddenly there were tankers everywhere again.

The wind had died in Penang, and after a night of motoring we'd decided it was time for some sailing.  But a few hours later, not only had we sailed perilously across the channel of supertankers, we had drifted miles out to sea and were suddenly going nowhere fast - travelling at 1.9 knots per hour on the wrong course, against the current. 

It was time to take stock, get some power going and motor back closer to shore to where we could navigate safely should the GPS fail.  Safety first - and speed is safety at sea.

Nok Talay charter to the Angthong Marine Park 2003

Back on course we had a marvellous day sailing down the coast.  As sunset approached I took my shift at the helm on a glassy ocean, a low orange sun to the west lighting our way from behind.  The lighthouse ahead beckoned us on towards Admiral Marina.

Port Dickson glimmered away in the distance, twinkling like a minute Hong Kong in the evening light.  The sky above was aswathe with stars - it was so spellbinding out at sea. Soon, we navigated our way in to lie at anchor outside Admiral Marina for the night.

Arriving into port, Gunther found he had an extra day free, but the open ocean was calling us.  We were dying to get Nok Talay back to the sea.  Tomorrow was Friday the 13th - sailors never set sail on a Friday - and so it was decided back to the sea, yippee!

Catching fish on the Malaysian coast

 Malacca Straits

South, South, South.  New ground, new waters.  Malacca to the east, Sumatra in the unseeable distance to the west.  With calm ocean, quiet wind, we motored downwards into the Malacca Straights, the beginning of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. 

Unbeknown to us the current was pulling us off course, and we were drifting ever closer to the shipping lanes.  In the early hours the current had started to push the boat and the waves forward, while the wind, opposing the current, was coming from dead ahead.

The resulting choppy ocean gave Nok Talay a bashing.  Gunther set the engine speed to optimise a controlled motor sail to settle her down.  We were comfier on deck, but the vibrating from the engine was giving the sleeping sailors below suicidal tendencies!

"The boat must be comfortable (and therefore safe) 

over everyone else's comfort - then all will be safe" Gunther

When Marty came up on deck to take his shift he decided to do an experiment with the engine, slowing it down... thereby steering us straight into the shipping lanes.

After a heated discussion on the pros and cons of motorsailing we finally went to bed - but the next morning Nok Talay had crossed the lanes of supertankers and we'd drifted miles out to sea again, going backwards in a 3 knot current with the engine off.

After a quick conference it was decided, against our skipper at the helm's wishes, to get the engine started!  The busiest shipping lane in the world was not, we agreed, the place to get upset about fuel consumption and engine noise - as valid as those concerns were.

Angthong Marine Park, Gulf of Thailand

There were lessons to be learnt for all of us.  We had to feel it for ourselves, it wasn't something Gunther could teach us.  We had to learn how the current could affect our course, that we had to steer adjustingly.  It wasn't always as easy as getting the compass set right and off you go - we had to learn to sail our boat through our own experiences.

Back on course, going somewhere again, Kukup Island on the Malaysian coast was fast approaching as we sailed onwards towards our first major destination... Singapore.

But first, we were hit by a dreaded Sumatra storm... 


To celebrate 250,000 all time views on my Koh Phangan Tales blog, I'm publishing this never before told, old sea shanty from many moons ago... Soon to be continued!