I was lucky enough to be invited to sail from Darwin, Australia to Lombok, Indonesia last week with Fies and Matt. It helps that Fies is my sister so Matt had to ask me.

It was 4^th to 11^th September 2023, the week that the wind did not blow in the Timor sea

I arrived in Darwin on the Monday afternoon, it was only a 3 ½ hour flight from Perth. It was hot and humid in Darwin, and the welcome was warm too from the Harwich’s and the whole fleet. The fleet seemed to be a few Americans, lots of Dutch, Swedes, and a couple of Aussie boats. There were some pretty nice boats there – a 60 plus foot one and speedy big Cats.

Fies had been busy the boat was spotless and looked new. That’s really well done after going half way around the world in the tropics. Boats doing that can look pretty beaten up. Matt had all the systems working and a new mainsail.

We went through checkout immigration on the Monday afternoon had our last meal on land (fish and chips) and Tuesday morning at 10:00 was the start

Pre-departure mast check

For those racing sailors reading, this was not a racing start,! We were under motor and when I steered us to the line ducking boats and taking bows way too close for his liking  Matt just muttered “Crazy Australia brother in Laws”. Apparently Matilda usually does not do that.

We were off, we knew that this leg was going to be light winds so it was all about fuel conservation.  There was not enough fuel to motor all the way.  We took off and motor-sailed for the first few days, 0 – 5 – 10kts on the beam. We worked on efficiency, using a few revs on the motor and the sails to generate and maintain the speed, when we got it right 8 knots of boat speed in 8 knots of wind on the beam was possible in calm sees burning about 2 liters an hour instead of 4. (half a gallon per hour instead of 1 gallon).

Matt taught me a lot. Really I have wasted a lifetime learning how to trim sails with sailmakers and racers, aerodynamics, or world champions.  A lifetime of sheet tension, traveller position, cambers, twist profiles, halyard tensions, Cunningham mast bend and forestay sag.  Trimming is simple “pull it on till it stops flapping” says Matt, what a lifetime I have wasted. We did manage to tune the new mainsail, Matt now has mastered leech cord adjustments.

The first 2 days were flat calm and light winds from the beam, we saw literally 2 ships on the horizon and no one else. We covered good ground and Matilda was where she should be close to the front of the fleet, what a difference a new main makes, and we were conserving fuel.

Swimming in the Timor Sea

Time is a blur after that we got closer to the Indo coast, we started to see fishing boats, they are a bit of a hazard as they do not show up on AIS or radar. 

We also saw turtles, sea snakes, dolphins and jumping tuna. It was lovely being on watch at night and seeing a sky that we do not see as landlubbers. It is so clear and spectacular, there were shooting stars and movements of objects that were hard to figure, much too quick for a plane, maybe a low orbit satellite or something.

Stunning sunsets

I know we all think cruising is a cruise, cocktails at dinner etc. It is that of course but hard work too. Fies and Matt have to have someone on deck all the time, its just not done to ram a freighter or fishing boat so they do 3 hour shifts. On watch they monitor radar, AIS and the mapping system, making course adjustments, deploying and furling sails and whatever else. It’s sometime quiet other times very busy, my preference was for the busy watch it’s too easy to dose off when its quiet. At least with 3 onboard it meant only one 3 hour shift for each of us.

For the last 3 days as we closed on Indonesia it was playing dodge the fishing boats. We think they were squid fishing at night. They all had bright deck lights but working out which way to dodge them wasn’t that easy, and there were 100’s of them.

The last night  was up a busy channel between Lombok and another Island navigating ferries, islands and wind that changed direction and speed. Then once daylight came an easy sail to the Marina.

Hard at work

It was a great experience thanks Matt and Fies, its always good in life to do something different and get out of your comfort zone.

One comment  – Starlink is changing the world. Matilda had fast internet all the way, only 6 months ago we would have struggled to get a SMS text to the boat.

A day after we finished I was back in Perth after a mad taxi ride, propellor plane ride then a ride with lots of screaming kids and hodiday makers on Australia’s favorite discount airline Jetstar. Fies also came to Perth for a break and to play grand Auntie to George and Rory, I think she enjoyed the chill out.

Fair Winds for the trip to Africa, Matilda has come a long way.

I am back home to normal life,

Chris 

– brother to Fies, Brother in Law to Matt