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Firefly - Slow boat to Asia



Today is Sunday 6th September and Firefly is at latitude 11 degrees south and longitude 126 degrees east, en route to Kupang, West Timor, Indonesia. Yesterday afternoon there was a brief spell, less than an hour, when there was enough wind to sail and maintain a reasonable speed of between 4 and 5 knots. However since then we have been motoring and its looks set to continue, the sea is glassy and the forecast wind is minimal until we near Timor.

Despite the lack of wind there are some benefits; the boat is not heeling over, making everything easier than usual when at sea, sleeping is possible in the forepeak as up at the front of the boat its normally too bumpy - up there the engine noise is minimal, the batteries are fully charged and its really beautiful out here. There is the odd cloud in the sky and its relatively easy to keep cool as the boat moving forward at 6 knots, creating its own breeze plus we have the bimini giving us shade. The only disadvantages are the engine noise and the fact that we are burning diesel.

Our second night at sea was interesting as at about 2300 we had a visit from 'Border force 77'. Lights from an aircraft were visible for some time and then the jet flew directly overhead at low level, quite an unusual situation as we had only seen one ship since leaving Darwin and it had felt deserted out here. Then the VHF jumped into life, 'this is Australian Border Force calling sailing yacht at position ........'. Having identified ourselves as Firefly, the told us the information cross checked regarding us tied up and then proceeded to wish us the best for the trip.

As the friendly Australians flew off, no doubt on the look out for illegal traffic to and from Asia, we crossed a line on the chart that said it was an international fishing boundary. Everything then changed regarding the amount of other craft in our vicinity - there were 10 or more different lights, no AIS signals and the rarely used radar showed nothing either. We are well aware that one of the key problems with navigating in Asian waters is the amount of fishing craft of all shapes and sizes - most of them do not have AIS and are either unlit, or lit, but without regard for the World wide shipping regulations - so there is no way of knowing what they are doing or which way they are moving. So this was the start of a new phase of our trip - we will have to be really vigilant on watch at night, and when near land (where its much busier) we will try and only travel in daylight.

Once checked into Indonesia at Kupang we are joining the Sail2Indonesia Rally which is sponsored by the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism and organised by John and Lyn Martin's ICA, based in New Zealand. The rally started from Cairns at the beginning of July and we are joining part way through. Raymond is the rally leader, travelling by land, air and sea to meet the fleet at various stopovers - he is Indonesian and works for the Tourism Ministry. We are in touch with Raymond by SSB e mail as we need his support as we check into Kupang - otherwise the bureaucracy can be somewhat intimidating. Once cleared in we will then sail north to north shores of Flores where we will catch up with the rally. We will take our time to do so as there are some superb anchorages with stunning coral, this according to sailors we spoke to in Darwin who know this area well.

If everything goes to plan, Firefly will arrive in Kupang before dark on Monday and our check in with customs and immigration will be on Tuesday morning.

Paul and Susie

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