Captain Scott & Jeff's Log ~Friday, April 11th, 2008

Friday, April 11, 2008 South China Sea 4 42.840N 112 36.229E
Jeff's Log
We are finally under sail! Yesterday, a squall came up and gave us 25 knots of wind. It began about a half hour into my watch. We had been motor sailing, and had to roll up half of the jib, and reef the main. The autopilot still does not work on starboard tack when the wind is up, so I had to drive. I am not complaining, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. It blew hard for about an hour and a half, and then moderated. Donna took over the helm, and after a short time, the wind had gotten fairly light again, so we switched back to autopilot and shook out the sails again. The night became clear and beautiful and we were able to motor sail most of the time.

Today was a bright sunny day with moderate breezes. Just before sunset, we got enough wind to shut the engine off and sail. Mark did some chicken on the Barbie. And we had a nice dinner without the engine running for the first time since leaving Singapore. Tonight my watch starts at 4AM, so after writing this I will turn in for hopefully a nice, engine free sleep.

One thing that we all got a chuckle from happened when Donna got off watch. She went to lay down for a nap and opened up the hatches in the forward cabin over the bed. There was left over waves from the squall, and we caught one and it washed into the hatch, right onto Donna. She came out rather embarrassed and looked like a drowned rat. I am sure that we’ll be teasing her about that for the rest of the trip.

We are now sailing by some huge gas wells. Each one looks like a small city with the amount of lighting that is present. According to the chart, they pipe the gas to shore. Shore is about 80 miles away.Pipe Dream continues to behave herself and is working very well. I do have a nasty job to do tomorrow. I have to take the aft head apart and replace pump seals.Sometimes being the engineer on a yacht is a crappy job!
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Captain Scott's LogSubject: P Dream Sarawak

FRI Now 4 days out and all under engine. We are 75nm off the Coast of
Sarawak and under easy sail at last, flat water with some current behind--a
dream sail. We are passing through the Central Luconia Gas Field with some
major platforms nearby. Our grill is lit for barbeque dinner. The chart says
beware of fire hazard and loss of bouyancy with pipe line rupture. Yesterday
we sailed for the first time when hit with a squall. 25kts of wind and we
were off with a part rolled up jib and a reef. Donna was slow to close her
cabin and rewarded with a bucket of water through the hatch. You know what a
drowned rat looks like--right! Life is easy if you like suntan, reading,
sleeping in, the gurgle of water slipping by and the next port 36 hours away