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01/07/18 Sun.  The start of the 2018 Golden Globe round the World race - good luck to all 17 contestants!  Removed all the panelling in the nav. berth again, trying to find the fault which left us with no saloon lights last night.  It turned out to be a faulty connection on the switch panel fuse holder.  I then enlarged the hole into which the old VHF unit was fitted, to accommodate the new, bigger sized radio.

04/07/18 Weds.  After four days of repairing damaged switch connectors, taking the main switch panel out numerous times, replacing fuse holders and switches, I finally got everything working as it should this afternoon and the panels are all back in place.  A "silent mode" option on the AIS took some while to figure out - I have always been able to go into 'silent' mode from my iPad via wifi, but wanted a manual switch on the panel.  The destructions for the AIS say to connect the brown wire, via a switch to earth in order to achieve this, but when I did that, nothing happened!   Irrespective of switch position, my vessel position was still transmitted.  After checking and re-checking the earth continuity, the switch, the wiring, the connections (several times) I still could not switch off transmissions!  By accident, I discovered that the unit has to be re-configured by wifi in order for the external switch to take effect - nothing in the instruction manual about that!!  All working and OK now.

05/07/18 Thurs.  Fitted a new fan in the saloon, a quieter more efficient one for when we are at anchor.  The Golden Globe contestants are having a hard time in the Bay of Biscay.  Susie Goodall, the only British entrant is currently lying in 9th place.

07/07/18 Sat. Susie moved up into 5th place  in the GGR yesterday, but is now being challenged by the Russian Igor Zaretskiy.  We went up to the Back Yacht to watch England vs Sweden during the evening with John, Carol and Isabelle - not a very exciting match but at least England won and are through to the semi-finals.

09/07/18 Mon. At the ferry terminal by 7.30am this morning, caught speedboat to Menumbok and the 9.30 bus to Kota Kinabalu for some medical treatment.  Had an afternoon wandering the shopping malls.

11/07/18 Weds.  So yesterday we found the clinic where I had an appointment with the doc, a skin specialist named Dr Melinda Tong.  She gave me a thorough examination and told me the spot on my shoulder was probably a Basal Cell Carcinoma and I would have to have a biopsy (as expected).  "When are you going back to Labuan?" she asks and when I told her tomorrow, she says come back at 4pm and we will do it then.  So off we go to Karamunsing shops only to get a phone call at 3pm saying "come in now".  Great service - shortly afterwards it's all done and stitched up!  Now to wait lab results and go back then.  Today we got the bus back to Menumbok, only to find the weather was too bad for speedboats to run, so had to get the slower car ferry to Labuan, arriving back around 4pm.  Great news that the Thai boys trapped in the caves have all been rescued, sad that one Navy Seal diver lost his life in the rescue.  Susie Goodall is holding on to her 5th position, now being challenged by a guy from Estonia.

12/07/18 Thurs.  So England are out of the World Cup, beaten 2-1 by Croatia in extra time.  Oh, well........Susie is still holding on to 5th place!

16/07/18 Mon.  Not a lot been happening over the last few days, letting my stitches heal up. Seventeen yachts have arrived, either inside the marina or anchored outside, all part of the Sail Malaysia East Rally.  They will be gone in a couple of days.  Susie Goodall has slipped a place, overtaken by the Irish sailor Gregor McGuckin.

20/07/18 Fri.  Busy morning, checking out in readiness for sail to Brunei tomorrow, doctors to have stitches removed, a bit of shopping and Ana doing laundry before we go. Susie has regained 5th place with Gregor McGuckin hot on her heels as they pass Cape Verde, but with some 23,000 miles still to go, anything could happen!  Practically all the yachts in the Sail Malaysia Rally have now gone, heading north.

21/07/18 Sat.  Slipped the lines around 0900 and motored across the harbour.  With a 25 knot headwind and waves approx 1.5 mtr direct on the nose, it was slow going and we shipped every second wave over the bow.  I considered turning around and waiting another day, but in the end continued.  It took us 5 hours to make the crossing!  Checked in without too much hassle.

28/07/18 Sat.  Sailed back to Labuan this morning, arriving in the marina at 10am after rising early to watch the blood moon eclipse.  During our time in Muara, we went shopping with Alison, had dinner with Brent and Shane, chatted with various mates and generally had a relaxing time.  Only one very brief rain shower while we were there.  Caught a nice tenggiri about a mile outside Victoria harbour.  Pleased to see Susie Goodall is still in 5th place in the GGR.

30/07/18 Mon.  Checked in with Jabatan Laut this morning.  Dropped the genoa off the furler and bagged it up in preparation for removing the forestay - replacing the aged Rotostay furler with a new Pro-Furl, not a job I have been looking forward to!  Susie continues to battle for position in unfavourable winds, she moved up to 3rd place this morning but has now dropped back to 4th.

 

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