Pangkor

Telang

Another day of motoring brought us to Telang, where there is a lovely anchorage if you avert your gaze from all the junk accumulating on the shore.

The reason for stopping here was to spend time preparing Jamala to enter Pangkor Marina. Maria usually handles the lines and fenders on approach, but with only one working arm, that wasn’t practical or sensible. Instead, we got everything ready the next morning at Telang, then headed down to Pangkor to get there in time for high water.

Anchorage at Telang

Pangkor Marina

I messaged Pangkor Marina to let them know we were coming in one and a half handed. In reply, they asked me to call them on the VHF when nearby and said they would be ready to help.

The definition of help varies from country to country and place to place, usually ranging from no help at all in the Solent up to catching lines and tying up your boat in many other places. The former feeds the national pastime of watching the drama unfold when trying to squeeze into a tight berth in strong winds, tides, or both. The latter is obviously better, and that was my expectation coming into Pangkor.

Instead, about 200 metres away from the marina, a RIB came speeding towards us with two people onboard. The boat came alongside and Fifi, the yard manager, jumped onboard. He told Maria that she could just sit down and relax, and he would take care of everything. The guy on the inflatable stood by, and as we got near our berth, he gently pushed us alongside. Fifi threw the lines to the other three staff members waiting at the dockside, and that was that. All I had to do was steer the boat. Never before have we had that level of help. It was beyond appreciated. Gold stars all round for that effort.

Although I’m not sure they were trying to tell us something:

View from the back

We needed to complete domestic clearance at Lumut, and by pure good fortune, this was the day that the Customs were celebrating Hari Raya. As with marinas, the greeting given by customs officers ranges from beautifully friendly to downright hostile. Here, the welcome was beyond pleasant.

Unfortunately, we don’t have any photos to share, but the staff waiting outside the building applauded us inside, and when inside, they insisted we stay for lunch. And what a lunch that was, with a lovely selection of local dishes from savoury to sweet, and fruits of all varieties. They are the clear heavyweight champs of customs hospitality.

What else? The reason for being here was to take care of scheduled maintenance on Jamala and to get Maria’s arm back to fighting fitness. The first involved much sweating and swearing, and the other involved regular visits to Pantai Hospital for physiotherapy. We have hired a car and rented an apartment close to the marina to make both those things easier.

The list of successes so far on Jamala includes:

New hatch lenses
Back of the boat repainted so that we can’t see all the previous names shining through anymore
C Drive service
Bow thruster service
Watermaker service
Propeller service
Engine oil change
New rudder packing
New boarding ladder steps
New instrument covers
New chart plotter mount
New upholstery cushions
External wood revarnishing
Additional steel work for the bimini
Engine fire extinguisher serviced
Stainless steel polished
Rear bumper replaced
Anchor chain regalvanised
Steering wheel powder-coated

Aisha Powder Coating

“How old are you…. 70?” The powder coating man might not be a charmer, but he’s a nice chap – and I’ll let that go because he quoted 180 RM (around £30) and stuck to that price even though he did the work three times to make sure it was right. He does the job well. He used to be a Navy navigation officer and sailor, and much of the work he does now is for the Navy.

The wheel with triple coating

And if that work isn’t enough, in progress is an antifouling and a new bimini cover.

And as for Maria, she is now cast off from her cast and well on the way to recovery.

All this living the champagne sailing dream meant that writing updates slid down the priority scale – possibly aided by sweat. It is incredibly hot in the boatyard and with no air conditioning onboard now that we are out of the water, any work is (and I use the technical term for this) knackering.

We plan to fly back to the UK for a few weeks to enjoy the relative cold, then plop Jamala back in the water after the antifoul is complete mid-September. After that, well, we will see. Maybe a trip back up north for a while.

Outside of grafting and visits to the hospital, we have been amusing ourselves whenever we can…