Miri to Labuan to Miri

It’s not what we planned but such is the life of cruising, that changes are inevitable and despite the frustrations one must simply go with the flow. Easier said than done for an impatient skipper.




The main cave in Niah NP, the hanging rope in the foreground is what they climb to collect the birds nest for soup a Chinese delicacy



After our trip to the Mulu NP we caught up with some friends who had just arrived and we hired a car from Simon our trusty what’s where man in Miri and headed off to the Niah NP 120km south which hosts more limestone caves which were inhabited by humans for thousands of years. These caves are not as popular as Mulu and a guide is not necessary so it’s a leisurely stroll through the dense jungle, approx 12km round trip along a timber board walk, a full days outing. It rained all the way there and our hire car a 70’s model Toyota Crown Diesel was a death trap on wheels, with one saving grace, the AC worked.

Another of the caves at Niah NP

Two days later we hired another car, the best in Simon’s fleet and headed off to Brunei for the day and a chance to renew our 90 day Malaysian visa. Brunei is a Sultanate country run by a benevolent dictator with oodles of oil and trashy western commercialism. The sultans brother Jefri became world famous for his opulent spending when head of the countries finance coffers, with many of his grandiose developments presently decaying under the intense heat and humidity. He has since been banished to Britain with only millions to spend each year instead of the billions he once had.

A round-about in Brunei - tea anyone - tacky ehh??

One of the reasons we headed to Brunei was to purchase some licorice which we have been craving for and had been told was available, we eventually found it but to our surprise was raspberry flavoured?????, even the expats have strange tastes. We also find some Arnott’s Ginger Nut biscuits made the old way, thick and hard. A real favourite, so we spent all our remaining Singapore dollars (same as Brunei dollar) and stocked up.

Boat - like structure attached to the Capital City Mosque

The marina was filling up to the point where Captain Fin was squeezing boats in between others. It was race week!! The 9^th Annual Borneo Regatta, 45 yachts had entered into 4 groups, IOR racing, Class A Cruising, Class B Cruising and Multihull. Many of the cruising boats were part of the Sail Malaysia East Rally which we declined earlier this year as it didn’t match our timeframe. Some of Class A which we were part of were actual racing boats without IOR certificates, so stiff competition.

The first day was spent registering, measuring for handicap, clearance out of Sarawak, race instructions and collecting our free T-shirts.The next day was race 1 around the cans out the front which we did OK despite getting caught on the first marker when we were headed off by another yacht which failed to give way, we had to alter course and sail around behind him while trying to lay the mark, he later apologized at the hotel lobby while carrying the winners trophy. All of the boats in our class had crew fly in for the regatta so despite fudging our handicap we had a self imposed handicap of only the 2 of us. It’s supposed to be fun anyway. It was hard work competing and even though we were the fastest boat in a straight line we missed out on a prize.

Jostling at the start line before race 1

After the race we booked into the hotel which is owned by the marina which is owned by a mega-rich Chinaman in Miri. The room was free as part of the regatta and so was the reception in the pavilion. Local entertainment and free beer just what the doctor ordered after a hard day of sailing.

Entertainment at the reception dinner

Race 2 was an overnight sail to Labuan 110nm north through the Brunei oil fields, it started at 1300hrs and after a great start and leading the fleet for a while we blew out our asymmetrical spinnaker, it took a while to retrieve and reset our sails so we fell behind and drifted along in the light breeze. We hoisted our symmetrical spinnaker on the pole the first time since leaving OZ and picked up speed again and managed to get through the oil fields just on dark so were very pleased with that.



Out in front for a while

Our dramas came to a head when we turned on the generator to run down the freezer and charge batteries. What we thought was a smell from the oil well heads was in fact the 240volt alternator burning down below. NOT GOOD!!! We doused the spinnaker so we could investigate the problem and drifted along again in a building wind which peaked at 18kts. We decided to continue on rather than turn back hoping we could sort the problem in Labuan. The night sailing was good only motoring for a couple of hours when the wind died before changing to come offshore at 90 degrees.



oops!! a spinnaker blowout - the colours didn't match anyway

We arrived in Labuan at 0800hrs without any sleep and anchored with the few boats that arrived before us only to find it was the wrong location so had to up anchor and move. It was here that we discovered the anchor winch had developed the same problem we encountered in Tioman Island, so had to manually wind up the anchor. Problem no 3 had surfaced!!!.

Back in the race again - for a while anyway, much better colours

After a couple of hours sleep I contacted the alternator manufactures and was told the only recommended agent was in Miri, why didn’t that surprise me??. We wanted to continue on to Kota Kinabalu (KK) with the regatta but could not be guaranteed a berth at the very expensive marina and we needed 240 volt power to keep our fully stocked freezer cold, our inverter can handle the loads but not for long periods. The anchorage in KK was reported to be ordinary as well. The marina in Labuan was closed to yachts while being rebuilt and the anchorage was exposed to the east.



All was well again for a while

We cleared in and out of Labuan that day and started contacting people around the world to source a new alternator in the event that the current one was irrepairable. The next morning we contacted the Labuan Marina again but they refused us entry so we decided the best option was to return to Miri.



One of the many hazards encountered enroute to Labuan and back again to Miri at night

The winds were lighter than the previous 2 days and more on the nose so we motor-sailed virtually all the back to Miri this time having to traverse the Brunei oilfields in the dark with no moon. We arrived back at the marina at 0230hrs to the berth we left 2 days earlier having travelled 220nm, getting very little sleep and a heap of problems to solve. AGHH!! the joys of cruising???



These are the Australian Kookabura America's Cup boats, not sure why they are at Miri Marina

A week has past since returning to Miri and a new anchor winch is on its way from OZ, we have sourced a new alternator (spare) in England, it should be sent sometime this coming week and the existing alternator has been repaired???? locally, reinstalled and running as it should. The asymmetrical spinnaker was beyond repair as some of the cloth was in poor condition so we sold it to a much smaller boat for a carton of beer. He is very proud to be the current owner of Dreamweaver’s spinnaker for some strange reason.

The infamous winged keel of the 80's

A new problemo arose in Miri and that was “the boat had run out of BEER” well almost anyway. Customs officers had cracked down on the sale of smuggled beer which we think was a result of Ramadan the Muslim month of fasting, so cheap beer was not available. We didn’t have time to restock in Labuan (duty free island)  thinking we could buy smuggled beer in Miri, so it was dire straits. The only way to get cheapish beer was to go down to a restaurant and buy multiple buckets (a bucket is 4 cans) and take them home. We taught them that 6 buckets equals 1 slab so we now buy them in slabs. Not sure if they really understand what they are doing or if it is legal, but we have a beer supply again.



This yacht was sunk in the marina for months and sold on Ebay to an unsuspecting buyer who when arrived to collect it found it sunk, was told he owed unpaid marina fees, he fled the next day never to be seen again.

Thankfully Miri is a great marina with friendly people and close to town with the aid of a motorbike, we know where everything is and hopefully our deliveries won’t delay us too long so we can continue onward up the coast. We still have several more months before the weather is suitable for us to head across to the Philippines.

Bye for now,

No Beers but plenty of Cheers,

J&J