Langkawi Trip (D4): Sail & Mast Inspection

Saturday, 5/12/09 – Woke up early though it was supposed to be a lazy Saturday morning. We had one more task at stake, sorting the sails and sail lashes. Worried that the high noon hot sun is going to toast us for good, we got our assess off the comfy cushion for some proper grilling in the store cabin accompanied by dust and grit.

Just before doing the sail inspection, we did some minor sorting out of the ropes on the sail mast. What was supposed to be a 15minute work became almost an hour as those long abandoned lashings were not properly cared of.  We tried to bring down the main sail that the yacht was currently using, but futile as the roping system is very confusing. Dave decided to get them down next time. Without wasting much time we get in the yacht to sort the sails.

Four bags altogether were transported out of the yacht and we lay them flat on the floating docks. That morning was really quiet so there were almost no yachtie walking past us. We initially plan to take them off the shore just before the entrance to the marina but since the bags were really heavy, we decided to inspect them on the floating docks instead.

The inspection is just to dictate if there is any wear and tear – minor or major along the luff, foot and leeches of the sails that we laid on the dock. Not forgetting the clews, head and tack conditions too. The inspection included backup sails that were used in emergencies as well. All went smooth during the folding and repacking as no disruption along the docks.

We managed to finish all the tasks before noon before travelling to Kuah to shop for some stuff. We had a quick lunch in McDonalds and went on to do some shopping. Part of the shopping includes getting a replacement blade for the fan, getting some electrical appliances for the yacht such as kettle, clothes peg, clothes hangers, and buying an extra fan.

We made our getaway before 3.30pm back to Telaga Harbour Marina. On the way we saw alot of jet fighters from LIMA doing some skydivings while spectators parked their cars beside the road to watch. The road almost came to a bottleneck near the Padang Mat Sirat Airport when cars start slowing down to look at the parading jets on the runway. We braved through the traffic and arrived ‘home’ for some brief chillout.

At 6.30pm we went to Pantai Kok to take some pictures of the sunset. We were made careful as the beach was literally littered with dead jellyfishes trapped on the beach during the low-tide. Just few minutes past 7pm, we scrambled to Pantai Chenang in search of an eatery.

Our initial plan is to go for some Indian cuisine but we change our minds and ended up at Boat Quay near Pantai Cenang. Boat Quay is a secluded restaurant located on a cape. Across that cape is Rebak Island, where we visited during our last trip in May and southwards is Bon Ton Resort and Meritus Pelangi Resort. To get there you have to go offroad from the main road to Pantai Chenang passing by some village jetties. The restaurant owner is an Austrian expat with a Malaysian wife.

The restaurant offers a variety of satay, pizza, pasta, sausages, imported European beers, local dishes and fusion food. The seafood selection is simply massive with aquariums stretching 10meters long full of fishes and seashells for you to choose from. The concept is an open kitchen concept – select the seafood from the aquarium and request the chef to cook them live.

The middle section is the bar and main kitchen for prepping western food, and further to the northern corner of the building is Malaysian food section. We decided not to go for the complicated as we need to hit the sack fast for our early morning flight tomorrow. I had satay and a chow kuay tiau, fully ripped off for Mat Salleh price. The food was mediocre but the atmosphere is stunning.

From the sea view you can see very frequently AirAsia planes taking off and descending down to the airport runway. Spectacular, as Boat Quay is geographically located at the end of the Padang Mat Sirat airport runway. The annoying bit about the place is mosquitoes. Try avoid sitting too near to the waterfront as the marshes below are the domain of that pesky insect.

The waiting staffs are really friendly and chatty, and this is a must visit place for me next time especially with some seafood kaki’s. Well our long week in Langkawi has come to an end and we will be leaving Langkawi for our respective flights early tomorrow morning. The week has been fruitful and full of accomplishment. Hopefully when we return in January, our contractors will have the yacht completed already.

We are all enthusiastic about operating them next year, and hopefully that will soon come to materialize.

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