Leg 1 - Hong Kong to Puerto Galera

Harlequin departed Hong Kong on Sun, 19 Feb 12 - into the teeth of a gale.

Having delayed 24 hrs for the forecast of 35-40 kts (and the seas to go with it), the weather out at the rigs, 100 nm south of HK, was still 'lumpy' shall we say. This is when we found out that the VOR (Volvo Ocean Race) boats were on weather hold out of Hainan. Whimps.



A-watch

Needless to say, comfort & safety dictated that we remain on a beam reach (and  mostly beam-on to the 8m seas) for 24 hrs longer than planned - course 170 degs, under double-reefed main (50% on our new Lee  Sails cruising main) & triple-reefed Genoa. It was Monday night before conditions started to ease enough for us to come up a bit, and point for Puerto Galera. Amazingly, right on cue, according to the  Buoyweather forecast. But by then, the high-pressure hosing from breaking seas had exposed a number of leaks, and conditions below were becoming a bit damp.

 

Genoa fix

By dawn of Day 3 (Tue, 21st), we were comfortably back on course 125 degs, but motor-sailing! After 36 hrs of F7-8, F2 felt somewhat deflating, but gave us the opportunity to get dried out and feast on some proper nosh. A spot of sail repair too, as a couple of areas of the UV strip on the Genoa leach had started tearing away, during the height of the 'blow'. So up went the spare Genoa, while the Tape-drive was dried and patched. Now every inch of deck & rail was covered in gear, drying in the sun! 



OK- let's swap sails!

After 12 hrs of  mostly motor-sailing in winds from F1-3, thoughts turned to our ETA at Puerto Galera v's flight schedules for a couple of our crew, who were still hoping to fly out of Manila on Fri, 24th. A bit tight, given we couldn't enter PG in the dark (ie before Fri morning now) and a bit tight on fuel, too, if we had to motor all the way. So the decision was made to play it safe, and land first at Subic Bay for CIQ and re-fuel, drop Cameron & Alan off there, oh and shop for some Tanduay...



Philippines courtesy ensign



Entering Subic Bay at dawn on Thu, 23rd, we all enjoyed a brisk beat into the land breeze before re-starting the engine, readying the main for the drop, then... stand-by, the engine's died! Re-started, and died again. And again. Fuel filters? Chief Engineer Steve darted below, swearing under his breath, to find - yep, two very filthy filters, doubtless clogged by a year's accumulated fuel-tank silt (it's only been that long since we last cleaned the tank to dry) which had been stirred up during the first days of the crossing. Fresh filters, a few more choice phrases from Steve, and we were back in business.


Dawn in the Verde Is Passage


Entering SBYC was simple enough, once we managed VHF comms with the marina office. The staff were there to catch our lines as arranged, and we had arrived: 650 nm and 96 hrs from Hong Kong (a commendable average of 7 kts), including - amazingly, given the conditions of the first 2 days - 40 hrs of motoring!

Customs, Immigration & Health officials all duly arrived (with hands out for a US$50 sweetener each) and we were legal. C-watch smartened up and headed off to search for a hotel; the rest of us tidied up, shopped (for Tanduay & calamansi mostly) and re-fueled. Within 5 hrs we were ready to go. 


Arriving PG


The overnight to PG went swiftly. Dinner was washed down by a couple of tinkling T&C's as we raced south at 8 kts in a very pleasant offshore breeze, just having to reef down a bit as we passed Manila Bay. At dawn, we were beating into the Verde Island Passage (reef some more) and by 0900 we were moored in luminous sunshine at PGYC.

After a swim off the transom, and a celebratory breakfast beer, Dave decided he couldn't take the idylic conditions a moment longer and dashed off for the ferry to Batangas, hoping to switch for an earlier flight. Colin went with him to meet wife, Glenda, and the rest of us (only A-watch now) got on with the inevitable list of small jobs, in preparation for leaving Harlequin the next day. 

Still plenty of time in hand, though, to enjoy the PGYC Fri evening BBQ and let our hair down after the passage. Sat, 25th, saw us on banca, bus, taxi & Cathay Pacific - back to Hong Kong and reality. Only Colin & Glenda remained, to make the most of a week in paradise. More fool us!

Crew on Leg 1: Jim, Steve & Richard (A-watch), Colin & Dave M. (B-watch) and Cameron & Alan (C-watch).

For those of you with some bandwith, a spot of action video:

 

[Although it never really seems to do the conditions justice...]