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Summer at last


After a late typhoon, we began our seasons cruising with a trip back to one of the favorites, Coron.  Again, we met old and new friends, dove the famous WWII wrecks and bathed in the hot springs.   from a typhoon to sunshine Our plan was to venture off shore to the small island country of Palau, this would require a good weather window with a break in the NE monsoon winds as it is 500 miles of open ocean.  The winds usually subside in March and bring warm, dry and calm weather to the Philippin…

Summer at last



After a late typhoon, we began our seasons cruising with a trip back to one of the favorites, Coron.  Again, we met old and new friends, dove the famous WWII wrecks and bathed in the hot springs.

from a typhoon to sunshine

from a typhoon to sunshine

Our plan was to venture off shore to the small island country of Palau, this would require a good weather window with a break in the NE monsoon winds as it is 500 miles of open ocean.  The winds usually subside in March and bring warm, dry and calm weather to the Philippines, their “summer”.  The other requirement I had for making this trip is the boat must be void of any major problems, there is no help out there!

Sadly, neither of these things panned out. The weather just did not break, the winds and rain persisted way beyond the normal times.  We watched the weather programs diligently and saw only those dark green and brown arrows, not good.

Furthur seemed to not to want to go either, gremlins kept popping up and old ones not going away.  I have had a consistent problem with batteries, they just did not last.  When we go back to Puerto Galera we were running the gen much longer than usual to keep the charge. We got a technician from Manila to come down and he found a weird draw from the inverter, whether it was running or not, up to ten amps. This explained the radical drop in voltage we would find overnight.  We also discovered 2 more dead batteries in the 6-battery bank. 

Not having access to invertor parts or the know now to fix it, the short-term solution was to switch off the main power cable from the inverter, so we installed a switch to do so.  We found that if we cut off the power drain we had much better voltage each morning.  A short-term solution we could live with.

the trusty Balmar gave up

the trusty Balmar gave up

The other failure that hampered our love of amps, an addiction common amongst cruisers; our trusty Balmar 160 amp 2nd alternator died.  Not a big shock after 12 years and over 8000 hours.  I took it to a small local repair shop with no luck. It also seemed that the smaller stock Cummins alternator had failed, possibly long ago but we could not notice with the big one churning out big amps.  This left us running with no charge off the engine.

The good news is that our newly reworked solar system was spitting out a great charge and more of the day.  Upon good advice from a solar expert, we switched the panels to be “in series” instead of “in parallel. This required a larger, higher voltage MPPT controller to handle the over 100 volts we now produced. The net result is the panels begin charging much earlier, as soon as they hit 24 volts and stay much later. 

So, our procedure until I could get a new alternator was to run the gen in the early morning and watch the solar charge. A nifty Bluetooth gizmo now sends the solar charging data to my phone! On a clear day we could run off the panels by 8-9 am and until about 4pm.. then back on went the gen all the way to Cebu.

Multiple emails with Balmar and our good friends at Fisheries Supply and the new alternator was on its way with some other goodies.  When we get to Cebu, I was directed to a huge junk yard, salvaging company, I walked in to see piles of dead alternators and other parts. The Chinese/Filipino owner took us in his care and we sent the alternator to his friend in Manila for repairs, 4 days and $200usd later I had the rebuilt one in my hands and it worked, still is! We then sent the smaller alternator and the –never did work- wind gen to the same guy.  Trojan sent us 2 more batteries to replace the dead ones and they really work.  About this time the new alternator arrived. So now I have a complete set of spares, you should not have to read about alternator troubles for quite some time!

Boat woes under control, we centered on the weather again.  We were moored with a 150’ expedition super yacht with 19 crew. They had been in Cebu for 2 months waiting for the same evasive weather change. Finally, they found a 3 day lull and took off. About that time an Aussie cruising boat with some friends pulled in returning from Palau. The reported bad weather all the way, they were going down wind returning we would have it on the nose. They also gave glim reports of 59 out of 60 days of rain there. One cannot ignore these signs from above, Palau was out this year. 

Sadly, with our change in plans we lost our one good crew member, Liz, who went on to other adventures. So, Donna and I ventured off to explore the central parts of her country more. We went to Bohol Island and spent a few days exploring its wonders. We saw the tiny rare and endangered critter, the Taisier.  Did a ultra-tourist river cruise and then headed back north. 





Our next stop was Comotes Island, a gem of a place with white sandy beaches, dotted with excellent and cheap eating places, 85 pesos for a great meal ($1.60).  The warm water was so clear we could see the anchor at 30ft of depth.  The sun shone, I got my tan back and life was good.  Summer cruising was back!

Make Your Dream Your Story

Capt. Brian Calvert

M/Y Furthur

www.furthuradventures.com

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Pray and be Safe

For seven years, I have been dodging typhoons, those pesky little dark circles on the satellite images found in the tropics that can destroy your dreams. We followed Hurricane Jemina into Mexico and saw the carnage in 2009. We kept to the rules of belo…

Pray and be Safe



For seven years, I have been dodging typhoons, those pesky little dark circles on the satellite images found in the tropics that can destroy your dreams. We followed Hurricane Jemina into Mexico and saw the carnage in 2009. We kept to the rules of below twenty degrees south after November 1 crossing the Pacific. We narrowly missed a whopper, Yasi, in Australia as we headed south just before it hit. The marina we had been moored in Brisbane flooded down the river.

Then we entered the serenity of the no cyclone area of Indonesia and Thailand for a few years. Ah no little brown circles on the weather sites. Our first trip into the Philippines followed another monster, Yolanda, one that broke records and hearts. We got there a month after the destruction, man I do not want to be in one of these, I exclaimed.

Since being in the Philippines, where typhoon watching is a national pastime, I have learned their ways and habits, mostly.  The season is fairly predictable, late summer to mid-December. Most of the early disturbances scoot north barely touching land here, we had three like that this year.  It is only when the Northeast winds blow hard that the little circles bend westward, the tail of the season.

There are two ways to avoid any danger; get out! Which we did most years going far south into Indonesia or hide, which we did this year. We stuck out the wet stormy season in very safe protected and rarely hit Subic Bay, snuggly tied to a dock. We watched as three typhoons made their way north and landfall far from Furthur, giving us 3 to 4 days or torrential rain, no more.

With the storm season past, we thought, and great weather we left out cozy dock and headed back to Puerto Galera, where we would tie to a solid, typhoon safe mooring. Not bad but no my best choice.  All was well until someone said, hey look at the weather! there it was the dreaded little circle.



By the way, a hurricane, cyclone and typhoon are all the same thing, the names change with location. Here they are typhoons. Call it what you want there it was, a few hundred miles off shore and growing. Another interesting factoid, such storms rotate clockwise south of the equator and anti-clockwise to the north, which is what we get.



So we all went into full metal jacket typhoon watching mode. There are many resources and great weather sites here, like I said it is a national pastime.  All the wizards do computer models and estimate the tracks and strength, there are five different entities drawing colored lines on the chart, NOAA is my best guess with the Filipino site an option. The Northwest winds were strong so all agreed this one was coming home.

So I had a decision to make, stick in Puerto Galera or race back to Subic Bay.  All the tracts showed it crossing right over Donna’s family home—they all do. And heading north to Manila and right to Subic, so I chose to stay put while our friends in Subic readied for the storm.  Now understand at this point you can watch them real time on the computer, amazing.  We had our Christmas cheer dampened a bit when the pesky little circle turned more west but we were still out of harm’s way, top gust predicted was 50knots, mid-day. Oh so glad it would not be at night.

Christmas passed in sun and calm, eerie calm winds. The next day I expected some wind as mid-day approached so was a bit taken to wake up to dark dark skies and 25-30 knots at 8 am.  Bringing up the computer image, there is was, Typhoon Nina, in all her glory just 20 miles away and closing.

Back to typhoon 101; picture a circle of wind, anti-clockwise, it is calm in the middle the 12-3 oclock quarter is blowing northeast, as you go around the wind picks up so the 9-12 quarter is where the wind is the strongest, as it spins it drops. We were in the 6-9 quarter so the wind was blasting out of the west but would turn to the south and drop. As it passes we enter the 3-6 o’clock quarter and the wind will shift out of the south.  The entire storm was moving at about 15 mph and only effecting a fifty-mile strip at most.

We all monitor channel 68 here and the radio chatter picked up. We were on the end of the mooring field, there were a few boats anchored far up wind of us. During the night, a fleet of ferry boats and larger ships came into the bay for protection, again far from us. There are two mooring fields, one a mile away and that is where the trouble started. We heard the panicked German voice pleading for the coast guard to help as a large ferry was headed his way. The CG did not respond, so Donna called them on the phone, classic Filipino response “sorry we cannot help, please pray and be safe” we all got a chuckle out of that advice haha.  The chatter went on for about an hour as the wind picked up. Now hitting high 50’s on Furthur and higher in less protected places.



There was a complete white out at times with torrential rains hitting the demon like sea spray. I sat comfortably in the pilot house windshield wipers on high, only leaving a few times to secure the bimini. The rain hit so hard I could not see, and tied knots with my eyes shut, I should have worn my dive mask and readied it if I had to go out again.



Through the white out, I saw on large Ketch pull and reset its anchor over and over, this time it coming right at us.  Not any too soon they got the engine running and dashed to the right, healing at 40 degree heel and straight for a huge reef.  They disappeared into the white wall and I told those on the radio I was sure the boat was lost.

No sooner than it hit the wind shifted, all the boats spun 180 degrees and bam the wind dropped off. Once sure all was well I took a short nap and awoke to sunshine and calm weather.  We dropped the dinghy in and went exploring the bay. We found little problems on our anchorage and big ones in the next one over, mostly caused by that rogue ferry. One boat dismasted and one driven up on the beach. We visited our friends and heard their tales of woe.  Miraculously the big Ketch was in one piece and safe, it seemed to have glided over the reef heeled over so far it barely scraped.



We made sure all were safe and exchanged tales and then to celebrate our safely surviving our first typhoon I broke out the new ring that we tow with the dinghy and gave everyone rides.



Make Your Dream Your Story

Capt. Brian Calvert

M/Y Furthur

www.furthuradventures.com

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The Captain, 7 Year Report


Each year at this time I go back and think about that scared shitless guy, seven years ago, heading out the locks and down the coast. I left a home of 57 years for a great amount of unknown. It was exhilarating, terrifying, stimulating and oh so fun. Seven years later I still need challenges and the great unknown but have been drawn to the familiar as well.  One of the great inspirations in my life once said two of the human needs are certainty and uncertainty. The trick is to balance the spokes…

The Captain, 7 Year Report



Each year at this time I go back and think about that scared shitless guy, seven years ago, heading out the locks and down the coast. I left a home of 57 years for a great amount of unknown. It was exhilarating, terrifying, stimulating and oh so fun. Seven years later I still need challenges and the great unknown but have been drawn to the familiar as well.  One of the great inspirations in my life once said two of the human needs are certainty and uncertainty. The trick is to balance the spokes in your wheel. I think I can say I am far closer to that balance than I have ever been.

The cruising year started with a testing adventure into Raja Amput.  The weather, the struggles with our cruising buddy boat and some long runs were a bit of a strain. Compound this with lousing good friends to criminal kidnappers right out of what we thought was an extremely safe place and knowing we had to return there all called for the “captain” to act like a captain.

I did toil over the what “ifs”, what if I had been there? what would I have done? could I have saved them? would I have fought back? The more esoteric thoughts of why them and not me? Popped up nightly as well. Rage, fear, regret, and strong amounts of gratitude for being safe added to a dash of guilt for being safe, all swirled thru some sleepless nights.

Not to be consumed by the what ifs I could have done. I concentrated on the what I could do if-? I mentally prepared for any kind of boarding and took precautions that legal concerns keep me from elaborating, let’s say I was determined not to go down without a fight. All academic as we had a great trip back to Davao where boat work kept me busy.



The next few months were fun and leisurely, seeing old friends and mostly just Donna and I on the boat. This is the time where we grew closer and closer as she became an integral part of the boat and my life more each day. We just celebrated 18 months together, that is 18 months’ face to face 24/7. My relationship guru friend Behan told me that cruising time together is like dog life, times seven. I think that is true. We have grown to “get” each other mostly and more important to get that we do not get it all the time and to let that go.



This is also a time where we were blessed with long visits from Piam. I have always stayed distant from kids in my relationships and frankly have sucked at it for the most part. I do believe that age and the lack of time restraints often found in a career time have opened the door to the magical world of being close to a child.  After his first short visit, that Donna had to talk me into, I found myself really missing the little tike, and found an excuse to bring him back. Now he comes to join us at every school break and talks of nothing else and neither do i. Of course I spoil him, not hard to do.  I think he has an idyllic life; time with a huge loving family surrounded by a supportive village; the certainty. Then on the boat traveling, new people and adventures aplenty for a five-year-old, the uncertainty.



We have had some master chefs on the boat who taught Donna to cook, something she believed she could not do. Her new found cooking skills and love of pleasing me, and a lack of exercise have not done my waistline any good. When we got to Subic Bay I got a complete physical, well over due. Good news is that I am fit as a fiddle or actually a base fiddle as I was way over weight.  One of the benefits of the Subic Bay Yacht Club is access to great places to run and a nice small gym.  Now 5 months of running almost daily—wore out one pair of running shoes—and the gym 3-4 times a week along with cutting out—oh the pain—ice cream and cookies—have brought my weight down to near acceptable, lost 7kg.. and firmed up quite a bit on the weights. Pants once discarded now fit again and I feel great.



We had some great land trip this year, back on a motorcycle! We did a long ride to Donna’s village to participate in their Fiesta. Adding to the list of things I never dreamed of doing, I was a judge at a Ladyboy beauty pageant, wow!  We also got a long-wanted stamp on the passports, Vietnam. We did a week-long motorcycle trip from Ha Noi north to the Chinese border. It was spectacular.  Imagine that, judge at a Ms. Gay pageant and riding a vintage Soviet made motorcycle up the Ho Chi Min trail all in one year!



Civilization has also given me access to my well needed spiritual growth, I found a great group with long time recovery and see them twice a week. This completing another spoke on the wheel.

[pic 50 ]

Today I turn 65, senior citizen by most accounts. To honor the number 65 I awoke at dawn, ran 6.5 kilometers, went to the gym and benched 65 kilos and made love to my darling, wonderful, less than half my age, girlfriend. I am not growing old gracefully!

So, goes the end of the seventh year of the Furthur adventure. I am reasonably fit, enjoying the growing love of a great woman and a small man and many new friends.  I am healthy and happy. I am content to stay put in familiar waters yet looking forward to the next adventure.

Make Your Dream Your Story

Capt. Brian Calvert

M/Y Furthur

www.furthuradventures.com

Start your own blog now! Free!

Seven Year Report: the Boat



Furthur hit her eleven-year birthday marking 8049 hours on the amazing Cummins QSL engine, again trouble free. With only 649 hours in the last twelve months. Now that is more than most American boats do in any year, it is a long trip to Alaska or a trip down to Mexico from Seattle.  It is our least number of hours in seven years!  This birthdate found us in the remote reaches of Indonesia, Raja Amput.  This trip was a bit grueling weather and distance wise but Furthur trucked along flawlessly.  The only glitch was when I broke one of my Cardinal rules. If one side wears out fix them both! I had done a rebuild of the starboard side stabilizer but not the port. Sure enough the ram seals gave out and we lost hydraulic oil.  The local folks really tried to help us and I foolishly let them, a motorbike mechanic has no idea what a stabilizer is nor how to fix it, but they tried.  We got the ram rebuilt with motorbike parts and some long traveling to a town by our new friend but it simply did not hold. I eventually did what I should have the first day, disabled the port side by looping the hydraulic hose and off we went. I was amazed how effective just one of the seven square foot fins were, smooth sailing. With worries of pirates on our minds the last two days into Davao were intense. We were all a bit jumpy for sure so when there became a loud howling grinding sound from the engine room smack dab in the middle of the dangerous waters we all jumped a bit.  I had bundled a group of hydraulic and other hoses with ties to tidy up the area, mistakenly Including the small hose that provides cooling to the dripless shaftlog, pinching off the water supply.  I found the problem fast and fixed it, no more “tomb of the zombie” like noises but a bit of concern about the damage it might have done. This is no place to break down! We made it to the marina safely and began a few projects. Furthur came with exquisite leather upholstery which over time and tropical stress had given out in some well used areas. The two pilot seats in the bridge and the bench in the pilot house for sure needed help. We found a great upholstery guy who replaced them with Nagahide leather look alike for an amazingly little bit of money! I also had a few other cushions done, should have done them all.
new stainless steel exhaust hose

new stainless steel exhaust hose

We hauled out to see about the shaft log and do bottom paint. There had been an increasing leak in the main engine exhaust which I repaired ala Mickey Mouse meets Rube Goldberg, time for a new one. My trusty boat guy found a section of 3 16 stainless pipe about twice what I needed, but cheap.  The guys in the yard replaced the shaft log, which required pulling the shaft. They were impressed with the hole in the rudder winhich allows the shaft to be removed without removing the rudder, wow they said.  They did an incredible job of fabricating the new exhaust hose and installing it. I also had the bottom paint done while I was at it. Now I have spent half my life around boat yards, seen many a bill that brought tears to my eyes, but I have never, I mean never gotten a bill from a ship yard and laughed!!! The yard charged 500 pesos a day—A DAY labor rates (ten bucks) and these were top guys.  The haul out was $400.  Aside from that whole—risk your life and being kidnapped in your sleep thing—there is no place I have seen better to get yard work done than Davao.  Furthur all happy and us glad to get out of the now gloomy Ocean View Marina, we headed north just before Christmas in the tail of a typhoon. Actually, by plan, as there is always calm seas and no wind a week after a low comes through. We reached Subic Bay at the end of the season. By now the good folks at Wesmar had sent me total rebuild and spare stabilizer parts so the last work was done by our favorite technician, Kua Boggs. When we returned for the longest marina time in seven years I set up a list of projects. None were repair, all maintenance items, mostly preventative maintenance.  There are two systems on the boat that all happiness depends, the anchor system and the dinghy. Both had performed flawlessly for years, many years so I decided to rebuild both systems.
pictures sent to get the right size gypsy

pictures sent to get the right size gypsy

I found a guy who could get Muir parts at a great price, so I ordered an entire new motor/gear unit. When I reassembled the system I found the shaft would not go into the motor. I took it to a machine shop and they determined it was twisted beyond repair.  I had always noticed a wobble in the gypsy but thought nothing of it. The Muir guy sent a new shaft and as the gypsy was worn replaced it as well. Meanwhile the machine shop guy made me another one for spare. Hard to tell them apart but the custom made one was half the price. So I now have a complete spare motor/shaft/gypsy. Before I left Seattle, seven long years ago, I heard Rule was discontinuing their 24v winch motors so I bought two spares. Again the old ones were working fine but time to change. I rebuilt the old ones as I did the anchor windlass motor. I am fit on spares for these systems.
trusty Muir motor now being replaced

trusty Muir motor now being replaced

On the addition front; we love the solar panels and the reduction in generator time they provide. We did sit in ten to fifteen knots of wind of about a month once and saw all the happy wind generators whirling about grabbing amps from thin air. So we got one, just installed, now with the power of sun and wind Furthur is greener than ever. Back again to the “all happiness depends on the dinghy” concept, my AB inflatable has had a tough life. Tropical sun has taken its toll as had hours and hours of use and multitudes of dive trips. The hull and tubes constantly leaked, with me, with the aid of my constant repair sidekicks Mickey and Rube, had done some ghastly looking repairs with epoxy and 5200 adhesive to no avail. I looked at a spendy custom made Cadillac dinghy made here, wow! But prudence put me back in a Chevrolet.  My friend Peter now owns the local Chandlery and is very high on a budget RIB. The tubes are made of PVC with a special Mylar coating, giving them the same life span as them much more spendy Hypalon.  I decided to give it a try, time will tell. The cool thing is I am getting a special made tank rack for the dive tanks also a Sumbrella tube cover. So we hope for years of good service from the new Grateful Diver! We head into the 2017 cruising season with sparkling new dinghy, the power of the wind and Furthur fit and ready for the new adventure! Make Your Dream Your Story Capt. Brian Calvert M/Y Furthur www.furthuradventures.com

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Seven Year Report: the Boat


Furthur hit her eleven-year birthday marking 8049 hours on the amazing Cummins QSL engine, again trouble free. With only 649 hours in the last twelve months. Now that is more than most American boats do in any year, it is a long trip to Alaska or a trip down to Mexico from Seattle.  It is our least number of hours in seven years!  This birthdate found us in the remote reaches of Indonesia, Raja Amput.  This trip was a bit grueling weather and distance wise but Furthur trucked along flawlessly.  …

Seven Year Report: the Crew

the Furthur crew crosses the Equator

the Furthur crew crosses the Equator

The Seventh year of this great adventure The found us in the wilds of Indonesia, Raja Amput on the ill-fated Rally. We had two girls on for this entire trip, two enthusiastic divers and great cooks. The girls stayed with us through the rally course and back to Samal Island. When we reached the now dismal marina the girls Our seventh year found us in the heart Raja Amput, Indonesia on

information. If it says it on a website it is true and nothing else can be. We had one chuckle over this as we headed to the most famous and spectacular area, Wayag. After a long and often exhausting voyage I was really ready to drop that hook and leave it for a week. Wayag was the ideal spot for such a reprise. The collection of small islands is just far enough that most of the livaboard dive boats do not go there. Hence the inter net information is limited. I had heard that, amongst other attractions, the area was ripe with manta rays.  One of the crew did not agree as the internet did not say so. She questioned why we would go there as –she is now emphatically pointing to her Ipad—there are only three places in Indonesia with mantas, it says so right here!  Well imagine my chagrin when we anchored and saw huge mantas leaping just feet from the boat, hahaha.

After a short stay at Samal we headed into the Pacific Ocean for the voyage back north. For the first time in seven years I could not find crew on findacrew who wanted to join us. The area was just too dangerous. I recognized this and stopped trying to recruit. We were able to pick up a couple from the marina who helped in four-day trip to Cebu.

From then on it was Donna and I as we did long day hops but no over nighters thru the islands of central Philippines. We did pick up a couple of girls short term for the rest of the season but mostly just us. 



Furthur did have one new outstanding new addition who is now a permanent part time crew member, Piam, Donna’s five-year-old son. He has taken to boat life like a duck to water, loves the dinghy, faster faster, the radio “service boat, pick up at Furthur” and is a champion of the environment, we did a daily kayak trip picking up plastic bottles. It is an absolute joy and blessing to have him on the boat and in my life. I am now Tito Brian!





None of this year would have been near as wonderful without my love, my friend, my companion and First Mate; Donna. Now 18 months with me and on the boat, she has made it her home and become invaluable help. My friend Behan from SV Totem, my family guru, says cruising life is like dog life in relationships, one year equals seven. We have been together, face to face, 24/7 for this time so I agree.  We have grown into a great team and having a blast.

Now being “a couple” has certainly changed the dynamic of my crew situation.





  With a very few exceptions Donna has bonded with the crew instantly. A couple of the gals have taught Donna to cook, one of the many things she thought not possible. Her success is evident in my expanded tummy, (more on that in a later report). Donna gave diving a good try but just did not take to it, so she has become the dinghy driver, an excellent live boat tender.  Asian girls tend not to like to swim, nor are able. Donna overcame this fear and is now able to swim a bit of distance. The list of things not natural to her that she has learned is impressive, more to come.

As we have been tied to the dock for a few months, there has been no need for crew. We will again be cruising soon and have already lined up crew for next year’s adventures. We are both eager to get back out there!!

Make Your Dream Your Story

Capt. Brian Calvert

M/Y Furthur

www.furthuradventures.com

Start your own blog now! Free!

Seven Year Report: the Crew

the Furthur crew crosses the Equator The Seventh year of this great adventure The found us in the wilds of Indonesia, Raja Amput on the ill-fated Rally. We had two girls on for this entire trip, two enthusiastic divers and great cooks. The girls staye…