Sail with Rapscallion

Posted on Nov 08 in Malaysia Exploration, Sailing, Slideby ShelynPrint

A nice sunny day today. Good day to go sailing.
My boyfriend’s friend from the club, Jeff Harris, just got his new sail boat and looking for new crew. So we were excited to invite Yew Choy and Anne to join us to sail with Rapscallion!

We arrived at the Royal Selangor Yacht Club in Port Klang at 11a.m. Jeff was already there to welcome us.

Royal Selangor Yacht Club ~ Dining Area

Don (my boyfriend) introduced us to Jeff. Jeff is a friendly energetic chap from the UK who has retired and lives in the area with his wife Cathy.

(Wow… his wife is so young and hot!)
Actually, that’s my friend Anne, my best buddy.

Soon after our introductions, we went down to the pontoon to Jeff’s boat, Rapscallion.

Jeff showed us the different parts of the boat while we were on the pontoon just before embarking. When casting off, we threw off the mooring lines to release the boat from the pontoon and pulled up the fenders that protect the boat from rubbing against other nearby objects.

Once underway, we motored out to where there was some space on the water a bit farther out from the club pontoons so that we can raise the sails. Raising the sails requires several crew members to pull on the halyard (the rope that holds the sail up).

Pulling on the ropes (or more appropriately, “lines”) sometimes requires the help of the winch. The winch is device that helps a sailor pull a line with additional strength and to maintain the tension. The picture below shows me wrapping a line around a winch manufactured by Harken. The odd-looking tool sticking out of the winch is called the “handle” which allows a sailor to turn the winch.

Helming (or driving) a boat doesn’t require a lot of special skills. Often, it is easier than driving a car because there is no foot paddle or gear shift to operate when helming. Jeff is shown below instructing Don to adjust the direction of the boat. The compass is a very important tool used by helmsmen (drivers) to navigate the boat. The compass on Rapscallion is located just in front of the wheel. That’s the black object in front of Don at the base of the wheel below.

This is the picture of Rapscallion’s mast and rigging. The mast is the long piece sticking up from the boat. It holds the sails of a boat up. The rigging is the wires that are attached to the mast and connect to the rest of the boat. The rigging helps support the mast. At the very top of the mast, you can see some small dark spots. This is the wind vane which tells us the direction of the wind. This is important for sailing.

In the Malaysian climate, sailing is a relatively simple affair when it comes to attire. The warm climate means that the temperature allows for light clothing but lots of sun protection. Typically, when sailing, one would wear a hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen for sun protection. A simple t-shirt and shorts with comfortable athletic (or boat) shoes would do. The only additional piece of equipment that an everyday person in Malaysia may not have for sailing is a pair of gloves. Although there are gloves made for sailing, a simple pair of gardening or weightlifting gloves is sufficient for casual sailing. When not sailing in a race, Don often uses a regular pair of weightlifting gloves, shown below. Gloves protect from ropeburn. This is when there is too much friction against the skin when pulling on a line or if when a rope slips when a sailor is holding it.

This picture shows me endorsing a familiar sports drink on this blog! Drinking enough fluids is importnt when out on the water. It’s hot and since we’re having fun, it’s a great idea to bring some cold drinks and even snacks. You can see that I am wearing a pair of gardening gloves. We just cut off the glove fingers to allow my fingers to be able to feel but still protect my hand.

We sailed around the harbour for a couple of hours. The water around Port Klang is surrounded by various dockyards (North Port, West Port, and South Port). We usually sail in the vicinity of North Port. We did not see much on the water this time around but sometimes, quite rarely, one can see dolphins. Don has seen them once or twice in the past. After sailing a bit we headed back to the clubhouse.

This is me and Anne having a photo op on the foredeck (front) of Rapscallion. The sail right above us is the foresail. It is furled (rolled in) at this point because we are already on the way back and are about to moor at the clubhouse. The white-roofed clubhouse can be seen off in the distance behind Anne.

We had a wonderful experience sailing on Rapscallion. The weather was pleasant, the wind was blowing, and everybody was in good spirits.

Special thanks to Anne for snapping more than 100 photos so I have photos to show here in my blog, and appreciation to Don for being my technical consultant in writing this post.

For those who are interested in sailing, leave your message here. We can arrange the sailing with the boat’s owners.

4 Comments

• Zues says:

  November 11, 2008 at 5:57 pm

  HOw nice! i LIKE your life style!!!
• TOLANIC.com says:

  April 25, 2009 at 11:06 am

  Superb! What a very interesting activity!
• Ka Ticket says:

  May 22, 2010 at 6:41 am

  hello!, thanks for the info, this post was really nice.
• SaraGreenwich says:

  July 14, 2010 at 3:24 pm

  I’m really to be finally posting online after all these years. There really is no mystery about it, is there? I just dropped by your blog and had to write. I’m a recent college grad, journalism major if you must know, and I love photography. I’ve got my website up but it’s nothing to boast about yet. None of my stuff’s been posted. Soon as I figure out how to do that, I’ll spend the day posting my best shots. anyhow just thought I’d drop a line. I hope to return with more substantial stuff, stuff you can actually use. SPG

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