s/v Sansiri is a 1990 Tripp 40 sailboat, purchased in Hawaii by a group of people in Taiwan. I was hired in January 2015 to be Captain on this delivery with two other crew for the approx. 4800 NM voyage from Honolulu to Guam, Guam to Okinawa, Okinawa to Keelung and Keelung down the coast to Tainan, Taiwan. Crew on this voyage were Zach Rice and Jim Moore, who all met and trained together a week before the voyage.
s/v Sansiri is a race boat, not necessarily designed for comfort or ease of operation, the boat steers with a tiller, which we attached a tiller pilot autopilot system. We also installed s/v Gemini’s trusty WindPilot self steering gear for this trip, which we shipped back from Taiwan at the end of the delivery.
The voyage started off from Hawaii is windy and rainy conditions but after a few days calmed down and maintained mostly easy conditions for the first 27 day leg to Guam. The boat sailed fast, however the autopilot failed early, which luckily the windvane worked and allowed the crew to rest on a regular basis. One problem we had on the first leg was the overboard discharge was stopped and didn’t allow the use of the head. We had to shit in a bucket until we got to Okinawa, hauled out and discovered that the previous racer owners glassed over the thru hull for the head! Shitting in a bucket is easier than it sounds though, just make sure you put water in the bucket before you do your business.
The stop over in Guam was short but nice and we had a crew change there, with Jim swapping out for Paul Patry from Okinawa. Our friends Tony and Susanne hosted us in Guam and let us borrow their Jeep which was really nice. Jim flew home and the next leg was fast, had lots of dolphins riding with the boat for the first two days which you could hear their clicks and whistles through the thin hull which was really cool. Our arrival in Okinawa was cold and rainy but awesome to see Okinawa again. We were able to haul out and met one of the owners who wasn’t happy to learn about the head situation, but we fixed it.
The leg from Okinawa to Keelung, Taiwan was just me and Zach. On day two of the 3 day passage from Okinawa to Taiwan we passed the Senkaku islands during daylight and observed 6 patrol vessels from the Chinese and Japanese Coast Guards skirmishing and arguing over VHF. At one point, two of the vessels, one Chinese followed by one Japanese Coast Guard turned and approached us. The Chinese Coast Guard hailed us and demanded that we acknowledge that we were in Chinese waters (we were not) and followed us all the way to Taiwan with the Japanese Coast Guard following. It was a very tense situation!
Once we arrived in Keelung, Bisha Harbor, we were met by the owners of the boat, who couldn’t help us take care of entry formalities for us like I had done with two previous Taiwan deliveries. Instead we were instructed by them to sail to Keelung Main harbor- the commercial and military port which we didn’t think we had clearance for. Sure enough, as we entered Keelung Harbor we were met by the Taiwanese police and escorted to the main public wharf, on a Sunday afternoon in front of a crowd of thousands of people. Crazy experience, which ended up being like a rockstar welcoming. Entry procedures were taken care of and preps for the next final leg with Zach and one of the owners, Peter.
The last leg from Keelung to Tainan was tricky as there was no wind and we had to motor against a fierce 5+ knot current which burned all our fuel and we ended up practically running out before we got to Tainan! We had to hail a passing fishing boat and trade money and beer for a can of diesel off shore on the way. Got into port safely, turned over the boat and explored beautiful (Formosa) Taiwan!
