Kudat Haul Out

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Kudat Marina(Small)

One of the worst places to haul a yacht out of the water is at Serangan, south east Bali. Avoid that place at all cost. It is expensive and the operators are pirates. But just 1,200 sailing miles to the north, on the north end of Borneo, is the small Malaysian city Kudat. In the well protected, but small, harbor is the Marina Jetty, Kudat. The marina has comfortable docking but very limited power plug ins on the two docks. Water on the dock is free and safe to drink without adding chlorine. The normally expected shower amenities and a small restaurant are in the two story facilities building. https://www.facebook.com/Marina-Jetty-Kudat-506851892774691/ It is a 20 minute walk into town. This is not a modern city like Kota Kinabalu or Miri but rather “traditional”. A bicycle is a big help for getting around but stand by the road and very soon a person in a private vehicle will stop to take you into town for R2 (U.S. 50cents).TravelLift

Next to the marina is a military contingent with plenty of small patrol boats. When we were there, well armed men, dressed in black and flack jackets toting M-16s made daily trips along the coast and did not return for 3-4 hours. A much larger Coast Guard boat left the harbor about every other day but always returned the same day. So even though the Philippines are only 70 miles to the north, where the bad guys live, we felt safe in the harbor of Kudat. The east coast of Borneo is also a no go zone for yachts.

We actually came to Kudat for the haul out facilities called Penuwasa Sdn.Bhd. penuwasa@gmail.com . A lot of heavy wood Philippine fishing boats come here to haul out so the Travel-Lift has to be big. It has a capacity of 150 tons and can take a boat 26’ wide so most catamarans are not a problem. In January, 2016, the lifting straps were nearly new and quite the overkill for a 14ton sailboat. They used far more straps than necessary doubled over or, on some sailboats, set side by side. This was one time I had no worries about our boat being dropped. The Travel-Lift is so big, we did not have to remove the head stay. To service the bent prop shafts and torn up propellers of the fishing boats, there is a full machine shop with 304 and 316 stainless available. If they are to busy to take care of your little job there is another machine shop about 2 miles away. IMG_0451 (Small)

To support boats on the hard, they use big concrete blocks which are normally used to build sea walls. Set with a forklift in 4 spots, large wood wedges are then driven between the hull and concrete to support the boat. Two wedges are used at each block support so when painting or sanding is done, one wedge can be removed at a time.IMG_0499

They have a real pressure washer to clean the hull. To get the pressure up they use a zero degree rotating tip and it does a good job.IMG_0348

For our 40’ sailboat, It cost us $250 for the haul and relaunch plus $15 per day to be on the hard, including electricity. We were stored in the dirt area which made cleanup not a question. We just picked up sanding discs, plastic etc although the Philippine fishermen seemed to have a competition who could leave the biggest and best scattered trash behind.

There is a concrete area a boat can be stored on and that cost $25 per day which can be a big advantage in the rainy season.

Each hauled boat is assigned their own shower/bathroom space with a lockable door. But the block of bathrooms assigned to the concrete area are much larger and better decorated than those used by the dirt area. The function is the same but the larger bathrooms do afford a degree of off the boat storage.

The Helper labor rates run R60 per day equals U.S. $15. About the same as at Vuda Point, Fiji.

This is what the yard charges for their help and they pay the help around $10 per day. We hired an “outside” helper and ended up paying the yard a small amount per day. We paid our helper Wan the full $15 plus several sodas during the day. Since he was there, Wan was gifted a lot of clothes, tools, and odds and ends which were no longer needed on Brick House. Wan made out quite well for himself.

Like anywhere, you have to tell the help that since they are working for a European, 8AM means 8AM, not ten after and quitting time is 5: not 4:30 or 4:45. Our man Wan understood this and did a fine job for us for the month we were hauled out. We expected him to work 7 days a week and most weeks he did.   Be sure to supply safety equipment for your helpers, Tyvek suite, respirators, safety glasses, ear plugs etc. We gave all that equipment to Wan when we were relaunched. IMG_0363

One of the best things about hauling in Kudat is that the haul out facility is not there to pounce on your wallet at every opportunity. After setting our boat on the hard, I finally decided the aft keel support needed to be moved 18” forward. It took 5 of their men, hydraulic jacks and a forklift, to do the work but there was no extra charge. And if you are launched and find there is a leak or other problem which means you have to be set back on the hard, all is done at a reduced rate.

Polyester resin and some epoxy resin is available plus cloth and painting supplies are available at the chandlery but it is far better to bring all supplies with you.

If needed, we would travel a long way, out of our way, to haul again in Kudat.IMG_0567

      The ladies in the office who keep things running.

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Survivor!

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Tiga Island. “Survivor Beach” is just to the right of the north central hump.
I only watched the first episode of that silly TV show “Survivor” because Richard Hatch was a contestant. He lived not far away from us in Middletown, RI. It was filmed on Tiga Island, off the north west Borneo Coast. He went on to win the show and the million dollar prize. But not paying income tax on his winning landed him in court. Hatch was to find BSing on a TV show is quite different from trying to BS a real judge. Off to jail he went for a new survivor adventure.

We stopped at Tiga Island. In Malay and Indonesian, “tiga” means the number 3. Locally, the island has more recently been referred to as “Survivor Island”. In reality, Tiga Island is not very remote. The large city of Kota Kinabalu is less than 30 miles away and less than 10 miles away are a number of towns all with boats to run tourists out to Tiga for a day trip or a multi overnight stay.

All of Tiga Island is a national park. On the south side is a government operated hotel. A short walk along that south beach takes you to a commercially operated resort. While the “survivors” were dropped off by boat on the north shore to make it appear that this is a remote part of Borneo,   200 production crew stayed at the comfortable resort while additional Malay workers stayed in bungalows at the park facilities. It is about a 15 minute walk from the resort, north on a jungle trail to get to “survivor beach”.

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Unless the producers had a special arrangement with the Park Service, it is punishable by heavy fine and jail time to destroy any trees or kill any animals. Hmmm “Survivor, Malay Prison” could be an interesting game….Even one practiced in survival skills might find it difficult to live off the land on Tiga Island. There are no indigenous coconut palms and only one seasonal fruit that grows on trees. Other than some small chameleon lizards, there are a few macaque monkeys and some birds living on land. Food gathering would be extremely difficult. We swam the coastal waters around Tiga; fish life is sparse. On shore there is no fresh surface water. One could possibly dig a well.  For water, the production crew dug a pit in the jungle and lined it with plastic then carried in containers of fresh water to fill it.  Apparently there was a map that if the Survivors could read it, they would find the water pit.  During filming, the island was closed to tourists for 6 months. Police boats kept the curious and deep water fishermen out of filming view. After the filming of Survivor, a British filming crew showed up to do their Survivor series.PICT4221 (Small)

 

That was all just a hokey game show. The frightening thing, in an area on the east coast of Borneo and especially in the southern Philippines, just to the north of Borneo, a real life and death “survivor” takes place every day. There is no BS and the play is ruthless.

The attack we are familiar with came near 11:30 on the evening of 22 Sept 2015, two Canadian cruisers, a Philippina, and the best marina manager in the world, who is originally from Norway, were herded up the floating dock ramp as they were taken hostage by the Abu Sayyaf group (now formally members of IS) at the Holiday Ocean View Marina, on Samal Island near Davao City, the second largest city in the Philippines. All four are now being held for millions of dollars of ransom in the remote jungles of “Oriental province, a hotbed of Maoist and Islamic rebels.”

We had spent months tied to a dock at Holiday Ocean View Marina.   It was always thought to be a very safe place. There is a young pistol toting guard at the head of the road leading into the marina and another armed guard near the docks. Other than keeping out a late night local crook, we never could really see much use for the guards. But then came the overwhelming force of bad guys toting weapons flooding onto the dock where Brick House was once tied…we had departed nearly a year before. Our American dock mate, and his Japanese wife, bravely fought off the bad guys but wound up at the local hospital to sew their head wounds together. Other friends defied the bad guys and were aided by their two wildly barking dogs so the bandits did not come onto their boat. The thieves were in a rush and took people they conveniently grabbed out of their bunks. This is a link to a report and security video of the abduction: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/canadians-abducted-philippines-1.3237997   . Although we have friends who are still at that marina, we have changed our mind and will not be returning to explore that area of the Philippines.

 

 

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Rebecca, Our German Friend, and our Swiss friend, Claudia. The three sailed Our Friend’s boat a long way into safer waters.
On the northern end of Borneo while Brick House was hauled out of the water in the city of Kudat, we met a women who just a year previous was released as a hostage in the south west Philippines. At the time we promised not to mention her name on the internet as once a paid ransom secures your release (nobody knows if one was actually paid), but if so,  you become that much more valuable as a second time recycled hostage. The bad guys will troll the internet looking for people to capture or recapture.  Kudat is only 70 miles to the south of the Philippines. Our Friend has long departed the area on her sailboat so now we can safely speak about her ordeal. But her74 year old cruising partner is still in Germany, much much older and very traumatized.

She and her cruising husband, both Germans, were quietly anchored in a bay south of Puerto Princessa in the southern Philippines, when one evening they were overwhelmed by a boat load of men wearing T-shirts with “Police” emblazoned across the chest. They were held for 6 months before the German government paid a 5 million dollar ransom. The bad guys traveled 300 miles to snag their captives then returned to their stronghold of Jolo Island in the south west Philippines. A German publisher has orchestrated a ghost writer to put Our friend’s account into a book, to be published this year. http://www.dw.com/en/german-hostages-freed-in-the-philippines/a-18002313

There is a B grade movie you can watch on iflix or maybe Netflix, called “Captive”. According to our new German friend, it is a very accurate representation. Our Friend commented that our captured Ocean View Marina friends in the Philippines are most likely experiencing the same thing she and her husband experienced, and the same thing that this movie depicts.

We are often asked about pirates. So far nothing has been stolen from our boat although we know others who have had big losses. So now we know people who have been hostages and people who still are. Hauling out in Kudat, Malaysia, on the north coast of Borneo, put us within striking distance of the bad guys from the south west Philippines. But in the harbor at Kudat is a military and Coast Guard outpost. The patrol boats go out often, at all hours of the day, so we felt somewhat safe there. Still, we felt much safer once Brick House had put a distance on and retraced our steps down the coast.

So now Brick House is in good sailing shape to continue on to Peninsular Malaysia then Thailand. But now I have a medical snag of needing a root canal. That will hold us up for several more weeks in the city of Kota Kinabalu. But since MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) endoscopies and other medical work cost about 1/3 as much as in the U.S. we will take the opportunity to treat our health as good as we treat Brick House before pressing on to areas where the natives come to us looking for medical supplies and treatment.

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The Big Bamboo Race

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1) Intro cropped
The sea faring crew.

The small advertisement in the Kuching newspaper grabbed us. On 16 August, there would be the annual 26 km bamboo raft race sponsored by the Padawan Municipal Council in conjunction with the Ministry of Tourism Malaysia and other agencies. Since we have nautical experience, it seemed like a fun way to spend a Saturday so my wife and I teamed up with our American sailing friends, Bruce and Alene. The four of us arrived in Malaysia on our own two yachts after sailing away from the shores of the U.S. over 8 years ago. For all of us, Malaysia was a highly recommended, a must see, country.

As we have traveled the world’s oceans, we have seen plenty of bamboo. Bamboo is a hyper sized grass which grows mostly in the tropics but extends its range well off the equator as far north as Bristol, Rhode Island, U.S.A.. In Rhode Island, bamboo can be a nuisance weed or a landscapers 20’ tall visual block. In the tropics, it is used as a structural column, container to carry water or cooked food, split length wise to make a floor covering or shaped into hunting tools, …..you name it. For many of us tourists, large diameter sections of bamboo, lashed together, would become our sport mobile, our competitive raft on a muddy river for one of our most fun days in Malaysia.

In a rented car, we explored our way from Santubong, where our floating homes were anchored, to the Padawan town hall, command central for the big event. There were printed rules and an orientation to attend and a fee to be paid. Some experienced rafters take the event very seriously and construct their own raft to enter in the “Expert” division. Those rafts are crafted with smooth skin bamboo, a raked front entry and other streamlining features finished with a perfect paint job. It is required to have four people per raft, no more. To cross the finish line with only 3 on board is frowned upon and disqualifies the team from any prize potential. Sailing the oceans on a seaworthy yacht, we were to find out, has little in common with commanding a water level raft down a river and through white water rapids. We entered the amateur “Hotels and Tour Agencies” division. Like most participants, we paid a private contractor to construct our racing machine.

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Here’s a fast one!

Warming up to the anxiety of competition, we arrived early in the morning of race day at the staging area, of the Sungai Sarawak Kiri (River Sarawak Left), to inspect the fine points of construction in the stack of rafts made by our nautical supplier. Like most other rafts, they were all rudimentary, freshly chopped down green sections of 4cm diameter bamboo all lashed together with the engineering idea of hopefully sticking together long enough to get to the finish line. It was appearing speed in this race had many motivations. We were supplied with long skinny bamboo poles which would reach bottom in most of the river but as advised, we brought our own paddles. A little food, cameras and small bottles of water were stowed in dry bags and securely lashed to our floating sled with twine which would just slip between the gaps in the bamboo sections.

3) Waiting for the start.
Somehow, everyone was able to leave in their numbered sequence for the start of the race.

It was not a LaMans start. Each crew had its own number/color coded banner to display for a sequenced start. The “Women’s” group of competitors started first then our “Hotels and Tour Agencies” followed by “Government Agencies”. Further up river was the starting line for the “Men Open” and “Expert” teams.

Besides our “Team U.S.A.” , there was another international contingent from South Africa. This top notch looking group of aquatic athletes would be starting just behind our number. But the four crew were solid oversized men who looked like Navy Seal or Special Forces. Their large beer cooler and good humor is what was barely keeping their skinny diameter bamboo raft from fully submerging. Certainly they needed two rafts stacked on top of each other. Shortly after the start and around the first bend of swift water, their awash raft no longer seemed a competitive worry for us.

4) We pass and get passed
We passed a few rafts.

Being novices at this new sort of competition, it took work to get our paddling coordinated and keep one of the fronts rather than the side of the raft moving in the lead down stream. But Bruce was at the steering paddle in the stern yelling the commands to his hard working crew, Alene, Rebecca and I. “And remember, as they said in the movie Ben Heir, “The only reason you are alive is to serve this ship!” And a happy ship it was, carrying us down a valley of beautiful scenery. In tight river bends, to avoid shallows or small rock islands, I was the pole man to push across the river bottom where the paddles against water did not give enough bite. As we saw rafts do full circle turns in the faster current, or make a bad route decision and become stranded in thin bubbling water or overturned in deeper, we thought it most prudent to work harder at simply not making mistakes. So we settled back and let the current do most of the work for us as we concentrated on navigating a good route.

5) Eyeing a good route. PICT3976
Keeping a sharp eye for the best route through the shallows and around midstream rocks.

We passed a few rafts. But both of the Air Malaysia raft crews, also in the “Hotel and Tour Agencies” division, passed us. It was obvious they were experienced bambooers. There was no hope for us to not let all the “Professional” division crews from outpacing our generic creation. Those crews had fully synchronized powerful paddle strokes or if the crews used the bamboo poles, they used full reach leverage and on the aft water exit, used time saving twirling pole movements to bring the pole forward again. Anytime a raft machine from any division jockeyed into a new position, there was always a fun, encouraging, conversation in the passing.

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Some rafts had hidden inboard engines.

After 4 hours on the river and clothes thoroughly soaked, “Team U.S.A” spread a wake across the finish line, in the middle of the pack. The lashings on our race machine held together but our platform was sloshing a bit lower than at the start. Our hearts had become attached to our able craft, our bundle of bamboo, our river yacht, but reluctantly we beached it on the river bank so it could be stacked with the others.

The awards ceremony filled the town hall at the finish line; speeches and much applause. All of us who did not pick up a trophy still went away winners. It isn’t from just this one fun day and the Malaysians we got to play with, all of Malaysia is proving to be our favorite place in the world.

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