cruiser news issue 08

Triumph Out Of Disaster

Maiden Voyage Part Two

Lane All

Souls

Regatta

2005

Triumph Out Of Disaster

Maiden Voyage Part Two

Lane All

Souls

Regatta

2005

©The Cruising Yacht Club

of the Philippines

Issue 8, 06

Commodore's Letter

PGYC Board of DirectorsCommodore: Jurgen Langemeier

Rear Commodores: Mike Tucker, PeterStevens

Treasurer: Graeme GilbertDirectors: Alan Burrell, Carl Broqvist,

Martyn Willes, Steve PikeSecretary: Carlos Garcia

PGYC VÜâ|áxÜ axãá, Issue 8, ‘06 3

Philippine Copyright © 2003 - 05 byThe Puerto Galera Yacht Club, Inc.

All rights reserved.

ContentsCommodore’s Letter 3Boats with a Past:

The Bogeyman’s Boat 4Seen on our Moorings 6PG Nature: Collared Kingfisher 8Maiden Voyage Part Two

Engines and Ensigns 9Small Boats: Happy Birthday

Puerto Galera 12Lane All Souls Regatta 2005 14Anchors and Rum 18Triumph Out of Disaster 21Yacht Friendly Moorings 23

ProductionSales & Distribution: Aireen

Alejandro (PG), Martyn Willes (Allother Locations)

Design: Terry Duckham/Asiapix StudiosLayout: Aira Fernando/Asiapix Studios

Front Cover : Terry DuckhamSpecial Thanks: Martyn Willes

Cruiser News is published byPuerto Galera Yacht Club Inc.,

P.O.Box 30450 Sto Niño,Puerto Galera, Mindoro, Philippines

Tel / Fax : 63 (043) 442-0136Email: [email protected]

www.pgyc.org

Looking back over the past year, I am proud to announce, that we haveachieved our goal to be “The Cruising Yacht Club of the Philippines”!

We have hosted two major sailing events: The Easter Regatta and All SoulsRegatta, this time combined with a Jazz Festival and well covered by TV and otherMedia. Up to 20 boats participated in the race and a few hundred persons attendedthe various post race parties, enjoying the fun and entertainment.

Another success story was the completion of our 10 Lawin Dinghies and startof a Sail Training Program last August. It culminated with an impressive sailingdemonstration by 18 Scholarship Students during the Puerto Galera Town Festivalin December.

I also want to report on some other club developments:

• The construction of the Storage Room extension, combined with a Staff LivingQuarter, was started in November, completion is scheduled for late January.

• Discussions with interested parties to take over our Food and BeverageOrganization are ongoing and our target is to present positive results by early nextyear.

• The Committee for Club Expansion is gathering ideas related to future (next 5years) needs of the Club. A summary together with a layout proposal was bepresented at our Annual General Meeting.

The incessant work of some Directors of the Board and Members, whostepped in to assist when help was needed, as well as the generous financialcontributions from the main sponsor of our Small Boat Program and donationsfrom various Members made it possible to realize the above mentioned projects andevents.

I would like to thank the TEAM and Sponsors for their help to make this year agood one.

My best wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year for all of you.

A warm welcome to our New Members:• Geoffrey B. Cannell • Sean Manley

Fair winds,

Jurgen LangemeierCommodore

Copy deadline for next issue?????

call (63)043-2873019 mobile: (63)0919-3970811


BOATS WITH A PAST:

THE BOGEYMAN’S BOATBy Martyn Willes

Sitting at Vasco’s Bar & Grill the other day thesubject turned to the old wooden hull perchedprecariously on the end of the pier.

“What was it and where did it come from?” I askedVasco’s owner, Old-PG-Hand Brian Homan.

“Ah!” he said as he sat lazily in his chair, one hand raisedto eye level with a knowing finger pointing to the Gods, “that is

the boat of the bogeyman.”

“The Bogeyman!” I exclaimed. I took another glance at the boatand concluded, quite rightly I thought, that the boat wascertainly not small enough to sail in or out of the bogeyman’straditional realm – under my bed.

Brian pushed his arms forward using a classic Tommy Coopergesture and said, “Not a lot of people know that”.

Continued on page 7

I laughed at the memory, but Brian was only using themomentum to bring himself upright so that he could turn andface me more easily. His expression now more impish, heproceeded to enlighten me about the true origins of the“Bogeyman” and the very real people who inadvertentlyspawned the myth that has traveled across the seven seas.

According to Brian the original bogeymen (for there weremany thousands of them) came from South Sulawesi. They werefishermen and traders, and sometimes pirates. “Tall andhandsome with clear complexions” They were the Buginesepeoples who can trace their origins back to the creation of theworld.

Long before the Chinese, Dutch, British, Portuguese andthe Spanish came to trade in the spice islands, the Buginese weretrading throughout the Indonesian archipelago.

Buginese ships have always been built of the finest teakand other exotic hardwoods; designed to withstand the vagaries

of the alternating tropicalmonsoon and typhoonseasons. Known as Phinisi,the construction methodsare steeped in tradition andmystic ritual. Their raisond’être was fishing andtrade.

When the Chinese andEuropean trading shipsfinally discovered the SpiceIslands, some of theBuginese discovered thatthere was less effortinvolved in taking goodsfrom someone who hadalready purchased it thanto go through the arduousprocess of barter andnegotiation. As aconsequence evenlegitimate Buginese traderswere frequently labeled aspirates and treated with

caution whenever their distinctive ships were seen on thehorizon or entering a port.

In what is now Singapore, for example, the Buginese hadtheir own trading dock and in the same way the Chinese tradersin Manila were “encouraged” (through the discriminatoryactions of the Spanish overlords) to trade only from SangleyPoint in Manila Bay, the Buginese were “encouraged” to tradefrom the area that became known as Bugis wharf and later Bugis

Seen on our Moorings

PGYC VÜâ|áxÜ axãá, Issue 8, ‘066

By Mike Tucker8 December 2005

It's been raining for the last few days. Goodfor the trees but not so pleasant for the cruisingboats in the harbour. There has also been a 'brownout' in my part of town for the last 20 hours! But atleast I have a generator. Well there has to be adownside to living on 'One of the Most BeautifulBays of the World'.

Since I last put my fingers on the keyboard to write thisseries we have seen quite a fleet in our little harbour, with themoorings and nearby Boquete Bay almost overflowing sinceSeptember. Some of the most notable:

'Columbus' is an 39 foot Adams with our old cruisingfriends Trish & Fritz. Unfortunately they had an engineproblem, which meant taking the cylinder head to Batangasfor attention. Now all is repaired and they are on the moveagain.

'Jipz Rose', a Baba 35 designed by Bob Perry andowned American Bill Wiggins, is en route to Honolulu afterhaving a bottom job at Watercraft Ventures in Subic Bay.

'Alma's Gift', an Island Packet 40 with Americanowner and new club member 'Ed’ Gebele, arrived to makePuerto Galera her Philippine base.

'Talio', a 36-foot steel Herreshoff design, owned HebeHaven Yacht Club member Jonathan King, with wife Liz andfamily sailing west to Singapore and then on to the Saltash,

Devon, UK, via the Red Searoute.

'Mariposa', a Germanregistered 42 footer, withowner Rolf and Uta Leffin, ison its way to Bonbonon insouthern Negros.

David Shepherd with his bigAdams 54, 'SoutherlyChange', and Australianfamily returned to PuertoGalera for a visit and stayedlong enough to join in thisyear’s All Souls Regatta.

'Aragon' (formerlyHarmonia) returned to PuertoGalera after a big steelrefurbishment in Subic Bayand will continue her refit herewith local craftsmen. We hopeto see more of Gundolf Ahrensin the future. Unfortunatelyengine problems almost meant

having to miss the Friday Night BBQ until a banka tow wastaken.

Frequent visitor 'China Rose' popped in again. Whilehere her quick thinking boatmen gave Sebastian Bried's'Akela' a pull off after she touched bottom and was quicklypushed sideways by the wind. A rising tide saved the day andno damaged was done to boat or the corals.

'Warrawilla', another Adams designed 42 footer, withBritish owner Paul Caine is on the way from Hong Kong toEurope.

Hans and Mariet Van Der Sluijs collected 'Alexandra'well pleased with the attention the boat received from the localboatman in their absence. They have now departed for SubicBay and onwards to Hong Kong.


Boat with a past......continued from page 5

Interested in cruising on abogeyman’s boat?

Contact: Dwi Setijo Widodo,SEA TREK Sailing Adventures,

Jl. Danau Tamblingan 77,Sanur 80228, Bali-Indonesia,

+62 361 283 192,[email protected],

www.anasia-cruise.com

Street. But I skipped the important bit. Where did the term“bogeyman” come from?

While pirating around the Malacca’s they wouldfrequently lose a man or two during conflicts over ownership ofsomeone else’s cargo and would need to replenish their numberbefore entering the next conflict. So when restocking with freshprovisions from a town or village the Burgis would keep aweather eye peeled for potential new (typically young) crewmembers, based upon the latter’s prowess in swimming orrunning along the beaches. They would interview thesecandidates for employment just before setting sail and should acandidate decline a life of swashbuckling camaraderie at sea, theBugis would simply carry them aboard, bound hand and foot.

Of course, once word of this method of crew selectionand employment got around it became incumbent upon parentsto encourage their offspring to stay away from the beaches andpreferably remain indoors whenever a Bugis boat anchored inthe vicinity. One can also imagine how useful the presence ofthe Bugis boats was to enforce certain disciplines on errantchildren.

When the various foreign traders started arriving in theRegion the Bugis rubbed their hands with glee for they now hada new crop of unwitting recruits who had no prior knowledge ofthe Buginese way.

The stories eventually travelled the winds and tides backto Europe and the continent’s parents, seeking a new and more

scarifying inducement to curtail youthful exuberance, elevatedthe Bogeyman (Bugis-man) to urban legend status.

Of import in the Bogeyman’s longevity as a deterrentagainst juvenile disobedience was the word’s similarity in soundto other words that were already in use in various Europeancountries that had even more sinister or devilish connotationand imagery. Thus, it's apparent that the Bugis-man stories asemployers of the less than willing blended with the Europeanevil-spirited imagery to create the boogieman and (in theSouthern U.S.) boogerman or buggabear; he is known toGermans as Boggelmann, to the Irish as bocan, to the Scottishas boggart and bogle, and to Icelanders as the linguisticallyrelated puki.

What of the other famed attractions of Bugis Street inSingapore’s more recent past? (Bugis Street was once known forparades of transvestites and ‘bakla’) The epic and very ancientBuginese poem 'I La Galigo' offers an exposé of indigenoustransgender characters and transvestites, which are part of theBugis belief in five genders (masculine and feminine men,feminine and masculine women and priests incorporatingcharacteristics of both) – the basis for much of their belief in self.

Make no mistake, the Buginese were and are noteffeminate in any respect. In addition to their famed skills inhand-to-hand combat they are also credited by some as thecreator of the Lantaka deck mounted gun which kept many aPortuguese men-o-war at bay. But more on the Lantaka inanother issue.

It is still possible to commission modern versions of theBuginese Phinisi, fitted out as luxury sailing yachts, but the

buyer must usually be very patient-- there is only one right time tofell the tree used for the keel andthere are so many days for workbetween each celebration of anancient god or goddess or, anIslamic holy day. One fineexample a Phinisi, complete withtraditional black sails, is depictedhere (the Katharina); she isavailable for charter through SeaTrek Sailing Adventures, Bali.


PG Nature:

Collared Kingfisher.

(Todiramphus chloris)By Peter Stevens

Here it is at last, although it only just crept inover the temptation to include something exoticfrom my recent trip to the jungles of Sabah, NorthBorneo. Perhaps more of that another time or space.

The more observant of you will also notice that thescientific name of good old Collared Kingfisher has changedfrom the evocative Halcyon to the almost unpronounceableTodiramphus. I much preferred the old name, which was abird said by the Ancient Greeks to nest on the water and to

charm the wind and waves into calm for that purpose. Goodname for a yacht, that.

Worldwide there are 86 kingfisher species, most ofwhich are tropical. North America has many wonderful birdsbut only one species of kingfisher, the Belted, which is aboring grey and white (with a tad of brown). Who could livein a country with only one kingfisher? The Philippines, onthe other hand, has a magnificent 15 species, 6 of which areendemic, and all are beautifully coloured and very sexy.Despite the name, very few kingfishers actually live exclusivelyon fish. Many live in forests and eat bugs and things. Theyalso range in size from the sublime 12 cm/5 inches of our ownPhilippine Dwarf Kingfisher to the stupendous 46cm/18inches of the Giant Kingfisher of Africa.

So what do we know about Todiramphus chloris, apartfrom the fact that it wakes me most mornings at some horriblehour with it’s harsh ka ka ka ka ka call? Firstly, it has a hugerange, from the shores of the Red Sea all the way to India,throughout Asia, on to northern Australia and through to thePacific islands of Samoa. There are 50 different races of thespecies through this range, which vary slightly in size andcolour.

Some of these are restricted to mangroves (hence it’sother name – Mangrove Kingfisher) and others are commonin gardens and woodlands.

Of all the kingfishers in the Philippines it is by far themost common and conspicuous. It can be found on exposedreefs (i.e. sitting in that lone mangrove tree near Asia Divers), totowns and open country, where it will often be found sitting onpower lines. One place that you are not likely to find it is in theforest (if you can find any forest!). As expected from its extensiverange, it has a very varied diet, including fish and crabs to lizardsand grasshoppers. It nests in excavated holes in termite mounds,road cuts or stream banks and breeds in April and May.

So, there you have it at last. From Muscat to Micronesia– Halcyon chloris – keep an eye out for him on your travels.


MAIDEN VOYAGE Part

Two – Engines and

EnsignsBy Debbie Barber

This second and final part of CherlyRamalho’s maiden voyage as skipper of her yachtFeisty Lady, documented by enthusiastic crewwoman Debbie, sees them leave Pandan Islandintent upon diving on the amazing Apo Reef andthen sailing on to Maricaban Bay, Busuanga.

Friday 21st - Day 46.50 a.m: Kapitana Veggie Lessie, Eddie, and I bid

farewell to Pandan. Eddie getsthe mainsail up and I nar-rowly avoid being garroted bya reefing line.

Last night as welounged on our respective sailbags discussing single-handedand long haul ocean trips. It’sincredible, that in previoustimes Columbus, Magellan orany of the others managed toget between two placeswithout running aground,starving to death or beingpoisoned by rotten food.

Our aim today is ApoIsland. Tomorrow we shouldmeet the guys from MariposaDiving and join them for twodives on the reef.

12.30 p.m: We arriveat Apo Reef. We go over towhere the mooring buoys are, but there is a bit of a swell, soMon Capitan takes the executive decision to relocate into thelagoon for safety.

I head below to prepare lunch and after lunch, siesta.When we awake, the wind has picked up a little and the sea isbecoming a bit choppy. Cancel the idea of a swim.

After supper the wind is getting stronger. I try to raiseeveryone’s spirits with a bit of a singsong… Ging gang goolie

goolie goolie goolie watcha ging gang goo, andKum-bay-ar

The wind seems to have turned. When westopped we were facing the lighthouse, now it isbehind us. Mon Capitan is concerned about seaconditions. I try to reassure her, “Worse thingshappen at sea”, “We are at sea”, she says.Hmmm.

The decision is made to depart Apo at firstlight and get the hell out of there. Bed at 9 p.m.

Saturday 22nd - Day 5Eddie was put on anchor watch and the

GPS alarm set to pick up any unplannedmovement. I wake up some time in the earlyhours of the morning, sea and wind deadlycalm, spooky. Awake again, alarms sounding,

muffled voices of Capt’n and first mate, padding about onbare feet. I figure that if they need me or we are to abandonship they will call me, so I stay snug in my bunk.

The Capt’n commented, that maybe I am the Jonah,fated never to dive Apo Reef, this being my third failedattempt to dive here.

We are out of the reef, sails up, motor running tocharge the batteries. Then the engine makes a funny noise, we


smell burning rubber, and the fan belt is broken. We have twospares and fit a new one and off we go doing five knots. Then,the engine coughs and dies. Then, the wind dies. We are nowmanaging a pitiful 1.3 knots with a one-knot current runningthe wrong way. Kapitana shows concern, but not outright panic.Dirty fuel is pronounced as the problem and it is confirmed bydiesel samples from the engine. Solution – clean the filter andbleed the fuel lines. Never fear, out comes “Diesel EngineMaintenance” full of clear instructions, nice diagrams, butnothing seems to relate to the Feisty Lady’s engine.

Hawkeye Ramalho spots a blip in the distance; myopicme sees nothing. “What’s that Eddie?” she cries, trying to keepthe tremor out of her voice. “Fishing boat” pronounces theRock. Aha! Next thing our intrepid Captain is stationed onthe forepeak signaling wildly with a brightly coloured sarong.Since the Captain is purported to be a vegetarian lesbian andnot a former Girl Scout, she must have learnt the sarongsemaphore technique during her South Sea cruises. TheTahitians are known to be very adept in the use of signalsarongs and it has been suggested that the use of letter flags bythe Royal Navy was devised after a tour of inspection in thePacific Ocean.

Having finished with the retrieval of their nets thefishing boat motors over. With Eddie acting as interpreter,

they ascertain that we are not sirens, or pirates intent onlooting their fish, and they do indeed know Maricaban Bay.We ask if they would tow us there and how much? We bar-gain, they offered P10,000, we said P5,000 and eventuallysettled for P6,000. We organize a towrope and off we go. Assoon as we are within radio distance of Maricaban, we callTequila Mike. We reach our safe harbour and Mike helps thenot quite so Feisty Lady on to a mooring. We celebrate ourarrival with a beer.

The next few days are spent in delightful fashion beingsquired around Coron, Conception and Sangat Island byMike, while Rock Steady Eddie and Feisty Lady were left torest and recover in Maricaban Bay.

Saturday 29th - Day 9We are still moored at Maricaban Bay. Our intrepid

captain is about to have Lesson 2 in diesel engine mechanics.While waiting I eat a banana, in true boat fashion (recycling,fish feeding, biodegradable products and all that) I flip thebanana skin out of the galley porthole. Flop! (the sound of itlanding in the tender).

9.30 p.m: Back to the boat after a delicious meal in ElRio Del Mar a.k.a Maricaban Bay Resort.

Our plan is to slip our mooring at 6a.m. and begin the


return trip to Pandan. A long, possibly hard day’ssail but we should be there by sundown. Diesellesson number two was successful, pipes have beenbled, the engine was running smoothly when we leftfor the day and we had ice, bread, beer and coffeebeans.

We were set. Eddie waits until this point toannounce that the engine stopped abruptly at about10 a.m. after running for an hour or so. MonCapitan does not receive this news well. Next thingwe know she is over the side, into the dinghy andpaddling madly away from the boat.

Monday 31st - Day 11It is still apparent that whatever is wrong

with the engine it is not going to be solved withinthe next day or so. Chinese New Year is loomingominously on the horizon and my responsibilitiesback in the real world are calling. So I pack mybelongings and, stifling a tear (sniff, sniff ), leaveMon Capitan in the safe haven of El Rio ‘what’s it’with Tequila Mike and head for home, by air.

As the South East Asian Airlines twin prop climbs in awide sweeping turn away from Busuanga airfield I catch mylast glimpse of Feisty Lady hanging off the mooring in

Maricaban Bay. I rub my eyes . . . is it my imagination or isthat Mon Capitan signaling something again with her sarong?No time to reply – a puffy white cloud engulfs us and carriesus to Manila.

The weather God’s weren’t very kind to us as the daykicked off with a parade in persistent heavy rain. This defi-nitely deterred many potential participants and spectators forsome of the events. But not so for the PGYC LAWIN sailingrace!!

Eighteen students from PGYC’s scholarship sailingprogram, along with their parents, friends and supportersbraved the torrents to make it to Boquete Beach for thescheduled race.

The competitors started with fairly light easterly windbut as the race progressed they experienced some rather gustyconditions. Some of the sailors obviously had decided ondifferent tactics and two of the boats, Nos. 2 and 7, helmed bythe Garcia boys, went off in a different direction to the rest ofthe fleet searching for clear air. Despite some doubtingobservers on Phillip Williams’s powerboat, these two roundedthe port side of the first marker buoy ahead of the rest. Both

lost a little ground however, when they sailed too far outbefore tacking around the second buoy, but Gio Garcia andCathlyn Magsumbol on boat No.7 soon recovered and crossedthe finish line in 2nd place.

Competition was fierce, especially boats Nos. 9 and 10who jockeyed for 3rd and 4th place. Eventually No. 10managed to sneak past and cross the finish line a mere twoseconds ahead to take 3rd place. Exciting stuff!

RJ Mauro and Florence Caganan on boat No. 6 crossedthe start line 65 seconds late, but soon got themselves sortedout and, with Florence at the helm, soon made superb use ofthe wind to overtake a number of others. After they roundedthe second mark, the crew changed positions and, withimpressive use of their jib, continued to overtake the rest ofthe fleet to cross the finish line first!

Best rigging awards went to Boat No 9, crewed by IsraelMagsumbo and Mariel Acuna, with no adjustments required.


SMALL BOATS:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PUERTO GALERA

Puerto Galera town was founded on 7th December 1927 and, for the first time ever, the municipalityofficially celebrated its anniversary this year . . . its’ 78th birthday.

By Donna Penman


Prizes went to:-1st Place RJ Mauro and Florence Paulin Cagaman (Boat No. 6)2nd Place Gio Garcia and Cathlyn Magsumbol (Boat No. 7)3rd Place Gabriel Fetizanan and Ana Marie Candava (Boat No. 10)Best Riggers Israel Magsumbol and Mariel Acuna (Boat No.9)

The other participants were:-• Aryzx Garcia • Eralyn Alinsuot • Kevin Bunquin• Cindy Navo • Joana Bunquin • Jay Mark Aspecto• Rose Maniebo • Lyndon Reyes • DJ Cabarles• Kristel Gutierrez

They also went on to finish in 4th place after a close battlewith boat No. 10.

The prize giving was held on Muelle pier, with pizzasdonated by Dave and Mildred Balman from their newlyopened Sharkies Pizza Restaurant. After the trophies wereawarded an extra treat was in store for these young sailors; theMuelle Bay Traders Association broke with sailing traditionand gave each participant Php200 in prize money.

Despite the lousy weather, a great day was had by allThe smiles in the photographs tell their own story.

LANE ALL SOULS

REGATTA 2005


LANE ALL SOULS

REGATTA 2005

It was the regatta that hadeverything: sun, wind, nowind, tides, reefs, live music,television and media, moviestars, babes, shoats and somuch much more.

In the end, twenty keeland multi-hull boats participatedin the racing and some 350people from all over the worldinvaded the Sandbar Resort andthe yacht club for the parties;many more boats arrived just forthe parties. Plus, no less thaneighteen sailing scholarshipstudents took to the water in the,built-in-Puerto-Galera, Lawindinghies to show the skills theyhad learned during the pastmonth, when the club opened itsdoors for sail training.

Sunday started with atelevised cooking-aboardpresentation in the galley of thatmost elegant of cruisingschooners, Star Gazer. The television cameras then passed throughthe fleet taking gigabytes of footage of the yachts as they beat up theVerde Passage, rounded the Sabang Beach mark and proceededaround to Encenada Beach before running back to the finish offHaligi Beach. No expense was spared and even a helicopter wascorralled as a camera platform.

First to finish in the cruising boat class was Vincent Ruais’s,Suncharm 39, Rosie, complete with visiting crew who flew all theway from Bombay and Hong Kong for the event. Second placewent to Australian, Dennis Shepard’s, Adams 54, SoutherlyChange. John Carruthers’s beautiful little ketch, Surprise II, sailingher first regatta since leaving Labuan earlier in the year, took thirdplace with joint skipper Steve Pike at the helm.

In the racing (boats that can point worth a fig) class, firstplace honours went to Dirk van Straalen’s, Peterson 33, The Judge.With Lukas Marquardt’s, Macintosh 47, Kalayaan II, withGerman-flag spinnaker billowing, taking second. Third place wassnapped up by Dick Morris, just returned from the USA, aboard

his Shock 35, Salina.But that was only part of the story. Also participating was

the 67 foot, ex-BT Challenge, Devonport dockyard built, Spirit ofOutward Bound Hong Kong. South African skipper Sandy Marrwas elated with the performance of his novice crew in executing the

maneuvers around the islands andreefs, coming at the midpointthrough the two-week sail-training course out of HongKong. Regrettably, Sandy andcrew were not able to participateon the second day because theirschedule required them to headback to Hong Kong on Mondaymorning.

During the racing GrahamGilbert’s Artemis III achievedsomething that nobody has donein the history of this event andlanded herself unceremoniouslyon a reef off the Lane house. Itcould have been that the skipperof the day – none other thanPGYC’s Commodore, JurgenLangemeier -- was unfamiliar withthe handling of Graham Gilbert’sboat or it may have hadsomething to do with the prizethat Artemis III also won duringthe regatta: “the most babes on-board award”. Whatever; onlypride was actually damaged andArtemis III did go on to competethe following day also.

The main weather feature ofthe race was the excellent, easterly sailing breezes at the startfollowed by a lull in the middle of the race and then a completechange to a westerly while most of the racing class boats were stillonly half way around the course.

The wind shift did not affect the enthusiasm of the cameracrews aboard the media pursuit boat or aboard Alan Burrell’s Farr1104, Rags. Rags was skippered for the day by Kelly Zaldariaga(Alan was aboard Susie Burrell’s normally slippery Bashford 36,Sandoway) and whipped the Sports Unlimited television showcrew into shape to place respectably in fifth place.

Sunday evening the party started on the lawns of theSandbar Resort on Boquete Beach with free beer and a primespectator position for the sailing scholarship students aboard theLawin dinghies inside the bay.

As the sun slid gracefully behind Lubang Island far out tothe West, the Puerto Galera Jazz Festival took over from the regattaparty and the stars started twinkling in the heavens as well as onstage. Beach festivities largely finished around 10.30pm when the


last transport to / from the beach stopped but, for those withenough stamina, the nearby yacht club bar continued to host theday’s victory boasts and commiserations until 4.00am.

Monday morning saw the fleet sail out towards BonitoIsland where the cruisers had tomake a round of both Bonito andChicken Feather before reachingto the finish off Haligi Beach; theracers performed two rounds ofthe island pair before pursuingtheir quarry across the slackeningtide.

Once again the racers hadto tough out a mid-race lull, thistime coupled with surface-boilingtide races ‘twixt the islands, beforebeing rewarded with a close reachback across the Verde Passage andhome.

The cruising multi-hulland Hobie racers found theconditions perfect and stampedtheir authority on the results withChris Boddington’s trimaran,Windjammer, taking fulladvantage of the conditions,closely followed by MartinShanks’s, cruising cat, Suzi Q.Frank Doyle had a whale of atime on his Hobie 16 and madeshort work of the 10 to 15 knotreaching winds.

In cruising class JohnCarruthers’s Surprise IIcontinued to surprise with a firstplace finish and Trish‘n Fitz’s,Columbus sneaked a second.Southerly Change again camenear the top with a third placefinish despite taking aboard morethan their fair share of visitorswho wanted to be part of theaction.

The racers had a real tusslefor the finish but Dick Morrisfinally overcame all aboardSalina. Jun Avecilla’s purposefullydriven Beneteau First 31.7, Selma, crossed the line in second placeahead or Dirk van Straalen’s The Judge.

The post-race yacht club party, primed with copiousamounts of sponsored San Miguel beer and plates of tastymunchies, started with the awarding of prizes before the kitchenopened for the culinary expertise of hired-for-the-regatta chef and

smokehouse-meats producer, Mason Ring.The overall winner of the Lane All Souls Regatta, 2005, was

Dirk van Straalen with The Judge. In second place were JohnCarruthers and Steve Pike aboard Surprise II followed by Dick

Morris and his shockingly quickSalina.

Special participating clubrecognition awards werepresented to: Selma of the SubicBay Yacht Club; and, The Judgeand Salina of the Manila YachtClub. Special cruising boatparticipant awards were awardedto Ton and Mina’s Cocobolo,Dennis Shepard’s SoutherlyChange and Trish’n Fitz’sColumbus.

Alan Burrell had the fishing net-- “acquired” on the Friday nightrace down from Manila to PuertoGalera -- mounted and returnedto him in remembrance andspecial thanks were extended toSoutherly Change for theirenthusiasm in introducing visitorsto the delights of cruiser racing inthe Philippines.

Terry Duckham was singledout for an award for organizingthe television and media coverageof the event and for bringing thejazz festival back to Puerto Galerafor what is hoped will be a regularoccurrence coincident with the AllSouls Regatta.

The 2005 All Souls Regattawas sponsored by: Lane Removalsand Storage, San Miguel Beer, theBig Apple Dive Resort, DHLDanzas, Heavylift Manila, thePaco Park Oasis Hotel, FutureTrade International and theSandbar Resort. The PuertoGalera Jazz Festival wasadditionally sponsored by CebuPacific Air, the ForeignCorrespondent’s Club of Hong

Kong and the El Galleon Beach Resort.For more regatta fun in The Most Beautiful Bay In The

World, visit the Puerto Galera Yacht Club in April or, if you must,wait till the 2006 All Souls Regatta when the Taal Lake Yacht Clubhave threatened to bring their entire Hobie 16 fleet down fromtheir fiery volcano lake home.


ANCHORS AND RUMBy Peter Stevens

Many prudent cruisers take one look at thelarge-scale charts of the West coast of Palawan anddecide to drop in to El Nido, but then to chart acourse well offshore from myriad shoals, rocks, reefsand other hazards shown on the chart. Many do notstop until they get to Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia, oreven Singapore.

True, at first sight, there is an awful lot of pale blue andthousands of little circles around very small numbers. But it iswell worth looking more closely and planning to coastal hop ina series of easy day sails. We did this a couple of years ago andtook 55 days to get from Puerto Galera to Kota Kinabalu. Wefound many outstandingly beautiful anchorages, the best ofwhich I have included here. The main consideration for selec-tion was shelter from the northwest swell as the trip was made

in late winter. Some would afford little shelter though in directwesterly or anything south of westerly winds.

El Nido is well worth visiting for the day sailing aroundits beautiful limestone islands and a last taste of ‘civilization’ forseveral hundred miles. Assuming that one does that it’s an easy30nm sail down the coast, bypassing MALAMPAYA SOUND,around ENTERPRISE POINT, to a couple of small bays justbefore WHITE ISLAND (11.15N 119.13E)

My log for this spot reads;“Excellent, sand 5 - 7 m. Lovely gently sloping sandy bottom.

Sheltered all but SW. Water from stream ashore .. long carry.BUSTER ROXAS and family. Nice folk. Good habitat, scope forgood birding. Reef not bad. Quite a few large shell-fish.”

That is exactly what it was, a beautiful spot with an easysloping sandy bottom that afforded good holding and plenty ofroom to swing. The Roxas family were very keen to sell me thewhole place! The ‘long carry’ for water was just that … a couple ofhundred meters from a nice clean stream. A 25 litre jerry can feelslike it weighs 100 after a few minutes. Strangely enough, friendly asthey were, none of the local lads offered to lend us a hand.

We tore ourselves away after a couple of nights andheaded SW for BOAYAN ISLAND, a very easy 20nmtrip across IMURAN BAY.

Ship’s Log:“Good, gently sloping sand. VILLAGE BAY. Locals

inquisitive. Kids aboard. Water from pipe ashore. Fishingboat filling up when we there.”

We sneaked right into where the charted depthchanges from 14.6m to 3.6m and dropped anchor inabout 4.5m into more nice sand. We didn’t ventureashore and this was one of the few places that the localkids came out to visit. For those new to cruising, this isnot always as welcome, or as much fun as it may sound,and sometimes a firm hand is needed to stop themclambering all over the boat. Water supply was obviousand plentiful from a hose run down from a small bluff,although I can’t vouch for its portability.

The next stop was in oddly-named JIBOOMBAY, just 20nm down the track.

Ship’s Log:Good, sand/mud 3m in bay half way up. Lower bays

exposed to swells. Nice little spot, excellent habitat. Good,extensive forest with access from beach up to old loggingtrail. Need further exploration. Jelly fish soup! Some withbrittle-stars living onboard.

We motored up the bay and turned right into asmaller bay where the charted depth shows 4m. This


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was an uninhabited spot, except by literally millions ofjellyfish, some of which had Brittle Stars (a type of starfish) inresidence. I wonder if it’s a symbiotic thing. This was the bestforest habitat that we found the whole trip and has lots ofpotential for a birding trip. Not the spot for snorkeling orswimming though.

The next anchorage of note is FISH BAY (10.1N118.66E), although we did stop in ULUGAN BAY for a coupleof days. It is highly unrecommended. It looks good on thechart but was a nightmare of large swells, reefs and nowhere tohide. Give it a miss and go to FISH BAY, which is only another13nm further down the track (30nm from JIBOOM).

Ship’s Log :Excellent, sand, gentle slope to beach, 5m. Lovely spot, no swell.Good water available from folk at S end of bay. Very nice guy andfamily (Rolando?). Nic nics on beach. Water COLD to swim!!

Together with WHITE ISLAND, this ranks as one ofthe best spots we found on the whole trip. Again, it had alovely, gently sloping, sandy bottom with miles of room toswing, although I do recall that there was a shallow patch inthe middle. It’s a long sandy beach and a good spot to stretchone’s legs. It might be possible to get a jeepney from thehouses in the south end of the bay to go to Puerto Princessa,across the other side of Palawan.

From FISH BAY we day sailed down the coast, with astop at MALAMUT (Quezon town .. the next ‘civilized’ bitafter El Nido), until we reached CLIFF POINT, an insignifi-cant dent on the chart but a good spot to stop.

Ship’s Log:Excellent anchorage, gently shelving sand, sheltered all side exceptdirect SW. Lots mossies. Interesting military vehicle on shore.

It’s a bit of a challenge navigating the channel into thisplace, especially as the best chart that I have is 1: 402000.Thank goodness for a forward scanning depth-finder and acomputer that talks to the GPS! But it’s well worth the effort ifyou are need a sheltered spot on an otherwise unpromisingcoastline. There’s nothing to do here, although a long dinghytrip through the shallows to the mangroves at the head of thebay might be worth trying. Quite how an armoured personnelcarrier got to be on the beach is a puzzle.

That, as they say, is ‘it’ for this time. If there is room,(and Nick asks me back!) next time we’ll explore some of myfavourite spots further north on LINAPACAN ISLAND andCORON.


The annual Melbourne to HobartRace is not as well known as theSydney to Hobart, and has a slightlydifferent format -- it starts coincidentwith the start of the Melbourne toLaunceston Race. The Melbourne toHobart Race takes the West routearound Tasmania and is frequently abigger challenge than its moreinfamous counterpart.

We on the Sea Eaglecontested the 2004Melbourne to Hobart(know as ‘TheWestcoaster’) starting onthe 27th December on thesame start line as theMelbourne to Launcestonrace. With a combinedtotal of 40 odd boats at thestart line, including 16 ontheir way to Hobart, therewere plenty of boats around to make winning anything a worthyaccomplishment.

The weather briefing suggested gale force winds from theSW and frequent squalls; the foul weather was expected to keep upfor about 48hours until a slow moving high pressure front wouldtake control and the wind was forecast to drop out all together.

The race started with plenty of wind so we all poweredalong to Port Philip Bay Heads. Just as we were approaching therounding buoy to get out into the rip a dirty big squall hit the fleetwith plenty of hail and 50plus knots of wind (boat log packed it in,so we only had apparent wind). Needless to say, large portions ofthe fleet - many very experienced ocean racers - began turning back.

After making six tacks to clear the heads we were just settlinginto the squally conditions and eight meter seas for the long beat toKing Island when, with the noise of a shotgun blast, we blew awhole panel out of our mainsail, directly below the third reefingpoint (we had two reefs and the no. 4 up at the time). Our firstthoughts were "S*it, guess that's it for us then.." but our second

helmsman calmly noted that we had run the3rd reefing line and it looked like it wouldhold. So we moved up to the mast andsecured the 3rd reef on the horn; it lookedpretty good. That was until we noticed a largetear had worked its way about half way up thesail, about 1m from the leech. So we all had achat and decided we would continue until themain blew completely and in that eventualitywe would put up the storm sails and go home.At this time there was a bit of carnage in the

fleet with most boats retiring for variousreasons. Two crew on one boat were washed

overboard (fortunately attached by their tethers) and the boatdrifted between Corsair Rock and Point Nepean (listed depth ofbetween 1 - 2m) with massive swell pushing them through andbreaking waves everywhere. Needless to say they were VERY luckyto survive that AND still have a boat! Another - a big 15m oceangoing Elliott - blew in a window in the hull and more than halffilled the boat with seawater. They lost control and a mayday wasissued. After the rescue chopper was scrambled and an hour ofbailing they had the inundation under control and made it back toport under their own power. Yet another boat, this one from theHobart fleet, pulled out a few hours in and was dismasted in therough conditions.

We kept powering on into the night, all amazed that themain looked to be holding out well and we were keeping up withwhat was left of the fleet. We also started to notice that our bilgeswere getting rather full and were requiring frequent emptying. Itwas then we discovered that we had ruptured our fresh water tanksand lost all fresh water. To top this off we had three crew who were

Triumph Out Of DisasterStory and photos by Cameron Leitch (Little Cam)


unable to keep their food down. So at about 3am - half way toKing Island - the skipper calls a meeting to decide our next courseof action.

Reluctantly we decided that our race was run and that wecan't make it to Hobart punching into such rough seas for another30 hours. Race control is called and we ask if we can change courseand join the Launceston race. Our request is OK'd and we receivenew sked times and finishing procedures.

During the night we get several breakers over the boat. Forthose on the helm it was an awesome time, one of my best sailingexperiences. When off shift or on the rail, it was cold and utterlymiserable.

We had no start list or sked sheet for the Launceston fleet,so we had no idea how we were doing in the race. We were makingdecent speed as we had made it more than half way to King Islandbefore switching destinations so we were no longer hard on thewind -- more like 35 degrees to the apparent.

We kept pushing all the time despite no longer being in theHobart race, desperate to salvage some pride by a good finish atLaunceston. When we were about one hour / eight miles from thefinish and called race control and they congratulated us as wewould probably take line honours! We let out a cheer and madethree enthusiastic sail changes to get to the line.

There was some debate on the radio as to whether we were enteredin the race or not, and in the end we were declared the "unofficialwinner" as we indeed had not entered. Pity as the three boats thatdid finish the race were all quite a bit larger than us, so it would havebeen line honours and handicap.

All told only four boats made it to Hobart (after setting anew race record for the slowest ever as the wind really did diecompletely) and four, including us, to Launceston. Not a badexample of sailing in the Bass Strait!

Keep racing . . .


El Rio is a small, friendly boutique resort with 14 high-end rooms available in a peaceful bay setting. Within a fewhours of being here, guests and staff are usually on first namebasis.

The location offers a very peaceful nights’ sleep withalmost ne’er a wave in the bay, and is the best starting pointafter Pandan island (last issue) for exploring the more than 100islands surrounding the main island of Busuanga.

Most of these islands are deserted, except for the oddcaretaker, and the eastern side of all of them offers a goodanchorage backing onto a sandy beach during the Amihan(Dec-May Nor’easterly) season.

These are ‘yer actual’ picture postcard islands. It is worthchecking in back issues of this magazine and local internet sitesfor information on the other two main islands of this group,Coron and Culion islands, as they all have different attractions.

Maricaban/El Rio has seven moorings available for yachtsto 50 feet/25 tons max. The moorings are 25 mtrs down and

YACHT FRIENDLY MOORINGSThis second in our series of yacht friendly moorings features Maricaban Bay

Cruising Club, the home of El Rio y Mar Resort and Tequila Mike. It islocated on the northern side of Busuanga and is a part of the Calamian

group of northern Palawan.

have 1” poly rope underwater and 2.5 tons of concrete on thebottom. Tequila Mike’s yacht survived the last Nov 20thtyphoon, which went through Maricaban with 100 knot pluswinds, tied off long to two moorings. For more information butyou should read ‘Safe anchorages around Busuanga’.in Issue 4number 4 of this magazine.

The two photos in this article show an approach to thebay from the NNW towards the first waypoint and the secondshows a view toward the moorings with the resort off thestarboard side. Keep 100 meters off the resort and you shouldbe fine to the waypoint on the moorings.

The charts you will need for this area are:-- Northern part of Busuanga- Western entrance to Coron Bay- Coron Bay

Another helpful chart is the chart for anchorages around


Busuanga. On all charts the area is referred to as ‘Port Caltom’

The mooring charge is 150 pesos per day and this entitleseach crew member to the following benefits:-• 50% discount on all drinks except wine• 30% discount on a la carte and buffet meal prices• Free transport to Coron and back (regular shuttles only)• Free transport to Club Paradise for the day, (500 pesoconsumable island fee)• Free use of facilities such as pools, showers, towels etc• Discounted supplies such as diesel, veggies, beer etc.

Both Club Paradise and El Rio are high end resorts, andsailors are the only group so far who have been given suchdiscounts, so please respect this concession to us mariners and

keep the peace. No fishing from yachts isallowed in either resort in an effort to try toprotect the reefs and marine life.In El Rio, there is a beautiful freshwaterinfinity pool, television / dvd in rooms,internet, lots of watersports with theexception jet skis and parasailing. El Rio isalso the closest location to the CalauitIsland African Safari, and escorted trips caneb arranged to visit the animals that TonyParkinson brought over from Kenya in the70’s, (actually the originals are probably alldead by now but the offspring arethriving!).The diving from Club Paradise, run byDirk and Rolfie and a team of experienceddivemasters , is excellent. There is a WWII500 foot wreck just two miles from El Rioand if you need tank fills or equipment,check out the advert in the Cruiser Newsfor the Dugong Dive Centre at Club

Paradise. The house reef there has many large turtles, a giantclam garden, black tip reef sharks and huge cuttlefish as well aslarge schools of Jacks buzzing around.

Both resorts run on 24 hour generated power and haveworkshops equipped to help with many repairs. Beautiful roomsare available in both resorts at a reasonable price but bookingscan be heavy in season. Well worth checking out if you need anight off the boat in aircon-hot water luxury.

If you blow your horn as you pass the resort on your wayin, someone will come out and show you to a mooring suitablefor the size of your yacht. First dinghy pick-up is free, but bestto use your dinghy to the floating dock after that.

Motor yachts and very large sailboats should anchor 100meters off the large white roofed building as you pass the resort.Anchor in 25 meters and you should be in sand. This is ahoneycombed reef and if you anchor shallower you’ll bedropping your anchor on coral ridges. Certainly notappreciated!

ContactsTequila Mike +63920 9505944Gm Sharmaine +63 920 6350298El Rio Y Mar +63 920 9515009Club Paradise +63 920 9119704

Waypoints.Port Caltom Bay Entry N 12.11.02 E 120.06.53Bearing To Moorings 306-307 Degrees MagneticMoorings Waypoint N 12.11.46 E 120.05.92

Looking forward to seeing you soon!

cruiser news issue 08

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