A Tanimbar Experience

By Russ Swan

Delma had never really shown much inclination to sail in a cruising yacht outside the confines of Darwin Harbour. She viewed sailing out there with something akin to horror. So why did she suddenly suggest sailing across the Arafura Sea to a remote group of islands in the far-eastern region of Indonesia?

This is a story by the skipper of an eight-tonne, thirty-foot cruising yacht, describing an open-water voyage with four crew members, two of whom had absolutely no sailing experience.

The skippers view of the incidents and events from preparation until return back to Australia is laced with humour and delightfully describes the places they sail to, characters they meet, local cultures, and a little history of the region. The experience of enduring a heavy storm at sea should not be missed.

Charts allow the reader to follow the story closely. This book includes photographs, a comprehensive glossary of nautical terms, and cruising notes, as well as other useful information for seafarers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Feb 17, 2017
• ISBN: 9781524521745

Russ Swan

Russ Swan is an Australian born in Longreach in central Queensland of Australia. In his younger days Russ worked in sheep-shearing sheds and a law-courts office. He was called up for National Service in the Australian Army, serving in the Vietnam War and followed with an Army career. After discharge he drove taxi-cabs for a while before joining the Northern Territory Police where he continued to work for 19 years. Russ is a cruising sailor with several voyages completed in Australian and Indonesian waters. He's also a freelance travel-writer and author having published magazine articles and another book “A Tanimbar Experience”. A third book is currently being written as a sequel to “Lowana Comes to Darwin” and books on other voyages are also planned. Russ still lives in Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Book preview

Copyright © 2017 by Russ Swan.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2017901159

ISBN:      Hardcover           978-1-5245-2176-9

                 Softcover            978-1-5245-2175-2

                 eBook                 978-1-5245-2174-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

A Tanimbar Experience is a factual account of a sailing voyage from Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia, to the Tanimbar Islands of Indonesia in September 1998. Any views and opinions expressed are the authors own.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 01/28/2017

Xlibris

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Contents

Author’s Note

Prologue

The Decision

Work, Work, Work

Unmentionable Gushing

Knock Down Passage

Mama’s And The Harapan Indah

Another Jasdip

Return To Saumlaki

Sippies Of Namtabung Sopi

Latdalam – A Fisherman’s Paradise

Paddling Salesman

Lonely Caretakers

Steady At Half-Throttle

Waterless Paradise

Bubbles Below

Papers Please

Hard Day On The Wind

Hairy Sea Monsters

Storm Tossed Waypoint

Epilogue

Trip Incidentals

Cruising Notes

Glossary Of Terms

Charts

Photos

A TANIMBAR EXPERIENCE

Russ Swan was born in the outback town of Longreach in central-west Queensland, Australia. In his younger days, Russ worked in sheep-shearing sheds and a law-courts office. He was called up for National Service and served in the Vietnam War, then continued an Army career. After his discharge he drove a taxi-cab before joining the Northern Territory Police.

Russ is a cruising sailor with several voyages completed in Australian and Indonesian waters. He’s also a freelance travel-writer and author having published magazine articles and another book "Lowana Comes to Darwin", which is the first in a chronological series on his voyages he plans to write.

Russ now lives in Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Also by Russ Swan:

Lowana Comes to Darwin

A TANIMBAR

EXPERIENCE

By

Russ Swan

A sailing voyage from

Darwin, Australia to the Tanimbar Islands, Indonesia

September 1998

AUTHOR’S NOTE

It would be fair to say that most sailboat voyages begin long before the crew actually step on the deck of any boat. There is much planning and preparation to do, not the least being to ensure the vessel can meet the rigours of the sea and all its equipment is in working order. It does not pay to be too blasé about this because our lives may literally depend on it. Sometimes the worst tragedies come from the seemingly simplest things.

There are many considerations for a skipper besides vessel preparation. Navigation details, weather patterns, official paperwork and even the political situation within the proposed voyage area are just a few.

But one of the hardest tasks for a Skipper I believe is to find a crew that you think will be reasonably capable, sufficiently stout-hearted and dependable. Hopefully they will also be able to co-exist together in a small space for lengthy periods. Finally, they should be willing to commit to the voyage ahead of time. Sometimes this can be quite important. Officialdom is often slow and a Skipper may need to submit a crew list to foreign governments well ahead of time.

There is another reason to take on crew well beforehand. There are always people willing enough to try a sailing voyage for the first time. Often they have no idea about their own real strengths or weaknesses for example how they will manage in a crisis. If the Skipper has not sailed with someone before, there is no real way of knowing how an individual will react in various situations. Or how they will cope with negative aspects of sailing such as seasickness or exposure to physical or emotional stress.

A Skipper has the ultimate responsibility for his/her crew once they are at sea and must be sure that individuals will do their best for the sake of everyone on board. They are going to need training and testing. One of the ways to test a crew is by sailing as often as possible and having work parties on the boat. The lazy or less reliable ones who regularly fail to turn up, or only turn up for the fun times can soon be identified and removed from the crew list.

This story therefore opens about two months prior to the departure date.

PROLOGUE

In September 1997 the sailing vessel (SV) Lowana IV left Darwin in Australia on a sailing trip to Indonesia. The yacht visited the historic provincial capital of Kupang on Timor Island, passed through the islands to the north and returned to Darwin via the easternmost tip of Timor. She returned to Australia having covered some 1278 sea miles, equivalent to 2364 km. It was a successful, interesting and memorable trip but typical of sailboat cruises, it was marked with its own particular problems.

(See Photo 1)

Two were dominant. One was a problem with official paperwork causing subsequent delays. The other was a distinct lack of ability in the boat to point up into the strong easterly winds after bent bilge keel fins had been removed from the hull. Unfortunately these two things meant more time spent motor sailing rather than under full sail and less time to relax at places and look around.

The lesson was learned. Lowana IV would never again attempt to cover a lot of ground under a limited timeframe. Future trips to Indonesia would concentrate on only one or two groups of islands, with more time relaxing and exploring.

Much work followed to resolve the boat’s pointing problem. Fellow yachties on the Internet provided many ideas, opinions and suggested remedies.

Gradually with trial and error the boat’s hull was properly trimmed and balanced. Some extra lead placed into a particular spot offset a tendency of the boat to lean to one side and the bow to poke up. Numerous adjustments were required to the alignment and rake of the mast to match the existing sails and correct a helming problem.

On the day the Darwin to Ambon Race sailing fleet left Darwin in 1998, Lowana IV was there to see them off. To our delight the yacht sailed as close as 40 degrees to the wind, achieving over four knots in 10 to 15 knots apparent wind. She was even able to continue to make way as close as 30 degrees to the wind and the helming problem had been solved. It was a vast improvement and the Tanimbar Island trip began to emerge.

The Tanimbars are situated roughly 300 miles to the north of Darwin. The area topography is similar to northern Australia. From seaward it gives an impression of being barren and has low lying features in its southern areas.

The Dutch were the first Europeans to know about the Tanimbars as far back as 1629, but they never settled the area. Even today the area remains largely untouched by western influences. Life goes on pretty much as it has always done, except some of the older customs like headhunting no longer exist since WW2.

There are 62 islands in the Tanimbar Islands group, providing many opportunities to explore and requiring only a relatively short, open water voyage to visit them.

THE DECISION

June 1998

My wife Delma has never shown any particular fondness for travelling on our cruising yacht Lowana IV outside the confines of Darwin Harbour in the Northern Territory of Australia. Most of the overnight stays aboard have been limited to the relatively sheltered bays and inlets within the harbour.

At her place of work she’s heard horror stories of a place called Charles Point, which is a headland a few miles to the west of Darwin Harbour. I think she’s come to associate any waters outside the harbour with tales of storm tossed seas, not somewhere any sane person would want to be. This thinking may have been reinforced by stories related by myself, since I’d already done some sailing around the Australian coast and across to Indonesia. So it comes as some surprise when she first mentions the idea of sailing somewhere overseas.

The mood is good as we sit on the deck of the boat in Fannie Bay opposite the Darwin Sailing Club. The fading tropical sun is illuminating the western sky in glorious reds and golds above the Cox Peninsula on the other side of the harbour. The water is calm and there’s a gentle breeze blowing, while Delma and our good friend Ann Sanotti indulge in some chilled wine. It’s good to be alive.

I look at her and try to gauge whether she’s joking. Or is this simply bravado under the malleable effects of the wine? But she actually looks to be quite serious about it. I then look at Ann who is studiously staring at the steel deck. They’d obviously been leading up to this.

I ask Delma, Have you really thought about this?

She replies, Of course!

Even so, I’m not all that sure I’m ready to believe them to be serious right now, that they understand completely what they might be letting themselves in for.

I’ll give you two weeks to think some more about it and then I’ll ask you again. If you still say you want to go then we’ll go. There can be no backing out. Is that agreed?

Delma said, We’ve made up our minds and we’re going.

Hmmm.

Okay… but I’ll ask again in two weeks anyway.

Over the next two weeks I deliberately regale Delma with stories of storms and problems that can arise at sea, giving detailed descriptions of conditions on board. But I also balance it out with nice things. I know what I say will be faithfully reported back to Ann. It’s essential they go into this with their eyes open and although the method might be crude, I want to test their resolve. Once out on the water we’ll be on our own and there’ll be no catching a cab home. We’ll be stuck out there come good or bad.

I also know Delma has problems with being confined in small spaces, so I take her down to the boat one day and close her inside.

Do you really think you could sit in there with the boat rolling madly all over the place, probably feeling sick and wondering when it will all end? I ask.

She says, I’ll just take it a day at a time and deal with it, but I’m going.

Where do you think you’ll sleep? You won’t be able to sleep on the deck while we are at sea.

With a practicality that comes with her nature she climbs into the various bunks inside to check them out. She chooses the quarter-berth, which lies just inside the wheelhouse from where she can see the sky outside. This is usually where I sleep so that I can be close-by and shook awake if needed. It shouldn’t be a problem though because we’ll be hot bunking anyway. If necessary I can throw a mattress down on the floor in the saloon.

When the time comes to ask the girls again they both maintain they still want to go. So that’s it. The decision is made and the next thing is to decide where to go. The first limitation is time. The most time any of us can take off work is a maximum of five weeks. A bit of homework will have to be done regarding seasonal weather, winds, currents, climate and the political situation within the Indonesian area. There had been some civil unrest going on elsewhere in that country and people had been killed recently.

It took a few days to come up with a suggestion of going to the Tanimbar Islands just to the north of Darwin. There’d been no reports of violence and it’s only a reasonably short open-water crossing of a couple of days. We’d have the southeast trade winds working for us travelling to and from the islands depending on our route and the climate would be lovely around September.

As a bonus the fleet from the Gove to Saumlaki yacht race would be there too. The Gove to Saumlaki yacht race is an event only recently started which begins at Gove in the Northern Territory and arrives at Saumlaki, the small provincial capital of the Tanimbar Islands group. I’d previously given some thought to actually participating in the race, but couldn’t afford to take the time getting to Gove against stiff headwinds.

Researching more about the Tanimbars it became obvious there wouldn’t be much in the way of civilised comforts. It’s a remote spot out of the way from mainstream travel routes either by sea or air. The girls however thought this to be a bonus, since we would see real Indonesian village life rather than the holiday tourist resort variety. And there’s some interesting history there too.

(See Chart 1)

But there’s still something of a small problem. We have a crew of one male and two females, the latter having no experience whatsoever with sailing. It would be hard on me so it might be best to balance the crew out with a bloke who’s an experienced sailor. My first thought is of a man who sailed with me the previous year. He’s had around 25 years of sailing experience and is fluent in the Indonesian Bahasa language, which had proved useful during that trip.

Martin Langdon is a tall, gangly bloke who at first glance looks every bit of a seafarer even on land, minus the earrings and eye-patch. He has long hair which is usually tied into a ponytail and never wears a hat, maintaining that his hair keeps the sun off his ears and neck. He readily agrees to go provided nothing urgent comes up in the meantime. We now have a notional crew.

(See Photos 2,3,4 & 5)

The next step is to gather the crew together one night and make some plans. The destination is agreeable to all concerned, including Martin who has been to many places within Indonesia but not this one. It soon becomes apparent from the ladies that there would be ‘girl jobs’ and ‘boy jobs’.

In a general sense the girl-jobs would be anything to do with stowage, supplies and the galley. Boy-jobs would be pretty much everything else including what the girls didn’t consider a ‘girls job’. The exception was that when at sea everyone would pull watches, take their turn on the tiller and help sail the boat. This also included anchoring and getting under way.

This of course is simply a planning exercise for the moment. If the crew don’t individually make a firm commitment to going well ahead of time then the trip won’t be possible. But it’s hard to cut the ties to land. Who knows what might happen within the next two months? All sorts of demands on finances, time, or emotional issues can surface.

Even so, a final decision has to be made early and if one of the crew can’t go for whatever reason we’ll have to go under-manned or cancel the trip. The Indonesian Immigration and Naval authorities must be notified and the proper approvals given before we even leave Australia. Their officials are notoriously slow in processing paperwork but to go without such approvals can be disastrous. More than a few stories abound of yachties who simply rocked up unannounced and were detained, arrested and even had their boats confiscated.

I don’t have to wait long before everyone firmly commits to make the trip. It will now become a reality so an application for a cruising sailboat permit called a C.A.I.T. is completed. This essential document details the names of the crew and passport information, where the yacht will be going and the relevant dates.

Peter Dermoudy is an affable man who is a well-liked Commodore of the Dinah Beach Cruising Yacht Club - DBCYC. As part of his duties he generously takes on the task of submitting cruising permit applications to agents in Indonesia, on behalf of skippers intending to visit there. Our application is duly completed and handed to him together with the required fee for the Indonesian agent.

We will also need to get visas but first we must get the CAIT. Unlike last year, this time it must have all the proper official stamps. Last year’s application had been sent to agents in Jakarta, but there had been problems because the document only had three of the four necessary stamps. This had caused some delays at Kupang on Timor Island while it was sorted out.

Peter suggests sending the application to agents on Bali instead, stating that recent ones had only been taking around four weeks. This is considered quite good and it includes a Sosial Bedaya, which is something like an introductory or sponsorship letter. It’s a handy document to have, since it helps to smooth the way when dealing with Indonesian officialdom. It’s therefore decided the application will be sent to Bali.

WORK, WORK, WORK

Early July 1998

The life raft is taken in for servicing only to have it condemned by the agent. The gas valve will not operate and inflate the raft, although there is nothing actually wrong with the raft itself. Unfortunately there are no spares available and this particular type of valve is no longer manufactured.

I consider my options including replacing the valve with another type but the dealer will not do it citing safety as the reason. Time is limited to start looking around to acquire another valve even if one could be found, so it’s decided to bite the bullet and buy a new raft which will cost several thousand dollars - Ouch!

Monday 13 July 1998

The Darwin Port Authority provides and manages moorings in a small creek inside Darwin Harbour called Sadgroves Creek. It runs just around the corner from the main shipping wharf and the moorings consist of three lines of thick rope, supported at intervals by floating buoys made from large rubber tyres and painted bright yellow.

This is where Lowana IV spends her days although she doesn’t spend all her time alone. A number of resident birds seem to enjoy pooping on her decks. Another irritant apart from cleaning off the guano regularly, is the need to launch a dinghy from the shore and make a five-minute journey to get out to her. It can be a special pain when a trip to do some work is wasted because an essential part or tool is left back on shore.

There’s a fair amount of work to be done to get Lowana IV ready for the trip and it’s going to take a while to do it. 400kg of extra lead ballast has to be secured to the keel at the appropriate places. Extra shelving must hold the crockery in place in heavy seas and electrical work is required on some instruments. I also need a new alternator fitted and have the old one refurbished to hold as a spare. One of the bigger problems is a persistent engine oil leak which is giving me the irrits and some more insulation has to be added to the freezer box.

Sometimes it’s easier to bring the boat onto the careening poles at the DBCYC to get work done. The only problem is it has to be fitted in between tides ranging up to seven metres or more though there is easy access to shore power and water. And a quick run can be made to a hardware store or a marine chandlery if needed.

The trip in the dinghy to the moorings in the morning is pleasant, though the day promises to be typically hot and humid. It’s going to be even more sweltering later on down in the dip where the careening poles are located, surrounded as they are by buildings that block the free flow of air.

The water in the creek is flat and its usual light green colour as I motor out to the boat in the dinghy. Already the current is starting to pick up to a fast pace at the start of the ebb tide. I’m soon aboard to start the motor and release the lines securing the yacht to the fore and aft mooring buoys. A little bit of throttle and the running tide helps to pull the boat clear of the ropes without snagging them underneath the hull.

The journey down to the club doesn’t take long. With the depth-sounder ticking Lowana IV is brought into the channel approach to the club, around a pontoon off the end of the wharf before gliding gracefully up alongside the allotted poles. A quick touch of reverse gear brings her to a standstill and she’s soon secured with a rope loop around the fore and aft poles. These loops will allow the boat to ride freely up and down with the tides and help to hold her upright when the tide goes out.

Friday 24 July 1998

It takes 11 days and every spare moment between normal work hours to fit in what work can be done between tides. In addition to the scheduled work we also manage to do some