David Broun's Posts - Wharram Builders and Friends2024-03-29T13:28:58ZDavid Brounhttp://wharrambuilders.ning.com/profile/DavidBrounhttp://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1957114413?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1http://wharrambuilders.ning.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=0cgbpug4ura7m&xn_auth=noKupang Karaoketag:wharrambuilders.ning.com,2010-06-18:2195841:BlogPost:162152010-06-18T18:30:00.000ZDavid Brounhttp://wharrambuilders.ning.com/profile/DavidBroun
18th June 2010<br></br>Dear human race, one final despatch.<br></br>
<br></br>
After running low on provisions and surviving briefly on a mixture of baked beans, petrol and sugar, wearing only the uncured pelts of komodo dragons and unlucky tourists, we are back in a more or less civilized state.<div><br></br> Following a gruelling Indiana Jones style expedition through stony creek beds and vine-draped jungle, Sonny sighted the first dragon high on the slopes of Rinca Island in Komodo after I nearly stepped on…</div>
18th June 2010<br/>Dear human race, one final despatch.<br/>
<br/>
After running low on provisions and surviving briefly on a mixture of baked beans, petrol and sugar, wearing only the uncured pelts of komodo dragons and unlucky tourists, we are back in a more or less civilized state.<div><br/> Following a gruelling Indiana Jones style expedition through stony creek beds and vine-draped jungle, Sonny sighted the first dragon high on the slopes of Rinca Island in Komodo after I nearly stepped on it. Our curiosity turned to terror as it swung back to size us up for dinner and we beat a hasty retreat. Later we found more dragons on the beach as well as deer and pigs. Fortunately neither the deer, pigs or us were eaten. Again, the snorkelling in Komodo was incredible and Joel kept us in good supply of fish with his speargun.</div>
<div><br/> As is true of all short-cuts we made a bit of a booboo and went the more direct route to Kupang south of Flores via the Suva Sea. Jigal passed with flying colours after being subjected to 2 days of bashing into trade-wind inspired nasty high frequency 3m short steep breaking swell and 25 knot winds. Arriving in Kupang we kept falling over due to vertigo.</div>
<div><br/> We quickly recovered and set about tearing apart Teddy’s Bar with our new cruising buddies in a maelstrom of Taranaki rules pool and Karaoke. The Bintang didn’t help Joel’s knot tying ability and our tender left at dawn for the return trip to Broome shortly followed by us. We caught up fortunately! ESE trade winds gave us a good sailing breeze and we hammered our way into more short steep 3m swell which subsided after 24 hours and allowed us to make a cup of kopi susu without holding the kettle during the rest of the crossing. <br/>
<br/>
With the Southern Cross guiding us back in to Australian waters, customs ensured that we never felt alone as they frequently flew over to give us phonetic alphabet practice. The fishing improved dramatically as we neared the Kimberley coast with mackerel, tuna, cobia and mahi-mahi included in our diet. We sailed past Scott and Ashmore reefs at night, nearing land around the Lacepede Islands north of Broome.<br/>
<br/>
We cleared customs eventually after a scare about a potential apocalypse brought on by some ants on the boat which were soon identified as ‘cosmopolitan’. I actually found them quite pretentious as far as ants go. Our illicit cargo of Indonesian condensed milk and coffee luwak was not discovered and we were welcomed on the beach by family and friends in a touching moment under brilliant blue skies and perfect weather.<br/>
<br/>
Back in Broome Jigal is now moored at Gantheume Point and undergoing some TLC after 2400 nautical miles from Sumatra.<br/>
<br/>
Can’t believe we made it really!<br/>
Dave <br/>
-- <br/>
Yacht Jigal</div>Shoppingtag:wharrambuilders.ning.com,2010-05-30:2195841:BlogPost:162132010-05-30T18:00:00.000ZDavid Brounhttp://wharrambuilders.ning.com/profile/DavidBroun
30th May 2010- Shopping<div><br></br> Dear World,<br></br> Apologies for the radio silence, it has been necessary to avoid pirates, hawkers and of course harbour masters. Fortunately our syarbandar (harbourmaster) contact lately has been nil. Despite dressing in our best harbourmaster shorts and thongs and turning up at the appropriate perebuan (harbour) office, they have always been closed.<div><br></br> But we have found other outrageous adventures to occupy our time..... like shopping. I should say…</div>
</div>
30th May 2010- Shopping<div><br/> Dear World,<br/>
Apologies for the radio silence, it has been necessary to avoid pirates, hawkers and of course harbour masters. Fortunately our syarbandar (harbourmaster) contact lately has been nil. Despite dressing in our best harbourmaster shorts and thongs and turning up at the appropriate perebuan (harbour) office, they have always been closed.<div><br/> But we have found other outrageous adventures to occupy our time..... like shopping. I should say provisioning, the correct nautical term. Our shore based expeditions to find fuel (bensin), water (air) and food (buah and sayur) with our insufficient Indonesian have been fabulous. Try wandering the 6 foot wide streets of Pulau Seribu (the Thousand Islands- actually only 342 at last count) in torrential rain to purchase eggs (telur), flour (tepung), etc. The streets became rivers and we became laughing stock for the locals as sodden we trod from home to home collecting stores. Everyone seems to sell something from their diminutive front veranda here- room for fruit, veg and toothpaste but not for shoppers. Mikey had the unenviable task of holding the eggs on our return trip to the boat, some distance and many small waves away. I watched as our plastic bag of eggs changed colour from white to yellow as egg after egg broke and spilled its contents to the bottom of the bag. Not a single egg was broken however whilst shopping in Singarapa, the capital of Bawean Island. Perched as passengers on the back of motorbikes, we traversed the streets with our stores held either side. Mikey would swing his cargo of eggs (we eat a lot of eggs, mainly as part of Joel’s incredible home made roti with eggplant omelette) deftly from side to side to avoid yolky collisions with oncoming traffic, potholes, dogs, small children and chickens.</div>
<div><br/> After our brush with shipping traffic, we gave the whole of Java a wide berth and sailed from Pulau Seribu to Bali in eight days. The initial section was truly disheartening due to the incredible amount of rubbish in the water. The Java Sea is awash with rafts of Mie Goreng packets (we endearingly call them Java jellyfish), sometimes as far as the eye can see. We were on watch to de-clog the outboards should the water intakes get choked with plastic. I thought that Sonny’s intake of Mie Goreng was phenomenal but the whole population of Java must survive on this given the quantity of discarded packets floating in the water. Apart from plastic, the Java Sea is also dotted with oil wells, their flaming spouts visible from many miles over the horizon during night watches. Makes us realise how precious the Kimberley is. People pressure is very evident here.</div>
<div><br/> Despite this there were some gems on this stretch including the Island group of Kurimanjawa and Bawean, beautiful remote islands north of Java with amazing coral reefs, and many cultural treasures. We didn’t have time to look for the diamonds that apparently litter the side of the roads on Bawean Island according to our smooth money changer (might be a translation error) nor take up the offers of fishermen to accompany them on their flash outrigger canoes with generator and lampu (lamp) to go night fishing. Apart from our mission to put some miles behind us, we were afflicted by the dreaded curse of the batfish, which had Mikey and I spending at least 24 hours draped over the batfish ladder at the back of the boat in various squatting positions. Batfish ladder? Lets just say that the toileting facilities aboard are primitive and never eat a batfish.</div>
<div><br/> Of course we were also driven by our deadline to meet Jen and Stella in Bali and it was fabulous to introduce them to the delights of Jigal on their inaugural voyage from Bali to Lombok. We took it easy, spending time eating out ashore at Lovina, buying board shorts and re-acquainting ourselves with western style toilets. <br/>
<br/>
After two day-sails from Bali to Lombok, we spent two days at Gili Air diving on some amazing reef, swimming with turtles and veging-out in laid-back cafes. Stella took to the nautical life with gusto, jumping on the forward deck as we went over waves for some zero-g action. Jen was incredible at the helm, propelled by Jimmy Buffet (did I say he adds two knots to the boat speed?) and a nice beam reach we flew along the last stretch to the Gili Islands at about seven knots. It was great for Sonny to have someone as keen to spend time in the water as he is. He really is dolphin boy- he gets in the water when we stop and gets out when we move. He now dives with mask only, dispensing with cumbersome fins and snorkel. Stella and Jen will no doubt add to the travelogue and provide documentary evidence that this isn’t some Donald Crowhurst imaginary voyage.<br/>
<br/>
It was sad to see them go and we have since plodded onwards to Sumbawa. We are anchored off a bay on the north west side of Pulau Medang, north of Sumbawa, looking forward to an overnight sail to Komodo via an extinct volcanic island with freshwater lake overhung by parceled stones placed there for good luck by visitors from Sumbawa. Can’t wait for Komodo with dragons and apparently peerless diving in a well-protected national park. We will then wind our way north of Flores and on to Kupang in Timor before our final passage to Broome.<br/><br/>
</div>
<div>Till the next missive,<br/> Dave <br/>
-- <br/>
Yacht Jigal</div>
</div>The Jigal Diariestag:wharrambuilders.ning.com,2010-05-06:2195841:BlogPost:162072010-05-06T16:00:00.000ZDavid Brounhttp://wharrambuilders.ning.com/profile/DavidBroun
Hello the rest of the world- we are at last anchored in our Wharram Tiki <br></br>38 Jigal, in a mangrove creek in Tua Pujet on the island of Sipura about<div>60 nautical miles off the west coast of Sumatra. The last few days have</div>
<div>been a frenzy of boat survey, purchase and preparation. Our new sails have<br></br>arrived and we leave for our inaugural sail with our new best friends,<br></br>and previous owners of Jigal (formerly Imajica), Kwab and Ciaran who<br></br>have spent the last few years…</div>
Hello the rest of the world- we are at last anchored in our Wharram Tiki <br/>38 Jigal, in a mangrove creek in Tua Pujet on the island of Sipura about<div>60 nautical miles off the west coast of Sumatra. The last few days have</div>
<div>been a frenzy of boat survey, purchase and preparation. Our new sails have<br/>arrived and we leave for our inaugural sail with our new best friends,<br/>and previous owners of Jigal (formerly Imajica), Kwab and Ciaran who<br/>have spent the last few years sailing and surfing their way through<br/>Indonesia. Kwab is, as Joel described, the completely Zen English<br/>immigrant son of a Ghanian chief and Ciaran the happy go lucky Welsh<br/>surfy/comedian who has entertained us for hours with his take on the<br/>world.<br/><br/>Tua Pujet is the capital of the Mentawai Islands. It is a sea side<br/>village where rickety timber houses are perched over the water,<br/>occupied by fisherman quietly shaping timber for their boats. We<br/>periodically hear the call to prayer which echos through the town but<br/>doesn't seem to alter anyone's activities. Occasionally an American<br/>surfer frustrated by 'rubber time' will wander past- the Mentawais<br/>are famous around the world for their surf with breaks called 'ebay'<br/>and other incongruous western names.<br/><br/>The Mentawais is another world. Islands rise from the seas and<br/>disappear. Beautiful dugout canoes powered either by paddles or<br/>whipper-snipper motors ply the waters loaded with sandbags, old women<br/>and umbrellas with only a few impossible centimeters of freeboard. We<br/>have watched sunken boats lying on their side emerge from the waters,<br/>bailed by fishermen who replace a few timbers then float them<br/>ready for another days work.<br/><br/>Negotiating the language barrier and the loose Indonesian<br/>administration has been the most difficult part of our preparation. We<br/>have spent as much time waiting for fuel to arrive and drinking coffee<br/>susu, as we have with grumpy harbourmasters perplexed by these<br/>tourists waiving official permits gained from Jakarta, a world away.<br/>The heat here is intense, with only the aircon of our accommodation<br/>some relief. Now that we are on the water the breeze cools us as we<br/>ready ourselves for adventure.<br/><br/>Our journey to Tua Pujet has been exhausting after early starts in<br/>Perth , KL and Padang. We spent an evening dodging bed bugs in run<br/>down hostels in KL with a bit of time to look around the city. We<br/>spent a great day with our ride Elvis in Padang. After arguments with<br/>customs officials about spearguns and the relevance of 'duty', we ate<br/>a sumptuous Padang style feast- multiple amazing dishes, you pay for<br/>what you eat. Elvis took us to his house where we drank coffee Luwak<br/>made from the excrement of the cat-like Civet that have selectively<br/>semi digested the finest beans changing peptides apparently resulting<br/>in the finest coffee in the world. At $300 per kilo we aren't bringing<br/>any home! Evidence of the recent earthquake was everywhere but this is<br/>a beautiful town perched between mountains and sea surrounded by<br/>rainforest, with lanes of fascinating shops and a friendly feel.<br/><br/>Then there was the ferry ride from hell from Padang to Tua Puget. Our<br/>'VIP' tickets saw us spend a sweltering and largely sleepless night<br/>crammed in a room more like the hold of a seventeenth century slave ship. <br/>The air conditioning was turned on and off to torture us and when we eventually got to sleep we were woken by the morning call to prayer followed by the insane galactic screechings of a cheap toy ray gun in the hands of a murderous toddler.<br/><br/>We are all exhausted but holding up well. Sonny hasn't brushed his<br/>teeth for days and is surviving on a diet of mie goreng from our local<br/>restaurant. He is aghast at the squat toilets and the lack of<br/>consideration given to expiry dates on food products by locals. These<br/>memories will last him a lifetime. We eat Padang style every day with<br/>delicious eggplant and whitebait, coconut fish curries and beef<br/>rendang. Mike has dispensed with Western Customs and has abandoned the<br/>use of cutlery replaced by his right hand, the rest of us can't let go of the<br/>fork just yet.<br/><br/>We haven't looked in a mirror for days and lather with a napalm<br/>mixture of deet and sunscreen to ward of the multitude of tropical<br/>fevers and ailments present here. But we are surrounded by jungle clad<br/>hills leading to white beaches and incredible coral reefs. The ocean<br/>beckons and light but favourable winds are forecast tomorrow, perfect<br/>for the start of our trip back to Australia.<br/><br/>Internet is very slow and we will have limited access but we will keep<br/>you up to date.<br/><br/>Post script= for some reason the email didn't send yesterday, we have<br/>motored out to an anchorage near Tua Pujet to fine tune Jigal and<br/>prepare for a gentle warm-up cruise to an anchorage about 25 miles<br/>down the coast of the island Sipura. We will have no contact until we<br/>reach Sikkakap the following day. We managed to squeeze in some<br/>snorkeling- scorpion fish close encounters and amazing coloured reef<br/>fish abound.<br/><br/>Oh, and Sonny has brushed his teeth.<br/><br/>Dave</div>