Jelik Lost to the sea

About 2:00pm on Dec 19th Frank Pong's almighty 77ft yacht Jelik was sailing on delivery from Port Dickson, Malaysia to the Philippines when she lost her keel and capsized about 400 nm from Manila. One Brit and all 6 regular Philippino crew members had only moments to get out/off the boat and climb up on the upturned hull.

Fortunately it happened during the day and a Malaysian tanker the SS Tenaga Lima was passing by on her way back from Japan and at about 4:18pm spotted the sailors sitting atop the stricken yacht.

The tankers captain used a rescue boat to save the seven crew from the upturned yacht who where mostly clad in the clothing they stood in since the capsize then continued on to Bintulu, East Malaysia where she berthed and handed over the crew to authorities on Dec 20 at the LNG jetty.

All 7 crew members are safe and although Frank was not onboard arranged for them to fly on to their respective homes and reports that Jelik was last seen upside down somewhere near Palawan. By now, probably with a big hole cut in the hull by the local fisher folks to get at all the valuable stuffs inside before sinking. No search or recovery attempts will be made and as there was a couple hundred Jelik T-shirts on board he expects to see some very supportive Palawanese next time they pass.

Many Thanks must go to the Captain and crew of the SS Tenaga Lima for quickly responding to a potentially life threatening situation and the Malaysian authorities for smoothly addressing problems that sailors may face when traversing the busy South East Asian nations waterways.

Peter Plant - Ko Samui Regatta 2003

I would just like to say how sorry I am to hear this sad news!!! Jelik was a beautiful yacht and certainly turned heads wherever she went - she was a fitting spectacle at the Inaugural Koh Samui Regatta last year and provided so many beautiful photos - she will be missed!!

Am so pleased to hear that all of the crew are safe and OK.

Good luck and safe sailing with Maiden Hong Kong or the new Jelik and hope to see you at Koh Samui in May 2003

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