Traditional Sandeq outrigger fishing boat race, Makassar Indonesia

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Whilst compiling the ever changing 2003/04 Asian Sailing Calendar a small cry for help came from the South Sulawesi - Vice Governors office in the ancient seafaring capital of Makassar. As serious doubts have existed that the race may not be run could we publicise that the century old-traditional sandeq outrigger fishing boat race will be starting on Aug 10th in Majene and ending in Makassar on the 17th.

Despite organising annual races in the Mandar area about 300km north of Makassar for the last 7years - Sandeq Racing has not come to the notice of the broader public, so allot of these spectacularly fast sailing craft are lying in mothballs as the crews decided to go to Mamuju and Donggala in search of thunas because the flying fish caviar prices are in the cellar this year. Oh! I have often wondered what those flimsy looking things where doing as they quickly whizzed by sometimes well out in rough seas crossing the notoriously dangerous Makassar Straits. Race participants or crew are usually drawn from the local coastal fishing villages along the way.

As this sailing spectacular has become one of the main nautical events of the year in the Indonesian Archipelago the regions Office for Culture and Tourism has issued AsianYachting with a challenge to keep the wonderful tradition of Sandeq sailing alive. Coming from a western world full of high tech carbon fibre construction and multi million $$ campaigns, It seems ironic that providing a little public awareness and promotion for these simple traditional bamboo outrigger sailing craft which are mainly held together with fishing line and jute can produce enough personal pride and cultural dignity in a developing 3rd world community to become the main driving force for sustainable and appropriate development that no multi-billion dollar ‘project’ could bring.

AsianYachting has been asked to help Ali's widow Ama Suryana with the restoration of the 13m Sinar Indah originally built for fishing in Kalimantan 6 years ago before it gets cut up for firewood. For 15 million Indonesian Rupiah IRP (or about US$1,800) you pick your own boat to sponsor, or for Rp 10,000,000 (about US$1.200) the committee chooses a boat for you.

Believe me this is no Nigerian email scam as a professional punggawa and racing crew will be picked among the family and friends of the coastal fishing village and local boat builder and sailmaker Takim has been asked to head up a boat repair team and make the biggest and best locally made sailing rig to prominently display the main sponsors logo. Every boat gets a free 100 sqm roll of sailcloth from the committee and as we will use at least 11 rows of sail cloth, something like 110m2 more sailcloth will be needed. The race philosophy is "If the wind’s too strong, we’ll reef – no way we wanna be beaten again because of shortness of sail area!”.

The race is financed by sponsoring so if anybody is interested in DONATING in any way, to help these traditional Indonesian fisherfolk keep their magnificent sailing culture alive or provide SPONSORSHIP so these exciting sailing craft will not go down in history - AsianYachting is offering to raise and distribute funds using E- Commerce solutions on the Internet.

For more information about the 2003 Sandeq Race or sending worthy donations to AsianYachting's - Sinar Indah fund can be found at: http://asianyachting.com/news/SandeqRace.htm or ask that by return email pls let me know. Your participation would assure the presence of your organisation in national and international electronic and printed media – with a connotation that differs significantly from ‘normal’ advertising and sponsorship - for a cost of only a fraction of ‘normal’ media rates.

As sailing a Sandeq is not like running a Western dinghy or yacht I will also be looking into becoming a member of a racing crew and participate in a shore publicity team by being in Mandar about 10 days before the start to train together with the local sailors for what is being billed as "the world’s fastest, longest and hardest race for traditional fishing vessels". I have been advised that "One thing you can be assured off is that your new found sailing pals will be wanting to win the race! Allot more than you!"
Cheers for now
Capt Marty Rijkuris
Oh I almost forgot the rest of the updated 03/04 Asian Sailing Calendar can now be browsed at http://asianyachting.com/asiancalendar.htm Take a copy and book your holidays if you are interested in any sailing action during this years AsianYachting Tour.

VALE SIMONE BIANCHETTI
June 29 - Simone Bianchetti, last months award winner and one of the most colourful and loved sailors in the Around Alone died suddenly, apparently of a brain aneurysm. Keep updated on these activities and Tim Kent's efforts to recover Everest Horizontal at: http://www.aroundalone.com

The continuing spirit of camaraderie only seen in the Around Alone race reappeared as early as June 22 when Tim Kent and Rick McKenna's keel bulb (the stabilizing force of the yacht) fell off Everest Horizontal causing the boat to flip upside down in the Bermuda 1-2 race. They managed to survive on the upturned hull until the Nordic Empress a Royal Caribbean cruise ship slowly approached the stricken sailors in a life boat and threw out a life ring. Kent's fellow skippers from the Around Alone race have swung into action. Knowing that Everest Horizontal is Tim's only livelihood Alan Paris of Bermuda and Brad Van Liew of America are presently executing a search to salvage the boat.

Fri, 13 Jun 2003 - If all the news at Scuttlebutt can be believed John Podmajersky, the owner of the Mum 30 that claimed overall victory at the 2002 Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac wins this months award and "Of the Year" if there ever was one.

The boat Illusion was first entered by his crewmember Robert Brandenburg under an informal charter agreement. Brandenburg officially entered the race and outfitted the boat with the Mac Race-specific safety gear at his expense. Then within weeks of the race, Podmajersky decided after all to race.

The race's instructions allow competitors three hours after finishing to protest or change their entries. For whatever reason, Podmajersky failed to correct the Illusion entry listing that had Brandenburg as skipper and ‘person in charge.’

There ensued a lengthy series of protests by Podmajersky, in which the Mac Protest Committee overruled him. Then he chose to take the issue to the courts, suing both the Chicago Yacht Club and Brandenburg plus allegedly hiring a PR firm garnering extensive media coverage mostly along the lines of, ‘Yachtsman Sues Club Over Trophy.’

A decision of the Mac Committee Jury back in October found Podmajersky guilty of infringing Rule 69, ‘Gross Misconduct…Breech of good manners or sportsmanlike conduct,’ and on June 10 guilty of a gross breach of Rule #3, ‘Acceptance of Rules’ and voted unanimously to expel him from the Club and barred from competing in Chicago Yacht Club events for at least a year. Further appeals are expected. - WOW! What a sore LOSER ?

New Round Aussie Record for Sailors with disABILITIES
David Pescud with his crew of Sailors with disABILITIES on KAZ a Lyons 54' have maintained over 7 knot average boatspeed since they started on their 6512 nm Around Australia circumnavigation to set a new World Sailing Speed Record of 37d 1h 23m 57s blitzing the record by a whooping 6 days 23 hours!

This shattered Jeremy Pearce and Kanga Birtles old Magna Data record of 43d: 19h: 29m: 55s set in Oct-99 that averaged 6.18 knots. KAZ started in Sydney on May 25 at 13.40.19 (Ever pondered what you have been doing over the last month or so?) and officially finished at 2:00pm on Tues 1st June after sailing non-stop Around Australia and Tasmania in a anti clockwise direction encountering the vageries of various weather systems on the way.

David Pescud and his 6 crew; Phil Thompson, Kim Jaggar, Harald Mirlieb, Al Grundy, Albert Lee and Brett Pearce will hold the fastest recorded elapsed time for a monohull yacht on a circumnavigation of Australia. They will also be the first disabled crew to have achieved this feat and been such a inspiration to us all that I am sure many others will follow their footsteps in the future. More info on KAZ and digital photos of this incredible sailing feat at: http://www.sailorswithdisabilities.com/03/challenge.html

Seeing the world’s fastest, longest and hardest race for traditional fishing vessels

If you're planning a visit to Indonesia during August, the Sandeq Race now in its 7th year is something that you might want to include in your itinerary. Last year saw 30 fast traditional outrigger Sandeqs, crewed by local fishermen from the Mandar area in South Sulawesi that usually ply their trade in the Makassar Straits racing from the city of Majene, and ending 7 days and 200 nm later in the capital of South Sulawesi, Makassar.

Songline Cruisers expect to have 4 Traditional liveaboard Indo Pinisi's escorting the traditional fishing boats and following the fleet on the race program for travellers interested in a real cultural experience among Indonesian people that seldom see tourists can be viewed at http://www.songlinecruises.com

This year they are offering a package program where you can join on any of the dates mentioned on a per night basis (2 day/1 night minimum) @ $50US per day or the complete program for $225US per person. More can be obtained at SongLine Cruises of Indonesia 021-745-8889 and 0816-1106-189 or try the website.

Asian Yachtmasters is expanding.
To compliment the 2-day Competent Crew and 3-day Day Skipper courses run at the RSYC in Port Klang Malaysia, Asian Yachtmasters is planning on introducing a part time Coastal Yachtmaster navigation course with a evening theory session probably held mid week at the Royal Selangor Yacht Club. As this is essentially a practical course it is held onboard suitable yachts (Sail and Motor) over 1 to 3 days within the Pt Dickson, Pangkor Islands, Lumut and Pt Klang quadrangle. This is an excellent opportunity for sailors to log up some valuable sea time in the busy Malacca Straits and brush up on their coastal sailing skills before considering a examination. If you want to enrol or charter one of the Platu 25's to test your crews match racing skills try contacting Lily or Khairul

Racing in Sabah!
Sail'a in Sabah together with KYC, Sutera Harbour and RMNYC are running a special dinghy regatta on the 4th July at Sutera Harbour. For the latest Sabah Optimist Ranking check into www.geocities.com/sabahsailing and the Malaysian Yachting Associations - 2003 Dinghy Racing Calendar is kindly reproduced at: http://www.geocities.com/sabahsailing/myacal03.htm

Sale Sale Sail!
Don't miss out on our Summer Solstice Sale where over 2000 Marine items are on sale which can to be purchased online and delivered to your doorstep on time. Click on the AsianYachting SailNet - Where Sailors Get It! to start saving now!

The Notice of Race for the 2003 Rolex Sydney Hobart is available on the official race website where applications for entry and crewing positions can be lodged now

The 2003 Rolex Farr 40 World Championship will be sailed off Porto Cervo, Sardinia over four days from the 2nd - 5th July. Hosted by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, 36 boats are expected to battle it out on some of the most testing waters in the world, where crews can expect both light and strong winds, hot competition - and all set in a breathtaking backdrop. Complete Entry List and News at: www.farr40.org or the official Rolex site visit www.regattanews.com

42nd Transpacific Yacht Race
Just when you thought it was safe to go back on the water - Philippe Kahn's Reichel-Pugh designed Pegasus 77 and Roy Disney's near sistership Pyewacket are expected to renew hostilities on July 6 on the 2,225 mile 42nd Transpac from San Francisco to Hawaii.

In the 2001 Transpac, Kahn's Pegasus 77 beat Disney's Pyewacket by 63 minutes. On a 360 mile warm-up race down the California coast from San Francisco to Catalina Island last week Pegasus crossed the finish line first breaking the course record by 6.5 hours. The score now stands at 2-0, and the grudge match begins all over again. This will be the last time these two boats sail with their respective owners, as Pegasus 77 is for sale and Disney will be taking delivery of his canting keel MaxZ86 shortly as allegedly Frank Pong will add Pyewacket to his impresive stable of racing yachts in Hong Kong. Browse Kahn's race log at http://www.pegasus.com or follow the race for bragging rights at: www.transpacificyc.org

Antarctica Cup
"Race Chairman - Bob Williams is pleased to announce the final race format... with new boats, new port ... The gauntlet is now laid down for the world's best ocean racers to challenge for the Antarctica Cup". The race will now take place starting in Feb 2005 and finishing in Auckland with a 4.7 million Euro prize pool to be considered the richest purse in international yacht racing history. The course will take the fleet of identical 25 metre thoroughbred ocean racers built in NZ through a series of gates in the Southern Ocean around the world's most feared and respected sailing landmarks Cape Horn, the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin - testing the courage, endurance and seamanship of national teams representing the world's maritime nations.

VIVA LA DK Yachts
Despite the American high performance and custom offshore boat builder Carroll Marine founded in 1984 in Bristol, RI ceasing building operations after the manufacturing assets where sold to a local powerboat builder Outerlimits the popular Mumm 30, Farr 40, 520s and the long awaited Farr 36 are NOW! available from DK Yachts in Malaysia.

CEO Hannes Waimer was found demonstrating the Laser SB3 which they are making 200 units for the UK market at Port Dickson recently, including one motley crew who could only be described as Dads Army were found effortlessly flying a huge asymmetric spinnaker and planning down small waves in a building afternoon sea breeze at almost 17 knots. What a wonderful boat for all ages looking for a very quick and exciting sail. It's no wonder then, that the SB3 has won so many Sportsboat titles in Europe and UK. Serious Yachts for Serious Sailors can be found at http://www.dkyachts.com

Lead up to the 32nd America's Cup
June 12 - Lisbonne (POR), Marseille (FRA), Naples (ITA), Palma de Mallorca (ESP) et Valence (ESP) are the 5 sites that remain in contention to host the 32nd America's Cup in 2007.

Alinghi, the Swiss team that won the America's Cup in March, will race against Oracle, a U.S. team, on San Francisco Bay in September. Alinghi is backed by biotech billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli, chief executive of alpine biotech firm Serono (nyse: SRA) and a director at UBS (nyse: UBS)--who ranks No. 64 on the Forbes World's Richest People list.

But don't worry to much about shallow pockets over at rival team Oracle, representing the Golden Gate Yacht Club. It's backed by, perhaps unsurprisingly, Oracle (nasdaq: ORCL) CEO and Chairman Larry Ellison. Both tech titans are avid seamen, and both sailed on their yachts in the last America's Cup. Extreme-sports enthusiast Ellison could probably use a physical catharsis, as tension builds in Oracle's attempted PeopleSoft (nasdaq: PSFT) buyout. Sponsors are assured that the 80-foot sloops will follow short courses within viewing distance of Pier 39 and the Marina District, with the finish line likely under the Golden Gate Bridge. Fans of the celebratory bubbly will be interested to know the racing will be sponsored by Moet & Chandon.

Bertarelli's hi-tech cat Alinghi also rules the waves on Lake Geneva
Over a span of 24 hours the 569 boats in the 65th Bol d'Or - a 100+ mile race held annually on Lake Geneva the sailors experienced all possible weather types, from mirror like water, blinding sunshine, tropical temperatures (95 F) and no wind, to pitch black skies with thunderstorms, pounding hail and wind speeds over 40 knots. Initial reports came in after sailing for more than 14 hours that only 250 boats had rounded the buoy at the end of the lake and two of the race favourites had capsized, 10 boats had lost their masts, one boat had sunk and 100 boats had been abandoned. Luckily there were no personal casualties.

After a slow start, skipper Ernesto Bertarelli and his Alinghi Team, sailing a high tech catamaran this time took the lead and never looked back. After 9h 56m 53s Alinghi, for the fourth consecutive time and the fifth time overall, won the 100+ mile trip around the lake. More can be found on this exciting event at http://www.boldor.ch/

Tony Bullimore GBR and Fedor Konyukhov + 9 crew sailing "Scarlet Sails" have set a new record from Jamaica (Montego Bay) across the Atlantic Ocean to the Lizard in the UK of 16d 22h 7m 8s.

World 24 hour monohull speed record still intact!
With Zaraffa already finished in the 3,600-plus nautical mile race and Tempest, Snow Lion and Zukunft IV who started one week earlier following close behind Dr. Robert McNeil decided to take the water-ballasted 86-foot turbo sled Zephyrus V from San Francisco, California on a 24 hour run and covered 440 miles from 3:30 pm Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) on Friday 27th June until 3:30 pm GMT the next day when skipper John Bertrand made the decision to abort the record attempt and retire from the transatlantic race.

The present world record for a monohull yacht is 484 miles. In the record attempt Zephyrus V had to maintain an average speed faster than 20.16 knots for a 24 hour period in order to beat the mark of 484 nautical miles in 24 hours set in April last year by John Kostecki and the crew of illbruck Challenge on Leg 7 of the Volvo Race from Annapolis, Maryland to La Rochelle, France. More can be found on the DaimlerChrysler North Atlantic Challenge site at www.dcnac.de

ALFA ROMEO BREAKS GIRAGLIA RACE RECORD
St. Tropez, France: The record for the Giraglia Race, the offshore race of the Giraglia Rolex Cup, held by Riviera de Rimini since 1998 was broken shortly before noon on Friday 27th June by Alfa Romeo.

Neville Crichton's Kiwi 90-foot Reichel/Pugh Maxi yacht took line honours in every race during the Giraglia Rolex Cup week and now heads to the English Channel to prepare for the Rolex Fastnet Race in August with another course record in mind - New Giraglia Race Record 22h 13m 48s - with a average speed of 10.9 knots.

More can be found at http://www.regattanews.com or watch out for the ESPN-Star (Asia, Far East) - Watersports World feature report on the Rolex Giraglia Cup. As this event is considered one of the Med's classic offshore races, it's sumptuous story is to be aired on 15 to 17th July.

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