After answering an ad on
retiredbackpackers.com I flew out to the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, to help skipper a genuine wooden Pinisi, from Bira, to Kendari (being the initial 3 week leg of a passage back to the Philippines). The boat
KLM Rima, was built locally on the beach, rolled into the sea, was completely crafted from local materials, and powered by an Isuzu lorry engine ! Even the sails were stitched by hand and run in leather clad hoops on the mast.
Although we had the benefit of a 3 local crew for helming, anchoring & sail duties, course planning was my domain and I carried out all chart work using a simple GPS, large scale charts, and simple plotting tools.
The voyage was a mix of all conditions, with about 3 nights spent under way. We encountered many people on the way ranging from corrupt harbourmasters in the big cities, to poor fishermen on some isolated islands that would trade you a days catch for half a gallon of petrol.
This log is not the place for a detailed account of the adventure, but suffice to say I learned a lot about sailing in Indonesia, albeit maybe not relevant to Western boating practices.
All told, the journey took 3 weeks, logging 390 Nm on the way.
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