The Day my Cat Sailed Off

Well, actually it is now my previous catamaran. I had owned this Strider 24 racing catamaran for a few years and have had a good time sailing it. It was sailing this catamaran that prompted me to build a bigger and more comfortable catamaran. Over the last two years I had hardly used her as I was busy planning and building my new catamaran , a Gypsy 28 which is 4 ft longer and has a central cuddy. I passed the word around that my catamaran is for sale and there were quite a few interested parties but it was finally sold to Phillip Tinker and his wife KC in January this year. As they had to go back to Australia to settle some domestic problems, they will only take delivery of the catamaran only in May 2010. Presently they are in Malaysia on the M2H program (Malaysia my second home).The catamaran has been moored amongst the fishing boats near the bridge at Bukit Kuang so everyday when I pass by it is reflex action that my eyes will automatically turn toward the boat to see that it is still there. Actually I had appointed a local fisherman En Yee to look after the boat and nothing had gone missing the last few years. Well done and Terima Kaseh Yee. Yee was helping out in the loading of the provisions for the trip. The Tinkers are sailing the catamaran all the way back to Lumut on the West Coast.It is a journey of about 500 nm and they plan to cruise back in about 14 days.Phillip and KC Tinker.. a wonderful couple. They have a combined age of 126 years old and I thought I was a rugged and tough person BUT after seeing the Tinkers, I am no where near their category. Nothing seems to worry or scare both of them!The local fishermen were kind enough to allow us to use their jetty and also to use their boats as a pontoon.This makes our life a little easier but the sun was merciless!Fuel, Food water , maps, charts, radios etc had to be loaded up the catamaran. The boat will be home to this couple for about 2 weeks.All the items had to be stowed in its appropriate position. A catamaran is very sensitive to loading and Cof G. Riggings had to be checked.They used to say the happiest day is when a man buys himself a boat and the second happiest day is when he sells it. Well, in this photo both the seller and the buyer looks very happy! Phillip's wife KC looks happy and is looking forward to the trip. To be honest Phillip and KC are no strangers to sailing in Malaysia. They had owned and raced in a Young 88 sailboat named Mutz B Nuts in the 1980s.

The Suzuki 8 Hp started with just one pull. Ahem ..a good omen for them.Alright..bye for now..The mooring rope was then untied. Today is the 4 of May 2010 and according to the stars it is an ideal date to start a long journey. "TAKE CARE OF MY EX..." These were my parting shouts. I will meanwhile remain on land and shepherd their progress and giving local knowledge advices when required. That ends one era of my boat ownership. I looked back and saw an empty mooring lot. My new boat under construction will need another 2 years before it can get wet.

Traditional Boats in East Timor

Boats have always facinated me. In East Timor I observed that almost all the boats used by the local fisherman are traditional wooden boats and all of them have out riggers. These boats are really the fore fathers of the modern trimaran.The average length of the boats are about 10 ft long. Most of the fisherman uses the boat in the protected lagoons and the calmer coastal water within a km or so from the shoreline. It takes about 4 person to carry the boat into and out of the water.

Basically they either go out alone or at the most with one other friend.

This is the season where they can catch a lot of sardines using a small drift net. I bought some of these fresh and delicious sardines to be deep fried with curry and chilli powder for dinner. mmmm ..its delicious!I suppose it is child's play to handle one of these narrow "trimarans". The two out riggers really adds much stability to the narrow canoes.

Basic designs for the boat are a narrow sharp nose and tail.I do not see nails being used to make the out riggers. These pieces of wood and bamboos are just lashed together. If anyone of you know anything about Wharram cats, they are built almost exactly like these...ropes are used to lash the hulls together.
Pieces of flattened bamboo are then laid inside the boat to be served as floor boards. again these are just lashed on to the boat

This 30 footer is only powered by a 15 hp Outboard engine. It can achieve a spped of about 16 kts.

In my opinion, these are very well built boats with a proven design which some modern boats are even trying to emulate!

My South African friends and their Homebuilt Catamaran

I am always blessed to meet up with interesting people all the time. Several years ago (2004) one nice looking catamaran sailed in to Chukai and I happened to be at the car park next to the water front. I introduced myself to the sweating sailors as they stepped off their inflatable and that was the start of a long friendship with Jeanne and Don Pickers. Both of them are from South Africa.They were doing island hopping in the East Coast and they were on an extended holiday. I was invited to their Parley 38 catamaran which Don has built from plans. Now, Don is a professional farmer in South Africa and he has taken a few years of his spare time and spare money to build this magnificient sailing machine. There has been many magazine write ups about their building process and also their sailing adventures (Multihull International magazine). This guy Don is gifted in making things and I began a long process of picking his brain on boat building (The other guy whom I did a lot of brain digging on boat building is Robin Tan....more on him later). At first all these PVC foam, vacuum bagging,polyester resins etc seemed like Greek to me but thanks to a lot of stupid questions and attending University of Google I slowly began to understand more of it.Jeanne and Don's catamaran named KATRINE in Chukai.

I brought Don and Jeanne to my fruit farm to see if he could help me with the slow rate of growth of my trees.

Don as Jeanne puts it is the Man of man, always cheerful and forever in good mood. He has an eye for details and is very precise in his work. I almost cannot believe that his beautiful catamaran is home built! He knows alot about every thing and is not a specialist (A specialist is a person who knows alot about very little !). The little girl with the tongue sticking out is my daughter Alicia.

Jeanne is a very good writer. A lot of her articles had appeared in magazines and they are publishing a book about their adventures.
On one of the school holidays I took my family to Langkawi where they are based and stayed a night on their cat. We sailed to Pulau Singa the next day and had a picnic there. Don and Jeanne came out with some mouth watering dishes while we enjoyed ourselves. The young man under my arms is my son Alwin.Look at all the good food that we were served.

My wife Lily does not understand why I enjoy going to sea. To her, it is hot and uncomfortable.She needs all the extra towels to protect from the sun! Looks like a Bedeon Tribesman!A catamaran is one big playground where there is a place for everyone .

A seed has been sown into me. I keep dreaming about building a catamaran later!