This is the seeminlgly impossible story of a boat named Sunrise. Either that or the saga of Po Wing Kwan. This will have to be decided later. At present we will assume that the name is indeed Sunrise. While enjoying a cold beer at the Waterfront in Port Villa, I met a fellow named Peter Sirius. Mr. Sirius was looking for advice and a captain for his new 72-foot luxury motor yacht. The yacht was located in Hong Kong and he had bought it sight unseen. I thought this was a bit crazy, but I HONG KONG SKYLINE AND JUNKS IN HONG KONG HARBOR went along with the idea and helped him to sort out the survey and determine what would be needed to get his vessel to New Caledonia. After a week of meetings, during a late dinner Peter decides we should fly to Hong Kong TONIGHT... I had 20 minutes warning. I quickly packed and we went to Port Vila airport. After a brief stop in Brisbane, and a long flight, I found myself in Communist China! Now, I had been to Hong Kong 20 years ago in the US Navy, but I was not prepared to meet the machine gun-toting Chinese army! I had to hang around under the scrutiny of guns and dogs until Peters' flight arrived. I was really beginning to wonder if I had gone a little too far this time when Peter came out of the baggage area. All was well as soon as our limo arrived and life returned to calm pampered luxury. The hotel was five star and everyone was waiting on us hand and foot. After a couple of days of this, I got antsy to see the boat and get started on what I had come to do. I never thought that if I fell into the lap of luxury that I would be in such a hurry to get back to work, but a week of this lifestyle was really too much and I was glad when I finally moved aboard. We first met Sunrise (still named Po Wing Kwan) in Hong Kong on a day so thick with smog that it seemed impossible to breathe. She was moored in Hong Kong's' Causeway bay.Now, I am not writing a story about pollution, but anyone interested in the subject of pollution, or the effects of pollution on the natural fauna might find an interesting case study in Hong Kong's' Causeway bay. I will leave it to say simply that this is not a good place for swimming (or breathing for that matter). I need to mention that there were mysterious forces at work attempting to prevent us from seeing the boat until the purchase was complete. I also need to mention that my friend Peter is a fortuneteller, and a confident one. Peter had already agreed to purchase Sunrise (still Po Wing Kwan) sight unseen. I know what you are thinking… Hold that thought and hopefully this will all make some kind of strange sense (please excuse the pun) as we get further into the story. The brokers in this sale, although more honorable than some, are brokers nonetheless. The previous owners were some mysterious corporation who supposedly used the boat for "business meetings." Although there were definitely some maintenance issues, the boat was in very good condition. So why were we so carefully kept away from the boat? This question may forever remain a mystery. The actions on the part of the previous owners and those of the brokers would have lost the sale to most anyone else excepting Peter. Peter has this uncanny ability to pick up on an opportunity from half way across the planet without actually seeing with his own eyes. He is not always one hundred percent of course, but who is? The price was definitely a factor, but also another cause for wonder. Why is a yacht being sold at half her value? This question brings a lot of possible answers to mind and we could talk forever on the subject without ever reaching a sure conclusion. The conclusion we were able to reach was this: Nice boat, good condition, and excellent price. It is possible that some one in this mystery corporation did not really want to sell the boat, or was possibly even making moves to prevent its sale. Another mystery we may never find the answer to. At the end of a trying week of dealing with brokers, the owners' lawyers, Peter's lawyers, and a list of Hong Kong bureaucrats, the sale was complete and we were finally allowed to see the boat. Immediately, I mean within minutes of the final signatures, we removed Sunrise (still Po Wing Kwan) from causeway bay. It is only about an hour to Aberdeen Typhoon shelter from causeway bay and the level of pollution is far less (still pretty bad however). Aberdeen has a nice little yacht club that made us welcome and is close to the shops that cater to the needs of boats. What followed was three weeks of 18 to 20 hr. days of outfitting and some minor repairs, no more pampering... During this time, Merlyn and a friend of ours named Chris flew up from Vanuatu for the cruise. So, after three weeks of preparation and the arrival of Merlyn and Chris from Vanuatu, we are finally ready to head out with a new name. Po Wing Kwan was now "Sunrise"-- or so we thought. After the pre trip sea trial, we decided that we need more fuel. Sunrise is equipped with a pair of Detroit Diesel 12V-71 TA s. I knew it would be a thirsty boat, twenty gallons an hour at twelve knots? Wow. So we loaded ten 44-gal drums and all the hardware required to secure them. Now are we ready? Yes, we are ready to begin the journey itself, or so we thought. Now our new satellite terminal is warning us of a tropical storm in the South China Sea. This was our first serious delay, over the next three days this tropical storm became severe and got the name "Maggie". On the fifth day Typhoon Maggie made a direct hit on Hong Kong.I previously mentioned that Aberdeen is a cyclone shelter. We unintentionally discovered that it is darn good one. The effects of now Typhoon Maggie were barely noticeable at the Marina Club. Two days waiting for the weather to calm and finally we depart Hong Kong bound for Subic Bay, Philippines. The Five hundred and seventy seven mile trip to Subic Bay took only two days and was thankfully uneventful with the exception of a close encounter with a log. Smooth seas and great weather made for a "love boat" cruise. No damage was done and we arrived in Subic on a Saturday. Now here is a bit of info: if you are a cruising yacht and Subic Bay is your first port of call, you are boarded by the quarantine officer ($100), and told it would be in your best interest to join the Subic Bay Yacht Club. Sounds good, we are members of yacht clubs all over the world, so why not? Being Sunday, Customs and Immigration were not available. The harbormaster, after a discussion with the quarantine officer, decided it best if we move to the Subic Bay Yacht Club marina to await clearance on Monday. Still sounds good. The Yacht club manager wined and dined Peter while we cleaned up the boat a bit. When he returned, we got the story about the club. A twelve month, individual membership costs US$42,000! This is the least expensive membership available and does not allow for members to have guests. Where is the lowly crew supposed to go anyway? So if any of you feel the need to join the Subic Bay Yacht Club, probably better to purchase the "corporate" membership for US$90,000. This way you can have guests or the handy convenience of crew. If you ever find yourself cruising the Philippines, definitely stop at Puerto Gallera on the North of Mindao Island. It is a natural typhoon shelter and a really gorgeous little town that shows all of its Spanish heritage. The prices are astounding. Imagine a five-course meal for two, beers, and a bottle of wine all for around four dollars! We departed P.I. from Mindinao and made another 670 miles to Palau, a former US territory. We had our first rough weather on this trip. After six weeks in Palau, cruising the rock islands and dodging storms, we made our longest jump of the trip, 720 miles to Jayapura, Indonesia. There was some kind of military action going on and we were not allowed to go ashore at all. Terribly inconvenient as we had a collision with a log by the equator and were in need of repairs. Some dodgy officials extorted us for a fair amount of US currency before we were allowed to limp on to Madang, Papua New Guinea. Madang, in contrast offered us a welcome by friendly, although rather lazy officials. Everything happens in extremely slow motion in Madang, so we had to be patient and do a lot of waiting. It took an entire month to get our passports back from the Immigration department in Port Moresby, so even with the delays on repairs, the boat was actually ready to go before our passports were returned. It seems everyone is chewing bettlenut here and I am convinced this causes irreversible brain damage, causing the victim to fall into lazy (though happy), lethargy. Neither Merlyn nor I ever tried the stuff. I could just see us passing the rest of our days with a lopsided silly grin, and I decided this was a truly dangerous drug. We continued to Rabaul (on the northeast coast of New Britain), where a volcano erupted on us and covered Sunrise and us with a thick coating of ash. It seems that the mountain explodes on a regular basis. The local people have relocated their town upwind of the ash but are still very close to the eruptions. Then to New Ireland, where we found a beautiful isolated cove to wait out bad weather. Here we met an old man who was a boy here during the Japanese occupation. He us told stories that, although true, were pretty horrific. This was one of those rare occasions where being fluent in Bishlama was useful. The Papuan New Guinea "pidgin", though it uses quite a few more English words, is very similar to Vanuatu's Bishlama. From New Ireland we had a rough trip down to Ghizo on the north end of the Solomons. Down through the Solomon to Honiara where our anchor dragged during a powerful thunderstorm putting us on the reef and damaging the propellers AGAIN. There are some really nice places, and a few best avoided in the Solomons. We saw a bit of both. We limped through the Santa Cruz and the Torrez groups to Vanuatu where we attempted primitive repairs without success. After an attempt in rough weather and turning back to Port Vila we made the trip to Noumea, New Caledonia in 42 hours. It was still rough but the trip went well. We met Peter and my friend's wife on the pier and had a really great meal at Peter's resort. A few days later I said goodbye to Sunrise. After 6,000 miles on a motor yacht (a very luxurious motor yacht), I flew back to Vanuatu and got down to the business of getting Nael ready for sea and met up with Merlyn, who was returning from a visit to her mother in Canada. On th 15th of November 1999 we set off to Australia via New Caledonia. OFF TO AUSTRALIA Although it is only 280 miles as the seabirds fly to New Caledonia, we sailed over 500, tacking upwind before arriving at Havannah Pass. Even the ships stand off this pass untill the tide turns so we decided to do the same and 10:20 in the morning on the 19th we followed several ships into French waters. Noumea is a shock to anyone used to the South Pacific with its European architecture and modern facilities and high prices. The French have converted this place to a small modern city, quite different than the third world country in which it is located. We spent two weeks in Noumea and got in some touring around town. One of the things that I noticed about Noumea was that, unlike other French countries we have visited, the people here do not seem insulted if your French is not perfect. In fact, most seem willing to help with pronunciation and even definition. The open market in Noumea is the largest, most extensive, and cleanest of any I've seen in the Pacific. There are supermarkets that actually have a selection. There are aquaculture centers, parks, Cathedrals, Yacht Clubs, and of course beautiful beaches sporting lovely topless women. The only problem is that Noumea is EXPENSIVE. The only things that are cheap (this is a relative term) are bread, wine, and cheese. A bar of soap is about 6 bucks and a can of beans will run about the same. We ate a lot of bread and cheese and drank a lot of wine. On December 8th, 1999 on a beautiful, sunny and quite windy day we set off for Australia. AUSTRALIA
This is the seeminlgly impossible story of a boat named Sunrise. Either that or the saga of Po Wing Kwan. This will have to be decided later. At present we will assume that the name is indeed Sunrise.
While enjoying a cold beer at the Waterfront in Port Villa, I met a fellow named Peter Sirius. Mr. Sirius was looking for advice and a captain for his new 72-foot luxury motor yacht. The yacht was located in Hong Kong and he had bought it sight unseen. I thought this was a bit crazy, but I
HONG KONG SKYLINE AND JUNKS IN HONG KONG HARBOR
went along with the idea and helped him to sort out the survey and determine what would be needed to get his vessel to New Caledonia.
After a week of meetings, during a late dinner Peter decides we should fly to Hong Kong TONIGHT... I had 20 minutes warning. I quickly packed and we went to Port Vila airport. After a brief stop in Brisbane, and a long flight, I found myself in Communist China! Now, I had been to Hong Kong 20 years ago in the US Navy, but I was not prepared to meet the machine gun-toting Chinese army! I had to hang around under the scrutiny of guns and dogs until Peters' flight arrived. I was really beginning to wonder if I had gone a little too far this time when Peter came out of the baggage area.
All was well as soon as our limo arrived and life returned to calm pampered luxury. The hotel was five star and everyone was waiting on us hand and foot. After a couple of days of this, I got antsy to see the boat and get started on what I had come to do. I never thought that if I fell into the lap of luxury that I would be in such a hurry to get back to work, but a week of this lifestyle was really too much and I was glad when I finally moved aboard.
We first met Sunrise (still named Po Wing Kwan) in Hong Kong on a day so thick with smog that it seemed impossible to breathe. She was moored in Hong Kong's' Causeway bay.Now, I am not writing a story about pollution, but anyone interested in the subject of pollution, or the effects of pollution on the natural fauna might find an interesting case study in Hong Kong's' Causeway bay. I will leave it to say simply that this is not a good place for swimming (or breathing for that matter). I need to mention that there were mysterious forces at work attempting to prevent us from seeing the boat until the purchase was complete. I also need to mention that my friend Peter is a fortuneteller, and a confident one. Peter had already agreed to purchase Sunrise (still Po Wing Kwan) sight unseen. I know what you are thinking…
Hold that thought and hopefully this will all make some kind of strange sense (please excuse the pun) as we get further into the story. The brokers in this sale, although more honorable than some, are brokers nonetheless. The previous owners were some mysterious corporation who supposedly used the boat for "business meetings." Although there were definitely some maintenance issues, the boat was in very good condition. So why were we so carefully kept away from the boat? This question may forever remain a mystery. The actions on the part of the previous owners and those of the brokers would have lost the sale to most anyone else excepting Peter. Peter has this uncanny ability to pick up on an opportunity from half way across the planet without actually seeing with his own eyes. He is not always one hundred percent of course, but who is?
The price was definitely a factor, but also another cause for wonder. Why is a yacht being sold at half her value? This question brings a lot of possible answers to mind and we could talk forever on the subject without ever reaching a sure conclusion. The conclusion we were able to reach was this: Nice boat, good condition, and excellent price. It is possible that some one in this mystery corporation did not really want to sell the boat, or was possibly even making moves to prevent its sale. Another mystery we may never find the answer to. At the end of a trying week of dealing with brokers, the owners' lawyers, Peter's lawyers, and a list of Hong Kong bureaucrats, the sale was complete and we were finally allowed to see the boat. Immediately, I mean within minutes of the final signatures, we removed Sunrise (still Po Wing Kwan) from causeway bay. It is only about an hour to Aberdeen Typhoon shelter from causeway bay and the level of pollution is far less (still pretty bad however). Aberdeen has a nice little yacht club that made us welcome and is close to the shops that cater to the needs of boats. What followed was three weeks of 18 to 20 hr. days of outfitting and some minor repairs, no more pampering... During this time, Merlyn and a friend of ours named Chris flew up from Vanuatu for the cruise.
So, after three weeks of preparation and the arrival of Merlyn and Chris from Vanuatu, we are finally ready to head out with a new name. Po Wing Kwan was now "Sunrise"-- or so we thought. After the pre trip sea trial, we decided that we need more fuel. Sunrise is equipped with a pair of Detroit Diesel 12V-71 TA s. I knew it would be a thirsty boat, twenty gallons an hour at twelve knots? Wow. So we loaded ten 44-gal drums and all the hardware required to secure them. Now are we ready? Yes, we are ready to begin the journey itself, or so we thought. Now our new satellite terminal is warning us of a tropical storm in the South China Sea. This was our first serious delay, over the next three days this tropical storm became severe and got the name "Maggie". On the fifth day Typhoon Maggie made a direct hit on Hong Kong.I previously mentioned that Aberdeen is a cyclone shelter. We unintentionally discovered that it is darn good one. The effects of now Typhoon Maggie were barely noticeable at the Marina Club.
Two days waiting for the weather to calm and finally we depart Hong Kong bound for Subic Bay, Philippines. The Five hundred and seventy seven mile trip to Subic Bay took only two days and was thankfully uneventful with the exception of a close encounter with a log. Smooth seas and great weather made for a "love boat" cruise. No damage was done and we arrived in Subic on a Saturday. Now here is a bit of info: if you are a cruising yacht and Subic Bay is your first port of call, you are boarded by the quarantine officer ($100), and told it would be in your best interest to join the Subic Bay Yacht Club. Sounds good, we are members of yacht clubs all over the world, so why not? Being Sunday, Customs and Immigration were not available. The harbormaster, after a discussion with the quarantine officer, decided it best if we move to the Subic Bay Yacht Club marina to await clearance on Monday. Still sounds good.
The Yacht club manager wined and dined Peter while we cleaned up the boat a bit. When he returned, we got the story about the club. A twelve month, individual membership costs US$42,000! This is the least expensive membership available and does not allow for members to have guests. Where is the lowly crew supposed to go anyway? So if any of you feel the need to join the Subic Bay Yacht Club, probably better to purchase the "corporate" membership for US$90,000. This way you can have guests or the handy convenience of crew.
If you ever find yourself cruising the Philippines, definitely stop at Puerto Gallera on the North of Mindao Island. It is a natural typhoon shelter and a really gorgeous little town that shows all of its Spanish heritage. The prices are astounding. Imagine a five-course meal for two, beers, and a bottle of wine all for around four dollars! We departed P.I. from Mindinao and made another 670 miles to Palau, a former US territory. We had our first rough weather on this trip. After six weeks in Palau, cruising the rock islands and dodging storms, we made our longest jump of the trip, 720 miles to Jayapura, Indonesia. There was some kind of military action going on and we were not allowed to go ashore at all. Terribly inconvenient as we had a collision with a log by the equator and were in need of repairs. Some dodgy officials extorted us for a fair amount of US currency before we were allowed to limp on to Madang, Papua New Guinea. Madang, in contrast offered us a welcome by friendly, although rather lazy officials. Everything happens in extremely slow motion in Madang, so we had to be patient and do a lot of waiting. It took an entire month to get our passports back from the Immigration department in Port Moresby, so even with the delays on repairs, the boat was actually ready to go before our passports were returned.
It seems everyone is chewing bettlenut here and I am convinced this causes irreversible brain damage, causing the victim to fall into lazy (though happy), lethargy. Neither Merlyn nor I ever tried the stuff. I could just see us passing the rest of our days with a lopsided silly grin, and I decided this was a truly dangerous drug.
We continued to Rabaul (on the northeast coast of New Britain), where a volcano erupted on us and covered Sunrise and us with a thick coating of ash. It seems that the mountain explodes on a regular basis. The local people have relocated their town upwind of the ash but are still very close to the eruptions. Then to New Ireland, where we found a beautiful isolated cove to wait out bad weather. Here we met an old man who was a boy here during the Japanese occupation. He us told stories that, although true, were pretty horrific. This was one of those rare occasions where being fluent in Bishlama was useful. The Papuan New Guinea "pidgin", though it uses quite a few more English words, is very similar to Vanuatu's Bishlama.
From New Ireland we had a rough trip down to Ghizo on the north end of the Solomons. Down through the Solomon to Honiara where our anchor dragged during a powerful thunderstorm putting us on the reef and damaging the propellers AGAIN. There are some really nice places, and a few best avoided in the Solomons. We saw a bit of both. We limped through the Santa Cruz and the Torrez groups to Vanuatu where we attempted primitive repairs without success.
After an attempt in rough weather and turning back to Port Vila we made the trip to Noumea, New Caledonia in 42 hours. It was still rough but the trip went well. We met Peter and my friend's wife on the pier and had a really great meal at Peter's resort. A few days later I said goodbye to Sunrise.
After 6,000 miles on a motor yacht (a very luxurious motor yacht), I flew back to Vanuatu and got down to the business of getting Nael ready for sea and met up with Merlyn, who was returning from a visit to her mother in Canada. On th 15th of November 1999 we set off to Australia via New Caledonia.
OFF TO AUSTRALIA
Although it is only 280 miles as the seabirds fly to New Caledonia, we sailed over 500, tacking upwind before arriving at Havannah Pass. Even the ships stand off this pass untill the tide turns so we decided to do the same and 10:20 in the morning on the 19th we followed several ships into French waters.
Noumea is a shock to anyone used to the South Pacific with its European architecture and modern facilities and high prices. The French have converted this place to a small modern city, quite different than the third world country in which it is located. We spent two weeks in Noumea and got in some touring around town. One of the things that I noticed about Noumea was that, unlike other French countries we have visited, the people here do not seem insulted if your French is not perfect. In fact, most seem willing to help with pronunciation and even definition.
The open market in Noumea is the largest, most extensive, and cleanest of any I've seen in the Pacific. There are supermarkets that actually have a selection. There are aquaculture centers, parks, Cathedrals, Yacht Clubs, and of course beautiful beaches sporting lovely topless women. The only problem is that Noumea is EXPENSIVE. The only things that are cheap (this is a relative term) are bread, wine, and cheese. A bar of soap is about 6 bucks and a can of beans will run about the same. We ate a lot of bread and cheese and drank a lot of wine.
On December 8th, 1999 on a beautiful, sunny and quite windy day we set off for Australia.
AUSTRALIA