Saturday, November 7, 2009

An Invitation of Compete in The Borneo International Yachting Challenge

Earlier this year the manager of Sutera Harbour Marina in Kota Kinabalu asked me if I was interested in competing in the Borneo Cup, which is a IOR class one race from Miri in Sarawak to Labuan and onwards to Kota Kinabalu. I said "YES" and so it was that suddenly I was looking for crew, not an easy thing think in Malaysia where most people are only interested in power boats.

The question I had was what was I sailing as there were three boats on offer:-

Ululumu a 46 ft ocean racer which had be converted for an aborted single handed round the world event.

Sarawak Seahorse a Benateux 32.5 ft cruiser racer which was waiting the fitting of a new propellor.

Miri Magic an 8 metre one design pocket cruiser which had briefly visited Kota Kinabalu earlier in the summer.

All the boats belonged to the same owner Troy YAW, who incidentally owns two 12 metre racers Australia 3 and Australia 4.

My first task was to find a crew, so I turned to a visiting Yachtsman Brad who has been sailing with his family around Asia for the past three years. Next I spoke with a couple of backpackers, one from Belgium and the other from who I met at my bar Pirates of Borneo Rib shack Diner. One had done a little sailing on a lake the other had no experience but bother were keen to learn. So the basic crew was formed