4. 470 (1985)

The Panaga boat club was buying a whole new fleet of 470’s and they were selling their old boats in 1985 by auction. I entered a bid for 3 boats and was successful! All in all, including trucking, the 470’s cost me 2000 ringgit, a very reasonable price indeed.

A Pujut friend, Chin Luk Choi bought one hull for 400 ringgit for conversion to a fishing boat and that took care of the trucking fee and import tax for all three pieces. I was able to cannibalize the good bits from all the masts and sails to make one complete sailing boat and have one spare hull left over.

One fine day, I took all three children sailing with me. There was not much wind. The sea was very calm and I was able to raise spinnaker! However, I was unable to get any of my young crew to try out the trapeze. They were still much too young! The boat proved too much of a hassle for one person to rig up and rig down with its three stays for the mast and numerous other lines used for controlling the kicking strap, the spinnaker pole, spinnaker, the centre board, the jib and two trapeze for the crew. I continued to sail the Sea hopper or the Laser dinghies most of the time because it took only 5 minutes to rig up and launch! I decided to reinforce the transom of the spare hull for installing an outboard engine. 

I bought a 14 hp Johnson outboard engine and immediately invited friends to go explore sungei Liku! The group consisted of my colleagues: Kho Boon Ming, Steven Shim, Gregory Tan and John Liaw, my neighbour. It was a first time for all of us going up the sungei Miri.

John Liaw, Gregory Tan, me, Kho Boon Ming

We went up the sungei Adong to the sawmill and beyond and also went all the way up sungei Liku to the Shell pumping station where cooling water for the refinery was obtained and pumped through an 8 inch pipe line all the way to two huge tanks near Pujut corner and from there pumped again to Lutong refinery. There was a narrow gauge railway line running there from Pujut corner to the sungei Liku. This railway line was built by Shell for the technicians to come and service these pumps on a regular basis. They used a Land Rover with wheels adapted to fit the rails!

sungei Liku

14 hp Johnson with 2 hp Yamaha spare

They used an old converted Land Rover for transportation. Its tyres were replaced by old railway rolling stock for wheels! In NZ I saw a more practical option: a standard Land Rover with an extra set of wheels which can be lowered hydraulically on to the tracks! Transrail use this for inspections of all the railway tracks. On completion of the job, the spare wheels are simply raised and the vehicle becomes a normal Land Rover again and can be driven on the road.

sungei Adong

Once, my wife joined me in the converted sail boat. We explored the water village at Pujut corner and also went for a ride up the sungei Adong. It was a great pity that there were no lakes in Miri. I heard that there was a shallow lake (Bunut), up the Baram river somewhere between Miri and Marudi. Rose even managed to go fishing there once with some native friends. However, the road was too rough for my boat trailer which had nylon bearings and plastic rims for its tyres. Actually it was only a beach launcher, not a proper road trailer at all. Otherwise I would have enjoyed sailing Logan Bunut for sure.

During dry seasons this lake also dries up because it is very shallow. This suits the Berawan natives who are closely related to the Ibans and the Kelabits. They harvest the fish from the lake and guard it jealously from outsiders. On the Baram there are also native tribes, Kayan, Kenyah and Muruts. These are very friendly and gentle people like the Kelabits from the Bario Highlands. Helen Buang is a Kelabit. John Seliman is an Iban from Saratok. Vivian Imang is a Kayan. Our domestic servant with the long ears was a Kenyah. Edward Lingan is an Iban from Bakong. Taib Mahmud is a Melanau from Mukah. He has done extremely well for himself as chief minister of Sarawak; but not as well as Mugabe, Marcos or Sadam Hussein!

My next purchase was a wind surfer. An expatriate brought it with him from Europe and was selling it before he went home at the end of his contract. I found that this was the most difficult water craft to learn to sail. A beginner is not brave enough to go into deep water where it is usually calmer. The sea is not exactly a suitable place to learn to windsurf as there are swells and breakers in the shallows. A lake or harbour is ideal. Kevin and I spent an entire afternoon at the beach near Kuala baram trying to learn to windsurf. Our time was mostly spent climbing back on the board. First we fell into the water from one side, then we fell from the other side! We gave up after making no progress at all. A great pity, since it was ideal weather for wind surfing in Malaysia; 34 deg C and no requirement for wet suits all year round in the tropics. Kevin and I missed a good chance to become first rate wind surfers!