Eman! Eman!

Tuesday, 29 July 2008

 

Jokwe!

 

We are still in Majuro, RMI, and for a change the work on the boat is progressing nicely.  The reason is that I hired a professional boatbuilder who is helping me.  In fact, Ted from the trimaran SEQUESTER is doing most of the work, while I am handing him tools and such.  He determined that DHARMA BUM III does *NOT* have osmosis as I had originally feared.  It is just the paint blistering slightly as a result of being covered with algae and being wet for months at a time.  Hard to avoid when you are anchored in Betio, Tarawa, Kiribati...

 

With the help of some local friends, I got my hands on part of a net from a purse seiner.  (Thank you very much Anton!!!)  Exceptionally strong (it has to carry tons and tons and tons of fish) and black, it now has been converted to new trampolines for our boat.  Not only is it a lot safer than the original ones, it also looks better and offers way less resistance to the water than the white stuff the production builders use.  I have come to the conclusion that said material is only used so bikini-clad beauties can pose for pix in glossy sales brochures. 

 

Several people expressed an interest in perhaps buying our 12-meter Privilege catamaran from 1993.  And since I had no clue about the present market value of our boat, I did a bit of research on the Internet (thanks to Johnny at the Marshallese Broadcasting Corporation MBC).  Here's what I found: 

 

Boats.com http://tinyurl.com/63sosh 

 

Yachtworld.com http://tinyurl.com/6m69he

 

Escapeartist.com http://tinyurl.com/62sfj4 

 

For us this means that it is almost certainly worth our while to go to Asia (Taiwan, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand...) and hire the experts over there to get DHARMA BUM III  back into top-condition before we try to sell the boat.  It probably also means that it will require a while until DHARMA BUM III is actually sold.  That is not really a problem, as we both love Asia anyway and Liping thinks that we could home-school Aurora Ulani for another five or six years if that is what it takes.  Who knows, we might even sail it back halfway around the world to get a better price over there.  I am certainly not going to sell it a lot under market value, no matter what happens. 

 

We are still waiting for a special battery which is being shipped from Hawaii and it looks as if I have to replace the two starter batteries as well.  The new furling Genoa from Lee Sails in Hong Kong is already up and looks very beautiful indeed.  Thanks to Ted the furler works better than ever, the forward-center-compartment is now self-draining, the hatches have almost all been resealed and various places have been re-fibreglassed.  We are thinking of putting no-return valves in front of all the goose-necks and have several more projects to occupy us before our visas run out in the beginning of September.  How does the saying go again?  Circumnavigating means repairing your boat in the most exotic locations.  ;-) 

 

I am also rigging up my ancient shortwave radio which I took off my previous boat.  We are not particularly "radio-active", but when entering the area west of Pohnpei, I want accurate weather information every day.  And I want to be able to communicate, mainly so that my parents don't worry - and also in case something does go wrong.  I have set up an eMail distribution system and once the radio is up and running, you should be able to track our daily position at http://www.pangolin.co.nz/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=KE6PIB (Kilo Echo Six Papa India Bravo is my HAM-radio callsign.)

 

We have already made contact with some people from Kosrae, where we are going to sail next.  And I met a guy right here at the Shoreline which I had met in Tonga in 1987 and again in 1995.  Small world.  He is now based in Pohnpei, the capital city of
FSM.  After that we'll perhaps visit Chuuk, Yap, and Palau, before heading towards the Philippines and/or Taiwan.  Unfortunately we won't be able to meet up with another longtime friend, as our schedule is extremely tight because of the typhoon season in Asia. 

 

~~~~~

 

Since 9 March 2008 Aurora Ulani has done 142 (of 160) Calvert School lessons.  That's 88% of the lessons for one year in only five months and she is thirsty for more!  As soon as we notice that she is beginning to have difficulties, we will slow down to only one lesson per day and perhaps even more to finally one school-year in one calendar-year.  As before, we will certainly listen to what the folks at Calvert have to say.  Their assessment and advice have been right on target! 

 

As for the outer islands, snorkeling, climbing palm trees, bonfires at the beach and all that, it will just have to wait.  There are more than ten big, delicious, juicy squid floating around under our boat and I am itching to get my hands on them.  Liping has already figured out where to get jiu ceng ta , a spice from Taiwan which gives the squid a very special flavor.  And on Sunday she is co-organizing a big to-do for children out at the Taiwan research farm cum fish-farm at the other end of the atoll in Laura.  The idea is to tell them about vegetables, flowers, wild plants, fish, animals and ecology at the various branches of the farm. 

 

 

--

Holger Jacobsen
S/V DHARMA BUM III
YACHT-IN-TRANSIT
P.O. Box 283
Majuro MH96960
Marshall Islands

Phone +692-4550473