T R A W L E R   N E W S 

IN THIS ISSUE #113

NEW 55 AND 64 FROM NORDHAVN

VOYAGING ABOARD AKAMA: GREETINGS FROM PAPUA NEW GUINEA

CLASSIC TRAWLER YACHTS TO RENDEZVOUS IN SEATTLE

BRIEF BUT NOTEWORTHY

IF YOU WOULD LIKE A FREE TRIAL COPY OF POWER CRUISING . . .

HOW TO REACH US

Proud presenting sponsor of West Marine Trawler Fest http://www.trawlerfest.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ T R A W L E R N E W S  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Broadcast on the Internet 03/02/04 Read this edition online with photos and additional text at http://members.rogers.com/waterworld/tnews_temp_113.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ IN THIS ISSUE #113 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New 55 and 64 from Nordhavn Voyaging aboard Akama: Greetings from Papua New Guinea Classic trawler yachts to rendezvous in Seattle Brief but noteworthy If you would like a FREE trial copy of Power Cruising How to reach us How to unsubscribe ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEW 55 AND 64 FROM NORDHAVN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By Blake August Even before its new 43 and 72 have been launched, Pacific Asian Enterprises has already announced two additional Nordhavns in its line of power passagemakers: The new 55 will offer enhanced interior accommodations while the new 64 will be sleek as only large yachts can be. New for Nordhavn will be a steering wheel on both models that tilts 45 degrees, making it easier to make quick turns in tight quarters. A surprising feature on the 55 is a private stateroom complete with a double-sized berth adjacent to the already spacious pilothouse. PAE received more than a dozen orders for the $1-million trawler yacht within three months of its announcement The 55 is slated for launch late in 2004 while the 64 will first hit the water in 2005. The two new models will bring to 12 the number of long-range cruisers available from Nordhavn. Pacific Asian Enterprises tel: 949.496.4848 http://www.nordhavn.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ VOYAGING ABOARD AKAMA: GREETINGS FROM PAPUA NEW GUINEA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By Maurice Nunas My wife Louise-Ann and I have put nearly 6,000 miles on Akama, our Krogen 48 Whaleback, since we bought her in January 1999, most of them since my second (and final) retirement in January 2002. She had less then 900 hours on her and now has well over 2,100. While working in Singapore, we used Akama as a live-aboard, only going out every few months, racking up only 200 hours and 1,100 miles in three years. Boy, did that change with retirement! We've not stopped going places since then. Our short-term cruising plan is to continue on our way from Malaysia to New Zealand, arriving sometime before the end of October. We plan to spend several months in the remote areas and out islands in each of the following countries: Papua New Guinea (where we are now), The Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. There is no fixed itinerary for this; we will go where the winds and seas suggest is best, wandering gently towards our goal. We've found that this is far superior to trying to meet a fixed schedule. Few cruising boats make this passage. We made the 50-mile trip from Ninigo Islands to Hermit Islands (Latitude 01 degree 33 minutes South, Longitude 145 degrees 02 minutes East) in Papua New Guinea in 9 hours. It would have been delightful, except that our hydraulic roll stabilizers have died, due to a leaking ram seal. So, we roll more than we should. We arrived at the Hermit Islands just in time; the weather turned bad very quickly, with winds over 30 knots, choppy seas and lots of rain. For three days it blew like stink and we hunkered down in our relatively peaceful anchorage in the lee of an island, reading and doing a bit of maintenance. The biggest bit of maintenance was to pull the water pump off of the generator set, in preparation for getting it rebuilt, hopefully in Medang. Because we now have no generator, while at anchor we must run our wing engine most of the time to keep the batteries charged. Without the generator, we cannot make water with the desalinator-Fortunately, there is lots of rain-nor can we use the clothes washer. Needless to say, we're anxious to get it fixed. We are rather unhappy about our generator, which is made by Westerbeke. Not only have we had a lot of trouble with it, but the service from Westerbeke and its Singapore agent has not met our expectations (no stock, not responsive). Our latest gripe with KUT Diesels, the agent in Singapore, is that their inattentiveness resulted in receiving the wrong heat exchanger. Our latest gripe with Westerbeke is that we could cut parts off the old heat exchanger and weld them onto the new one and get this thing going as good as new, but the company refuses to tell us what material it is made of so that we can weld or braise it properly. Their only proffered solution was to buy yet another heat exchanger from Westerbeke, with no mention of taking the old one back. Still, we are anchored in what Jacques Cousteau classified as one of the great paradise spots, so enough whining. Hermit Islands is a delightful place. It is quite different from the Ninigo Group, even though the people are intermarried and the two atolls are not far apart. The village here is very clean. It appears to be a bit more prosperous, with a few more timber buildings. They even have a generator set hooked up to the church. The villagers farm about the same crops as Ninigos, except that here we don't see anyone eating mamy, which is a variety of coconut, apparently only grown in this area. What sets it apart is the fact that they eat the whole darned thing, except the outer green skin! The outside of most coconuts is fibrous, relatively dry and not very sweet. The mamy husk is sweet and juicy. They chop off a bit of the end with a bush knife (machete) and then using their teeth strip off the outer layer. Strong teeth! The inner husk is chewed, like sugar cane, and the fiber spit out. The inner nut has water and meat that is also consumed. In the Ninigos, we were told that the ancient voyagers put a big stock of these in their canoes before setting out, as the mamy provided both food and drink. One of the habits that the people have around here is chewing betel nut. They mix a little lime (usually ground coral) with the nut and chew away, spitting out the juice. The lime turns the juice brilliant red, which stains their teeth and lips. The Palauans also mix in a little tobacco when they have it, the people in the Hermits and Ninigos don't. We were amazed to see that not just the adults but young children, mostly boys also chew. Betel nut is a stimulant and a tonic, at least according to our Funk and Wagnals. Goodness knows what the lime does; it's highly caustic stuff. Also in contrast to Ninigo, most of the boats here are fiberglass, although the young folk do have small dugout canoes. There is a fleet of small Hong Kong-built fiberglass boats for catching and keeping live fish, but none are in use. Several explanations were given; one was that the outboard engines all failed; another was that there was some rivalry with the people from Ninigos and the market dried up. Neither explanation seems quite right; more than likely they simply fished out the area, used cyanide or bombs. Most of these boats are now used as containers or, inverted, as shelters for various other purposes. For fishing and inter-island travel they use 20- to 25-foot Japanese-designed fiberglass boats with 40-hp Yamaha outboards. These are open boats, fairly heavily built. To go to Manus, the nearest big town, about 130 miles away, they put two outboards on them and run for about 8 hours in the open ocean. The villagers have several pet seabirds, which stay around simply because they are being fed. They also have a couple of brightly colored parrots and a pet crocodile. Well, the crocodile is not really a pet, as eventually it will be killed for its skin. There are plenty of wild crocodiles around these parts and we have to inquire about their whereabouts before venturing in for a swim or to do underwater maintenance. Our anchorage was supposedly crock free. We did some snorkeling, the first in a long time. The coral near the village is a bit worn, but there were some colorful fish. One of the other yachties in the bay, the owner of a French boat called Fogo, reported seeing several small sharks. We were not so lucky and had to be content with sighting a turtle. Here we are, about 1,400 miles from our last fuel-up and miles to go before the next one. Having enough fuel to get to the next port is a major consideration for passagemaking under power. A great number of things conspire to make it difficult to calculate just this, yet it is imperative to be able to make the calculation . . . and get it right. The first problem is, knowing how much fuel there is. We can read each tank from the pilothouse, using a remote gauge. It is a pretty slick gadget. A puff of air is sent down a thin tube that goes to the bottom of the tank. The pressure of the fuel trying to rise back up the tube is proportional to the height of the fuel, and this pressure is measured by a contraption that is nearly identical to the bellows and escapement in a barometer. The gauge is calibrated in inches of diesel and we use a conversion table to convert the number of inches of diesel into the number of liters. It reads accurately to about 10 liters per tank, except if the boat is getting bumped around a lot in a bad sea. For the metrically challenged, 10 liters equals 2.6 gallons U.S. A trawler yacht is usually run according to engine speed, not boat speed. Under load, diesel engines burn fuel dependent upon engine speed. We ran tests and created a table of fuel consumption versus engine speed in RPM. For example, Akama uses about 5 liters per hour at 1,000 rpm, 6 liters per hour at 1,200 rpm and 13 liters per hour at 1,900 rpm. So, we can calculate with reasonable accuracy how long we can run the engine. Determining how far we can go in this running time is a much thornier issue, which is dependent upon the sea state, the wind and the tide. Through flat water, with no wind, at 1,200 rpm, Akama moves at 5.6 knots. However, a moderately choppy sea will reduce this to 5 knots, and if it is really sloppy we might only achieve 4.5 knots. The wind has less influence although we have not yet been able to compute its effect. Water currents further complicate the matter. Finally, the weight of the boat is also a factor; but we have not yet calculated its effect. Full up, we carry a ton of water, several tons of diesel oil, and who knows how many tons of provisions and spares. Every ton depresses Akama about 3/4 of an inch deeper into the water, increasing drag. The bottom line is that powerboaters must be very tuned in to not just their boat and its performance, but also to the many environmental factors that affect fuel consumption. There are no filling stations in the middle of the ocean, and no towing services. Our next stop, Medang, is not on our original itinerary, as it was not considered to be particularly safe. We have little choice now, as we have to go to a major center to repair the generator set and the stabilizers, and Medang is the only one. Fortunately, recent reports from other yachts say that it is OK as long as we lock things up and do not leave the boat unattended. We'll see. http://www.nunas.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CLASSIC TRAWLER YACHTS TO RENDEZVOUS IN SEATTLE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you're interested Romsdal and Malahide trawler yachts and other classics, the second annual Classic Trawler Yachts Network Rendezvous will take place April 3-4 at the Center for Wooden Boats on Lake Union in Seattle, Washington. Myles Stapleton, designer of the Malahides, will be present to share history and stories. Boats confirmed are Ursa Major (a Malahide), Sovereign of Malahide, Eagle Mar (a Malahide), Radiant Star (a Scottish trawler), Seaquest, Torsk (a steel-hulled Romsdal) and, probably, Norwesting (wood Romsdal) and Explorer, another Malahide. Joyce Gauthier, owner of Ursa Major and the event organizer. reports that owners "will be coming from around the globe with records and photos of their Romsdals (Oceanquest, Viking, Little Sindbad, Delfin, Little Sindbad, possibly Sindbad and Discovery, and Ulysess) and Malahides (Marcellita, Lady Faye, Saorise, Connda Vennessa, Oceanic Pearl) and we will have several other vessels celebrating with us, including Westward, a classic wood yacht." The event will coincide with opening day of the North-to-Alaska Cruising Season promoted by the recently formed Alaska Charter Yachts, a consortium of 10 charter yachts with heavy trawler representation. Classic Trawler Yachts Network http://www.classictrawlers.net tel: 206.310.2309 Alaska Charter Yachts http://www.Alaska-Charter-Yachts.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BRIEF BUT NOTEWORTHY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * The fourth annual Northeast Nordic Tug Rendezvous will take place July 21-24 at Essex Island Marina in Essex, Connecticut. Information is available from Wilde Yacht Sales in Essex, exclusive Nordic Tug dealer for New England, New York, Northern Pennsylvania, Northern New Jersey, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and Canada. Wilde Yacht Sales will also host an open house April 17-18. http://www.wildeyachts.com toll-free: 1.888.447.6944 * Here is an URL guaranteed to make you gulp: http://tv-antenna.com/heavy-seas/ * Goodbye, cotton, hello, micro fiber! Swobbit Products is introducing a product it calls the miracle marine cleaning cloth. Micro fiber is the result of a trick manufacturing process that creates a fiber 1/100th the width of a human hair. The unique starburst-like shape of each tiny fiber reportedly lifts and removes dirt, grease and grime without smearing, streaking or scratching-without the use of chemicals and, in some cases, without water. Swobbit manufactures micro fiber cleaning cloths under its First Mate brand name. http://www.swobbit.com toll-free: 1.800.362.9873 * Is Stuart, Florida, becoming the center of our universe? Hinckley Co. of Southwest Harbor, Maine, has established its first brokerage office outside Maine in Stuart, at Hinckley Yacht Services, the full-service yard the company acquired in 2001. The first West Marine Trawler Fest in Florida was held in Stuart in 1997. Then, Kadey-Krogen Yachts relocated its head office to Stuart from Miami, and has since acquired its own marina. Last year, Pacific Asian Enterprises opened a Nordhavn facility in Stuart. This year, Trawler Fest returned to Stuart. Until recently, Stuart was home port for the historic trawler Rekord, while another noteworthy trawler yacht, Mark Richter's Winnie the Pooh, still calls Stuart home. http://www.hinckleyyachtservices.com/hys/01/ If you see news in the making anywhere in the world of trawlers, please let Trawler News know via <mailto:editorial@trawlersandtrawlering.com>. Items are selected for publication on the basis of the newsiness and interest to the readership. No payment is required or accepted. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ IF YOU WOULD LIKE A FREE TRIAL COPY OF POWER CRUISING . . . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you would like to receive a free trial issue of the new magazine Power Cruising, please complete the request form at https://secure.palmcoastd.com/pcd/document?ikey=0897ZHAAA If you had requested a trial edition of Trawler World, or subscribed to Trawler World, there is no need to also request Power Cruising. You will be sent the premiere edition of Power Cruising in late March, not February as announced earlier. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HOW TO REACH US ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Trawler News, an e-newsletter about voyaging, cruising and living aboard under power, is distributed free of charge by TrawlersAndTrawlering.com as a public service to the trawler community. To subscribe, or unsubscribe, go <http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/trawler-world-news>. We do not sell, rent or trade addresses of our subscribers without their permission. Editor: Georgs Kolesnikovs E-mail: georgs@trawlering.com Telephone: 866-865-2628 Facsimile: 866-865-2729 Web: <http://www.TrawlersAndTrawlering.com>. This edition was broadcast to 6,073 subscribers and posted on the Web. You can read earlier editions beginning at <http://www.trawlerworld.com/twnews_101.htm>. We place pictures only in the Web edition in order not to overload subscribers with limited e-mail access. Water World Productions, formerly known as Trawler World Productions, respects your time and privacy. If you prefer not to receive further communications, please hit the reply button and send the word DELETE. T R A W L E R N E W S  Powered by Apple Macintosh iBook G4 Copyright (c) 2004 Water World Productions. All rights reserved.