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SY
Jenny launched at Kampong Ayer Cultural
Centre.
After more
than ten
months in successful operation in Brunei Dream Charter launched their
new 13m
yacht 'Jenny' at the Kampng Ayer, Cultural Centre on Saturday November
21st. Dream Charter's new yacht Jenny was inaugurated by Minister
of
Industry and Primary Resources. Dream Charter's Aideen Henry
spoke of the
growing interest and the
bigger groups wishing to charter Dream Charter's yachts. Brunei
has a
gowing water sports sector and in order to meet this need Dream Charter
expanded their fleet. Now with two
yachts Jenny is the bigger of the two catering for 25 guests within the
Brunei
River. She has a roof that extends from the mast to the stern to
protect
guests from the sun. Clear sides thatcan be rolled down to
protect guests
from the rain. Guests can still sit outside in the fresh air
without
getting wet. Jenny has a large wooden table for buffet dining, a
bathing
platform and seats for guests to relax on at the back. Guests can
use
this as a point to swim from and a large ladder enables them to get out
of the
water easily and safely. Downstairs Jenny has a fully equiped
Halal kitchen
and shower and toilet. Second stage of construction will start
immediately and include a fully air conditioned saloon for guests to
relax in
downstairs. Also fully airconditioned sleeping quarters.
Second stage of construction will be finished by January 2010 in
time for
the ATF(Asian Tourism Forum).
Jenny is origianlly from Finaland and has sailed half way across the
world.
She has very high sides so guests can feel very comfortable and
safe
onboard. Jenny has all the safety equpment onboard.
Dream Charter took this opportunity to present the Minister with
a trophy
won by SY Petima sailed by a Bruneian crew during this years Borneo
International Yacht Challenge. Its Dream Charter's wish to see
Brunei
involved as one of the sponsering states in next years BIYC.
While in the presence of Chairman of the Brunei Tourism Board, Deputy
Minister
of Industry and Primary Resources and Brunei Tourism CEO Dream Charter
expressed their thanks to Brunei Tourism for the moral support that
they have
recieved over the past 10 months. The Minister then took the
opportunity to cut
the ribbon and bless Jenny officially launching her as the latest of
Dream
Charters yachting fleet.
The Minister and Tourism officials took a relaxing cruise onboard Jenny
around
Kampong Ayer.
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Brunei
gets first prize in International Yachting Challenge 2009.
Dream Charter put sailing
for
Brunei on the International map this week. Every year boats from
all over
the world converge on the beautiful island of Borneo for the Borneo
International Yachting Challenge. This year over 30 yachts from
countries
such as England, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Philippines, Malaysia,
Switzerland etc. took part in the 6th Borneo International
Yachting
Challenge between the 9th and the 15th of
October. The
BIYC is a week long race comprised of different legs. The first leg is
an
overnight passage race from Miri to Labuan. The second leg is
another
overnight passage race from Labuan to Kota Kinabalu and finally the
regatta
finishes with two harbor races around the islands in Kota Kinabalu.
This year’s challenge
was
particularly special for Brunei with two Bruneian yachts entering the 6th
BIYC. Warram Catamaran ‘Jumpa Lagi’ skippered by
Jamie and Felicity Rohan
and Dream Charters yacht ‘Petima’ skippered by Peter
Moeller and Aideen Henry.
Not only did these two
Bruneian
yachts compete in this year’s challenge but Dream Charter’s
SV Petima took home
four prizes for Brunei. Dream Charter won first place in the
overnight
passage race from Miri to Labuan in Cruising Class
‘C’. With a full Bruneian
crew onboard for the overnight passage race from Labuan to Kota
Kinabalu Dream
Charter took away line honors again and received first prize in
Cruising Class
‘C’. During the harbor races in Kota Kinabalu Dream
Charters SV Petima took 2nd
and 3rd place Brunei can feel very proud of their Bruneian
sailors
and Dream Charters achievement has put Brunei on the sailing map.
The BIYC finished in KK
with a
spectacular prize presentation and closing ceremony at Sutera
Harbour. It
was a very proud night for Dream Charter, Sailing in Brunei.
Petimas
skipper Peter Moeller hopes that Brunei will continue to come forward
in the
sailing arena and International yachting will continue to get
Brunei’s full
support. For next year’s Borneo International Yachting
challenge Dream Charter
would like to see Brunei join Sarawak and Sabah, and host the opening
of the 7th
BIYC. It would be great to see the tourist minister from Brunei,
Sarawak and
Sabah come together to make this event a royal regatta. It would
be a
great boost for International Tourism here in Brunei and it would
confirm
Brunei’s status as a yachting destination.
There is a large yachting community in SE Asia and tourists can arrive to Borneo by other means than flying. More and more yachts arrive every year to Borneo enroute to the Philippines or as they sail West toward Malaysia and Thailand. The Borneo International Yachting Challenge is one major event that encourages more and more yachts to visit Borneo every year. It would be fantastic to see Brunei been a part of this regatta.
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SY Petima
in Kuala Belait
After the
launch of
Jenny captain and crew sailed directly to Kuala Belait for charters.
But
not only charters as the photos suggest. SY Petima was in need of
alot of TLC. Immediate work begain on Petima's mast and
sides. (and
I thought we were going on a well deserved holiday!). Petima now has a
new
darker varnish on her wood to protect her from the intense UV.
All work
was done in the Kuala Belait River. We tied up to one side of the
11
degree Sports Cafe on the waterfront. We were welcomed very warmly by
the KB
residents and thanks for everyone who came by to say Hi.
Unfortunately it
was time to head back to Mura to check up on our other baby Jenny, so
we said
Au Revoir to KB. But watch this space we'll be back.
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Dream Charter launches their new pontoon boat:
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Christmas
at ‘The Spit’ with Dream
Charter
What a
beautiful day
had by all at Pulau Pelumpong on Christmas Day. SY Jenny departed at
11am from
Serasa with a mouth watering stuffed Turkey in her oven.
Guests enjoyed Smoked Salmon on freshly baked baguette with Garlic
Prawns as we
sailed past Muara Besar toward 'The Spit'.
Punch was on offer all day along with an assortment of other cold
drinks.
Once anchored at the spit (which we shared with only one other boat)
everyone
went for a swim to the other side of the island.
When everyone was back onboard, the skipper proceeded to bring out the
turkey.
All was laid out on Jenny's large buffet table.
Guests dug in to a sensational Christmas dinner which included stuffed
Turkey (nicely
sliced by the skipper), Freshly caught Mackerl, roasted potato, potato
salad,
farmers salad, red schu, freshly baked bread.
Dinner was followed by freshly baked cheesecake with butterscotch sauce
and a
selection of fresh fruits.
All guests received a Christmas present of Sailing in Brunei's famous
t-shirt.
Turkey Cruising was such a success and everyone was enjoying themselves
so much
that captain and crew decided to extend for another two hours.
SY Jenny got back to Serasa at 4pm with very happy guests onboard.
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Petima gets annual makeover:
Every year Dream Charter take their yachts out of the water for annual mainteance. Dream Charter this year decided to take Petima out at Serasa. During the Full Moon the tides are greater and we used this opportunity to dry Petima out on the beach at Serasa Spit. She was tied off by two halyards from the mast. Port side tied to a tree and starboard tied to the rocks. Her anchor was also wrapped around a big tree trunk. This enabled her to stand on her long keel without falling over. As low tide was at 2am and 3am, the crew were up all night doing their maintenance.
Maintenance consists of sanding and cleaning the bottom of Petima while still in the water. Then dry sanding her to get her completely clean once the tide goes out. Wash her off and anti-foul her. As she is a wooden boat she also needs to checked for worms, which can impregnate a wooden boat very easily here in the tropics. Prop and shaft also have to be maintained while out of the water. This year we took of Petima's prop off and rebuilt and painted her.
We pulled Petima off the beach two days later at 9pm. The result is a very smooth sailing boat and hopefully we don't have to scrap her bottom for 6 months.
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Private Sailing lessons for Elizabeth Jagger:
What
do Elizabeth Jagger, oldest daughter of legendary rock band
‘Rolling Stones’
lead singer Mick Jagger and wife Jerry Hall, a plastic 60ft sailing
boat called
the ‘Plastiki’ and our very own charter company
‘Sailing in Brunei’ got in
common.
Last
week Elizabeth Jagger visited Brunei for the first time to attend a
function at
the Palace. During her five day stay she decided to book some personnel
sailing
lessons with co-owners of Sailing in Brunei’s charter company,
Peter Moeller
and Aideen Henry.
Elizabeth,
or Lizzie as she likes to be called, is taking part in an ecological
expedition
leaving from San Francisco to Hawaii and through the Pacific Basin
finishing in
Sydney Australia. The expedition hosted
by environmental group Adventure Ecology headed by David Rothschild is
an
organisation that has expeditions to far flung areas of the globe to
highlight
such sensitive matters as Global Warming and our inefficient waste
disposal
methods. This particular expedition is
going to be a little different as its taking part on a 60ft engineless,
rudderless sailing catamaran. The
catamaran
is constructed of recycled plastic bottles and has the very fitting
name ‘The
Plastiki’. The catamaran will be
crewed
by six people a mix of scientists, photographers and environmentalists. Elizabeth is one of the photographers on the
expedition but does not know how to sail, thus sailing lessons with
Dream
Charter, Sailing in Brunei. The main aim of the expedition is to
highlight what
amazing and fantastic things people can achieve with recycled materials
and
what disasterous things can happen when we don’t recycle.
Aideen
admits that before Elizabeth came onboard SY Petima she had not heard
of this
expedition or the Pacific Garbage Basin but since then has done her
research
and admits it is important that more people are aware of this man made
problem. The Eastern Pacific Garbage
Basin is a floating landfill between San Francisco and Hawaii which is
twice
the size of Texas. There is also the
same floating landfill occurring in The Western Pacific Basin. Both floating landfills are made by slow
moving currents that suck up all the waste from around the world and it
collects in two areas of the Pacific Ocean.
Of
200 billion pounds of plastic produced each year, researchers estimate
that 10
percent ends up in the ocean and the United Nations reported in 2006
that each
square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of plastic.
Imagine the damage to marine birds and
mammels!
Aideen
mentions that during Elizabeths sailing lesson with Dream Charter the
topic of
rubbish in the Brunei River cropped up.
Elizabeth told me she was shocked at the amount of rubbish in
the river
and asked us why there is so much rubbish? (Elizabeth is not on her
own, many
tourissts that we have onboard our charter boats mention to us that
they
overwhelmed by the beauty of the Brunei River and its surroundings, but
saddened by the amount of rubbish floating up and down the river). We told her sadly that the local community
don’t have enough rubbish bins provided to them by the
government, so of course
to get rid of their rubbish they just throw it on the ground. It is not the fault of the people, it is the
fault of the government. Brunei needs a
better waste management program and a proper collection and disposal.
After
doing my research on the Pacific Garbage Basin I was reminded at how
similar it
is to the rubbish in the Brunei River and how during slack tide we
could rename
the Brunei River ‘The Brunei Garbage Basin’.
Aideen mentions ‘my husband Peter and I live onboard SY
Petima all the
time, so we see first hand the amount of garbage in the Brunei River. Around the Full Moon, when we get very high
and very low tides the rubbish is dragged from the land and is sucked
back into
the Brunei River. During slack tides all
the rubbish collects in the current and it is just one long line of
rubbish
mostly plastic’.
So what can we do to resolve
it? Many things can be done to start
resolving
this man made problem. We need better
education for the public and especially the younger Bruneian
generation. We
need a waste management program at the water villages. We need more
bins
provided on land with a regular refuse collection.
We need laws to state that people will be
fined if they are seen dumping rubbish illegally. And
immediately we need a large dump truck
with floating barge to travel along the current lines of the Brunei
River and
collect the rubbish.
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Brunei Mercedez Benz Owner Group
On Sunday March 14th, Brunei's Mercedez Benz Ower Group met at Serasa Spit. With members coming the whole way from Kuala Belait and Tutong it was a sight to behold
at the Serasa spit on Sunday. A range of Mercedez Benz cars of all models and colours lined up for some fantastic photos. There are no cars belonging to group members
younger than the year 2000 and the oldest car there on Sunday was 20years old. The member meeting combined a buffet lunch on the spit and a complimentary sailing around the Brunei Bay for all members of the club. Along with three new members, present was also the guest of houour the first Bruneian female to reach the South Pole. It was a fantastic occasion and we look forward to hearing more from this group in the future. Mercedez Benz Owner Group encourages all those with Mercedez Benz older than the year 2000 to come and join their group. Don' t be shy!
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