Sailing and Sinking.....

30th October 2009, our activity is SAILING... sound interesting yeah... Believe it or not, it's more than interesting story to tell... We were really excited on our sailing activity, at 6.45am all of us BEACAan assemble at the parking lot at Serasa beach and ready to sail... The boat which bring us sailing around some island in Brunei Muara area is DREAM CHARTER. The captain of the boat is Captain Peter Moeller and the crew is Aideen Henry and she is the Captain's wife, ai ai captain...

Captain and Crew
Captain Peter Moeller is a native of Germany and a very experienced skipper. Having sailed all shapes and sizes of yachts throughout his life he decided to start a World circumnavigation in 1999.  He has spent the last 10 years cruising the Inland Waterways of Europe, Mediterranean, Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean, West Cost of America, Canada, Mississippi, through the Panama Canal, Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands, New Zealand, Australia, Western Malaysia, Thailand and finally Borneo. Mean while Aideen Hendry is a native of Ireland has been sailing over the last decade. Mostly having sailed on Multihulls when she met Peter a monohull was a bit of a change. Always up for a challenge she took to Sailing Vessel Petima like a duck to water! Aideen has previously built a 43ft Catamaran in Perth Western Australia and sailed from Perth around the top of Australia to Brisbane on the East coast. From there through Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, The Andamans and back around to Borneo.

The Pick Up
Having a very experience captain and crew on board make me feel confident sailing on their boat. About 6.50am, Captain Peter and Aideen pick us up with his pontoon boat at the Serasa parking lot and introduce them self. After their introduction they ask for 10 first volunteer to go on board on their pontoon to head for The Dream Charter boat which is situated around 1/3 kilometer from land but only 8 of us volunteer to go first (me, Dr Asmah, Nuh, Ayiee, Nazz, Asri, Diana and Keem) . Before that we were ask to remove our shoes, slippers or sandals before entering the pontoon. Dr Asmah ask the captain about the life jacket that we should wear it or not but the captain said it's not necessary to wear the life jacket because the sailing boat was not too far (he should suggest to us to wear the life jacket). Ok, we trust him since he's the captain but Dr Asmah worried than put it on, I just hold the life jacket in my hand.

The Unexpected Incident Happen
Ready and Go... at the beginning all went good but the unexpected happen. About half way to the sailing boat, we realize water entering the pontoon from the right front side of the boat, Aideen quickly ask us to go behind the pontoon but the water was too fast entering it, and suddenly it's takes only 5 seconds to filled it up with water. All of us fall in the water without wearing the life jacket except Dr Asmah. Oh my god... this is the moment where we struggling for our life... the moment where we don't expect this kind of experience, I can't imagine what just happen to us. I managed to the surface because I was holding the life jacket that make me floating after submerged and drinking sea water (not bad at all). All I heard is 'I can't swim' but no one was shouting 'HELP'. No one was panic at that time which was good because if we are panicking we could be injuring some one else or our self. The first thing I do is to make sure everybody is safe and sound by asking and counting them, it's not because of I'm the first aider at that time, it's because of responsibility to each others, love and teamwork. Everyone holding the flip pontoon to make we stayed afloat. Thanks God everybody is safe, that is the most important, everybody alive only a small bruise at Dr Asmah lip and the funny thing is Asri is still wearing his sun glasses (stay macho bro...).

After everybody safe and holding the pontoon, the captain and his crew push the flip pontoon to the shore. We were still in shock condition, Dr Irene and the others are trying to help and calming us. Life and death totally in God hand, this is my first unforgettable, worth, valuable, asset, special experience in my 30 years in my life. Although we lost our phone, camera, MP3, foods and others but all of that thing we just lost is nothing compare to our life (I lost my nokia N97 and camera). It's very unforgettable experience that we can't find in any books in the world.

The Sailing Must Go On
After what just happen to us, we agree to determine our plan to sail. It's showed our spirit is very highly enthusiasm, full of confident and truly motivated. The sailing plan is to stop for a swim and enjoy the view and environment at Pulau Pelumpong and then go around Pulau Muara Besar and back to where we start.

Our Activities
First, we stop at Pulau Pelumpong which is a very beautiful island, it's still in perfect condition, very natural and very interesting view. We should preserve this Island because it's perfectly situated and covered Brunei from any dangers such as big waves, enemies (before it's was used to protect Brunei from enemies) and others. We takes around 30 minutes enjoying on the island. We ready to sail again, now we are sailing around Pulau Muara Besar that took more than 3 hours to go around.

While we are going around the island, the captain and the crew gave us some explanation about the boat. They told us about basic sailing terminology such as BOW: the front of the boat, STERN: back of the boat, PORT: left side of the boat, SAIL: help move the boat. mainsail, head sail, storm sail, WINCH: a metal drum used to help raise and trim the sails, ANCHOR: an object that grips the ground and makes you stay in one place and many more. Aideen also thought us how to tide a rope, one called the 'King of knots', it is one of the most useful knots to sailors. It can be made quickly and easily and will never jam and the other is square knot, best known as sailors' knot, it is useful for joining small ropes together. She also gave us some activities to fill up along our journey.

Conclusion
Despite of losing some of our belonging, I'm glad that our group have a courage and enthusiasm to carry on our journey to appreciate the environment. We have learnt many thing in this activities, which is the most important simple thing we forgot is the 'life jacket' but than it was a mercy that everybody is safe. Some useful cautionary  for my self and people around me in the future is learnt how to swim, always wear life jacket before entering the boat and don't panic in frantic condition. Appreciating and exposing the nature is one in many ways to build our economic growth because it can attract tourist.  'Perseverance' is the word for this week activity, because from beginning we keep on trying, to continue do something in spite of difficulties. I'm so happy to be alive... Love you guys... Our sailing finished around 2.00pm.

(sorry no picture due to some unexpected happening to my camera)