'Sandeq' team aborts mission

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura

A team of sailors from Japan and Indonesia has aborted a boat expedition to Peru as their boat failed to overcome the huge waves off the Solomon Islands.

"The 17-meter high waves were too tough to be overcome, so we decided to abort the mission and return to Jayapura," said Yoshiyuki Yamamoto, the leader of five sailors from Indonesia and another from Japan.

The expedition team, on board the Sandeq traditional boat from the Mandar area of South Sulawesi, began the expedition in May from Makassar. They stopped off in Jayapura in July and continued their journey bound for Peru. The team was slated to arrive in Peru in August but delays and then harsh weather forced them to abort. Yamamoto's team then returned to Jayapura on August 21.

Earlier, the same boat successfully completed another trip; from western Sulawesi to Thailand in 2003.

Both expeditions were aimed at repeating the success of the Mandar tribal sailors, who set sail with the same type of boat hundreds of years ago and were said to make it as far as South Africa for trade purposes. The expeditions were also aimed at promoting their boats and sailors, who have been well known as brave sailors for centuries.

Yamamoto recalled how earlier the team had actually taken into account the bad weather off the Solomons. They attempted to set sail in July but the change of boat crew on their way from Makassar to Jayapura slowed down the journey, meaning they had to face the reality that they had to pass the Solomon Islands in August -- generally considered a bad time for weather.

"If there was no bad weather off the Solomon Islands, we would have been in Peru in August," said Yamamoto in Jayapura.

Although the expedition was a failure, Yamamoto said that he was not disappointed. He and his sponsors from Thailand had planned that the boat would carry out another expedition either to China or Arabia.

The Sandeq is now docked in a port near Dok IX Beach in Jayapura. The boat is undergoing repairs to the stern, which was damaged in the waves.

The boat is 17 meters long, 1.2 meters wide, with 13 leeboards and an 18-meter tall mast. It is made solely from wood and bamboo. The boat cost Rp 250 million (US$25,000) to build and the team spent US$150,000 in operational costs.