'Sandeq' team aborts mission

'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.