The Island....part 3

Laying down the keel.

It was all systems go, but it would drag on for 2 weeks before we set sail on our maiden voyage. In the mean time, all bulky materials were left to rot at our "dockspace". The 200 ltr drums, the bamboo, and 5 ltr containers as "lifebuoys" for those who had no clue to the fundamentals of swimming. In addition, rowing was to be done with our miniature "cangkuls" (For those none Bahasa literate, kindly do some research of your own.) *Row Row Row your boat, gently down stream....

1st day of shipbuilding, our arrival in the yard was customary late. Acquired all necessary tools to facilitate our workscope. But with the sun placidly abating, we had an excuse to forgo all forms of physical torture, but only to feed the indulgence of our lust for a ciggie,accompanied by the perfect sunset(see above pic.) From twilight to darkness, more creatures came out to play around our vicinity. Uncharacteristic shadows seem to transcend from the mangrooves. The scent of non tabacco substances began to stain the air, sure enough, it was a pack of young, intoxicated fools whereby words like "lepak", "relax la brother", "ape benda ni" were their only form of vocabulary, and they were the usual suspects "the princes of the earth." They hovered around our workshop, and said expectedly "ape benda ni".... there presence was extremely uneasy, but we were in arms and ready to pounce at any provocation what so ever, but with sane thinking, and rightful action, we tidied up our pathetic amount of work, and headed off for our staple food at that time, "roti kosong" and "teh o" kecil punya!!"... all that money can buy.

We had guest, and it came in the form of my first meeting with the Great Kalidasa, what a character, he always carried an aura of confidence regardless his predicaments. However many beg to differ, primary opposition was from his own blood, Manipal. But least be said the better. Anyway, with good company came great ideas. My rags suddenly turned to riches, when the government did more than just pay my tuition fees. Lets say, they left a large cheesecake in my account!! A dizzying amount of money, demented ideas, and delirious decisions, was just one huge concoction for a disaster to happen, but in our case sheer joy & stupidity. 1 week flew past, in between we had managed to "scale a mountain", travel to "Bali", bragged our skills through beach football in the wee hours at Pantai Kundur, and of course, in the end, the idea of adventuring to the Island was quietly neglected. Nevertheless, we were back in Padang Temu, The Great Kali had to leave immediately due to some mosquito bite which he suffered in Bali, fever broke, sweating prefusely with worry and fear shivered through his limp body, simply because his bite marks would not dissapear, and as for his story goes , "some body was going to get huuuuuuurt"


Alas, the departure of a nice fellow.... work on the raft went on as usual, Sadly our first major setback attacked, all but one drum was left behind by the junkyard pirates. Our bamboo structure had morphed from fresh green to dirty brown, which was also savagely detached from the drums. What bastards!! but who were we to blame, but only ourselves and our continued alliance with procrastination. We headed back to Pulau Melaka, and this time it was the l truth that we spoke(partially), we griefed and mourned over the stolen drums and gave an excuse that we were lost and void ; and yet again,we successfully suckered the contractor, but this time to only 1 more drum. Patience and time was running thin, but all it needed was just one spark, one push, one final focus. So in the end, we settled for a 2 drum raft. If I remembered right, it was 6 am on a Tuesday morning, after much galavanting and some rounds of snooker, we manage to muster the crew, which consisted of Ular, Manipal, Pin Kee, Possum & Me.

Our arrival was greeted with the fresh morning dew which gayly waltzed with the breeze from the straits. Suddenly, the burning excitement began to fizzle, the weather had turned sour, the wind gave clear indication that all the dogs and cats where about to wage war. The clouds looked like a giant slug which was going to swallow us whole!! We just sat on the Nissan, some like the likes of Pin Kee was very realief, he just burst out laughing, and said "Its a sign..." in such dispassioned apathy, his laughter ruptured and an uproar of laughter engulfed everyone, but my mind had already been adamantly hammered that we were to leave for the island today!! So with a little bit of cajoling administered to the rest of the pact, we began, pushing the raft out reluctantly, and as the first graze of water kissed the hull, we could hear it coming, but we could not see a thing, it roared louder and louder with every passing second, it was a storm, we just yanked the raft back to its original position , and ran helter-skelter back into the car, of course with everyone laughing like a pack of heinas.... The deafening sound of rain bombarded the hood of the car, which drilled reasoning through our hapless madness, our scheduled departure was going to most undoubtly postponed. The rain had washed away our raging nerves and dreams of reaching the Island under the morning sun, horse playing, taking silly pictures, and making an ever lasting impression embedded in our biological hard drives for good would only be washed away.


The cosmic collision between Jupiter and Neptune was beyond our control, hence with the wait the excitement began to painfully drown in fatigue. This was mainly due to our restless nights whereby we would sleep at an ungodly hour even when an important event would take place the following day : for example exams, appointments, classes and the list goes on. *however we were never late for a football game, or attending to matters which did not concern any form of responsibility. So yet again.... we shall wait.


... "There are none to decline your nectar wine,
but alone you must drink from lifes gall...."

The Island.... part 2

A ship with no heading.

.... Possum and his words and me with my reaction. The whole misty indulgence of pointless ideas suddenly stopped and zoomed into the Island. We were mad with one fixation, the island, we were to venture on something we will remember and the Island was the answer. Another round of Dunhills, and we were off to our supposedly primary objectives in life, Possum to his cockcroach, and me to Uni and whatever relationship which was left to savour with Kang Kang.

Evening soon came and the other members of the pact made our communion in Dauds. There was Ular, Marry & Manipal, of course the usual masterminds of all mischief Possum and Me.
We made ourselves comfortable, exchanged customary greetings and gossip with Daud, finally the plans were laid out on the table for our sinister perusal. The response was of course a smirk and one long pull on the ciggie. Possum and I, did not let up on drilling the idea to the three dungus. The idea was to build a raft out of 4 x 200 ltr oil drums, bind them together with bamboo or planks, binding was with indian rope. "But the three of us can't swim for nuts!!" murmured Possum, Mary and Ular... no worries, we would prepare those gallon canister(which we so often our saviour during the great Malacca water crisis 1991) as floats, furthermore the salt water would keep you from sinking. * we and our ideas... tsk tsk tsk* The proposal was mat with a 50/50 agreement. There was a flame, but I sensed it would die unless someone found fuel, fuel in this sense was the daunting task of gathering all material, choosing a proper "workshop", a scantily sketched general plan and a little bit of money.

To get these fools to come to a 50/50 agreement was an achievement in itself, for our plans thus far has always been without any forethought. It was not to be planks but bamboo, and the source was nearby the mangroove juggles of Ujong Pasir, the owner of the plant was some housewife who was clad in her batik sarong, and mind boggling juggling t shirt (start thinking) who figured 50 cents was enough for one "stalk", and based on our miserable ways with maths, 4 was just about right. The indian rope, was of course from the narow back alleys of Bunga Raya, here was the mother of all shopping areas in Malacca. From clothing, cars and cunts, this was actually the one stop shopping destination for most who were well versed on matters of cost. Ropes cost us 15 ringgit, but a sad face and an act with an empty pocket goes a long way, at the end of our pathetic pleas the rope was ours for 10. Now for the more herculean task, those 200 ltr drums. Where la?

As much dreaming as we did, we always had a sharp eye for the useless but useful objects. Back to the island, with a large percentage of materials procured, Possum and I had noticed some drums lying nearing the contractor's container. We figured we could talk away with this, instead of choosing to do things the easier way out, steal ; ruffians but with refined virtues. We saw some lost workers loitering by the site, and we made our inquiry. They guided us to their boss, some mid 30's fellow who was baffled with our presence. Another show was in the making, and we masqueraded as scouts from the nearby school, and we needed to fabricate some barbeque pits and create a huge bond fire for some camp fire. * on a slightly differrent note, this is probably one of the better things of Malaysia, giving with a heart is embedded unlike our southern relatives, whereby giving comes with a price.* Anyway, we were so good that he bought our idea, and offered us 4 drums for free (used of cource, which meant there had oil coating the other layer of the drum).... you actually could see the Nissan squirm in disgust!!
Pic left : trusty Nissan
The collection of all bulky materials were to be place near our launch site, which was the deserted construction site ....Padang Temu mangroove jungles. We all knew well the occupants of the area, addicts, illegal immigrant, thief and all the lovely snakes and mozzies. But with youth comes arrogance, we felt invinsible, untouchable due to simple fact that we never had the privilege of meeting these problems.

"Strange that we defend our wrongs with more vigor than we do our rights" K.Gibran

The Island

A tale before sailing....

The year 1999, almost the turn of the millenium and we were still cloistered in the doldrums of studying. Boredom, hopelessness, and the specter of our minds was of aimless goals and pointless thoughts ; Life at that time seemed bombarded with utter chaos, but as we look back memories, those were the best days of our lifes.

Mid afternoon, lunch through our meager budjet was the usual visit to Habie's. Mere pittance it was , but miraculous, through some divine soul searching underneath the rubber mats of the car, we always managed to cough up enough for a pack of Dunhill 10s. My wheels, Nissan 130Y, classic to this date, it may not be the most sleek of cars to look at, but one can be resassured it was the most economical, both in terms of consumption and maintainance. Possum was with me, and we needed the ciggies, Pulau Melaka was still not under the threat from lovers, drug addicts, tourist and police. 2 years after the great slump, development over the island was at a snail's pace. Developers and Contrators had gone bust, and in typical Malaysian style, "we" had no contingencies to aid our ailing pockets.

So here we were two monkeys galavanting the streets in a trusty Nissan 130Y without a care in the world. Possum had his STPM, and I had tutorials to do. But no!! we were more adamant to find ourselves a snooker centre and just before that a good hideout to puff away. There were no guards as usual to reprimand our illegal entry into the island, even if there was one, we would have just acknowledge them by waving, thus making them to beleive we were some how involved in the development of the island.

Similiar to a desert, we would make Nissan scream for help through our driving skills. Thinking that we were Karamjit's apprentice, we had no fear whatsoever but to take the sandy banks at full speed, even if we had misjudged our corners, collosion would have been subsued through the cushioning of the sand , unless of course if we had landed in the sea, which would have been a different story all together.

Our plot in the Island was a slightly augmented piece of land which overlooked the Straits. The shores seemed soo much cleaner than that of the mainland, murky but not too muddy (relative to the settlement), the waters during certain periods of the day was infested with jellyfish. This time we were contented just to stay in the car, it was Hitz radio, our anthem station, windows down, took out our precious Dunhills, and the first puff after a heavily spiced meal was nothing less than rapture. Our dreamy eyes just gazed the sea, which was quite a strain due to the mid day heat. We just ranted away on our many puzzlements of life, for example... Why were we constantly broke?

What were we thinking, absolutely sweet nothing!!

As our thoughts drifted to adventure, a tiny island with a tiny buoy *Flashing Red every 6 secs* (You can't tell during the day ) Possum looked at me and said "The island looks very near ah...." With that simplest of sentences, it sparked of an adventure we would never forget.

.... if you can fill the unforgiving minute with 60 seconds worth the distance run,
yours is the earth and everything that is in it, which is more you'll be a man my Son...
R.Kiplings

The elusive redundancy....

Finally!!I have finally found (I think ) the Church and Mosque along the Suez Canal, sadly their names are yet to be established.

Catching sight of this most debatable neighbours has always displaced all thoughts, some how it attacks our comprehension of Egypt, which I had all along assumed was only Arab by nature. The "news" has to be greatly blamed for such a misconception. Perhaps it is what one party wants everyone to see leaving the lesser incomed, or lesser "gang" to be shunned and opposed of.

Anyway, with these two buildings, one wonders why the bloody hell is everyone still trying to eradicate one another, even worst, being total dim wits on matters of caste and creed. Having to pick a war over matters of petty importance, dragging every other individual into your realm of blood & terror shall only leave those innocent civilians caught in the crossfire. Well lets look at it this way, if a war is to be waged... pick one spot, a vast portion of unhabitated land or sea, and then start fighting. Don't play hide & seek, don't play hostage, or police & thief, fight with your bare hands..... or just don't fight at all.

Unfortunately, the older we get the more layered our thoughts become, prejudice begets hate, hate begets hurt & hurt begets terror. We call ourselves men, but men who hide under the facade of lies.It is beyond sad, our region itself is a melting pot of a racial rainbow. Despite "fighting" for independence under the name of "ONE COUNTRY" we have swayed our visions and goals to one narrow plank of ideals. Rain or shine, a rainbow has to stay or the pot of gold will dissapear which leaves us only with one laughing leprechaun.

" Wisdom is better than strength, but the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded.The quite words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shout of a ruler of fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war but one sinner destroys much good " Ecclesiastes 9

Your Position Line...

Picture below: Looks like one of my first few snaps with the Canon A10 Powershot. Perfect for a position line.
Note that the CanonA10 was my first love, sadly it drowned... pic in subsequent postings. Many may wonder what we navigators tinker while keeping bridgewatch. Yes The rule states " Every vessel shall at all times maintain a proper look out by sight & hearing as well as by all available means appropriate in the prevailing circumstances & conditions so as to make a full appraisal of the situation and of the risk of collision"..... Rule 5 Look Out.
However travelling at roughly 50 km/h on high seas with zero traffic, one can sharpen the true artistry of being a sailor.

Knowing where you are is of utmost importance, hence if you do not know where you are, how can you know where you are heading. So your first question would be how do we plot our position. Through the advancement of technology our most accurate data on our position is of course from the GPS. Besides that, when nearing the coast and having adjusted the radar to its optimum performance, one can obtain two/three bearings, plot those lines on the chart, and some how or rather the position will magically appear. Visual bearings are always a necessary means of plotting ones position. Works the same way by pointing on a radar, but this works with your eyes through the assistance of an Azimuth Mirror.

Now we reach to the most intriguing device on the bridge. The Sextant, illicitly sexy it may sound, it has a far connotation of what it seems. The sextant purpose is to measure angles, either vertical or be it horizontal, this leads to the necessary data to determine a vessel's position. Latitude & Longtitude can be obtained through the threesome of the Sextant, Chronometer & Nautical Alamanac. The picture above shows the bridgewing (stbd) which overlooks a clear blue sky with the sun and horizon in perfect conditions to take "sight" *term used when using the sextant* The gyro compass is used with an Azimuth Mirror to obatain the bearing of the subject.I can reiterate on the details, for example the principle which govern the sextant is the "FIRST LAW OF LIGHT", meaning the angle of incidence of the ray equals the angle of reflection" (whatever the hell that means). From a layman's perception, the manner in which one can obtain a good reading from a sextant is as follows:

- Clear Sky, Clear Horizon... take out the sextant.
- Choose the appropriate shades so as to avoid one from being a blind pirate.
- Aim for the Sun, Moon, Stars or Planets.... the horizon has to be clear.
- "Bring Down" this cosmic objects to the horizon.
- "Swing the Sextant" so one will "kiss the horizon", be it the lower arc of the Sun, Moon etc or upper.
- Get the reading and after much tinkering with the chronometer, nautical almanac, and a formula which
befits a rocket scientist but actually made for dungus like you and me.
- One can obtain a position line..... few more formulas here and there, you can get your longiturde/Latitude and
bravo you would have got your position.
- Tell Captain Jack that the Treasure is North West of the Bay of Bengal with Bangali Baboons.
Above: A sextant
Dear camaraderies, I am well aware my description is a tad bit vague, but its only through some thought comes a clear idea. So I trust it is in your duty to meticulously decipher all links on this posting. Perhaps at the end of it all, you'll probably fit the criterias to be my bitch... oppps..I meant cadets on my ship!! HARDY HAR HAR!!

Just a passing thought,

.. I never had your nor I will I ever have you, I suppose. A few words, an approach.
As in the bar yesterday & nothing more.
It is, undeniably, a pity. But we who serve Art
Sometimes with the intensity of the mind and of course only
For a short while, we create pleasure
which almost seems real.
So as in the bar the day before yesterday - the merciful alcohol
was also helping much.

I had a perfectly erotic half an hour.
And it seems to me that you understood,
and stayed somewhat longer on purpose.
This was very necessary.
Because for all the imagination and the wizard of alcohol,
I needed to see your lips as well.
I needed to have you body close....

C.P.C

Transisting the Suez

The church and the mosque along the Suez Canal, 2 days of searching and I am yet to figure out the name and location.

A panoramic view of the suez canal.

A journey across the Suez has always brought a sense of great mistery and wonder. One half barren desert and the other very condusive for vegetation. Like a dream, the mind would be in its most tranquiled state. Disregard the endless bartering with the boat men, the far fetch demands of the "pilot" and the aggitated orders from a tired Captain, tramping across has always been a happy adventure.

A land ravaged by war and yet discreetly enchanting by nature, the Suez depicts one of the great contradiction of logic. So much money have been generated from the vast transit of vessels, major oil & gas development and yet the people are shackled to their meager incomes, and the rich as always directs even more riches to their coffers. Alas, the way of the world.

Above : Peace Bridge from one continent to another.

Conflicted as it may seem, harmony is reached through many layers in society. Beleive it or not, a mosque and church stands side by side which is seen after the Great Bitter Lake. Besides that we have the Peace Bridge which Links Asia to Africa through the Japanese Cooperation. It was in augurated not too long ago (10.10.2001), by President Hosni Mubarak. In line with the Asia Africa link, it was to decrease the overly densed population surrounding the Nile Valley (A whooping 64 million people). Its an amazing feat of engineering which was largely funded by the Japanese Government. But the Suez is an amazement by itself.

The Monkey and his peanuts....

Thursday's first agenda ; Our customary meetings on commercial matters. Just before we kicked off the meeting, its with the promise that it will only take 15 mins. But like every other meeting, 15 mins is nothing but rubbish. Rubbish which elongates itself to bullshit, and bullshit taking 2 hours to digest.
Subjects which were of utmost importance :

1) We engineers are not monitoring the cost, thus allowing production side to have a lackadasical attitude towards savings.
2) Synchronizing Contractor Cost and to suite Owner's willingness to pay.
3) Our lack of initiative towards ship visits and comprehension of the main scope of work.
4) Discrepancies in invoicing numbers.
We can rant on all these issues, but the problem lies in the fundamentals of training. Yes, I do understand that we have too many things to cover in this department ; Ship Repairs, Ship Building, Some extravagant pontoon, Tankers which are 6 months behind schedule, these to name the few. All I can conclude is, if "they" can spend lesser time & energy covering their backsides, I am sure some lessons can be transposed to better effect. To think they have been harping on the same issues for the last 2 decades, is absolutely mind boggling.

Above pic : Taken during hull steel renewal, beneath the steering gear room. Must be on of those PSA tug boats.

Just a passing thought : If you can watch the things you gave your life to, broken
& stop and build them up with worn out tools,
Or watch the truth you have spoken, twisted by knaves to make
traps for fools.... Attracted from R.Kiplings "if" 

Great White Death...

Snapped in Sri Lanka : Mother and Child, with a tiny fishing vessel on the horizon, bliss.

Little that they knew death would come again. After the birth of the messiah, we saw the ruthless execution of souls. Like a wolf in sheep's clothing, a mammoth wave was silently creeping beneath the surface. Angels were seen blissfully playing on the crest of the wave. The horizon, weird but perfect for the sun to gently massage our pale coloured outlooks. But as it drew closer, the demon reaped forth its fury, the speed and savagery which it engulfed the shores were beyond imagination and belief. Yet again, as though 250,000 was not enough, death swallowed another 500 (and counting).
Above : Location Java Tsunami July 2006
Where have we gone wrong? With votes we rally power, with power comes great responsibility. The simple task of announcing a warning came to crippled fools. Now comes to daunting task to veto what was thought to be right.

"No one will care for you, except blood" Y.S Chin

The Waiting Game

A rather eventful but mundane day in the yard.
Managed to complete the Bill For Thor Hawk, and the hope of negotiating without interference was in the cards.
Sadly, there seem to be no urgent need to heed the complete bill, consequently leading to settlement. The usual Poll has been trying very hard to place a fifty cent coin beneath his orifice & of course dear Shumugam having more important issues to look into. . So in the end, this leaves me the great privilege to haggle over our departure time with Benson & hedges.

The art of negotiating, wait, hold.... but only when you have to. From my perspective, there is no reason to hold back a simple bill (I hope). Perhaps the "divine fools" have better ideas or there is some angle that I am overlooking.

Through waiting, the back log on the current vessel's in the yard have started pilling up. Hence the bottle neck effect may just take place tomorrow. Through waiting comes irritation, for example, The Superintendent decided to stay, but we or rather "the big guns" have decided to pull a waiting wildcard.We will just have to wait and see....

If you can wait & not be tired of waiting..... *extracted from "if" R.Kiplings.

Above picture taken, beginning 2006, first commercial vessel, Ocean Navigator.... flooding taking place?

Wondering....

Picture below : Looks like the demobilized Sea Panther, her main propulsion unit was stripped and transfered to
the Sea Puma. Her compartments were blanked, and she would have probably been put to rest in the scrap yard.

Absolutely hot day in the Yard, the combination of humidity, heat and haze from my ciggies have
created some discomfort. Current "urgent" projects the completion of Billing for The Thor Hawk ,
and of course the never ending petty repairs on the Ocean Melody. Should complete these simple task
within the next view hours. We will just have to see where the wind blows.

"Chin Chang" is the word of the day in the office, every department seem to be having some dispute.
William getting the sharp end of the Zoe 3, and I think the Jiggling Judy is experiencing some issues in her
monthly overhauling. The bean stalk has been harping on William, thus the whole negative aura has been
transfered to most parts of the department. Thus, I best get my butt moving before the beast is unleashed. 

Who's who?

Understanding the Yard.

First and foremost, we need to distinguise "who's who" in the yard.

Of course we start from the top with the General Manager, well there are people above this position , but I am in the mist
of their position. Below him, like a ship's organization structure, we have the commercial side, the production side, safety deparment and last and should be the least , Human Resource deparment.

All forms of tendering, sales.... bottom line Money, we in the commercial department take heed. The Production side
basically consist of all those ruffians who control or conduct the work on site (meaning onboard). Safety overlooks all the necessity precautions to be taken during operations. HR department needs no introduction and comment.

Besides this fundamental departments, we do have Security, which are a bunch of buffalos guarding the movement of workers, material and prostitutes through our yard. The canteen is a story of its own.

So where do I stand, I am the Assistant Biling Engineer, my duties are to "compile"all costing and fabrication of the draft invoice for settlement. Sadly when it comes to settlement, we have little or no say in the outcome, thus leaving our Managers with scanty information to negotiate with. However they seem to enjoy doing things the difficult way, like the saying goes, "to shit without taking off your pants".... I shall leave you with that image for some time comprehend. 

The Lighter Side....

A perfect match... Prayer and Booze, which makes us Indian's a rather jovial lot. Picture taken in Malacca, the Extravagant Gajah Berang temple. Millions investment and Millions stolen, well what can I say, its part and parcel of one long Indian Drama. Can you imagine if such an incident did not take place? This wouldn't make us Indian after all.

Funny how inappropriate "us" is placed in the sentence. Totally misplaced subject which is me... the Combustable
Chindian. 

The Beginning

Lets see what we have in the "must do" pigeon hole :

- Thor Hawk 2391 U : Sailing Tomorrow
- TG 21 & 22 : Serene & Skipper , the Skipper has left with a lot of unsettling variations.
- Ayer Manis : Jeffrey baby in the yard.
- New Breeze (LPG) : arrival tomorrow at JSML