The Unbelievable Trip Of The Yacht Contessa

Recently, he reached an agreement with a good friend, who is the owner of a   classic 52 ft. sailing yacht, and now also offers this vessel for charter through “Boat Rentals Thailand.”  Since he knew what it took for his friend  to  reach  the  point where  his yacht could be chartered, it occurred to  him,  that while  this  business  arrangement  had  been made  very  casually,  it  represented  the  end  of  an enormously difficult ordeal for him. Over  the  four  previous  years,  Rod went along with him for the ride, figuratively speaking, and this included the yacht’s purchase, the delivery to Thailand  across  the  Pacific  Ocean, plus  the final  registration and  restoration of the yacht in Thailand. Rod knew  pretty much  all  of  the  details of this incredible odyssey, as it demonstrates  once  again, what  a man’s indomitable spirit can produce, once he sets his mind something, so here are  the highlights  and  low  lights of this story.

In the early months of 2004, Rod’s friend began conducting an exhaustive, worldwide search on  the  internet  for  a  suitable  boat,  and  by December of that year, he made a good faith  deposit  on  a  yacht  located  in Honolulu,  Hawaii.  Following  the review  of  a  marine  survey  he  had conducted  on  the  vessel,  he  finalized  the  purchase  in  January  2005, and directed some shipyard work be completed on the hull during February and March. This was to prepare the vessel for the long ocean passage to Thailand, so with a hired delivery captain in charge, the vessel departed Honolulu for Guam in April 2005, (or so everyone thought).

Unbeknown  to  Rod’s  friend,  the hired  delivery  captain  had  never sailed  beyond Guam  at  all,  but  instead  used  some  of  the money  that Rod’s friend had paid to him as part of his delivery contract, he sailed his over  to Maui  (another Hawaiian  Island). Here he picked up a half dozen of his friends and then proceeded to take a sailing and surfing holiday among the Hawaiian Islands. Three weeks later, this man abandoned the vessel at an unknown location, never having actually departed from the Hawaiian Islands.  Before  quickly and quietly departing  the  islands by plane  for  the US mainland,  he  sent a short email to Rod’s friend saying that in his opinion, it turned out that the boat was not  ready  for  the voyage and advising him of the general location of where  the boat could be found.

Early in May the vessel was found abandoned on one of the outer Hawaiian Islands, half sunk with water covering the engine and all systems inoperable. Rod’s friend arranged to have it towed back to Honolulu, then. In June and July the vessel was forced to undergo additional shipyard work in Honolulu, in order for it to once again be properly prepared for its ocean journey to Thailand.  By the end of July, a new crew was on board and the vessel was ready to depart Honolulu for Thailand.  However,  because  of  the  time  of  year, the yacht would now have  to  take a much  longer, more  southerly  heading, in order to avoid the coming typhoon season. 

The vessel made it to Samoa about a month after departing Honolulu with one stop at Christmas Island.  They  incurred  some  damage  to  the standing rigging, which helps hold up the mast, because  the captain sailed at  excessive  speed  in  high  winds.  Also, some of the crew elected to return home, because they did not like sailing with this particular captain. Repairs were made to the rigging in Samoa and the vessel departed shorthanded for Fiji.  Upon reaching Fiji, the captain called my  friend    to say  his  only  remaining  crew  member wanted  to  return  home,  so  without any crew he had no option but to return home himself; (what he failed to say,  is  that he had no crew because no one would stay with him).

Knowing  under  the      terms  and conditions of his delivery contract, he would have to pay his own way home if he decided to quit the delivery, he threatened to take the boat out to one of  the  three  hundred  outer  islands, (most  of  which  are  uninhabited), and  leave  it  there so  that  the owner would not be able to find it.  In short, he gave the owner an ultimatum to send him $5,000 US by 5.00 pm the next day, or he said, - “you will never find your boat again.”   Based upon what Rod’s friend had  learned from the other crew members, he believed this  man  just  might  carry  out  his threat, or at the very  least, he knew he might carry out his other option, which  was  to  sell  off  some  of  the yacht’s equipment,    in order  to earn money for his return to the US.

 In short, Rod’s friend felt he had no alternative but to send the money, after which he then few to Fiji himself to try to salvage the delivery. In Fiji he found the boat sitting at a marina, so he quickly organized some engine repairs and some other minor structural repairs.   He  also  brought a new captain to the island from the Philippines, and hired two other local men as crew, but even so, this took a month or two to accomplish, so that by now  it was around September of 2005.

From Fiji  the boat sailed west  to-ward  the French  island  of Vanuatu, and  for  once,  the  new  captain  and crew  made  it  there  in  less  than  a month with no significant problems, but that was the only uneventful passage.  Departing  Vanuatu,  the  Captain was  supposed  to  continue on  a westerly  course  toward  the  Torres Straight, which  is  located  just north of Australia and south of Indonesia.  This  was  the  most  direct  route  toward Thailand.   Instead,  the captain sailed  due  north  and  ended  up  on Papua New Guinea, which  is where Rod’s  friend  received  his  next  surprise phone call. 

He was extremely disappointed after receiving a call from this captain, informing him the boat was in Papa  New  Guinea,  because    the  captain failed to sail in the direction he was ordered to and had agreed to beforehand, so      there was now no choice but  to  accept  the  captain’s  plan  to sail all the way north to Cebu in the Philippines.  This meant an even longer  voyage  than  had  been  planned for,  as  the  prevailing  winds  would not  have  allowed  the  vessel  to  turn around and sail back in the direction they  had  already  come,  even  if  the captain  was  so  inclined,  which  he plainly was not. 

Further  complications  occurred while  the  yacht was  in  Papua New Guinea, due to additional   problems with  the diesel engine,   so  the crew needed money  to pay  the  local mechanics.   My  friend sent  the money from a Pattaya Western Union office, but  unfortunately  the money  ended up  in  some  place  called  Papa,  but this one was  in the African country of Guinea. Trying to have the money returned and sent to where it should have  been,  proved  extremely  complicated,  and while  sorting  out  this problem,  the  local  Immigration  officers  in Papua New Guinea    found that  the  crew  were  in  an  overstay situation. They placed    two of  them in  jail,   until such  time as  the over-stay fines  could be paid,  and moreover,  the  local  mechanic  who  had done work on the engine was coming around  the boat with a bunch of his friends  threatening the captain with bodily harm if he didn’t get paid.  

Finally, Rod’s  friend was  able  to send  additional  money,  enabling the  captain  to pay  everyone   owed, including   numerous bribes  to  local officials.   Once everyone had been paid, the crew left in a hurry heading north toward the Philippines, glad to leave Papua New Guinea behind in their wake.  

Their next stop was a small island in  the Western Pacific  called Palau, and  this  island does not have much of an  infrastructure; mostly  it caters to  Japanese wreck divers and a few cruising  yachters. There  was  only one  man  on  the  entire  island  who knew anything about diesel engines, and his proved to be a huge problem, as Contessa   was now experiencing serious  engine  problems. Further, electrical system problems had also started to pop up, thus causing other complications.   Both of these important onboard systems created a continuing plague of problems throughout the remainder of the trip.  Rod’s friend   was  told by his  captain  that the boat could not be moved any further until some replacement parts for the   engine could be found, shipped and  installed,  and  as  the  diesel  engine was nearly  forty years old,  it’s manufacturer long since gone out of business, so it was almost impossible to find the needed parts. 

Month after month Rod watched my friend agonize as the crew continued to report for a variety of reasons,(none their own fault of course), that little or  no progress was being made on the necessary repairs to the boat. By January of 2006, Rod’s friend few out to the island where he  found the crew were very much enjoying their lifestyle.    They all had girl friends and the island itself was a kind of old style paradise.  Obviously, they were in no hurry to leave, so he made up his mind that he would take charge of finding the parts himself   and organize the repairs.  Before he left the island, he had the assurance from the local mechanic  that  if  he  could  deliver  the parts  to him on  the  island, he would repair the engine.

It took my friend over a month to locate the hard to find parts and get them shipped to Palau.  For the next couple  of months,  he  kept  phoning the mechanic who each time offered a good excuse as to why he had not yet started  the repairs and promised to  get  started  that  week,  but  after several months  of  this  routine, the repairs had still not been completed. At about this time, my friend  sent one  of  his    regular monthly money transfers  to  the  captain,  and  these monies were  to  be  spent  as  needed in order for the crew to  continue on and at least theoretically to take care of  the day  to day operating costs ofthe boat.  But without my friend,  or for that matter any of the crew knowing,    the  Filipino  captain  collected the   $4,000   cash  transfer    from  the local Western Union office and then immediately  caught  a  fight  out  to the  Philippines,    leaving my  friend without a captain and the crew with any  money  or  means  to  even  feed themselves.

Once again, Rod’s friend found it necessary to take time off from work and fly to Palau to try to resolve the engine  repair  problem,  sort  out  the electrical  system  faults  and  keep his  crew  intact. But  by  the  time  he got  there,  only  one  crew  member remained aboard, as  the  rest had all jumped  ship. Worse  still,  the  local mechanic,  inexplicably  would  not even talk to him by phone, or answer the door at his house, and via the lo-cal  grape-vine,  he  sent word  to my friend,  he  did  not want  to  see  him. Further, several of the locals confronted my friend and made sure he knew the mechanic was related to the island’s Chief and that he had better not “make waves,” so to speak, or he could end up regretting it.

 Luckily, Rod’s friend  was able to hire an  Indonesian captain who had worked in Phuket, so using the parts my friend had shipped to Palau, this  gentleman was able to get the engine working, and finally, after six months of  sitting  in  Palau,  the  boat  pulled out for Cebu in the Philippines,  with just  the  captain  and  the young man from Fiji  as a crewman. 

By July 2006    the boat was  lying in Cebu, but  continuing  engine  and electrical troubles were still causing problems  and  what  had  previously been  some  small  leaks  in  the  gar-board planks of    the hull, were now leaking  more  vigorously.  These leaks could be handled by the electrical bilge pumps, but were still worried some in light of the distance yet to be covered. Moreover, they could only be fixed properly by taking the boat out of the water, which required a specialized lift which was not readily  available  in this part of the world.  

 To  help  fix  these  problems,  my friend brought one of the young men to Cebu who  had  previously  sailed on  Contessa  when  it  had  departed from   Honolulu.   While not a certified diesel mechanic, this man was competent with these engines and gifted at solving mechanically related problems.  He few over from the States with his girlfriend and sister hoping they all   might get in some good sailing.

Unbeknown to anyone, the Indonesian captain had accepted a more lucrative job on a yacht in Singapore and he needed to be there by a certain date, or risk loosing the opportunity.  For this reason, the  captain chose to leave the safe haven of the port in  Cebu in late July and deliberately  sailed  right  into  the  teethe of  a major  low pressure  system.   A couple  of  days  out  of  Cebu,  with Contessa taking a pounding in heavy seas, the seams around the garboard planks blew out, and the boat began to take on water at an alarming rate.  The  two electric bilge pumps could not  handle  the  gushing water  flowing in, so  the crew had to bring out the  gasoline  pump  to  supplement the  regular  bilge  pumps.  Immediately,  they  turned  the  boat  toward land  and  began  to  head  toward  the nearest port, which  turned out  to be a place called Miri in Malaysia, and fortunately,  they were able  to  reach this  safe haven   before  the gasoline supply  for  the auxiliary bilge pump ran out.

Once in Miri the boat needed to be hauled out of  the water  to make  the below  water line repairs to the hull, but unfortunately, there was no specialize lift available to haul the boat,  and  due  to  the  extensive  leaking,  could  the  boat  be  sailed  to  another location where there was a lift avail-able. Further disaster struck, because during the crew’s   rush to make it to shore, the captain was forced to use  the  diesel  engine  at  full RPM’s  for many  hours,  and  as  a  result,  it  had finally died all together.

 Much like the situation in Palau, it was once again extremely difficult to get the engine repaired, so months passed and it just seemed impossible to get the work done that was needed.  By now, the captain had moved on to his new job in Singapore and with the exception of the young man from Fiji, the rest of the crew had all returned home.

Rod’s friend made several trips to Miri during this period, including the final one   with Rod himself, and at this point, he seriously    considered abandoning the restoration project altogether. They talked about his  taking the boat  a couple of miles or so off the coast, and just letting it  sink, thereby producing  an artificial reef; at least  in  this case he could cut his financial losses and stop the continuing  out   flow  of  cash  every month. While this was a serious option, Rod’s friend didn’t quite throw in the towel, so again, they both traveled to Miri together, to see if there was not some way to salvage the project. 

They  tried  everything  possible to find a way to get   the boat out of the  water  and  make  the  repairs  to the hull,  but it seemed there simply was  no  suitable  answer  so  as  others  before  had  found,  they  realized that  there was no way  to  repair  the hull out of the water.  None the less, Rod’s  friend  had  authorized  the  re-pair  to  the  engine,  which  involved taking the engine out of the boat and overhauling  it  at  a  local Malaysian shop  and  then  reinstalling  it.   They also made some repairs to the electrical system again, so that it was working  reasonably  well,  and  with  the boat cleaned up,  it was pretty much ready  to  go,   with  the  exception  of the leaking hull.  Besides, in addition to the leaking hull, there was also the problem of no captain or crew for the last leg to Thailand, so even if they could find a way to repair the hull, they still had no easy way to sail the boat the final leg to Thailand.  These two serious problems   hovered over their heads constantly while they were in Miri.

During  this  period    Rod  and  the owner  utilized  the  assistance  of  a local    taxi  driver,  (a  Chinese  Malay man named Lou),   who became very involved with our situation and sympathized  with  us,  knowing  the money that Rod’s friend had already spent could never be recovered, unless  the boat  reached Thailand   and was ultimately  restored. He clearly understood   our hope was to somehow repair the hull and sail the boat to Thailand.  A day or so before my friend and I were to return to Pattaya,  he  let  it be known  that he would be interested in serving as a crew member,  if we  could  get  the  boat  ready for  the  trip.  Moreover, the young man from Fiji felt confident he could sail the boat from Miri to Pattaya, if they could just figure a way to stem the leaks. 

Finally,  by  November  of  2006, the engine had been taken out of the boat, overhauled, and  reinstalled by a Malaysian firm,  and  a well qualified  professional  captain  from Australia, (who happed to be a sport diver  as well),  utilized  his  underwater equipment and skills, to make some repairs to the hull.  While he was not able  to  stop all of  the  leaking completely, he was able to stem the flow to  a  point  where  the  regular,  electric  bilge  pumps  could  handle  the flow.  The young man from Fiji and the Chinese Taxi Driver proclaimed were  ready  to  go,  so  Rod  and  his friend  few  back  to  Pattaya.  The owner  still held out  some hope  that he might find   a qualified captain to help  the Fijian guy and  the Chinese taxi driver, (as they became known),  sail  the  boat  across  the  notoriously rough  South  China  Sea.  Before  he was able to find a new captain,  Rod went  knocking  on  his  door      early one morning,  to tell him he had just received  a  phone  call  from  the  Fiji Guy.  Saying that the “Contessa” was now sitting at anchor off Ocean Marina,  just  south  of  Pattaya. The  unforgettable look on the owner’s face was one of astonishment and  relief, and incredibly, against all odds, The Fiji Guy and the Chinese Taxi Driver had  somehow  sailed  the boat  in  it’s dodgy state, eleven   days across the South  China  Sea  and  had  arrived  just in time  for Thailand’s 2006 Loy Krathong Holiday.

 While  the  boat was  now  here  in Pattaya,  the  owner’s  troubles  were not over by a  long shot, as  the next couple  of  days  proved  to  be  very difficult,  with  electrical  problems. These were preventing the bilge pumps from clearing the leaking water, and on the night of the Loy Krathong holiday, the yacht very nearly sank while anchored in Pattaya Bay. 

Due to Contessa’s deep draft (that part of the hull under the water line) it could not be hauled out of the water at any of the north Pattaya boat yards, because the approaches had insufficient water depth.  This meant the  boat  would  have  to  either  be hauled out  at Ocean Marina, which would  be  extremely  costly,  or  at  a yard  located  near Bangkok.   Rod’s friend decided to try to sail the boat to the shipyard near Bangkok, as it would be much cheaper for him to do the restoration work there, and for the trip up to the yard near Bangkok, Rod’s friend and his two tired crewed members, ran into strong   monsoon winds. These created rough seas and in the middle of the night they lost their diesel engine and the electrics, so they were faced with strong, unfavorable winds as well as no engine or electrics.  Without their bilge pumps working, the only means available for them to empty the constant water leaking in, was to manually clear it using buckets. This physical activity pressed  the  crew  to  exhaustion  and with  the winds  starting  to  push  the boat dangerously close  to  land, and no way  to motor  up  the  river  leading to the yard, Rod’s friend had no choice but to reluctantly turn the vessel around, and sail back to Pattaya. The  boat was  finally  hauled  out  of the water  at Ocean Marina  in  early December  and  structural  repairs started,  so  in  July  2007  my  friend went to Customs officials to request a  six month extension  to his permit to  keep  the  yacht  in Thailand.   He had been told this extension would be routine as long as the vessel was still under repair by a Thai contractor, (which it was), but to my friend’s surprise and despite the testimony of the Thai contractor, Customs officials would not grant an extension. They ordered the vessel be taken out of Thai waters immediately, but this was physically impossible due to it still being under construction. With some assistance from legal counsel, Customs offcers finally relented and granted a two month extension.  Through a frenzy of repair activity, Including the installation of a rebuilt Isuzu diesel engine and a new electrical system, Rod’s friend was able to put the yacht into sailable condition, although it had no interior fit out.  Together with one of his friend’s, the owner  then    sailed  the  “Contessa”  to  Cambodia,  where  he  stayed  for about  a month,  before  bringing  the vessel back into Thailand.