Fwd: The end of a sad chapter - Sail Indonesia 2013.

----- Original Message -----
To: "Hamish & Sara" <bluedogstainless@xtra.co.nz>
Subject: Fwd: The end of a sad chapter - Sail Indonesia 2013.
Date: 24 Nov 2013 15:26:13 -0000
From: zmq5985

----- Original Message -----
To: KF6YDZ@winlink.org
Subject: The end of a sad chapter - Sail Indonesia 2013.
Date: 24 Nov 2013 15:12:51 -0000
From: zmq5985

We must apologise for inflicting the following upon you but we feel an overwhelming urge to put matters straight. This will be our last public word concerning anything to do with Sail Indonesia 2013.
On November 22nd. we filed a Police report of the incident involving the owner of "Tintin" where he assaulted and spat at Jim on the marina at Danga Bay. He then compounded this by screaming at us "if you ever sail into an anchorage in future where I am anchored, WATCH YOUR BACK!". Our initial inclination had been not to involve the Police but Sail Malaysia requested that we do so. The Johor Police are notifying Police in other states as well as the maritime Police. A further part of this report referred to the placing of a computer generated note on our foredeck a couple of days later saying "REMEMBER THE RAINBOW WARRIOR". This of course is very sinister because the French Secret Service attached limpet mines to the hull of the "Rainbow Warrior" when she was berthed in Auckland Harbour in the mid 1980's and not only sank the ship, but caused the death of a crew member. However, the two key differences between then and now is that the persons involved in placing the note on our boat were absolutely anonymous and gutless, whereas at least the French had the courage of their convictions, however wrong, and the "Rainbow Warrior" was steel which made attaching limpet mines relatively easy whereas we are a timber hull and limpet mines would fall off!!
But all humour aside, the assault and subsequent placing of the written threat were unpleasant to say the least and amply illustrate the types of individuals capable of such acts.
As a further aside, we understand that the owner of "Tintin" approached Sail Malaysia as soon as he arrived in Port Dickson to say that he had not threatened or assaulted Jim. He is demonstrably an out and out liar and his tirade here at Danga was witnessed by several persons. The assault itself was witnessed by Peter Holland of "Kitanni" and frankly we are not in the habit of making false statements to the police in NZ, let alone in foreign countries. We rest our case.
The origins of all this appear, from what we have been able to deduce, to relate to the incident at Kupang where we sailed in without our engine and were met by Kevin of "Tintin" who apparently had offered and was therefore ostensibly supposed to assist us with sail handling. Instead his attitude was uncalled for as he attempted to take over the boat. We were supposed to have been met by some dinghies from other boats to act as tugs and guide us to our anchoring spot. However, in the conditions we were unable to see them and so Jim asked Kevin where we should anchor. His reply was "here, here" and so we dropped the anchor in 35 metres just behind the Australian boat "Kealba" which proved to have been a fateful decision. Kevin seems to have carried a grudge about this ever since as he denies that he ever told us where to anchor. What is the matter with this guy to have taken such a small issue so seriously? He also objected to another boat voicing concerns over the dangerous anchorages organised by Sail Indonesia - an entirely justifiable and seamanlike concern which we have expressed also, particularly in respect of Kupang. As a result he and his wife confronted Wendy of "Juliana II" here on the dock at Danga and launched a tirade at her while she was alone. This was a couple of days before his assault on us.
Then of course there is the unfinished business with "Kealba". In spite of dragging their anchor on to us and causing us damage which they are attempting to trivialise, they refuse to acknowledge any liability. In spite of many attempts on our part to have a reasonable discussion they ignore us and so after 4 months we have been backed into a corner and have placed a legal lien on their boat. This will not generate any payment any time soon but when they try to sell the boat the lien will take precedence over any other debts on the boat as well as the sale proceeds which will be held in escrow until our debt is satisfied. This debt will take into account the work that Simon did for us in temporarily fixing our engine problem. We regret having to take this step but have had no choice to protect our interests in a situation not of our making.
Anyway, ever since Kupang 4 months ago we have been increasingly aware of a cold shoulder treatment directed at us by mainly Australian and some U.K. boats - some of whom we had known since Cairns. Frankly they should have known better but they appear to have been captivated by the insidious and straight out nasty campaign which has been directed at us. We were never happier than when we were on our own or with other boats who took no notice of the gossip and standouts there for us were when we arrived at Rinja and Komodo direct from Kupang and met "Pedoja" and then later when we spent 2 weeks at Medana Bay, Lombok on our own (before the rally boats arrived) in the delightful company of Peter Cranfield, his wife Ace and Wulan and their staff. We also spent many pleasant times with Dennis and Marylee of "Lardo" and Neil, Julie and Bailey of "Galatea" while at Medana and also at Gili Air with "Galatea".
There were two specific incidents that we became aware of a while later. Firstly "Kularoo" with whom we had sailed across the top of the Northern Territory totally and inexplicably misunderstood a blog of ours in which we referred to a "scruffy" boat at Port Essington. This was NOT "Kularoo". They evidently bottled this up and finally placed a comment on our blogsite. We explained their error and all they did was withdraw the comment without a word of an apology. Secondly another strange scenario at Lovina Beach, Bali involving "Swara II". It was brought to Jean's attention by Jackie of "Tintin" that we were supposed to have dragged our anchor onto "Swara II". We have never dragged with our Rocna to date. We arrived back on our boat and the wind had swung putting us within a boat's length of "Swara II". We had a lot of chain out but as we had anchored after them we simply pulled our anchor up and re anchored. As we came past them before dropping the anchor again the woman on "Swara II" hysterically screamed at Jim "keep away from our boat"!! There was no reason for this display and it simply in a comical way demonstrates yet again the unreasonable attitude to us on the part of some boats.
These two incidents together with the childish back turning attitude shown to us generally have only gradually made sense since the "Tintin" incident here at Danga Bay. We have to say that in spite of all this nonsense, we have always enjoyed a great relationship with many of the European and north American boats we have met and in this regard must mention "Sternchen", "Micromegas II", "Libertad", "Reflections", "Lardo" and "Galatea". We have also enjoyed the company of "Settlement", "2XS" and "Pedoja" as well whenever our paths have crossed. There are many other boats as well and we cannot mention all of them here but hopefully they will know who they are.
There are two things that this sad business has taught us and they are that we certainly know who our friends are and that we will never consider another rally - ever. We will do our own thing in our own time and choose our own company. Many of the boats we have met in Sail Indonesia will not be part of that scenario in the future.
With very best wishes and fair winds to all our friends,
Jim and Jean
s.v. Tiare Taporo III
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