July 2006 Archives

Crystal Blues is in the Miri Marina, in the beautiful city of Miri,
Sarawak.  Sarawak is a Malaysian state in northern Borneo - lovely
people, beautiful scenery - I've said enough.

Right now Ley and I are in Sydney, having travelled to Melbourne for
the 20th birthday of the company we once worked for ... great fun.  We
followed that with visits to friends up and down the east coast.  This
week we've completed our boat shopping chores.  Last night we were
guest speakers at the Coastal Cruising Club of Australia July
meeting - did a fair bit of talking and then showed the latest video,
well received.

We fly back to Sarawak on Monday, via Singapore.  Depart Sydney Sunday
afternoon.  Peter (Neil's brother) and Maria are joining us for a
couple of weeks - sailing to Saba (Kota Kinabalu) via Brunei and
Labuan.

Browsing on the web we found the following link - hadn't seen it
before - a press report on our activities in Singapore.

All the best,

Neil & Ley Langford
SV Crystal Blues

I'm currently reading 1606 by Evan McHugh, a well written account of the history of European discovery of Australia. Of course, we all know that James Cook was just the first European to lay eyes on the east coast of Australia, triggering the later foundation of New South Wales as a penal colony for the British. 

But it is the Dutch who lay claim to have "discovered" Australia. They could not see much use for the place but charted the west and north coasts, as they were important as faster shipping route to the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia. The book tracks the history of the various encounters with "New Holland". It's well worth a read.

I have not seen much celebration of the 400th anniversary down here, although there is a tour of the replica of the "Duyfken" in progress. The Dutch, meanwhile, feel the occasion is worth a commemorative 5 Euro coin. I just received some copies from a relative (thanks Yvonne).

If the Dutch had any foresight like the British, they would have realised the potential for using the place as a prison. But they didn't or else we'd be speaking some Dutch dialect and the club would be called the Koninklijke Zeil Vereniging Prins Willem (KZVPW). Not the same ring as RPAYC, eh?

Marius Coomans (Te Moana)

Click below to find how you can access a full portfolio of charts online for free.

Not all of us devour every local sailing magazine from cover to cover. So I thought I would occasionally post here about items of cruising interest both in paper magazines as well as from online news and information sources.

Nancy writes:

"Blackwattle and we, together with son Simon for a couple of weeks, are setting out from Ayvalik, a delightful village on the Aegean shores of Turkey, where Blackwattle has spent her winter. It’s so delightful, one wonders why on earth we are leaving."

More in her Sail-World article.
Bon Voyage!