SAILING? « Live in the Philippines Forum

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SAILING?

(78 posts)

Started 6 months ago by imagine
Latest reply from ellen

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imagine
Member

What do people do for sailing in the Phils? I am an avid sailor, and in the near future will be sailing to the Phils with my Filipina wife. We would be based in Davao where her family, and family business is also based.

I have been to Luzon, Cebu, Samal, Malapascua, and from what I have witnessed from the planes shows me the most fantastic oppurtunity to sail, and explore. Are any of the members here into boating of any kind? Is there any advice that can be shared with me about boating, restrictions, or anything else helpful.

Ellen it is I from imagine2frolic. How is the marina coming along?.....John

Posted 6 months ago #
bangkaboat
Member

John,
When I lived in Davao in the early 1990s, "Aussie John" used to anchor his boat off of Santa Ana Pier. Coincidentally, I was talking with my wife about this last night, as I plan to bring a boat with me on my "final" trip to Davao. I have been planning to have a dock built off our Samal property. My wife will be assessing the situation when she is there this summer. From past experience, I expect that we'll have to build at least one breakwater.

The ideal boat for the Philippines would be a cat or twin-keeler. There is a fellow near Cebu who builds to Wharram's designs, if I remember correctly. There is a Manila -Hong Kong race that I've heard of on "Sail Philippines", I've posted a link:

http://www.sailphi.org.ph

Best of luck!

Mike

Posted 6 months ago #
imagine
Member

Mike,

Imagine is a cat that is cold molded, and built in Berlin by the Schmidt boatyard in conjunction with the previous owner who is an engineer. I bought her in the Caribbean in 02, but she sat for 9 months before I was able to go get her. From St. Maarten life brought us here to the Jax Florida area.

Melanie, and I are trying to get our ducks in a row, and sail her home to Davao. I see there is progress on the Holiday marina, but no information on when it will be ready for boats, or cost?

I have considered having a mooring placed, but I don't know what the regulations if any would be. I am just really pleased that there are fellow boaters here to exchange ideas with. I haven't figured out how to post some pics, but I will get to that soon enough.

Melanie, and I have put about 14k miles under Imagine's keels. I am truly looking forward to getting into the tradewind sailing with the wind on the quarter.

I am aware of the boat builders in Cebu. I had considered selling Imagine, and then building a boat in Cebu. This thing with the economy has kind of thrown things up in the air. As always time will tell me what to do, and when to do it......i2f....John

Posted 6 months ago #
bangkaboat
Member

John,
Thanks to Tommy's link to the pinoyboats.org site, I found info. on marinas. Apparently, there are two being developed on Samal. One of them - Oceanview Marina - is slated to be finished sometime in 2009 & is located at the north end of the island. Bringing a cat is a genius move! I considered buying one, but the price of a true offshore capable cat is pretty strong. I even considered buying a Gemini & having it shipped there, but where's the fun in that? No doubt, I'll be aground a lot. I'm boat shopping right now, but you know how that goes, only want to spend $x, because I'll be putting $y into her. I'm trying to convince myself to get down to Calif. & save myself some dough, but that return northern coastal run can be brutal, not condusive to a good shakedown. Best I've seen locally are a couple of Spencer35's & a Halberg-Rassy Rasmus. Let a nice Alberg37 yawl get away from me last week. As I am planning to build boats in The Philippines, in the future, I'm not in need of a fancy boat, just a great blue water boat.

Personally, I'm thinking of waiting this economy out, in Mexico or The Philippines. From what I've heard, Davao doesn't suffer the 8 hour/day brown-outs that it used to, so I should be able to do my computer-related work from there. I'm a bit concerned about the mail service though, I couldn't afford to have drafting work go missing.

I would think that there are a lot of people whom would allow you to beach your boat on their property, even guard it for a fee. When I return, I'll be developing & living on our Samal property and you'd be more than welcome to park it there. As well, my wife's cousin owns a beach on Talikud - Dayang Beach - and they had a small dock, last time I was there. For a shallow draught boat, there is a pretty good canal in ecoland where the same cousin & her husband used to keep their bangka, when at their home in Ecoland. For all I know, Stein Undheim - the cousin's husband - may be a member of these forums.
Mike

Posted 6 months ago #
imagine
Member

Mike, and Tommy,

I have loaded a few pics of Imagine in my gallery. If the shop is slow today I will load some interior pics. She draws 3"9', and is definately an ocean going boat. She is extremely fast down wind at 15,500 lbs, and comfortable. She isn't so fast upwind in big seas, but she is a cat, and all boats are a compromise. I fall of a few degrees, and she will pick up speed again.....i2f...John

Posted 6 months ago #
bangkaboat
Member

LOL

John,
That's not a boat, it's a friggin' ocean liner! What a beaut! I'd love to see more photos. You'll probably find the media knocking on your hullsides, thinking they've just tracked down Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie! You'll have to do some careful surveying of the gulf, though, as I had about the same draft on my last bangka & put her aground a few times, around Samal, especially near Babak. I was suggesting on pinoyboats that someone organize a "Davao Yacht Club". I don't think anyone would want to race you, but you'd be first in line to be the commodore's launch!
Mike

Posted 5 months ago #
imagine
Member

Mike,

Well she's as smooth as an ocean liner going downhill, and doesn't do too bad going up hill either. Although much slower, but still stable. I am trying to figure out how to get back into the gallery to post the interior pics.

http://www.multihulls4us.com/forums/index.php

Here isa forum you might in. It's all about Multis, and you can find me there as imagine2frolic, and also the gallery with interior pics.

Sounds like commodore comes with a lot of responsibilities.....lolololol......i2f...John

Posted 5 months ago #
lataste
Member

This is a great topic, I grew up sailing on a Cal T/2 27' that my father owned. I was an avid sailor many years ago when my father was still alive, and I hold those memories in my mind as some the best. I started out on Pram's in Coconut Grove and sailed the Abaco's with my family on several occasions, I have dreamed of sailing again. My father always said that he wanted to own a Cat, it's such a great idea for the Philippines too. Now I just have to get my fiance' on board with the idea.
I haven't researched too much on ocean going Cat's, but I love the speed. I am sure that your wife is happy that the boat doesn't list too much. Was your wife always on board with sailing the world?

Posted 5 months ago #
imagine
Member

lataste,

I went to Davao in Jan. of 02. I met Melanie at Cherry Blossoms, and met her 4-5 months later. We stayed at Pearl Farm for several days, and I took Melanie sailing on the Hobie there. I could see she was uncomfortable, but she never complained.

A year later I picked her up at the S.F. airport in Calif. Within a couple of weeks we were sailing my 30ft. mono on the Bay. I had her back the boat out of the slip, and down the channel. I could see she was uncomfortable, but she steered the boat on all points of sail, and did well.

A couple of months later we were in the Caribbean, because I had bought the cat 9 months earlier. Now we were going to get on the cat, and sail her back to S.F. VIA the canal. Things didn't work out, so we sailed to Florida.

We did a couple of seasons sailing into the Bahamas, and she became pretty comfortable on the boat. I sold my property, and it was our chance to sail for the Phils. She looked at the world map, and could not bring herself to cross the Pacific. So here we are for now stuck in Florida doing the rat race.

I am trying to end my contractual obligations, and I am setting sail for the Phils as soon as I can. I don't think she will let me go alone, so hopefully it will be us 2. I can only imagine the cruising between the Galapagos, and the Phils. I am really eager to see the Solomons. Of course everything else too, but I am really attracted to the Solomons with all the machinery left behind from WWII.

There are a couple of cold molded cat builders on Cebu. One of them actually specializes in Wharram cats. You can google them up for some information. I had in the past thought of selling Imagine, and building a cat on Cebu. Imagine is all wood, and cold molded. Light, fast, and strong just what a cat likes, and needs. I am on page 7 in the gallery with pics of us, and Imagine. I am really looking forward to chatting with more boaters. Power boats included......i2f......John

Posted 5 months ago #
ellen
Member

Hello John, just got into the forum page and saw your post. You are still in the Atlantic? :) I thought you have set sail already. Kjartan swam the area where they sunk all the warfare equpment - but this was in Vanuatu (Luganville). Vanuatu, Solomons, Papua NEw Guinea and Palau - you can see remnants of WWII. When he dove, he said he can see the jeep still with the machine gun still attached to it. I didn't go with him, thats too bad. Lots of coke bottles too!! You are not allowed to pick anything, but I've seen some who picked up some coke bottles (those not broken).

Marina is still ongoing. Very very slow going there. But this is the Philippines :)

Hope Melanie gets the courage to come sailing with you.

Posted 5 months ago #
imagine
Member

HI ELLEN,

I understand island time, and manana land. I like this way, and have gotten use to it over the years. The marina will be done when it's done. What can one say?

Melanie is actually looking forward to the sail. Yesterday she was looking over my shoulder as I was on the computer. She commented how sweet our life was while travelling with our only concern being the weather. Here on land.....well you know what it's like, and the difference.

We have a 2 year plan to try, and recoupe some of our losses due to the economy. We will try to push it forward so it can be this winter that we leave Florida. As always time will tell me what to do, but at least we have plan A), B), C), D), etc. etc.....lololol

Posted 5 months ago #
lataste
Member

You have reignited an old flame with this topic. Since our conversation I have been talking to many friends and spending a lot of time on yachtworld.com researching sailboats. A friend that I am currently deployed with just bought a CSY 44' that he will sail back to the US when we get home. She is currently in Guetemala right now and has invited me on the trip. Not sure if I will be able to make it, but I hope it will work out. Just wanted to let you know that you helped the sailor come out of the closet again. I'll probably purchase a 30' in the next year to get back into it again. Hopefully MJ will take to it and enjoy sailing Hawaii. I hear that the weather can get pretty nasty when inter-island sailing. What type of mono hull did you have in SF?

Posted 5 months ago #
imagine
Member

Only glad to re-introduce sailing. It's a passion that gives me life. While living in San Francisco I sailed a 30ft Columbia 1972. I single-handed her to Cabo, and back to S.F. A short trip over to Puerto Vallarta, and then back to Cabo with guests.

Sailing in Hawaii can be tough. The open ocean is trying to force it's way through the islands, and this causes confused seas. I am sure the Phils will have some of the same problems, but that would mostly be on the eastern sides of the islands.

Sailing the Bahamas there are small cuts through the island chains, and treacherous currents, and eddies flow through them. Caution is the word for a prudent sailor....lol

CSY is a pretty tough boat. They were built for the charter trade in the Caribbean. They will sail well off the wind too, so hopefully your delivery will be off the wind.....i2f.....John

Posted 5 months ago #
Mindanao Bob

Hey imagine - Everybody keeps on asking you on your comments on the Magazine, but I think you don't go back and read the replies.... what is i2f?

Posted 5 months ago #
imagine
Member

Bob,

I never noticed the questions. I try, and go back to keep up with the topics. I have learned a lot about the Filipino way here. I am enjoying all this new knowledge. I know it will help in my transition in cultures.

....hahahahahaha.....i2f ....is my signature on all the other forums, sailing & cars, I follow. I tried using this when I was trying to sign up here, but I couldn't get it to work. It stands for imagine2frolic. These are the 2 names of my sailboats. My first boat was Frolic. I only sold her recently after 17 years. 2 is short for the word to, and also it stands for how many hulls Imagine has. Imagine is my only boat now, and she is a catamaran, multihull.

I use to not sign off at all after a post on any of the forums. After a while people were responding to me, and they would shorten my screenname to i2f instead of typing out imagine2frolic. Soon everyone knew me as i2f, aka imagine2frolic. It has slowly become me, and so I brought it here with me......i2f.....John...lol

Posted 4 months ago #
Mindanao Bob

There you go! I appreciate it, John. Really, in 4 or 5 instances people have asked the question after you commented, but I think you didn't make it back to the topic again! Ha ha... thanks again.

Posted 4 months ago #
Dan2vero
Member

now we know what the i2f is now......:)

Posted 4 months ago #
lataste
Member

Imagine,

For the last couple of months, I have been researching boats and rediscovering my dream of circumnavigating the globe. I have found many interesting blogs and conversations, but none of them beat the current blog that I am reading now. You may already be familiar with this crew, but if now, this website should be reviewed.

www.maxingout.com

I love the captains positive attitude; plus, he has tons of pictures....

Andre

Posted 4 months ago #
imagine
Member

lataste,

I have intermingled with Dave for a couple of years now. He truly has a wonderful outlook. Who wouldn't when you can actually achieve your goals in life. He is extremely well written, and concise in his thoughts. He is very gracious in his giving of his vast experiences sailing.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/
http://www.sailnet.com/forums/cmps_index.php
http://www.multihulls4us.com/forums/index.php
http://cruising.stuffiminto.com/register.php?a=act&u=9&i=89973127

You can search these sites for ....sailing blogs...sailing websites....etc etc, and you will find a ton of information. I am on these 4 as imagine2frolic.....aka....i2f...lololol. If ever you have any questions, please feel free to ask......i2f.....John

Posted 4 months ago #
lataste
Member

Thanks for the information, I have now started my long journey of researching monohull vs multihull, equipment, etc.... This should keep me busy for a while. You are right though, Dave did a great job on his website. Do you know what type of multihull that Dave fell in love with? I saw a video on his site about "dream machines" and the boats name was quest. I have researched and can't come up with a conclusion on the make/model.

Andre

Posted 4 months ago #
imagine
Member

Dave's boat is a Privelege 39, and you will find him posting in all of those sites.

Monos vs multis is a very hot debate. Both boats have a plus, and minus. I owned a mono for 17 years, and would not go back to a mono except for 2 reasons. Finanacially I lost everything, or I was going to sail below the 5 capes. I have owned, and sailed Imagine for 7 years, and have put over 10k miles on her. A multis minuses are too small to go back to a mono.

It is said that 90% of the time is at anchor. I would rather have my boat flat, and a wonderful view of my surroundings than living down below. Most sailing around the world is done with the wind on the quarter. This is where the multi explodes in speed, and comfort. Being able to sail in skinny water is a plus too. Which means you can anchor where other boats, can't even get into, privacy. Typing of privacy a multi does give you more privacy than a mono. Imagine has over 1k sq. ft. of deck space. Nets to lay in for sailing, or sleeping.

You can get a well built tri with lots of life left in it for under $50k. Tris are even faster, and will sail on a zephyr of a wind, and have even less draft than a cat. You need to ask yourself. What kind of sailing am I going to do? What is my budget? Where will I sail? When you get the reality of these three questions. It will help narrow down what kind of boat you will choose. Then there is always building the boat yourself, or having it built in Asia. Right in Cebu there are a couple of builders specializing in multis using cold molded.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8to_a7tIyFo

Then again something like this is inexpensive, and extremely fast with tons of fun.....i2f....John

Posted 4 months ago #
lataste
Member

That's good information, I would rather have a cat over a monohull, but that decision will be fiscally dependent. I basically want to do what Dave has accomplished. Of course that's another decision that is dependent on MJ's comfort level on the boat. My theory is, if I purchase a boat that is as or near as comfortable as home, then she will probably want to stay. Who knows though, we will have to try it out....
I personally like the Fountaine Pajot 36, 37 & 40's, but I also like many monohulls as well, but the cat's seem to be a better option for many reasons that you mentioned above. What's your opinion on the FP's?
I asked a question on Dave's love affair with a boat, and I mistakenly said it was a multi. I am actually referring to monohull that he showed called "quest". He said that if he was going to buy a mono, it would be that make/model. Do you know what type of boat that quest is?
Anyways, I'll start asking questions on the multihull forums....

Posted 4 months ago #
imagine
Member

Windage is the problem with cats. The taller, and more square the house. The less ability to go to windward. I have only sailed on 2 cats. One was a 55ft. day sailor in S.F. Ca, and my own Imagine. I have sailed past most cruising cats, and pointed higher, but my hulls are thin, and my boat is light. She is a balance of performance, and cruising.

Last night we had a heavy squall come through the marina. My neighbor, and I were standing on the dock, and he mentioned that imagine was a wee bit bouncy in the waves. He has a 36ft. mono, and we weigh the same. Imagine is 46ft long, and 23ft. wide.

Sitting in an anchorage on the hook she is not bouncy, because she is sitting into the wind. Last night with the wind pushing on her beam, and up against the wall. She was like a race horse waiting at the starting gate.....lololol

You can ask Dave directly on any of those sites about Quest. You can also send him a private message, and he will answer.

Looking forward to seeing you on the multi forums. In multihulls4us there are a ton of interior shots of Imagine. Your lady might be surprised of the room, and storage......i2f.....John

Posted 4 months ago #
erik cable
Member

I am excited to see my new boat.Its just a small boat(fan boat about 20 feet,made a little wider than usual,for the american sized guy)I plan to stay close to the shore line,so I don't sink it.
I found a fan boat builder(actually my wife Margie found the nice man in Carcar)to build the boat for 52,000 peso's.She has a 16 hp Honda motor,and bamboo outriggers.
I love the sea and this will help me keep in touch with her.
My dad built his own catameran in the back yard when i was 4 years old.than he bought a 35 foot chinese junk(only 3 of them in the usa).
I will be living in the phils begining july 10.I come from palos verdes california.
It's nice to read all the stories in LIP.See you next.

Posted 4 months ago #
imagine
Member

erik,

Seems we have sailors coming out of the woodwork. You got to love the sea if you're gonna be in the Phils.......i2f....John

Posted 4 months ago #
erik cable
Member

Gee weez

I feel a lot out of place here.This piece of plywood I bought is made for a pool.
Really,My life is at stake in this boat.I put 1 hour at sea and to tell you the truth,it was the longest hour I have spent on the water.
My surf board seems to be much more sea worthy.

I think I can salvage the honda motor and build a go cart.

Posted 4 months ago #
imagine
Member

Maybe you'd like to get on something more stable?......i2f.....John

Posted 4 months ago #
erik cable
Member

Boy

you said it all i2f
at least i would like to be on top of clear blue water before I go down

Posted 4 months ago #
imagine
Member

erik,

Have you seen my gallery? It is a small portion of what we have done. Our goal is to sail from N.E. Florida to the Phils. I have already singlehanded from S.F. CA. to Cabo, and back. From Cabo to Puerta Vallarta, and back to Cabo. St. Maarten in the Caribbean to N.E. Florida. In & out of the Bahamas for over 20 years. I am looking forward to an extended tradewind sail for weeks on end.....i2f....John

Posted 4 months ago #
erik cable
Member

imagine

I'll check it out!
It would be cool if you can make a movie for us to watch.
I always enjoyed Warren Miller and his surfing movies.
When he first started out make movies the surfers would hand out flyers and we would watch the movie in a local high school gym.
After watching the movie we could'nt wait to get in the water an catch that perfect wave!

Posted 4 months ago #

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